Culture History and Convergent Evolution: Can We Detect Populations in Prehistory?

Preface
Contents
Contributors
1 Into the Tangled Web of Culture-History and Convergent Evolution
	Background and Context
	Archaeology on the Rocks
	Context and Chronology
	Converging
	Population Thinking
	Diversification
	The Chapters
	Conclusion
	References
2 The Unity of Acheulean Culture
	Abstract
	Introduction
	An Anecdotal Experiment of Biface Transmission
	Acheulean Biface Elongation
	The First Appearance of the Acheulean
	The Movius Line
	Conclusion
	Acknowledgments
	References
3 Problems and Pitfalls in Understanding the Clactonian
	Abstract
	Introduction
	The Clactonian World and Its Sites
	What Exactly is the Clactonian?
	How should we interpret the Clactonian?
	References
4 Culture and Convergence: The Curious Case of the Nubian Complex
	Abstract
	Introduction
	History of the Nubian Complex
	The Nubian Complex in Northeast Africa
	Nubian Levallois Technology Elsewhere in Africa
	The Nubian Complex in Arabia
	Nubian Levallois Technology in the Levant
	Nubian Levallois Technology in India
	Nubian Levallois Technology
	Conclusion
	Acknowledgements
	References
5 Lithic Variability and Cultures in the East African Middle Stone Age
	Abstract
	Introduction
	Lithics and Paleolithic Cultures
	Mechanisms of Culture Change
		Cultural Transmission Theory
	Culture as a Biological Adaptation
	Lithics and Cultures in East Africa
		Origin of Levallois Technology
		Origin of Blade and Bladelet Technology
		Raw Materials Transfer and Territories
	Towards an Understanding of MSA Human Groups
	Acknowledgments
	References
6 A Matter of Space and Time: How Frequent Is Convergence in Lithic Technology in the African Archaeological Record over the Last 300 kyr?
	Abstract
	Introduction
	The Phenomenon of Convergence: Definition, Delimitation and Archaeological Expectations
	What Is at Stake? Tracing and Identifying Past Populations with Stone Tools
	Approach and Method
	Space and Time: Convergence in the African MSA and LSA
		The Small Scale: Site Sequences in South Africa
		The Regional Scale: Folding Space into Time in Southernmost Africa
		The Large Scale: The African Continent
	How Frequent is Convergence? A Matter of Space, Time and Resolution
	Implications for Identifying Human Populations and Dispersals
	Acknowledgements
	References
7 Technology and Function of Middle Stone Age Points. Insights from a Combined Approach at Bushman Rock Shelter, South Africa
	Abstract
	General Overview of Middle Stone Age Point Production in Sub-Saharan Africa
	Middle Stone Age Point Functions
		Tool Use
		Hafting Adhesives
	Bushman Rock Shelter MIS 5 Middle Stone Age Points
		Insights from the Technological Approach
		Insights from the Use-Wear Approach
		Insights from Residue Analysis
	Bushman Rock Shelter in Context
	Point Production as a Way to Approach Population Patterning
	Concluding on Points as Equivocal Tools
	Acknowledgements
	References
8 Raw Material and Regionalization in Stone Age Eastern Africa
	Abstract
	Introduction
	Lithic Raw Material Variability in Eastern Africa
	Handaxe Variability at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
	Size and Retouch Intensity Among MSA Sites in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia
	Quantifying Quartz Variability at Nasera
	Quartz and the Abundance of Typical Later Stone Age (LSA) Tools
	Backed Pieces and the Later Stone Age Eburran in Kenya
	Discussion and Conclusions
	Acknowledgements
	References
9 The Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition: A Long-Term Biocultural Effect of Anatomically Modern Human Dispersal
	Abstract
	Introduction
	Background: Continuity and Change in Populations, Technologies and Social Networks
	The Big Picture: Biocultural Evolution in the MP-UP Transition
		From Big Picture to Intimate-Scale Biocultural Dynamics
		Stone Tools, Intimate Social Settings, Cooperation, and Cultural Reproduction
		Expanding the BACT Framework: From Teaching and Learning to Discourse and Innovation
	From Intimate and Embodied Contexts to Metapopulation Dynamics and Neanderthal-AMH Admixture
	Intimate-Scale Decision-Making and Cooperative Innovation: From the Oldowan to the Upper Paleolithic
	Considering Innovation-Adoption in the MP-UP Transition: The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) as a Case Study
	From Theory to Method: Evaluating Innovation and Transmission Patterns in a Mosaic MP-UP Transition
		Multivariate Statistical Approaches to Conservatism and Innovation in Late Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherer Social Networks
		Methodological and Sampling Challenges to Chronology-Building
		Measuring Economic and Socio-political Factors in Innovation Adoption
		Back to the Initial Upper Paleolithic: Reconsidering Economic and Sociopolitical Factors in the Adoption or Spread of IUP Technologies
	Conclusion: Why So Much Change Between 50 and 40 ka?
	Acknowledgments
	References
10 Threading the Weft, Testing the Warp: Population Concepts and the European Upper Paleolithic Chronocultural Framework
	Abstract
	Introduction
	Populations in the European Upper Paleolithic
	Upper Paleolithic Cultural Taxonomy
	The European Upper Paleolithic Chronocultural Framework: Warp and Weft
		Threading the Weft: Comparative Material Culture Study
		Testing the Warp: The Importance of Chronology
			Stratigraphy
			Radiocarbon Chronology
	Coherence and Convergence
	Alternative Perspectives
	A Brief Case Study: Mid Upper Paleolithic Russia
	Can We Infer the Existence of Past Populations from the Archaeological Record?
	Comparing Archaeological and Paleogenetic Evidence
	Conclusions
	Acknowledgements
	References
11 Communities of Interaction: Tradition and Learning in Stone Tool Production Through the Lens of the Epipaleolithic of Kharaneh IV, Jordan
	Abstract
	Introduction
	The Epipaleolithic Period in Southwest Asia
	Archaeological Approaches to Technology
		The Study of Technology in the EP of Southwest Asia
	Lithic Technology as Social Practice
	Approaches to Lithic Technology: Chaîne Opératoire, Refitting and Experimental Archaeology
	The Chaîne Opératoire and Communities of Practice
		The EP of Southwest Asia
	Kharaneh IV, Eastern Jordan
	Analyzing the Kharaneh IV Assemblage
	Stone Tool Production at EP Kharaneh IV: The Nature of Occupation Over Space and Time
		Area B and the Early EP
		Area a and the Middle EP
		Reconstructing Phases of Occupation
	Stone Tool Production at EP Kharaneh IV: What to Do with Variability?
		Raw Material Choice
		Knowledge, Skill and Learning
		Style and Function
	Discussion: What’s the Point?
	Conclusions: Implications for Understanding Prehistoric Technology Today
	References
12 Toward a Theory of the Point
	Abstract
	Typology
	Describing Points
	Points as Tools
		Weapon System
		Systemic Number S and Uselife L
	Assemblages
	Types as Historical Units
		Time-Space Distributions of Types
		Properties of Type Floruits
		Stasis and Sensitivity in Types
			Diversification: Origins and Fate of Types
	Broader Disciplinary Context
	Conclusion
	Acknowledgments
	References
13 Learning Strategies and Population Dynamics During the Pleistocene Colonization of North America
	Abstract
	Introduction
	Cultural Units, Transmission, and the Problem of Analogy
	Style and Function: Not a Simple Dichotomy
	Phylogeny and Cladistics
	Learning: The Basis of Cultural Transmission
		Copying
	A Map of Decision Making
		Fitness Landscapes
	Clovis Populations and Patterns of Learning
	Conclusion
	Acknowledgments
	References
14 Culture, Environmental Adaptation or Specific Problem Solving? On Convergence and Innovation Dynamics Related to Techniques Used for Stone Heat Treatment
	Abstract
	Introduction
	The Southern African Middle and Later Stone Age
	The European Upper Paleolithic Solutrean
	The Mesolithic Beuronian
	The Neolithic Chassey Culture
	The Paleo-Indian Evidence for Underground Heating
	Similarities, Dissimilarities, Convergence?
	Outlook
	Acknowledgements
	References
15 Style, Function and Cultural Transmission
	Abstract
	Introduction
	Cultural Evolution and Lithics
		Artefact Production
	Building and Testing Models
	Conclusion
	References
Index