From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit] Small Tool Assemblages and Flint Quarrying Activities at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater
- The lithic assemblages, which were excavated at the VLL and VLB loci at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, mainly included low-quality local raw materials. On the other hand, it cannot be ruled out that some tools, which were made from a variety of lithic raw materials, were imported from other flint sources. Imported raw materials that are present in lithic assemblages are usually interpreted as an indication of the past movements of hunter-gatherer groups (Binford 1979). Against the backdrop of yearly variations in seasonal weather conditions and against the backdrop of long-term climate and environmental changes, sporadic territory shift would inevitably bring Middle Palaeolithic groups into "new" and potentially "hostile" environments repeatedly. However, since Middle Palaeolithic people were primarily focussing on big game exploitation (e.g., Bocherens et al. 1999, 2001), they knew how to minimise the risks. These people of course needed technologies that were adapted to the typical way of life of late Middle and Late Pleistocene hunting-oriented groups. This would imply that all their "tools" and raw material supplies would have to be transportable and usable in the new environments.
- According to Binford (1979), lithic raw material procurement and core and tool reduction are usually conducted during the course of other subsistence tasks (e.g., game searching & processing of animals). Indeed, Binford (1979) claimed that certain "logistical" activities were "embedded" in other even more vital activities. At the VLL and VLB sites at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, where the campsites were present at a lithic raw material source, flint quarrying, core and tool reduction and hafting activities may also have been embedded in vital carcass-processing activities. Indeed, during the "Middle" Palaeolithic, "survival security" was usually improved by repeatedly moving the entire group to "fresh" resource areas. Retooling activities near a lithic source would thus occur only if animals were killed at or near a lithic quarry. Such a kill would enable extended exploitation of a lithic source, since certain others members of the group hunters would be processing the animals. Otherwise, only a quick stop at the lithic quarry to obtain suitable raw materials would be possible. We believe that a visit to the VLL and VLB quarrying sites would lead to an immediate replacement of small, heavily reduced or broken tools. This would explain the presence of small abandoned tools at the sites. However, the newly acquired lithic raw materials would not only be used for retooling, but would also be used in the form of portable blanks, roughouts and cores acquired from the lithic source.
- Even though many scholars tend to emphasise the quality of lithic raw material that was used for core and tool reduction, the Middle Palaeolithic people themselves just might have emphasised the usefulness of the tools. The deciding factor was probably not what quality of raw material the tool was made of, but whether or not the tools were still seen as capable of executing their tasks. This is not to say that Middle Palaeolithic did not have a preference for one lithic raw material over another. However, the determining factor was the suitability of the lithic raw materials to meet the anticipated tasks. It seems that both the leptolithic and small tool variants of the “Middle” Palaeolithic have an enormous distribution across time and space and that they were actually relatively common. Leptolithic and "small tool assemblages" were usually made at open-air sites during interglacial s.l. periods. At Schöningen 12 (e.g., Thieme 1996, 1997, 2003), small tools were used as inserts to bigger organic tools. The selection of small lithic raw materials, the reduction of small cores and the reduction of small tools clearly was a deliberate strategy. However, if lithic raw material procurement were really embedded in faunal resource extraction, then Middle Palaeolithic groups would move about the landscape following game herds in any direction. A highly mobile and devious course throughout the Maas Basin would thus be the result. Only the scarcity of game and maybe extreme seasonal or climatic conditions would force Middle Palaeolithic groups out of the area.
[edit] References
- Bringmans, P.M.M.A., Vermeersch, P.M., Gullentops, F., Groenendijk, A.J., Meijs, E.P.M., de Warrimont, J.-P. & Cordy, J.-M. 2003. Preliminary Excavation Report on the Middle Palaeolithic Valley Settlements at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater (prov. of Limburg). Archeologie in Vlaanderen - Archaeology in Flanders 1999/2000 VII: 9-30.
- Bringmans, P.M.M.A., Vermeersch, P.M., Groenendijk, A.J., Meijs, E.P.M., de Warrimont, J.-P. & Gullentops, F. 2004. The Late Saalian Middle Palaeolithic "Lower-Sites" at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater (Limburg - Belgium). In: Le Secrétariat du Congrès (eds), Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium. September 2-8, 2001. Section 5: The Middle Palaeolithic. Oxford. British Archaeological Reports (BAR) International Series 1239: 187-195.
[edit] External links
