This dissertation combines two different analytical methods, use wear and ancient starch grain analysis, to investigate the uses of different types of grinding tools. The artefacts were recovered... Show moreThis dissertation combines two different analytical methods, use wear and ancient starch grain analysis, to investigate the uses of different types of grinding tools. The artefacts were recovered from two of the earliest Neolithic farming communities in the central plain of China. The research focuses on addressing four research issues regarding “correlation between tool type and function”, “choices of ancient food processing techniques”, “rice processing in the early rice agricultural societies”, and “foodways in different Neolithic communities”. The findings were published in four peer-reviewed academic articles (Chapter 2 to 5). The data attained regarding Neolithic culinary practices and different uses of grinding tools allows a more nuanced and broader consideration of ancient foodways in the research region. Chapter 6 consolidates the results from the study of archaeological grinding tools and previous research to discuss the foodways of the ancient Jiahu population. In Chapter 7, a comparison of foodways at Jiahu and other Peiligang Culture sites suggests the intangible cultural boundaries and interactions between these Neolithic communities. Overall, this dissertation highlights that Neolithic grinding tools played different roles in early farming societies, especially in food processing practices. Show less
The ability to control fire is a pivotal trait of human culture and likely influenced both the physical and cultural development of our evolutionary lineage. We know fire fundamentally changed our... Show moreThe ability to control fire is a pivotal trait of human culture and likely influenced both the physical and cultural development of our evolutionary lineage. We know fire fundamentally changed our relationship with the world by making previously uninhabitable climates tolerable, inedible foods palatable and more nutritious, and providing a focal point around which complex social relationships could develop. It remains uncertain, however, when and in what manner fire became an integral part of the technological repertoire of our early ancestors. This gap in our knowledge prevents a full understanding of how fire affected our physical form and cultural lifeways. The long and drawn out process by which fire progressed from simply being a close companion in the natural environment to becoming a resource xploited opportunistically by hominins eventually led to greater control of fire. At this point, fire was largely ‘tamed’ through careful maintenance and transported from place to place. Ultimately, likely through a combination of serendipity and experimentation, humans discovered that they could make fire for themselves whenever and wherever they liked, providing a profound new freedom to control their environment, cook their food and produce new materials at will.This article provides an overview of the current state of our understanding of fire use, and more specifically, fire-making in the Paleolithic. There is currently much debate in the field surrounding this issue, and it is stressed herein that the only way to definitively infer any one hominin group could make fire is to identify the tools they used to do so. Therefore, much attention is paid to how archaeologists have attempted to identify fire-making tools in the archaeological record, primarily using experimental archaeology coupled with microwear analysis. Through these efforts, it appears stone-on-stone percussive fire-making using flint and pyrite was a skill first practiced by at least some groups of late Neanderthals, though its origins could be much older. Conversely, preservational problems associated with the wood-on-wood friction fire-making make it extremely difficult to assess the antiquity of this method. Lingering questions regarding early fire-making innovations and possible avenues for future research are discussed. Show less
The research contained in this dissertation explores the origins of fire making in prehistory, focusing primarily on the fire use practices and fire production capacities of Neandertals. The... Show moreThe research contained in this dissertation explores the origins of fire making in prehistory, focusing primarily on the fire use practices and fire production capacities of Neandertals. The dissertation is comprised of four peer-reviewed articles published in the journals Quaternary International, PLoS ONE, Journal of Archaeological Science and Scientific Reports, respectively, which are flanked by an introductory and synthesis chapter. The early chapters confront the debate surrounding the prevalence of fire use by Neandertals and discuss avenues by which we, as archaeologists, can better understand how fire use manifests in the Palaeolithic archaeological record. The latter chapters seek to provide a means for identifying artefactual evidence for fire making by Neandertals, ultimately presenting a series of French Middle Palaeolithic tools that exhibit use traces suggesting they were employed as fire starters, making these the earliest evidence for the regular production of fire by humans currently known. Show less
Figurative ornaments displaying biomorphic and geometric designs have often been recovered from pre-Colonial sites in the Caribbean and northern South America. Such artefacts are held in museum and... Show moreFigurative ornaments displaying biomorphic and geometric designs have often been recovered from pre-Colonial sites in the Caribbean and northern South America. Such artefacts are held in museum and private collections, but often have not been the focus of systematic research. On the other hand, recent research into ornaments worldwide has focused on simple beads and automorphic shell ornaments. In this article, microwear analysis is used to assess technologies of production and use-wear of figurative shell ornaments from north-central Venezuela. It is our goal to reflect on the challenges posed by such collections, in terms of reproducibility of traces through experiments, post-depositional and curatorial modifications, and the complexity of past attachment configurations. The underlying question is how to deal with the limitations posed by the very nature of the studied collection in terms of preservation and of the high skill required in the reproduction of figurative artefacts. Show less
Large collections of beads, pendants and other bodily ornaments have been recovered from pre-Colonial contexts on the shores of the Lake Valencia in north-central Venezuela. Most excavations took... Show moreLarge collections of beads, pendants and other bodily ornaments have been recovered from pre-Colonial contexts on the shores of the Lake Valencia in north-central Venezuela. Most excavations took place in the early and mid-part of the 20th century, but the ornaments have not been thoroughly studied to date. These artefacts were produced by the bearers of the Valencioid culture (AD 900-1500) and are currently held in several public and private collections dispersed throughout the world. This paper aims to recontextualize shell, lithic, and clay ornaments from the Alfredo Jahn collection, housed in the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin. Production and use wear traces were investigated through microwear analysis and were combined with data concerning raw material acquisition strategies and depositional contexts. By combining these results with new, unpublished data provided by Jahn’s excavation report from 1901 and with up-to-date Valencioid archaeology, we were able to recontextualize an indigenous tradition that encompassed ways of producing, decorating, and dealing with bodily ornaments. Show less
