Archaeology

An archaeological perspective Case study Hazda foragers of Lake Eyasi, Tanzania Ethnoarchaeoloy, behavirls ecology Foragers Rift Valley lake basin Operate through division of labor Base camp vs. kill or butchery sites During the wet season they can camp anywhere Grass huts,

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The huts are often under trees, most things they do leave archaeological records Terminology: ethnoarchaeology, forgers, savanna-bush-woodland, base camp, division of labor, cooperation, main foods: baobab fruit, tubers, berries meat, honey, savanna mosaic-open areas and they areas with trees What is archaeology? The reconstruction of past humans behavior from the scientific study of its material remains When hunting limbs elements are the easiest to transport back When they cant get meat they open trees and eat the honey Sources of information: -Bones and teeth of hominis -archaeology -geology -modern analogues Reasearch topic: Archaeological methods: Find the area, consult geological evidence Surveys Excavation- essentially destroys the sight Once you find evidence you excavate Take the collections to the lab and do tests Organize the evidence, sort them into categories, look for patterns in the evidence

Test hypothesis about what the pattern means in terms of past behavior Determine cause and effect Analysis and interpretation Dating E.. stone artifacts and bones Patterns in data The hunters of the hunted? South African cave sites: -Dolomite -Breccia, rock that forms -Taung, discovery of Taung baby, miners discovered this, Raymond argued that it was a homonin and it proved that it did not begin in Asia but in Africa -Sterkfontein, -Makapan -Swartkrans -Cast of characters from 2.5 1.5 mya -Gracile vs. australopithecines Austra africanus and robustus The genus homo: habilis and erectus -The impact of tool use in human revolution -Raymond dart -The Osteodontokeratic hypothesis Bone-Tooth-horn Skeletal disproportions at Makapan Tools and weapons A pre-stone tool-using period in which bones, teeth and horns were used How did they get all these bones? Violent predatory life Selective transport of the bones for the use of weapons -Dart and Makapan Bones 7000 fossil bones, mostly antelopes disproportions in sketched elements abundance of mandibles and some limbs Selected for tool and weapon use -Taphonomy

 Time 1.5

Processes affecting bones between the time an animal dies and when it gets buried and saved Animals damaging bones Human butchery of animals Water action Physical and chemical disintegration Site Swarthkarnas 2 Sterkfontein 5 Taphon Leopard brown hyena carnivores cats Cats hyenas eagles cats Striped hyenas

1.8 2

Swart 1 kromdraai taung Ster 4 Makapansgat

Taung baby was murdered by an eagle this is an example of taphonomy Homonins as the hunted Eagles at Taung Striped hyenas at Makapan Swarthkrans? This whole thesis was completely different from what dart said -SK 54 Paranthopus juvenile cranium specimen -Fossil leopard mandible -puncture leopard grabbed hominin victim Swarthkrans Swarthkrans tools -Developed Oldowan

-Digging sticks -Or scratching sticks? -Likely for termites -Toolmaker? Alternative analyses and interpretations Leopards Leopards and sabertooths Hyenas Sleeping site P. robustus the toolmaker and user Hand bones = hyena vomit Early homo butchering some animals

Olduvai Gorge Early stone tools (conchoidal fracture, cores and flakes, The olowan and its impact) History of research Stratigraphy, dating and paleoenvironments Keys archeological sites (FLK, FLKN6,DK)

Making stone tools Hammerstones, knock off flake, easy East Africa and the Oldowan, Open air sites Short term sites 1,000-3,000 tools per site, they were formed in a very short amount of time Mary Leakey began work at Olduvai Her point of view was that the cores were tools and that they had formed the cores into very specific shapes This isnt the whole story because it is the sharp edged flakes that we have evidence were more primarily used. She thought that these were throwaways What does this mean about life for the austrilopithecines?

-Mostly plant based food but also this indicates that they also ate small animals The advantage of stone tools Added efficiency with existing food resources New foraging opportunities -Making other equipment: sharp branches -Butchery for meat of large animals How much are we actually seeing? We cant trace organic materials, so we dont know how much of this they are using Ol Tupai- Oldoway, Olduvai Beds are numbered Bed I at base, volcanic ash layers, called tuffs, they are numbered by bed and then alphabetically: Tuff IA-Tuff IF Sites are labeled alphabetically and by level Zinjathropos Boisei East African man Charles Boise Changed to A. Boisei

Olduvai stratigraphy and dating 1 mya o bed IV o Bed III Rivers/ streams 1.2 mya o Bed II Lake 1.79 mya o Bed I Lake 2 mya

Hominins were breaking open bones for marrow FLK there over over 200 bones with cut marks Systematic butchery for meat and marrow Similar pattern of cut marks from Hadza

At least 48 dead animals Lifestyles of Early Homo Home base and food sharing model o Glynn Isaac o Logic of hunter-gatherer analogy o Archaeological Alternative models o T How human was early homo? Maybe very human o Living in home bases o Foraging with the division of labor Cooperation, sharing of surplus food Repeated transport of meat (butchered bones) Marked dietary shift o More meat o Hunting

FLKN6 Elephas recki Hazda adaptations Base camps Division of labor Men: meat and hhoney Women: plant foods Food surplus shared Cooperation Behavior leaves patterned material record Homo habilis OH 62 A species of hunters? Just one problem Its only 3 feet high Early African H. erectus

Or H. ergaster Had the body size and proportions of the modern humans

Alternative methods Taphonomic o Binford: the sites were hydraulic jumbles o Binford: the FLK site was a repeated lion kill site; homonois were the most marginal of scavengers there Behavioral o Blumenschine: homonids scavenged alreasy defleshed carnivore kills for bone marrow o Bunn: power scavenging and hunting significant meat and marrow, food- sharing What happened at FLK? A repeated lion kill site, with hominins as marginal scavengers? The best shade tree on the landscape repeatedly attracted hominins during their foraging A hominin living floor/ home badealmost a base camp? Homini-carnivore Interactions Large carnivore avoidance Large carnivore exploitation How o o o capable was early homo? Did they hunt? Did they scavenge from carnivores? Was FLK just a string of good luck?

If its not assive scavenging Then options are aggressive, power scavenging, or Hunting Which of these would Homo want to take on? Further analysis of FLK evidence Skeletal proportions Bone modifications (cut marks)

The bones that are eaten first are the ones that are at FLK Pretty strong evidence that hominins were getting access to the best part of the animal and bringing some back to the home-base

Evolution of human hunting Hunting as a foraging strategy Early Homo as ambush hunter? o The unthinkable, the unknowable the unavoidable When is hunting of large animals confirmed and no longer an issue? o 20,000 years ago (Upper Paleolithic) o 50, 000 years ago (Neanderthals) o 100,000 years ago (early H, sapiens) o 400,000 years ago (H. heidelbergensis) Limited number of ways to obtain a animal carcass: -scavenging -hunting 200 m away from FLK there was a spring which is a magnet for animals and animal bones FLK zinj provides a huge sample of animal parts Abundant butchered animal bones indicates that passive scavenging probably didnt happen Not only is there a dominant pattern of early access to the carcasses with the meat on it there is also evidence that this is a very popular site After hominins ate the animal there is evidence that other carnivores came along and scavenged the rest of the animal Skeletal evidence, bone modification Attritional population Overtime mortality effects the weakest members of the population, most often, peak in juvenile animal, not many prime adults dying regularly, on average its the more vulnerable, young and old who die Prime-dominated

Only way that this happens in nature is in selective human hunting for prime adults because normally prime adults are not vulnerable Apply this to FLK: If hominins scavenged from leopards to obtain small bovids, then the mortality pattern of small bovids at FLK should match what leopards kill FLK kin the end does not match what leopards are known to kill. This negates the hypothesis that hominins were scavenging from leopards Early Homo as an ambush hunter? No convincing weaponry preserved Endurance running o Bramble and Lieberman

Large bovids at FLK Prime adult waterbuck Consistent with ambush Not more vunerable ages Hominins ambushed bovids at FLK How human was early homo? Marked shift in diet Systematic butchery Meat from hunting and savenging Major plant component Land use and home bases Cooperation:division of labor When in prehistory is hunting of large animals confirmed? Around 20,000 years ago o Finely made spear points o Spear throwers for more force and accuracy o Specialized hunting and anatomically cognitively modern humans 50,000 years ago and neanderthanls o Rough, contriversal stone spear points

o Patterns of bone fractures consistent with close physical contract with large prey animals o Specialized hunting, abundant butcher evidence Around 100,000 years ago o Early anatomically modern H. sapiens o Klasies River Mouth, S. Africa o Rough stone spear points o Spear pint tip embedded in giant buffalo neck vertebra o Mortality profiles of very large prey animals indicate drinving herds and selective hunting 400,000 years ago o Homo heidelbergensis o Schoningnin, Germany o 3 long throwing spears of spruce wood o shorter thrusting spear

Out of Africa Hominins on the move o Conventional broad outline involving H. Erectus and advances technology o Archeuleun tools, fire, hunting From H. erectus to H. sapiens o Early H. sapiens in Africa o Late H. Erectus in Asia o The Neanderthals in Europe Little Floresians!

How hominins expanded out of Africa -Dry land (most archaeologists believe that this is the most plausible choice) -Boats/rafts? (no proof) -Closer to 1.7 mya The Archeuleun~ 1.7-0.3 mya Hand axes (top) Cleavers Multi-purpose tools?

Ubeidiya Israel .4 mya Developed Oldowan Acheuleun Recent Claims Carl Swisher Java H.erectus 1.8-1.6 mya, instead of less than 1 mya Dmnanisi, Georgia East of black Sea 1.8 mya Early H. erectus? Choppers and flakes Not Acheuleun Acheuleun By 1.7 mya Hand axes Cleavers Other cores and flakes Function? o Chopping pounding o Butchery o Cores o Missiles o Multi-purpose Control of fire Many advantages o Cooking o Keeping warm o Defense How?

o Found o When? Conventional view = by .5 mya Oldest claim = 1.6 mya at Koobi For a, Kenya Baked sediment Natural brush fire? Zhoukoudian, China 500,000-200,000 years ago Limestone cave systems Largest sample of H. erectus samples Choppers & flakes, cut and burned bones Deep ash concentrations

Torralba/Ambrona, Spain 400,000 years ago Clark Howell Acheuleun tools, burned wood Several dozen elephants in swampy deposit Adter 1 mya h. erectus evolves into archaic H. sapiens, i.e. homo heidelbergensis The situation 100.000 years ago The Late H. erectus still in parts of Asia Early H. sapiens in Africa Neanderthals in Europe The Little Floresians Homo Floresiensis Adult of this species were only 3 feet tall, less than ape sized brains Evolutionary dwarfing of H. erectus 18,000 Hunted dwarf elephants Found in a cave deposit At least one complete skeleton No evidence that they were buried intentionally

Art in the Paleolithic- the whole idea is that we are dealing with cognitively modern people A creative explosion o Upper Paleolithic tools Blades, burins, points Bone tools Needles Projectile points Fish hooks Harpoons Stylistic elements Bone buttons Hafting Spear throwers Increase in force, accuracy, and distance Bow & arrow Rapid turnover

Music o Musical instruments! o Isturitz, France Engravings of horse heads are found at many sites Clay bison sculptures o Found deep underground Specialized economy Elaborate structures Elaborate burials Population increase Artistic expression The Upper Paleolithic of Europe Paintings o Chauvet Types of animals are rare and unseen in the other cave paintings Mineral pigments mixed with animal fat and applied to the walls o Lasceaux Cave, southwest France

Dog discovery Completely sealed up since upper Paleolithic Huge place, packed with artwork Animal drawings are distributed in a certain pattern Had to have artificial light to go that far deep Also some kind of scaffolding system Colorful Lines could represent spears going into the animals Explanation for cave markings according to Breuil: linear features superimposed on the animals were spear, the whole idea was to guarantee future hunting success, problem: the kind of animals that show designs arent the species that are most abundant in the remains Socerer? Strange human-animal combination thingy Theres some deeper meaning

Why art? o Various explanations Hunting magic? Expressions about society Personal Le Solutre, France o MNI of 100,000 horses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! o Located in central France o Solutrian tools Mezhirich, Ukraine o Mammoth bone hut o 95 mandibles Sungir, Russia o Burials o Much more elaborate treatment of the bodies in the pits o Ivory beads Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic o Fired clay ceramics o Venus figurines

 Fertility? o Animals figurines o 27,000 years ago The First Americans Who? When? How? o Beringia, land bridge/mass, old world over to the new world Late Pleistocene, Bering land bridge Dry land between 25-11,000 years ago Ice-free corridor between continental glaciers Closed between 19-14,000 years ago Pleistocene megafauna and extinction The ecological settings and constraints Key archaeological sites and evidence o Dyuktai cave, syberia 18,000 o Meadowecroft Rock Shelter, PA 19-14,000 Coal contamination? Fauna contradicts climate at that date o Monte Verde, Chile 13,000 River valley Word preserved in deposit Human footprint If this were confirmed it would put to rest the idea of clovis first

o Lovis and Folsom, Nm 12,5000 o Old crow Was 27,000 Is 1350 years old Alternative models o Clovis-first model Clovis Indians were the first Americans, happened very late and caused Pleistocene extinction Paul Martin: Blitzkrieg and Pleistocene extinctions Rapid movement Annihilation of nave megafauna

Clovis Paleo-Indians to Southern S. America in 1000 years o Coastal model (Pacific and Atlantic) o Three-wave model Combines evidence from all across the new world 3 waves of immigrants broad linguistic groups skeletal evidence Paleoindians 12,500 o Big game hunters o Mammoths, bisons o Fluted spear points Olson-chubbuck, CO o Mass killed bison o 100s driven into gulley o Similar evidence lacking for many extinct species o Overall, humans and climate change involved

Review Lecture Material by TAs Readings Study lectures first then TA material and then lastly textbooks Opposing view points, brain and dart, Taung baby? Taung baby was found at Taung, only evidence from that site Brain was able to show that you dont need anything what dart says Eagle was the one that had probably killed and eaten the taung baby Triangular graphs and where early homo fits it You can determine the age and death of an animal by its teeth

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Maya

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Picture writing Monuments Spanish bonfires destroy Maya boks o Calendar system was one of the first things discovered o Celestial almanacs o

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