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3 Examples of Post-Swiderian arrowheads and inserts in eastern Fennoscandian assemblages and slotted bone tools from eastern Fennoscandia and the Ivanovskoje 7 site, north-western Russia. All lithic artefacts are flint, except the quartz inserts from Rusavirto (9) and the silicified sandstone arrowhead and insert from Sujala (3 and 6). The fragmentary slotted point from Rusavierto (10) is burnt. Find locations and references: 1) stray find point of the large Pulli type from Nilsiä (Manninen and Hertell 2011); 2) arrowhead from Lahti Ristola (after Takala 2004); 3) arrowhead from Utsjoki Sujala (after Kankaanpää and Rankama 2011); 4) arrowhead from Ilomantsi Niemenjärvi (Hertell and Manninen 2006); 5) arrowhead from Lappeenranta Saarenoja 2 (after Jussila et al. 2012); 6) insert from Utsjoki Sujala (after Rankama and Kankaanpää 2008); 7) insert from Lappeenranta Saarenoja 2 (after Jussila et al. 2012); 8) insert from Lahti Ristola (after Takala 2004); 9 and 10) inserts and slotted point from Saarijärvi Rusavierto (after Schulz 1996); 11) slotted point from Ivanovskoje 7 (after Skakun et al. 2011); 12) slotted tool from Antrea (after Pälsi 1920).
Citations
... However, these same technologies leave foragers unprepared to take advantage of last-minute subsistence opportunities or cope with changes in resource scheduling (Nelson, 1991;Vaquero & Romagnoli, 2018). Composite bladelet technology, while reliable and effective, is also portable and flexible: identical bladelets can be used with a variety of implements, allowing foragers to adapt to unpredictable circumstances with a relatively limited toolkit (Bjørnevad et al., 2019;Lombard & Parsons, 2008;Manninen et al., 2018;Yaroshevich et al., 2010). As such, we hypothesize that Robberg technologies were adopted at Melikane as a solution to increasing subsistence risk during the early LGM. ...
... Technological systems in the European Mesolithic exemplify the versatility of such a system (Manninen et al., 2021). Mesolithic slotted bone tools including inset points, daggers, and knives had myriad uses -some as projectiles, others as harvesting implements (Bjørnevad et al., 2019;Knutsson et al., 2016;Manninen et al., 2018Manninen et al., , 2021. Similarly, Robberg bladelets from Sehonghong and Rose Cottage Cave have usewear traces not only from hunting tasks, but also from cutting and processing activities (Binneman, 1997;Binneman & Mitchell, 1997;Wadley, 1996). ...
Melikane, a large sandstone rockshelter in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of highland Lesotho, preserves an 80,000-year-old archaeological sequence including an occupation pulse dated to the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), ~27–23 kcal BP. Paleoenvironmental proxies indicate that temperature depressions of ~6 °C below present values provoked changes in vegetation distribution around the site. The onset of the LGM also coincides with a global shift towards microlithization, expressed in southern Africa as the Later Stone Age Robberg bladelet industry. Bousman and Brink’s (Quaternary International 495:116–135, 2018) rapid replacement hypothesis asserts that this technocomplex was adopted nearly simultaneously across the subcontinent ~24 ka cal BP, replacing the Early Later Stone Age technologies that preceded it. An alternative model, which we term the LGM acceleration hypothesis, suggests that the Robberg developed slowly as existing technologies were modified and expanded to function flexibly in a variety of LGM environments. In this paper, we test these hypotheses at Melikane through attribute and morphometric analyses of > 17,000 lithic artifacts. Intrasite continuities and gradual, asynchronous changes in flaking systems are inconsistent with rapid replacement. Instead, the subtle refinement of bladelet reduction strategies alongside climate shifts and a reorganization of mobility and settlement systems supports our LGM acceleration hypothesis. However, Melikane’s combination of highland-specific idiosyncrasies and shared flaking systems with sites in less marginal environments suggests a complex role for cultural transmission. We suggest that periodic isolation throughout the LGM encouraged the development of new flaking systems, the most flexible of which were adopted in a variety of environments when biogeographic barriers to transmission were lifted.
... . Dans le lithique, elle implique une reconfiguration industrielle au niveau régional consécutive à l'application de nouvelles modalités dans la fabrication de l'équipement de chasse ainsi tournées vers la production de lamelles dites normalisées (Damlien 2016 ;Manninen et al. 2018 ;Sørensen 2012). Dans l'os travaillé, les pièces à lamelles sont représentées par de nombreux types de couteaux et d'armes (sagaies, pointes de flèche). ...
... The natural environment during the Early Mesolithic settling of North Karelia is discussed in detail elsewhere (Manninen et al. 2018;Tallavaara et al. 2014). The Baltic Sea basin has evolved through successive sea phases, known as the Baltic Ice Lake, the Yoldia Sea, the Ancylus Lake and the Littorina Sea. ...
In this paper we describe the results of small-scale archaeological fieldwork projects carried out in North Karelia, Finland, in 2003-2014, which ended up having a far greater research impact than anyone could have anticipated. The projects yielded a multitude of new and relevant information, especially on the Early Mesolithic, including the earliest radiocarbon dates for human occupation in Eastern Fennoscandia. Results of this research have been published in a variety of venues. We use this opportunity to present the first summary of these results and to emphasize that even with discontinuous short-term funding it is possible to carry out ambitious and influential research. Over the years, Karelia has been one of the main focus areas of Mika Lavento's research. We want to honour Mika's 60th birthday by providing an overview of the results of our studies conducted in the northern parts of this large geographical and administrative area.
... Molin & Wikell, 2009), a raw material known to produce a large proportion of waste compared to, for instance, chert or flint (Tallavaara et al., 2010). Moreover, finds of slotted bone points with inset flakes and flake fragments of vein quartz in Sweden and Finland (Knutsson et al., 2016;Manninen et al., 2018;Pälsi, 1920) indicate that also a strategy utilizing insets produced as a part of flake core reduction was employed. Evidently, the inset raw material or the reduction methods used to produce the insets were not decisive elements in this technology in our study area, although future experimental work could substantiate to what degree inset standardization impacts function and re-tooling costs. ...
Slotted bone tools are an iconic example of composite tool technology in which change in one of the components does not require changing the design of the other parts. Commonly, slotted bone tools are seen through the lens of lithic technology, highlighting organizational aspects related to serial production of insets, reliability and maintainability. In this framework, slotted bone tool technology is associated with risk aversion in demanding environmental settings. Here, we provide the first overview of radiocarbon-dated slotted bone tools in northernmost Europe and the East European Plain, including 17 new direct dates on pitch glue, and show that the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene period of inset slotted bone tool use in this area shows marked variation and idiosyncrasy in associated lithic technology against a trend of continuously warming climate. We suggest that historical specificity and path-dependence, rather than convergent evolution, best explain the variability seen in slotted bone tool technology in the studied case, and that slotted bone tools in general formed an organizationally flexible, adaptable and hence likely adaptive technological solution that met a wide variety of cultural and technological demands.
... 35 E. g. Clark 1936;David 2006;Hartz et al. 2010;Sørensen 2012;Bergsvik/David 2015;Damlien 2016;Knutsson et al. 2016;Manninen et al. 2018. here, made on a pitch glue sample obtained from the actual point, brings the date further forward by at least 1700 years. ...
The article describes the results of the interdisciplinary studies of a unique bone slotted point from Tłokowo, north-eastern Poland. The artefact was discovered in 1989, and indirect dating suggested an Early Mesolithic date. In this article we present the results of direct radiocarbon dating of the point, which shows that it is almost 2000 years younger than previously suggested. In addition, physical-chemical studies of the adhesive used to mount the flint inserts inside the point were conducted. The results of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) analysis indicate that the adhesive is birch tar. Finally, the article presents the results of detailed traceological studies that allow interpretation of the technology of production and possible function of the point. For the analysis, as well as various types of microscopes, optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used. In the discussion the results of all the analyses are considered alongside our current knowledge of this type of Mesolithic points in Europe.
... It is assumed that the spread of this technology in northern Europe was related to the arrival of so-called post-Swiderian groups from the eastern European plain in the early postglacial (e.g. Sørensen 2012; Bergsvik & David 2015;Damlien 2016;Knutsson et al. 2016;Manninen et al. 2018), while the latest use of slotted bone tool technology in the area is documented from the fifth millennium BC in southern Scandinavia (e.g. Larsson 2005). ...
All too often archaeological objects are found as stray finds. As such, they have little or no contextual information, which often makes them difficult to handle analytically and in terms of their exhibition appeal. As a consequence, they often languish un-researched in museum storerooms and there is the critical risk that such objects fall victim to the ongoing curation crisis and are deaccessioned due to a perceived lack of value. Therefore, in this paper we aim to illustrate the applicability of an extended biographical approach to such legacy material by studying the changing character of the Ulbi dagger, an Early Mesolithic flint-edged bone dagger, in its both archaeological and modern contexts. By using both a combination of traditional archaeological methods, coupled with a critical analysis of past illustrations, the dagger went from an isolated, undated, and unique object to a tool with a complex life history extending more than 9000 years. Our analysis reveals multiple stages of manufacturing and ornamentation including the presence of possible anthropomorphic figures. Use-wear analysis also allows us to address the object's likely primary function. Finally, we speculate about its deposition and discuss previously overlooked post-recovery episodes of damage and repair.
... , the recognition of the use of a pressure technique to produce regular blades from conical to semi-conical cores in the early post-glacial assemblages from Finland and Norway (Inizan 2012; Jussila et al. 2012; Kankaanpää & Rankama 2012; Knutsson & Knutsson 2012; Manninen & Hertell 2011; Rankama & Kankaanpää 2011; Sørensen et al. 2013; Damlien 2016), has brought new evidence to support a north-eastern route for the migration of people and knowledge to northernmost Norway in the early Holocene.At the moment, the eastern or "post-Swiderian" technology can be distinguished by the use of pressure blade technology and related core preparation methods (seeSørensen et al. 2013; Damlien 2016 for detailed technological descriptions). A probably related technology (seeKnutsson et al. 2016;Manninen et al. 2018), that is, slotted point manufacture using the so called Z-method (Zamostje) is also distinguished in the east, while blade production by direct percussion and opposite platform cores as well as bone tool production using the so-called D-method(Danish) is characteristic for the "western" epi- Ahrensburgian and Maglemosian assemblages (Figure 6; David 2009; Sørensen et al. 2013; Bergsvik & David 2015). The presence of this technology in southern Norway and south-eastern Sweden by ca. ...
A two-way colonization pattern has been observed for most terrestrial pioneer and boreal forest species in Norway after the last glacial period: One route from the south, and another from the east through northernmost Fennoscandia. It is generally accepted that these routes represent plant and animal populations spreading from separate glacial refugia, a pattern manifested by genetic differences. The traditional model of pioneer colonization of the Scandinavian peninsula, however, suggests only a southern route for the early human dispersal and only recently has this view started to change. Here we present the foundations for the Pioneers of North-Western Europe project (Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway) that aims at clarifying the colonization patterns of the early post- glacial humans in north-western Europe by challenging and testing the views of unidirectional human dispersal. This is achieved by tracing the spread of distinct knowledge-intensive operational chains of stone tool technology and by comparing the results with independent ancient human DNA data.
Keywords: aDNA, mtDNA, lithic technology, bone technology, colonization, modeling
Melikane, a large sandstone rockshelter in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of highland Lesotho, preserves an 80,000 year-old archaeological sequence including two layers (4 & 5) dated to the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), ~ 24 kcal BP. Paleoenvironmental proxies indicate that these layers were associated with increasing aridification and changes in resource distribution. An analysis of > 17,000 lithic artifacts combining attribute and morphometric approaches reveals that these environmental changes occurred alongside the adoption of Later Stone Age (LSA) Robberg bladelet technology at the site (Layer 4), which developed out of an early microlithic industry we classify as “incipient Robberg” (Layer 5). We argue that the accelerated implementation and standardization of bladelet technology in Layer 4 was the consequence of modifying and expanding existing technologies to function in a high-stakes LGM environment. While intrasite continuities and gradual changes in flaking systems at Melikane are inconsistent with the Robberg’s arrival via population replacement or migration (cf. Bousman and Brink, 2018), shared flaking systems with penecontemporary sites also implicate a role for cultural transmission in the Robberg’s development and demand an alternate explanation for its use in nonmarginal environments. We attribute its adoption in southern Africa more broadly to the extraordinary flexibility of bladelet technology and an ongoing cycle of connectivity and isolation throughout the LGM, encouraging the development of new flaking systems and their subsequent coalescence and diffusion.
Experimental studies suggest that the high fragmentation tendency of vein quartz can be controlled to some degree by favorable technological choices, i.e., by producing thicker artifacts and by using bipolar-on-anvil reduction. In this paper, I explore the question of whether strategies that reduce quartz fragmentation were used in prehistory and present data that suggest that this was often the case. It has been suggested that due to its fragmentation proneness vein quartz should have been avoided by highly mobile groups when raw materials of better flakeability and controllability were available because of higher transportation costs and greater risk of raw material failure when using quartz. The data presented here shows that quartz nevertheless was not always avoided by highly mobile groups but that the inclusion of quartz into the raw material base necessitated the acceptance of thicker tools when using relatively large flake blanks, or the use of technological strategies that compensated for the risk of failure when relatively thin quartz flakes were in use.
