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Le milieu intérieur d'André Leroi-Gourhan et l'analyse de la taille de la pierre au Paléolithique
... Por outro lado, a intenção pode ser muito específica, como a debitagem de grandes lâminas, que requer uma cadeia operatória muito elaborada e que supõe conhecimentos específicos e um savoir-faire consistente 4 (PELEGRIN, 1985(PELEGRIN, , 1990. Porém, existe uma gama de casos intermediários (PELEGRIN, 2004). ...
... No mínimo, o exemplo supracitado permite reformular o objetivo da caracterização de uma indústria: não tanto descrever e tomar 36 dados sobre cada núcleo, cada 4 Nós definimos como cadeias operatórias elaboradas aquelas que associam as seguintes características (PELEGRIN, 2004): -quando os processos, ou mesmo o agenciamento de numerosas retiradas, são altamente variáveis em seus detalhes de peça por peça, mas terminam em um resultado similar; -presença de várias etapas marcadas por mudanças de operação, por exemplo: desbaste, preparação, debitagem, desenvolvimento da debitagem com novas preparações, etc., e/ou técnicas, mudança de percutor, por exemplo; -produtos finais de debitagem ou de façonagem normatizados ou mesmo estandardizados, segundo certas características independentes da morfologia inicial do material. Segundo essa definição, podem ser considerados, sem ambiguidade, como cadeias operatórias elaboradas as debitagens Levallois e laminares do período Paleolítico médio e superior, e também um bom número de peças façonadas, tais como as folhas de louro, os bifaces com duplo plano de simetria e bordos alinhados, presentes em certas indústrias acheulenses e mosterienses (BOEDA, GENESTE;MEIGNEN, 1990;BOEDA, 1994;RÉVILLION, 1994;ROCHE & TEXIER, 1991). ...
O estudo das indústrias líticas pré-históricas foi modernizado na França há quase 40 anos, graças à sinergia da problemática paleoetnológica de André Leroi-Gourhan e dos avanços metodológicos de Jacques Tixier. Assim, da tipologia tradicional, passou-se à apreciação dos comportamentos técnicos e econômicos dos grupos humanos pré-históricos. Mais recentemente foram integradas também noções da psicologia (conhecimento e savoir-faire, natureza das intenções) que permitem um enriquecimento qualitativo e interpretativo, como a detecção de aprendizes e especialistas, a "purificação" das formas de ver e de fazer, a identificação de prioridades, além das hipóteses explicativas sobre certas mudanças. Trata-se de uma conferência realizada durante a XIX Reunião da SAB, em Teresina, em setembro 2017.
... D'autre part, elle paraît faire resurgir le spectre d'un Néandertalien sans aucun capacité d'anticipation dans ses actes techniques ou de conceptualisation de ses actions (Binford, 1989), et des affirmations telles que : « Random variation is likely to be confused with a meaningful pattern of discrete variability » (Bar-Yosef et Van Peer, 2009, p. 114) sont invalidées par les exemples mêmes de débitages Levallois très largement remontés qui sont donnés à l'appui de la critique. S'il est vrai que l'on a eu tendance à trop systématiser la notion d'intentionnalité première, ou d'objectifs techniques précisément définis, le problème n'est, en réalité, pas un problème chronologique : des contre-exemples, sous forme de débitages peu investis et peu élaborés, se rencontrent dans les toutes les périodes, du Paléolithique ancien au Campaniforme (Perlès, 1991 ;Pelegrin, 2004 ;Bailly, 2006 ;Valentin, 2008, p. 48-54). ...
... Il est toutefois symptomatique que les concepts élaborés en France se rapportent le plus fréquemment à l'identification et la désignation de ces diverses stratégies : outre les concepts d'économie du débitage ou des matières premières (Inizan, 1980 ;Perlès, 1980Perlès, et 1991 on évoquera les chaînes opératoires simples ou élaborées, les chaînes opératoires ramifiées, les débitages intermittents, etc. (e. g. Bourguignon et al., 2004Bourguignon et al., et 2006Pelegrin, 2004 ;Féblot-Augustins, 2009 ;Meignen et al., 2009). Il est tout aussi symptomatique que, si ces différentes stratégies sont caractérisées de façon très fine, les mécanismes qui pourraient expliquer le choix de telle ou telle stratégie, dans un contexte donné, n'étaient initialement ni recherchés ni même évoqués, y compris par des auteurs familiers de la littérature anglo-saxonne (e. g. ...
The famous debate between François Bordes and Lewis Binford on the interpretation of Mousterian facies is a cornerstone in the development of technological approaches, both in France and the United States. However, the paths followed immediately diverged, and, forty to fifty years later, the gap has not been bridged. Mutual ignorance or incomprehension remain predominant. The present essay was undertaken to try to understand what appears to be a rather unique situation, since scientific exchanges are common in many other domains of prehistoric research. In France and in North America, technological approaches were essentially developed to address the question of the variability of lithic assemblages. North American specialists, in accordance with the development of the 'New Archaeology' during the 70's and 80's, undertook to develop middle range theories based on ethnographic data, and heavily relied in their interpretation on concepts derived from the 'Optimal Foraging Theory'. The factors of variability thus brought to light, such as mobility patterns or time stress, were transcultural and always related to environmental conditions, whether directly or indirectly. In the meantime, French scholars, before trying to explain lithic variability, were developing analytical tools able to bring to light the whole range of this variability, from the conception to the production of the tools, going beyond the static typological categories used thus far. The distinction between 'technique' and 'method' and the concept of 'chaîne opératoire' led, quite logically, to search for the primary 'intention' of the stone knapper, in an apprehension that was essentially qualitative. A similar notion of intentionality, this time at the level of the group, also underlay concepts developed a decade later and based on the notion of strategy: 'stratégie de débitage', 'économie des matières premières'. This is perhaps when, in the early 90's, French and North American lithic technological approaches missed a first opportunity to converge. In reaction to the simplistic ecological determinism of the first models, several North-American technological approaches-'Behavioral Chain', 'Design Theory', 'Organization of Technology'-now view technical choices as compromises between aims and constraints, in terms closely parallel to those of the French 'cognitive approaches'. At the same time, new and long-lasting concepts were explored on both side of the Atlantic: knowledge and know-how, transmission and apprenticeship, individual variability. But cross-references would be short lived: developed in answer to different questions, these concepts were investigated differently and applied to different scientific perspectives. The notion of transmission comforted the French culturalist perspective, while the spatialisation of the 'chaîne opératoire' led to a formidable development of techno-economic and socio-economic perspective, both at the scale of the settlement and the regional scale. These French approaches, despite their widespread applications, do not refer to specific theories and were never given a theoretical name. This may be one of the reasons why they were not adopted in the States. Indeed, the various approaches developed in the States on the basis of the same concepts are clearly labelled: 'Behavioral Archaeology' explicitly rests on the notion of intergenerational transmission, on analysis of the 'behavioral chain', and on the notion of strategy ('design'). 'Practice Theory and Social Agency' refers also explicitly to concepts developed by French sociologists (Bourdieu, Lemonnier) and initially used the data from French prehistoric excavations (Pincevent, Verberie, Etiolles) to demonstrate the possibility of individualizing 'agents' and their 'agency'. How the latter differ from the French 'individus' with their 'intentionalité' is not altogether clear. The notion of transmission, sometimes coupled with those of apprenticeship and know-how, is again central in the recent branches of Evolutionary Archaeology, whether 'Dual Inheritance Theory' based on Darwinian evolution, 'Human Behavioral Archaeology', or the recent development within the conceptual framework of 'Organization of Technology'. These last two approaches are certainly closer to French sensibility and scientific questioning, but they retain from earlier developments of Anglo-Saxon technological approaches the will to validate the interpretations through quantitative models and continue to give important weight to the notion of optimisation, totally foreign to French interpretative frameworks. This leads us to insist, in conclusion, on two points. First, the lack of explicit theoretical references in French lithic technological research, despite the importance of Mauss's and Leroi-Gourhan's thoughts in their development, appears to be a major handicap for Anglo-Saxon colleagues. However, behind these terminological issues, the divorce rests even more on methods and aims. In North America, the elaboration of interpretative models always seeks, in fine, to bring to light transcultural and transchronological regularities, validated, if possible, on formal or quantitative models. In France, to the contrary, research on technical variability has been mostly tuned to demonstrating the singularity of each (pre)historic regional development. In addition, the hierarchization of the different parameters under study, based on a qualitative evaluation, impeded any global statistical treatment, however complex. I mentioned at the start the opposition between Lewis Binford, who viewed the Mousterian facies as functional responses to environmental conditions, while François Bordes considered them as cultural. Beyond the fantastic developments of lithic technological approaches on each side of the Atlantic, the remarkable progress and the feeling of profound changes, this initial dichotomy remains, in reality an in-depth structure, reflecting diverging 'cultural traditions'.
... Neste sentido, para organizar e analisar as coleções, a principal abordagem é a Análise Tecnológica, que permite restituir as peças a seus lugares no seio de uma cadeia operatória (LEROI-GOURHAN, 1966, 1972INIZAN et al., 1995;PELEGRIN, , 2004BOEDA, 2001;etc.), utilizando a classificação morfo-tecnológica, a partir de um nível de hierarquização para cada elemento, o que permite julgar a homogeneidade técnica da coleção (RODET, 2006). ...
... utilizando a classificação morfo-tecnológica, a partir de um nível de hierarquização para cada elemento, o que permite julgar a homogeneidade técnica da coleção (RODET, 2006). Para isto, é necessário cruzar os dados observados sobre os suportes dos utensílios, sobre os núcleos e sobre os brutos de debitagem, o que permitirá isolar as grandes tendências das séries estudadas (TIXIER et al.,1980;GE-NESTE, 1991;BOEDA, 2001;PELEGRIN, , 2004etc.). ...
Este livro apresenta uma seleção de estudos realizados por especialistas sobre o tema de análises das produções líticas pré-históricas na América do Sul. Ao longo dos últimos anos, tal tema de pesquisa vem tomando um novo ímpeto. Este desenvolvimento quantitativo é acompanhado por uma renovação das abordagens teóricas e metodológicas. Os estudos tecnológicos tendem a substituir as análises puramente tipológicas, enquanto as identificações mais detalhadas das matérias primas e de suas fontes renovam as perspectivas econômicas e espaciais. A multiplicação dos estudos traceológicos está dando maior acesso à dimensão funcional dos instrumentos produzidos, e novas abordagens, como as análises tecnofuncionais, permitem uma caracterização e um entendimento mais profundo dos sistemas técnicos pré-históricos. De tal desenvolvimento, resulta uma rede mais densa de documentação das técnicas pré-históricas, que permite comparações diacrônicas e extra-regionais. Os oito capítulos deste livro tratam dos mais novos avanços relativos ao tema, abrangendo uma vasta área da América do Sul, incluindo regiões do Brasil e da Argentina. Tais estudos estão relacionados a toda a sequência pré-histórica continental, do Pleistoceno final ao Holoceno recente, e oferecem uma visão geral das metodologias e das perspectivas atuais relativas ao estudo das indústrias líticas.
... Cette notion de plaisir dans l'action et dans l'apprentissage (au sens d'acquisition ; de progrès dans la maîtrise) se voit actuellement confirmée, en ce que, comme la stimulation sensorielle, ils induisent l'activation de circuits de « récompense » dopaminergiques engagés dans la régulation de l'humeur et de la motivation chez l'Homme, objectivés par électro-neurophysiologie et imagerie médicale chez le singe (Schultz 2015). C'est aussi le plaisir d'apprendre, de comprendre, de perfectionner ses savoir-faire (sensori-moteur et idéatoire ; Pelegrin 1991Pelegrin , 2004. L'enfant, dans sa spontanéité, nous en donne l'évidence. ...
... Esta foi, até agora, a fase mais duradoura da humanidade, definida, em termos mais largos, a partir dos primeiros hominídeos, ao menos desde 2.5 milhões de anos atrás (Semaw et al. 2003;Ko 2016). Essa maneira de transmissão, a mais antiga e mecânica, continua parte essencial da cultura humana, sempre ligada à produção e uso de artefatos necessários para a alimentação, em particular (Isaac 1978;Pelegrin 2004). ...
O artigo trata dos desafios da digitalização das informações sobre o passado. Inicia-se com a apresentação de uma longa tradição de transmissão material e analógica das informações, desde a Antiguidade, tradição textual, imprensa, até a revolução informática e numérica. Apresentam-se, a seguir, as mudanças das últimas décadas no armazenamento e transmissão de informações, assim como crescente importância da realidade virtual no geral, e no que se refere à apresentação e tratamento do passado. No caso específico do mundo romano, multiplicaram-se os bancos de dados, tanto da tradição textual, como da imensa materialidade (inscrições, imagens, artefatos, construções e muito mais). Isso significa um acesso muito mais amplo e generalizado ao mundo romano. Outro aspecto refere-se à recriação virtual, que se amplia cada vez mais, tanto no meio acadêmico, como de divulgação. Isso gera questões epistemológicas pouco óbvias a respeito da diversidade interpretativa, na medida em que a ampliação das possibilidades construtivas virtuais leva à multiplicação de questionamentos sobre os modelos e pressupostos interpretativos. Talvez esse seja o maior desafio das novas tecnologias.
... Esta foi, até agora, a fase mais duradoura da humanidade, definida, em termos mais largos, a partir dos primeiros hominídeos, ao menos desde 2.5 milhões de anos atrás (Semaw et al. 2003;Ko 2016). Essa maneira de transmissão, a mais antiga e mecânica, continua parte essencial da cultura humana, sempre ligada à produção e uso de artefatos necessários para a alimentação, em particular (Isaac 1978;Pelegrin 2004). ...
... Knowledge and know-how are two concepts clearly defined by J. Pelegrin (see Pelegrin, 1991Pelegrin, , 1995Pelegrin, , 2004Inizan et al., 1999). "As knowledge can be classed the mental representations of forms and materials (concepts), and a register of action modalities (brief gesture sequences associated to their practical result). ...
... That these are using a different scale of observation in artefact-studies renders precise comparisons relatively lapsed. As well, the unfortunate identification of techniques by means of using the morphology of some single attributes solely from the whole item (barb or perforation, art pattern etc.), arbitrarily used then out of a pool for the purpose of the analysis (Andersen and Vang Petersen 2005, Gramsch 2004, Larsson 2006, has introduced undeniable confusion on the nature of the link perceived between the product, as resulting from a technical performance, and its conception, as pointing to a specific know how (Pelegrin 2004). Since not all the techniques are relevant to a particular knowledge, understanding the remarkable consistency of some regional industrial productions as just resulting from a matter of perspective (Riede 2008) is denying from archaeological facts evidence of needs of some groups to conform in practice to the very same conception in industrial production. ...
... Ainsi, la fabrication d'une hache perforée demande non seulement beaucoup plus de temps, mais aussi une maîtrise des savoir-faire qui va au-delà des acquis de base indispensables à la confection d'une hache simple. C'est ce qui permet de suggérer qu'un apprentissage supplémentaire a été nécessaire pour atteindre le niveau requis (Pelegrin, 2004). C'est toutefois un point qui demanderait à être confirmé expérimentalement. ...
This article deals with a phenomenon peculiar to the Final Neolithic of the Western Swiss Plateau, the emergence of perforated hammer-axes of Corded-Ware influence. Analysis of the corpus from the lakeside settlement of Saint-Blaise “ Bains des Dames” (Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland) provides new information about these emblematic objects. We can therefore propose new hypotheses regarding this subject in the context of the communities of this region, known as the Three-Lakes. The influence of the Corded-Ware Culture made itself felt at the eastern end of the Swiss Plateau during the second half of the third millennium BC. It then impacted ca. 2700 BC the Late Lüscherz Culture, which was established around the Three-Lakes. As a result of this meeting of cultures, the Auvernier Corded Ware Culture emerged. Houses remain essentially unchanged, but now have refuse tips at one end. The pottery shapes are progressively adapted to eastern models. At the same time, perforated hammer-axes are adopted and develop as a new prestige item. Only known from a few examples on the eastern Swiss sites, they are frequently manufactured in all the villages of the Three-Lakes region. The smaller versions of this artefact, however, have occasionally been considered by researchers as crude copies of those from the Corded-Ware Culture, or else as functional objects. At Saint-Blaise “ Bains des Dames”, hammer-axe production begins in the Early Auvernier Corded-Ware and attains a peak during the Late Auvernier Corded-Ware. Study of the chaîne opératoire shows that strict constraints were attached to the manufacture of these objects. The choice of raw material was restricted to a single variety of serpentinite, used in the form of cobbles. Furthermore, the manufacture of hammer-axes clearly required a greater know-how than that required for the everyday objects. We note that the failurerate is extremely high at every stage of the manufacturing process. Lastly, according to the spatial analysis, it would seem that the manufacture of hammer-axes took place in all the houses. The knowhow was thus mastered in each household. We are thus dealing with manufacture for personal use, undertaken at the household level yet subject to collective constraints. In fact, strong morphological similarities between objects indicate that standards were sometimes followed to within a millimetre. The adaptation of these norms to pebble size, ranging from 10-20 cm in length, explains variation in the size of the hammer-axes. These objects, far from being mediocre copies of an eastern model, are in fact the manifestation of a wellstructured autonomous system. The populations of the Three-Lakes fully adopted the hammer-axe, reinterpreting it to fit the constraints of the raw-material locally available. They thus turned it into an important object of prestige.
... La réalisation d'une opération technique repose à la fois sur des connaissances et des savoir-faire. 5 Le schéma opératoire qui la guide relève très largement du domaine des connaissances (Pelegrin 2004), tandis que la réalisation effective, la chaîne opératoire, met en jeu à la fois connaissances et savoir-faire. Le savoir-faire peut lui-même être décomposé: d'une part, le savoir-faire moteur ou sensorimoteur, i.e. la "capacité de programmation et d'exécution sensori-motrice de gestes de percussion adaptés", d'autre part le savoir-faire idéatoire: "la capacité d'adapter et de combiner les modalités d'action élémentaires, en imaginant leur résultat effectif à la situation présente, et en tenant compte de la difficulté de leur réalisation" (Pelegrin 2004: 155). ...
"Résumé: Parce que la circulation des idées et des objets est le moyen privilégié de mettre en évidence des échanges entre sociétés préhistoriques, n’a t-on pas tendance à considérer, corrélativement, que toute forme de diffusion témoigne d’échanges et d’interaction entre groupes? On attirera donc l’attention sur plusieurs points, nécessaires à considérer avant de parler d’interaction: la distinction entre traits ancestraux et traits dérivés, la similarité ou non des techniques de production, la distinction entre connaissances et savoir-faire, et parallèlement, la visibilité des éléments, signes, symboles, techniques ou formes, dont on étudie la diffusion."
... A chess expert can psychologically analyze a game (or better, a series of games between two players): he or she will be able to evaluate the skill level of the opponents (stereotyped sequences, simple reactions or one or several moves planned in advance), their intentions and priorities (central development, outgoing of pieces, attack, defense), and their knowledge (strategies for opening or closing -ending ?-the game). The same is true for the study of stone knapping methods, in which an experienced analyst can recognize stereotyped sequences that may be repeated (simple methods based on monotonous formulas of organization, Pelegrin 1993Pelegrin , 2004Pelegrin , 2005, appreciate different degrees of predetermination (predetermined removal or predetermining removal, cf. Boëda 1994Boëda , 1995, or analyze elaborate methods based on planning by objective(s) (Pelegrin 1990(Pelegrin , 2005. ...
... La différence de matière première disponible dans ces trois sites et la mise en évidence du même schéma opératoire général indiquent une certaine indépendance vis-à-vis du matériau de départ et donnent plus de poids à l'hypothèse culturelle « au sens d'une manière de faire et de voir » (Boëda, 1991b ;Pelegrin, 1995 durée du Riss, entrecoupée par plusieurs interglaciaires ou interstades : de 500 000/400 000 à 140 000 ans (delpech et al., 1995 ; delpech, 1999). Les couches 9 et 8 du Pech de l'Azé ii furent placées dans un premier temps vers 350 000 ...
The Meridional Acheulian, which is restricted to southwestern France, displays an apparent unity of lithic industries. However, a more precise analysis puts forward a great diversity of definitions : actually, Meridional Acheulian includes industries which are original among them and in relation to Northern France. This makes these assemblages difficult to understand. The expansion of lithic technology made the recognition of a “trifacial” knapping concept possible in several sites in Bergeracois. Concerning these assemblages, the Meridional Acheulian is not made up, for the greater part, of Acheulian bifacial industries but is rather defined by the use of a “trifacial” structure wich function is twofold : flaking and shaping. Flaking is nevertheless dominant. However, there are different points of view which continue to be discussed. Indeed, cultural production and environmental determinism constitute two different exponents of the “trifacial” phenomenon. The analysis of layer C’4 sup in Barbas I allows to join this site to those yielding “trifacial” matrices taking part in other reduction sequences. The comparison with some Bergeracois assemblages enables us to bring out some functional rules of the “trifacial” matrix, to consider again the discussion about cultural and environmental hypothesis and to define, beyond a cultural province, a technocomplex wich is a more neutral term and which puts together these sites yielding “trifaces”.
... These data therefore suggest possible complementary approaches to simple and complex production systems (Roche and Texier 1991; Texier and Roche 1995). The coexistence in numerous periods of less complex systems with more sophisticated ones – a phenomenon emphasized by Jacques Pelegrin (2004) – contradicts the idea of diachronic evolution of technological production in a linear fashion ...
Analyses of Middle Paleolithic technological behaviors - and by extension of Neandertal cognitive capacities and mobility organization - have been revolutionized by theoretical perspectives devised from lithic technological and raw material investigations. Binary oppositions such as "Levallois/non-Levallois" are increasingly regarded as oversimplifications since differing reduction strategies are apparent in the same archaeological assemblages. Various factors including raw material quality and cyclical reduction are reflected in multiple lithic matrices. Detailed analyses of chaînes opératoires provided insights on the structures of lithic technological behaviors. The authors refer to extensive data from recent excavations in France and Belgium to argue that Middle Paleolithic tool provisioning and management strategies show clear organization and planning depth, even if those strategies differ from those of the Upper Paleolithic.
Este artículo presenta las bases teóricas y metodológicas de los estudios tecnológicos líticos de la escuela prehistórica francesa, siguiendo (en este caso concreto) las directrices desarrolladas por J. Pelegrin, del Laboratorio de Investigación Technologie et Ethnologie des Mondes PrehistoriqueS (UMR 8068 TEMPS) del CNRS (Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques). Para la aplicación de estos principios se ha elegido un conjunto lítico de talla procedente del yacimiento arqueológico de Yurac Corral (Ayacucho, Perú). El conjunto lítico aquí presentado forma parte de un ensamblaje mayor que fue analizado en la tesis doctoral realizada por L. Valenzuela Leyva, bajo la dirección de J. Pelegrin. Aunque Yurac Corral apenas ha sido explorado y por tanto no disponemos de todos los elementos que completen el panorama de la actividad de talla, consideramos que la muestra aquí presentada representa una primera aproximación para entender cómo podría aplicarse esta metodología. Así, nuestro artículo pretende introducir al lector en este enfoque, considerando que las propuestas están siempre abiertas a discusión, según los diferentes contextos arqueológicos.
Resumo No Brasil, existe uma abundância de indústrias líticas pré-históricas realizadas sobre cristal de quartzo. Esta matéria prima tem sido trabalhada tanto pela percussão direta dura, quanto pela percussão sobre bigorna. Neste artigo, propõe-se apresentar as experimentações realizadas referentes à percussão sobre bigorna. Os trabalhos tiveram como guia a metodologia adaptada da Escola Francesa e o Programa Experimental foi baseado nas problemáticas levantadas pelo estudo da coleção lítica proveniente do sítio arqueológico Bibocas II, localizado no município de Jequitaí, estado de Minas Gerais. Palavras-chave: Quartzo, Percussão sobre Bigorna, Experimentação Lítica.
Typological studies applied on the osseous industry developed slowly in France following the pioneering work of H. Camps-Fabrer and the technological renewal that F. Billamboz and D. Stordeur brought to this field in the 1970–1980s. This field has been thriving since the 2000s. Technology represents part of a systemic approach where each component of a technical system is analysed as to its purpose, its structure and its connection to other components of the socio-economic system. Nevertheless, technology is not an end in itself. Any technological observation must be considered in its sociological and palaeohistorical context in order to understand, not only the activities that took place during the occupation of a site, but more broadly to translate these data into “a realistic story of human behaviours”. That is why reducing osseous technology to analysis of technical stigmata alone oversimplifies the potentials of this approach. We will illustrate this topic using Aurignacian and Gravettian examples from a few key French and Spanish sites. By showing technical and conceptual differences in the manufacturing of osseous projectile points (e.g. split-based points) in assemblages usually considered homogeneous, we can infer the existence of different techno-typological traditions and discuss if they are – or not – representative of different cultural traditions. Various technical details such as splitting base preparation by scraping, are significant indicators allowing discussion of whether there was diffusion of ideas and/or human groups from one side of the Pyrenees to the other at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic.
In Western Europe at least, the variability of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic production systems is founded still largely on the linear succession of pebble tool industries followed by bifaces industries (see the Acheulean) and those characterized by the debitage of flakes (see the Mousterian), though this succession, as a highly reductory scope. In the present state of the researches, the systemic approach of the processing sequences that occured during this long time span permits to identify several fundamental principles ruling tool production that are based on the use of the and/or of the debitage. In this paper, the different operating sequences are described in succession at different levels of analysis. The operating sequences among which the differents stages of biface knapping are most detailed, are first dealt with ; they are followed by the debitage operating sequences with a particular focus on the various Levallois methods ; the original trifacial operating sequences that have been described so far in South West France assemblages, are studied finally.
Decision making in Lower and Middle Palaeolithic times is documented through examination of samples from Acheulian and Mousterian lithic assemblages. The application of a detailed attribute analysis to the assemblages facilitates the isolation of specific patterns and modes which are examined through time. Decision making, as early as Ubeidiya times (Lower Palaeolithic) is already a complex phenomenon, the Berekhat Ram and Quneitra examples illustrate that it is a dynamic process and that some elements may change while others remain stable.
Skills involved in the knapping of Harappan long carnelian beads are studied in order to assess their value as well as knappers’ socio‐economic status. Skills are studied by reference to present‐day bead knapping in Khambhat, India. They are examined from the way actors are able to handle the complexity of the task and achieve it. They are analyzed in terms of learning difficulties and duration of apprenticeship. The methodology followed is proper to the psychological field. It enables us to understand, in particular, the necessary long apprenticeship required for knapping long beads whatever the culture in which it takes place. It follows that Harappan long carnelian beads are interpreted on the one hand as made by highly skilled craftsmen who developed specialized skills for a very limited demand, on the other hand as highly valuable.
A long-term collaborative study by palaeolithic archaeologists and cognitive psychologists has continued in its investigations into the stone tool-making and tool-using abilities of a captive bonobo (a 180 pound male, named Kanzi, aged 12 years at the time of experiments reported here). A major focus of this study has been examination of the lithic reduction strategy over time and detailed analysis of the artefacts Kanzi has produced in 2 years of experimentation since our original report. Kanzi has exhibited marked improvement in his stone-working skills, although to date the artefacts he has produced still contrast with early hominid-produced artefacts in a number of attributes. Statistical analysis revealed that Kanzi is clearly preferentially selecting larger, heavier pieces of debitage (flakes and fragments) for use as tools.
Specialisation technique, economique et sociale de la taille des pierres d'agate et de cornaline : analyse de la chaine de production, de la technique elle-meme, de la differenciation des produits en trois groupes qui correspondent a trois groupes specifiques d'artisans. Competences, performances, apprentissage; le degre de technicite est lie au temps d'apprentissage
Le « debitage laminaire magdalenien » a le meme sens pour tous les prehistoriens. La lecture d'un processus technique passe par l'elaboration d'une norme qui n'en est que la trame, etablie a partir d'un ensemble de sequences operatoires. Cette trame constitue le « facies technique » et renvoie a une image du patrimoine. Mais chacune de ces sequences affiche des caracteres specifiques qui lui donne une identite propre. Ces variations par rapport a la norme interviennent a differents niveaux et pour differentes raisons (facteur contextuel, facteurs constitue par le « savoir faire » et envisage dans les « manieres de faire ».
L’etude des pratiques techniques theoriques prehistoriques a suivi une allure plutot discontinue, depuis la reconnaissance vers le milieu du siecle dernier d'une humanite « antediluvienne ». Des ce tout debut, c'est en reference au domaine des techniques que se forme la trame des toutes premieres classifications, comme celle de Thomsen en 1836 (succession des âges de la pierre, du bronze et du fer) et la distinction entre un paleolithique suivi d'un neolithique, termes crees par J. Lubbock en...
This article uses Piagetian genetic epistemology to characterise the intelligence of later Acheulean hominids. In particular the Piagetian concepts of reversibility and conservation are used to assess the spatial concepts used by the hominids who manufactured the artefacts from the Isimila Prehistoric Site, Tanzania. It is concluded that these artefacts required the organisational abilities of operational intelligence and that, therefore, the hominid knappers were not significantly less intelligent than modern adults. Such a conclusion indicates that increasing intelligence has not been a significant factor in cultural evolution for at least the last 300,000 years. Concluding that later Acheulean hominids employed operational thought also suggests that such cultural realms as kinship and cosmogony may have been more complex than archaeologists have heretofore imagined.
Archaeology can be used to study the evolution of human intelligence but to do so archaeologists must employ well established theories of intelligence. Piagetian theory is especially useful because it is evolutionary in scope and, just as important, can be used to analyze stone tools, the most abundant residue of prehistoric behavior. Using Piagetian method to analyze artefact geometries, it has been possible to assess the intelligence of 2 groups of early hominids. Oldowan tools required very simple spatial concepts, indicating an intelligence not must greater than that of modern apes. This suggests that human evolution prior to 1.5 million years ago may not have involved selection for intelligence. Later Acheulean artefacts required sophisticated spatial concepts, indicating that an essentially modern intelligence had evolved by 300 000 years ago. -Author
Recent studies of animals with complex nervous systems, including humans and other primates, have improved our understanding
of how the brain accomplishes learning and memory. Major themes of recent work include the locus of memory storage, the taxonomy
of memory, the distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge, and the question of how memory changes with time,
that is, the concepts of forgetting and consolidation. An important recent advance is the development of an animal model of
human amnesia in the monkey. The animal model, together with newly available neuropathological information from a well-studied
human patient, has permitted the identification of brain structures and connections involved in memory functions.
There could be a relationship between the increasing complexity of the brain from the austra‐lopithecines to modern man and the increasing complexity of the techniques used by palaeolithic people. Evolution of these techniques may have been done by steps, more or less parallel to the steps in the physical development of man. However, after the level of modern man was attained, the mechanism seems to change and the acceleration of the cultural evolution is probably a consequence, on the one hand, of the growth of the population, and on the other hand of a better utilization of the new capacities of abstraction.
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W.W. et Desmond-Clark J. eds. Back-ground to evolution in Africa. Proceedings of a symposium held at
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