Shape Variation in Aterian Tanged Tools and the Origins of Projectile Technology: A Morphometric Perspective on Stone Tool Function

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Aterian is both much older than previously assumed, and certainly associated with fossils exhibiting anatomically modern human morphology and behavior. The Aterian is defined by the presence of 'tanged' or 'stemmed' tools, which have been widely assumed to be among the earliest projectile weapon tips. The present study systematically investigates morphological variation in a large sample of Aterian tools to test the hypothesis that these tools were hafted and/or used as projectile weapons. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Both classical morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis of tool outlines are used to show that the shape variation in the sample exhibits size-dependent patterns consistent with a reduction of the tools from the tip down, with the tang remaining intact. Additionally, the process of reduction led to increasing side-to-side asymmetries as the tools got smaller. Finally, a comparison of shape-change trajectories between Aterian tools and Late Paleolithic arrowheads from the North German site of Stellmoor reveal significant differences in terms of the amount and location of the variation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The patterns of size-dependent shape variation strongly support the functional hypothesis of Aterian tools as hafted knives or scrapers with alternating active edges, rather than as weapon tips. Nevertheless, the same morphological patterns are interpreted as one of the earliest evidences for a hafting modification, and for the successful combination of different raw materials (haft and stone tip) into one implement, in itself an important achievement in the evolution of hominin technologies

Variability and continuity of ceramic manufacturing of prehistoric pottery from Upper Nubia, Sudan: An ethnographic comparison

In Nubia (currently northern Sudan), the art of making pottery has a very ancient and durable tradition, dating 20 back to the earlyHolocene and preceding the introduction of a food-producing economy. Ethnographic case stud- 21 ies have demonstrated that this tradition has been preserved in many areas of the country. This paper presents a 22 comparative study of ancient and modern traditional ceramics fromfour prehistoric sites at Sai Island, in the river 23 Nile, and a present-dayworkshop located in the nearby village of Abri. The aim of the study was to investigate any 24 diachronic changes in the selection of clayey raw material and the technological processes of themanufacturing 25 sequence. The study combined macroscopic and analytical approaches and examined a large set of ceramic and 26 local clay samples by means of petrographic (OM), mineralogical (X-ray powder diffraction; XRPD) and chemical 27 (X-ray fluorescence; XRF) analyses. The resulting data underline a remarkable continuity in raw material sourc- 28 ing and composition, as well as in many technological processes, from the ceramic assemblages dating from 29 Abkan cultural horizon (c. 5500 BCE) until to the present-day production in Abri. This continuity emerged after 30 a preceding discontinuity, indicated by a different selection of clay raw material and tempers in the oldest pro- 31 duction dating to the Khartoum Variant horizon (c. 7600–4800 BCE)