ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY of LONDON the Obsidian Evidence
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ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY The Obsidian Evidence for the Scale of Social Life during the Palaeolithic by Theodora Moutsiou Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2011 1 This thesis presents the results of original research undertaken by the author and none of the results, illustrations or text are based on the published or unplublished work of others, except where specified and acknowledged. Signature: Date: 2 ABSTRACT The social aspect of modern hominin behaviour is a neglected subject within recent Palaeolithic research. This thesis addresses this issue arguing that modern social behaviour is reflected in the hominin ability to create and maintain extended social networks where relatedness is successfully sustained in absentia. Archaeologically, modern social behaviour can be detected through the investigation of raw material movement. This thesis argues that by concentrating on materials that are rare, distinctive and their origins can be securely identified it is possible to reconstruct the dimensions of the exchange networks involved in their circulation. The proposition being tested is that the greater the distances of raw material movement the more advanced the behavioural abilities of the individuals involved in the transfers. Obsidian provides an opportunity to reconstruct the scale of its movement and to use these data to infer the changing scale of social life during the Palaeolithic. Using the distances of obsidian movement a network model is developed and used in the reconstruction of the Palaeolithic social landscape. This research brings together for the first time all the published instances of obsidian use during the Palaeolithic. Obsidian-bearing sites from the Palaeolithic and located in Africa, Europe and the Near East are analysed with the aim of elucidating the evolution of modern social behaviour. GtJi15 (Kenya) and Bodrogkerestúr (Hungary) serve as the case studies for the exploration of the distance effect on technological and typological issues of the obsidian movement. The research demonstrated a strong correlation between obsidian use and long distances. The choice of obsidian makes sense within a system of exchange in which hominins chose to obtain their materials from elsewhere in order to maintain social links with other, more distant, groups. I argue that the scale of obsidian movement, although conditioned by a number of climatic, ecological and anatomical constraints, is actually rooted in social grounds. I thereby reject theories that see behavioural modernity as a recent advance in human history and argue for modern behaviour as gradual process that was initiated in East Africa at least as early as the Middle Stone Age. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………..3 TABLE OF CONTENTS……………4 LIST OF TABLES………..9 LIST OF FIGURES………….15 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………..20 CHAPTER 1 Introduction: Aims and Questions 1. INTRODUCTION...................24 2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS............25 3. RESEARCH AIMS AND HYPOTHESES..........26 4. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES...............29 5. THESIS OUTLINE.............29 6. SUMMARY.................31 CHAPTER 2 The Geology and Archaeology of Obsidian 1. INTRODUCTION..........................33 2. OBSIDIAN UTILITY IN RAW MATERIAL MOVEMENT STUDIES/OBSIDIAN IN SCIENCE..............................33 3. WHAT IS OBSIDIAN?...........36 3.1. Chemical Properties.........36 3.2. Physical Properties.........37 4. WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT OBSIDIAN?....................38 4.1. Scarcity/Distance................45 4.2. Knapping Quality/Function..................46 4.3. Aesthetic Quality/Brilliance..............47 4 5. BRINGING OBSIDIAN AND PALAEOLITHIC SOCIETY TOGETHER.........52 CHAPTER 3 A Model of Obsidian Raw Material Movement 1. INTRODUCTION..................55 2. MODELS OF LITHIC RAW MATERIAL PROCUREMENT AND MOVEMENT....55 3. DEVELOPING A MODEL FOR PALAEOLITHIC OBSIDIAN.......................60 3.1. Anatomical and Life History Implications for Raw Material Movement.....60 3.2.1. Walking, Home Range Sizes and Movement of Mating Partners.......63 3.2.2. Birth Spacing and Load-carrying................73 4. SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE PALAEOLITHIC..............75 4.1. Local versus Extended Networks.............77 5. A MODEL OF PALAEOLITHIC OBSIDIAN USE AND MOVEMENT............79 5.1. The Model...............81 CHAPTER 4 Methodology 1. INTRODUCTION.........84 2. BASIC TERMINOLOGY............84 3. PRACTICAL PARAMETERS OF THE METHODOLOGY..........86 3.1. Framework for Data Collection...........86 3.1.1. Typologies........87 3.1.2. Definitions of Lithic Terminology.........87 3.2. Global Dataset.................88 3.2.1. Framework for Data Collection..............88 3.2.2. Recorded Criteria............89 3.2.3. Digitisation of Data..............91 3.2.4. Obsidian Distances..............92 5 3.3. Case Studies..........................93 3.3.1. Excavation and Museum Research..............93 3.3.2. Recorded Criteria...........93 3.4. Problems and Biases of the Sampling and Recording Strategy.......99 4. SUMMARY.............100 CHAPTER 5 Gazetteer of Palaeolithic Obsidian in Africa, Europe and the Near East 1. INTRODUCTION.................101 2. CONTINENTS AND REGIONS...............101 2.1. Africa................101 2.1.1. Tectonic Evolution and Obsidian Sources in Africa..........101 2.1.2. Gazetteer of African Palaeolithic Obsidian-bearing Sites ............109 2.2. Europe.......................128 2.2.1. Tectonic Evolution and Obsidian Sources in South-eastern Europe.....128 2.2.2. Missing Obsidian Sources in Other Parts of Europe?.........132 2.2.3. Tectonic Evolution and Obsidian Sources in Central Europe .............133 2.2.4. Gazetteer of European Palaeolithic Obsidian-bearing Sites...................140 2.3. Near East..................155 2.3.1. Tectonic Evolution and Obsidian Sources in Turkey.........155 2.3.2. Tectonic Evolution and Obsidian Sources in the Caucasus.............158 2.3.3. Gazetteer of Near Eastern Palaeolithic Obsidian-bearing Sites............164 CHAPTER 6 Regional Case Studies 1. INTRODUCTION..........................184 2. BODROGKERESZTÚR, HUNGARY (48°10’0’’N 21°22’0’’E, 198 m asl)…..185 2.1. Description of the Obsidian Assemblage……..192 2.2. Subalyuk……………..198 2.3. Ballavölgyi………….......199 2.4. Pilismarót-Diós……............199 3. MARMONET DRIFT (GtJi15), KENYA (0°45’10’’S 36°10’30’’E, 2106 m asl)…..201 6 3.1. Description of the Obsidian Assemblage………..207 4. COMPARISON OF THE ASSEMBLAGES……….213 5. SUMMARY………………..234 CHAPTER 7 Data Analysis 1. INTRODUCTION………..235 2. ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN USE BY PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD AND INDUSTRY...235 3. ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF DISTANCE ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND FORMATION OF OBSIDIAN ASSEMBLAGES……………240 3.1. Exploring the Scale of Palaeolithic Social Networking…..252 4. ANALYSIS OF VARIATION IN OBSIDIAN USE BY CLIMATE STAGE (WARM, COLD) AND LATITUDE…………258 4.1. Northern versus Equatorial Obsidian Movement………266 5. HYPOTHESIS EVALUATION…………280 6. CONCLUSION…………300 CHAPTER 8 Conclusions 1. PALAEOLITHIC SOCIAL NETWORKS; LITHIC, ORGANIC AND OBSIDIAN EVIDENCE……………….302 1.1. Three «Revolutions» and the Time-Frame of Modern Social Behaviour…..308 1.2. Africa versus Europe: the Place of the Transition……313 1.3. Revolution or Gradual Evolution Process? the Nature of the Transition….315 2. THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE PHD TO WIDER PALAEOLITHIC RESEARCH…317 3. FUTURE RESEARCH…..318 REFERENCES…………………….320 7 LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER 2 Table 2.1. Other lithic raw materials that travel long distances on the European Palaeolithic landscape……….…….43 Table 2.2. Palaeolithic sites exhibiting a combined presence of obsidian and other exotic/special objects. Notice that in every single case obsidian either outnumbers or is of the same range (2 instances) to the distance of the shells/ochre movement...............44 Table 2.3. Some instances of obsidian movement in various periods of late prehistory. Note that in many cases obsidian transports far exceed 1000 km…………………………45 CHAPTER 3 Table 3.1. A summary of the models associated with raw material movement discussed in this thesis. The presentation of the models follows the year of publication of each of them starting with the oldest………………………………………………………………………57 Table 3.2. Archaeological sites within the study areas which have yielded both worked obsidian and human fossils……………………….61 Table 3.3. Hominin specimens for which fossilised foot bones are preserved (the Laetoli and Ileret footprints are included as indirect evidence of hominid locomotion). Klein (1999) mentions the recovery of two footprints in the South African Langebaan Langoon but due to the lack of diagnostic details and agreement in their dating they are not included here……………….61 Table 3.4. Ethnographic data on foraging distances for female-only foraging parties collected by Binford. Data from Binford (2001)…………………………64 Table 3.5. Ethnographic data on foraging distances for male-only foraging parties. Data from Binford (2001)………………….65 Table 3.6. Foraging area sizes for a number of hunter-gatherer groups. Compiled by the author with data from Binford (2001)…………….66 Table 3.7. Summary of data regarding hunter-gatherer foraging trips. After Binford (2001)....66 Table 3.8. Home range sizes for some modern hunter-gatherer groups. Data from Leonard and Robertson (2000). HRi (km²) data generated by Moutsiou……………67 Table 3.9. Estimated home range sizes for fossil hominid species per individual. [HRi-Ape= home range assuming a diet similar to that of a modern ape, HRi-Human= home range assuming a diet similar to that