Journal
JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
Volume 57, Issue 5, Pages 503-526Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.10.006
Keywords
Liang Bua; Homo floresiensis; Flores; Stone tools; Reduction sequence; Modern human behavior
Categories
Funding
- Australian Research Council (ARC)
- Australian National University (ANU)
- Department of Archaeology and Natural History, ANU
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study examines trends in stone tool reduction technology at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia, where excavations have revealed a stratified artifact sequence spanning 95 k.yr. The reduction sequence practiced throughout the Pleistocene was straightforward and unchanging. Large flakes were produced off-site and carried into the cave where they were reduced centripetally and bifacially by four techniques: burination, truncation, and bipolar. The locus of technological complexity at Liang Bua was not freehand, but in the way techniques were integrated. This reduction sequence persisted in knapping products, across the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary with a minor shift favoring unifacial flaking after 11 ka. Other stone-related changes occurred at the same time, including the first appearance of edge-glossed flakes, a change in raw material selection, and more frequent fire-induced damage to stone artifacts. Later in the Holocene, technological complexity was generated by adding-on rectangular-sectioned stone adzes to the reduction sequence. The Pleistocene pattern is directly associated with Homo floresiensis skeletal remains and the Holocene changes correlate with the appearance of Homo sapiens. The one reduction sequence continues across this hominin replacement. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available