TY - JOUR

T1 - Characterizing the Lower Paleolithic bone industry from Schöningen 12 II: A multi-proxy study.

AU - Julien, M.A.

AU - Hardy, B.

AU - Stahlschmidt, Mareike

AU - Urban, Brigitte

AU - Serangeli, Jordi

AU - Conard, Nicholas J.

N1 - Special Issue: Excavations at Schöningen: New Insights into Middle Pleistocene Lifeways in Northern Europe

PY - 2015/12/1

Y1 - 2015/12/1

N2 - Although preservation of Paleolithic faunal assemblages from open-air settings is often poor, the Lower Paleolithic sites of Schöningen provide exceptionally well-preserved mammalian faunal material for investigating hominin/animal relationships. Pleistocene fossil assemblages, however, usually reflect a complex taphonomic history in which natural and anthropogenic processes are often superimposed. A number of examples of osseous finds that resemble tools were recently discovered in the MIS 9 deposits of Schöningen 12 II. Non-anthropogenic agents are known to produce surface modifications mimicking human artifacts and the identification of osseous remains used and/or deliberately modified by ancient hominins is often controversial in such old contexts. Multiple lines of evidence are thus useful for distinguishing between osseous artifacts and "eco-facts".In this paper, the recognition of the use of bone for different technological purposes by late Middle Pleistocene hominins is addressed through a multi-proxy study combining geoarcheology, bone taphonomy, zooarcheology, and use-wear analysis. This allowed the identification of the processes and agents responsible for the formation and modification of the different bone assemblages of Schöningen 12 II. Our analysis points to different types of bones having been likely used as tools. These results expand the diversity of the organic technological repertoire of the Middle Pleistocene hominins, making Schöningen 12 II a remarkable new source of information on osseous technology long before the Upper Paleolithic, the period traditionally viewed as the start of the systematic use of bone tools. Together with other observations of bone tools documented during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, the results from Schöningen show that archeologists may have underestimated the diversity and importance of osseous technology among archaic hominins.

AB - Although preservation of Paleolithic faunal assemblages from open-air settings is often poor, the Lower Paleolithic sites of Schöningen provide exceptionally well-preserved mammalian faunal material for investigating hominin/animal relationships. Pleistocene fossil assemblages, however, usually reflect a complex taphonomic history in which natural and anthropogenic processes are often superimposed. A number of examples of osseous finds that resemble tools were recently discovered in the MIS 9 deposits of Schöningen 12 II. Non-anthropogenic agents are known to produce surface modifications mimicking human artifacts and the identification of osseous remains used and/or deliberately modified by ancient hominins is often controversial in such old contexts. Multiple lines of evidence are thus useful for distinguishing between osseous artifacts and "eco-facts".In this paper, the recognition of the use of bone for different technological purposes by late Middle Pleistocene hominins is addressed through a multi-proxy study combining geoarcheology, bone taphonomy, zooarcheology, and use-wear analysis. This allowed the identification of the processes and agents responsible for the formation and modification of the different bone assemblages of Schöningen 12 II. Our analysis points to different types of bones having been likely used as tools. These results expand the diversity of the organic technological repertoire of the Middle Pleistocene hominins, making Schöningen 12 II a remarkable new source of information on osseous technology long before the Upper Paleolithic, the period traditionally viewed as the start of the systematic use of bone tools. Together with other observations of bone tools documented during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, the results from Schöningen show that archeologists may have underestimated the diversity and importance of osseous technology among archaic hominins.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Lower Paleolithic

KW - Settlements of dynamics

KW - Butchery

KW - Hunterers and gatherers

KW - Organic technology

KW - Symbolic communication

KW - Bone tools

KW - Geoarcheology

KW - Lower Paleolithic

KW - Middle Pleistocene

KW - Taphonomy

KW - Use-wear analysis

KW - Zooarcheology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949239209&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.10.006

DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.10.006

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 26651609

VL - 89

SP - 264

EP - 286

JO - Journal of Human Evolution

JF - Journal of Human Evolution

SN - 0047-2484

M1 - 89

ER -