A model for raw material management as a response to local and global environmental constraints

作者：Pereira, Telmo; Benedetti, Michael M.

来源：Quaternary International, 2013, 318: 19-32.

DOI：10.1016/j.quaint.2013.04.011

• ALMONDA KARSTIC SYSTEM
• MARINE ISOTOPE STAGE-3
• LITHIC PROCUREMENT
• IBERIAN VEGETATION
• UPPER PLEISTOCENE
• TORRES NOVAS
• CLIMATE
• NEANDERTHAL
• SETTLEMENT
• PORTUGAL

Identifying the causes of visible changes in the archaeological record is one of the major goals of archaeological and anthropological research. Environmental shifts have been often suggested as one of the primary drivers of anthropological changes, due to their impact on biotic resources. Considerably less attention has been given to changes in the availability of lithic raw materials. If raw materials for tool production were available in constant, predictable amounts then stability or slow shifts of technological strategies would be expected in the archaeological record. However, this is not the case in the Iberian Paleolithic, even considering that some of the observed changes may be driven by culture, setting or function. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of changes in raw material availability through the action of geodynamic processes, which could have exerted selective pressures on the technological strategies employed by human populations. This approach highlights the possible impact of environmental factors on human populations not just through food and habitat, but also through geology.
The maritime climates of southwestern Iberia are good candidates for such a connection because the region faced dramatic fluctuations between cold-dry and warm-wet periods during the Late Pleistocene, with well-documented impacts on biotic and geomorphic systems. A link between environmental conditions and human tool-making strategies is suggested by the correlation between cold climate during the last glacial maximum and an abrupt shift in lithic assemblages toward reliable technological strategies. Using the climatic conditions that define this "Reliable Phase" of Upper Paleolithic technology between 17 and 23 ka BP, two climate-driven scenarios are suggested for technological strategies in the Iberian Paleolithic: a cold-dry phase with restricted availability of raw materials favoring a technological shift towards reliability; and a warm-wet phase with greater raw material availability and a more flexible, maintenance-based lithic technology. Applying this reasoning to paleoenvironmental proxy records for southwestern Iberia, it is likely that numerous episodes of climate-induced raw material stress occurred towards the end of the Middle Paleolithic and around the time of the Middle Upper Paleolithic transition. At present, insufficient data exist to properly test this hypothesis but ongoing investigations at sites throughout Portugal hold promise toward achieving this goal.

• 出版日期2013-12-18