Lithics of the Old World

Although prehistoric lithics were mainly used for purely utilitarian purposes, they are also incredibly varied and quite beautiful. I personally love the textures, colors, and shapes of arrowheads so I decided to compile a collection of images of the vast array of different lithics I came across on various pages of the internet. 

Copyrighted by Peter A. Bostrom-

Arrow Point and Core from Denmark

Transverse arrowhead from the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic Period of North and Western Europe

Three-sided Projectile Point from Lolland, Denmark (before 2200 BCE)

Solutrean Shouldered Point from Fumel site, France (2200-1800 years ago)

Aterian points struck from Levallois cores from southern Morocco (40000-30000 years ago)

Mousterian Point from Le Moustier, France (120000-75000 years ago)

References: 

Peter A. Bostrom.  June 30, 2011. "Projectile Points Made on Blades and Flakes: Africa,

United States, Mexico Belize, France, Panama, Northern Europe 200,000 to

1,400 Years Ago." Lithics Casting Lab.com 

http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pages/2011julyprojectilepointsonbladespage1.htm

Levantine and Southwest Asia Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Point types

European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Point types

Images Taken from:

Shea J. J. 2006. “The Origins of Lithic Projectile Point Technology: Evidence from Africa, the

Levant, and Europe.” Journal of Archaeological Science 33(6): 823-846.

Solutrean Tools  from France (22,000-17,000 years ago)

Photograph taken from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutrean

My Lithics Illustrations

While working as an archaeological technician for the Forest Service this past summer, one of my friends and coworkers taught me how to illustrate lithics. Artifact illustrations are often taken for granted due to the modern bias towards photography. However, a lot of small details get lost in photographs and are better emphasized in clearly rendered sketches. Although These drawings are of lithics from America rather than the Old World, I am quite proud of them and would love to share them with you anyways. Though drawings of the projectile points we found in the field were incredibly difficult to do quickly, I did get to practice sketching the few flakes and stone tools I found around our district office. Here are a few of my drawings~

Secondary flake, white chert 

Secondary flake, opaque obsidian

Roughly worked early-stage biface 

Roughly worked early-stage biface

Biface fragment, white chert

Biface fragment, opaque black obsidian

Unidentified projectile point fragment

 Pinto series point, translucent obsidian

The Holmegaard Bow

Some of the best known and well-preserved early prehistoric bows come from Scandinavia. These bows were recovered from the site of Holmegaard IV on the Danish island of Zealand. They are 154 cm and 184 cm respectively and date to around 6000 BCE. Both are made out of elm and are classified as self longbows with convex backs and flattened bellies.

 Two self longbows from Holmegaard, Denmark and Tybrind Vig, Denmark. Image taken from Bergman 1993, cited below.

Photo by thimosabv 

These famous bows have inspired many enthusiasts to recreate modern versions for recreational use. Here are just a couple of videos by youtube users demonstrating their creations in the field~

References:

Bergman, C. A. 1993. “The Development of the Bow in Western Europe: A

Technological and Functional Perspective.” Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 4, no. 1: 95–105.

The Oldest European Neolithic Bow

Actual examples of preserved wooden projectile weapons are extremely rare because they deteriorate quickly in most environments. Archaeologists are extremely fortunate to find even a hint of these weapons during their excavations. For example~

The wooden bow was found in a waterlogged deposit and measures 108 cm long.

Archaeologists digging at the waterlogged site of La Draga, Banyoles on the Iberian Peninsula have recently uncovered a complete Neolithic bow. This site, which is being excavated by researchers from both the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Spanish National Research Council, has yielded fragments of two bows dating to the same period in 2002 and 2005. The newly recovered bow, however, is complete and will likely produce more insightful research on bow and arrow technology and the social and economic circumstances of farming communities from this period. The bow dates to 5,400-5,200 BCE making it the earliest known wooden bow of Neolithic Europe.

Students and researchers excavate at La Draga. Photograph Taken by J. Casanova (cited below) 

References and More Information:

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. 2012, June 29. “Oldest Neolithic bow discovered in

Europe.” ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 7, 2012. 

http://www.sciencedaily.com-/releases/2012/06/120629142412.htm

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. 2012, June 6. “Excavations at La Draga Lake Setttlement

Continue.” Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Retrieved November 7, 2012.

http://www.uab.es/servlet/Satellite/latest-news/news-detail/excavations-at-the-la-draga-

lake-settlement-continue--1096476786473.html?noticiaid=1338964562666

In Search of the First Projectile Point (Part 2)

Yesterday I introduced you to a study done on bone points found in the Middle Stone Age site of Sibudu Cave, South Africa. Today, I am going to talk about the stone artifacts recovered from the same site that also support the idea of complex projectile weaponry developing in Africa before the start of the Upper Palaeolithic period.

 Quartz segments and backed pieces from Sibudu Cave

 

A study by Marlize Lombard and Laurel Phillipson focused on doing a detailed study of the macro-fracture patters on the backed lithics found in Sibudu Cave in the same context as the bone points to look for evidence of hafting and impact fractures which might indicate their use as complex projectile weapon tips. This analysis included a rigorous microscopic inspection of the potential points and their fracture patters as well as experimental studies which attempted to determine whether the points would have been effective when hafted on an arrow. They also looked for secondary indications bow and arrow technology in the archaeological record such as well-developed hafting technologies, a broad spectrum diet which includes small fast-moving prey, bow drills, climatic changes, and other contextual evidence. By combining these multiple lines of evidence, the researchers concluded that it is highly likely that bow and arrow technology was in use by 64,000 cal BP.

Microscopic close-ups of of a quartz segment from Sibudu Cave. Researchers analyzed the fracture patterns as potential trace evidence for the piece having been hafted as a transverse arrowhead.

References:

Lombard, M. and L. Phillipson. 2010. “Indications of bow and stone-tipped arrow use   
              64,000years ago in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.” Antiquity 84: 635-648.