All,
Here is an article that should be of interest to all hard core “lithophilic” palaeoanthropologists who are interested (as they should) in the technological capabilities of
Homo georgicus. Going for the hefty price of 18.3 MB (PDF), it consists of a very detailed analytical presentation of the lithic artefacts recovered from Dmanisi’s levels I - VI and includes (my last count!) no less than 87 Figures, 64 Tables, and 32 Plates (see attached example). Note also that -- as is the practice with
L’Anthropologie -- the article is accompanied by substantial multilingual abstracts in French, English (posted here), Spanish and Italian, and all Figures, Tables and Plates are provided with both French and English captions.
de Lumley, Henry , Médéa Nioradzé, Deborah Barsky, Dominique Cauche, Vincenzo Celiberti, Giorgie Nioradzé, Olivier Notter, David Zvania, and David Lordkipanidze. 2005. Les industries lithiques préoldowayennes du début du Pléistocène inférieur du site de Dmanissi en Géorgie. -- The Pre-Oldowayen lithic industry from the beginning of the Lower Pleistocene at the Dmanissi site in Georgia. --Las industrias líticas Preolduwayanas del inicio del Pleistoceno inferior del yacimiento de Dmanissi en Georgia -- L’industria litica pre-oldowaiana dell’inizio del Pleistocene inferiore del sito di Dmanissi in Georgia. L’Anthropologie 109: 1–182.
Abstract:
The lithic industry discovered at the Dmanissi site, in Georgia is dated to between 1.81 and 1.7 Myrs and is in association with a rich faunal assemblage composed of large Quaternary vertebrates, as well as several hominid fossils attributed to Homo georgicus, and attests to the human presence on the border of Europe at the beginning of the Lower Pleistocene. The material taken into account in this study was excavated from 1991 to 1999 and comprises 4446 lithic pieces coming from Beds I through VI of the site. The assemblage is very homogenous from the base to the top of the deposits and shows no significative evolutionary tendencies. The lithic material includes a high proportion of whole pebbles (33.8% of the assemblage) coming from two nearby rivers, the Mashavera and the Pinezaouri. They are essentially of fine and coarse grained volcanic tuff, basalt, but also of rhyolite, granite, quartz, as well as other volcanic and metamorphic rocks. Pebbles used for percussion, shaping or debitage were chosen according to their petrographic nature, their morphology and their size. Whole pebbles with percussion marks situated on their extremities or with isolated removals showing convexe edges, are abundant (1.3% of the assemblage). Other pebbles showing percussion marks on a flat face, were used as anvils. Broken pebbles and pebble fragments are very numerous (30.4% of the assemblage). These often show percussion marks on their cortical surfaces. Fractures are generally related to violent percussion as the pebbles were used for striking instruments, or as they were intentionally broken. Some fractures may have been caused accidentally during flaking. Pebble tools represent 4.8% of the lithic assemblage and 10% of the industry, excluding whole and fractured pebbles. These include essentially the primary choppers (pebbles with isolated concave removal negatives) (6% of the industry and 60.1% of the pebble tools), choppers showing continuous cutting edges without a point (2.1% of the industry and 21.2% of the pebble tools). Chopping-tools are very rare (0.8% of the industry and 8.7% of the pebble tools). Although choppers without pointed cutting edges were made using very few removals (3.3 on average), they usually present a regular cutting edge and seem relatively standardised. Cores are well represented (5% of the industry, excluding whole and broken pebbles). They are characterized by a low degree of exploitation and by a frequence of cortical striking platforms. Cored knapped on a single face are most frequent, representing nearly half of the pieces (42.3%), while bifacial cores are present in smaller proportions (34.2%) and multifacial cores are rare (6.3%). Non-modified flakes are very numerous and usually of small size and intentional retouch is absent. On the other hand, the cuttingedges of many the pieces; broken pebbles, pebble tools, cores and flakes, show irregular micro-retouch and irregular retouch such as isolated notches or with continuous or overlapping configuration, sometimes associated with localised crush marks which appear to have been caused by intensive use and heavy working of the pieces.A total of 31.3% of the non-modified flakes show irregular retouch on their cutting edges. One of the main characteristics of the Dmanissi industry appears therefore to be the obtaining of flakes, most often of small size, to be used without modification. The technological and typological characteristics of the lithic industry from Dmanissi allow to attribute the assemblage to a ••Pre-Oldowayen•• cultural horizon (Lumley de et al., 2004), characterized by the absence of small retouched tools, which appears in East Africa from 2.55 Myrs ago. This cultural horizon is present at the border of Europe, at Dmanissi, around 1.81 Myrs ago and in Western Europe, on the shores of the Mediterranean, at Barranco León about 1.3 Myrs ago and at Fuente Nueva 3 about 1.2 Myrs ago. The lithic industry from the Dmanissi site seems anterior to the Oldowan cultural horizon, characterized by the presence of standardized small retouched tools, which appears in East Africa around 1.8 Myrs ago and emerges in Mediterranean Europe around 800 000 years ago.
Keywords: Dmanissi; Lithic industry; Lower Pleistocene; Pre-Oldowayan
© 2005 Elsevier SAS. Tous droits réservés.
Jacques Cinq-Mars
PS For reasons I don’t understand, the URL for this article is unavailable at present, on the Elsevier/L’Anthropologie site. Should you have an urge for more information about the paper, do not hesitate to contact me.
PPS By the way, I suppose you have noticed the difference, between the French and English spelling of Dmanissi/Dmanisi.
