ANT316H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Microlith, Archaic Humans, Homo Erectus
Document Summary
Initial paleolithic: very little skeletal material (in all traditions, deep prehistory for study of ancestors (homo erectus in particular, earliest hominin evidence = stone tool type similar to olduwan. Lower paleolithic: +700,000/500,000 ya ca. 100,000 ya: do(cid:374)(cid:859)t k(cid:374)ow who(cid:859)s arou(cid:374)d, looks like ar(cid:272)hai(cid:272) ho(cid:373)o sapie(cid:374)s at the e(cid:374)d (ca. 125,000 ya: stone tools: pebble tools + acheulian handaxes, mobius line (year 1?) Middle paleolithic: 100,000 ya 40,000/30,000 ya, probably archaic homo sapiens to end, stone tools: increased flakes, retouched for points. Hafting, more smaller tools, better quality materials. Upper paleolithic: 40,000/30,000 ya 12,000/10,000 ya (bp, probably modern homo sapiens, stone toold: still flakes, retouched for points. Picking up the best flake and making it better, more effort. Evidence for beliefs about other worlds, ritual behaviour etc. Epipaleolithic/mesolithic as time period: 10,000/8,000 bce 2,000 bce, modern homo sapiens, stone tools: many regional tool traditions, but most increasing use of small blades, flakes, diagnostic is geometric microliths.
