Transitions Before the Transition

by Hovers, Erella; Kuhn, Steven L.

• ISBN13: 9780387246581
• ISBN10: 0387246584
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Modern human origins and the fate of the Neanderthals are arguably the most compelling and contentious arenas in paleoanthropology. The much-discussed split between advocates of a single, early emergence of anatomically modern humans in sub-Saharan Africa and supporters of various regional continuity positions is only part of the picture. Equally if not more important are questions surrounding the origins of modern behavior, and the relationships between anatomical and behavioral changes that occurred during the past 200,000 years. Although modern humans as a species may be defined in terms of their skeletal anatomy, it is their behavior, and the social and cognitive structures that support that behavior, which most clearly distinguish Homo sapiens from earlier forms of humans.This book assembles researchers working in Eurasia and Africa to discuss the archaeological record of the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age. This is a time period when Homo sapiens last shared the world with other species, and during which patterns of behavior characteristic of modern humans developed and coalesced. Contributions to this volume query and challenge some current notions about the tempo and mode of cultural evolution, and about the processes that underlie the emergence of modern behavior. The papers focus on several fundamental questions. Do typical elements of "modern human behavior" appear suddenly, or are there earlier archaeological precursors of them? Are the archaeological records of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age unchanging and monotonous, or are there detectable evolutionary trends within these periods? Coming to diverse conclusions, the papers in this volume open up new avenues to thinking about this crucial interval in human evolutionary history.

Author Biography

Discipline codes:SOCIAL SCIENCES, GENERAL:Anthropology/ArchaeometrySOCIAL SCIENCES, GENERAL:Archaeology Transitions Before the TransitionEvolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age Edited byErella Hovers Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Steven Kuhn University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA This title explores questions surrounding the origins of modern behavior, and the relationships between anatomical and behavioral changes that occurred during the past 200,000 years. It assembles researchers working in Eurasia and Africa to discuss what was happening during the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age (the "Transition"); i.e. the era prior to or during the appearance of anatomically modern humans in their geographic areas.INTERDISCIPLINARY CONTRIBUTIONS TO ARCHAEOLOGY Hard cover, ISBN 0-387-24658-4December 2005, 246 pp.Promo Class: BProfit Centre: P150 Krauss (430)

Table of Contents

General Introduction	1	(12)
Steven L. Kuhn
Erella Hovers
On Naming Things: Behavioral Changes in the Later Middle to Earlier Late Pleistocene, Viewed From the Eastern Sahara	13	(16)
M. R. Kleindienst
Observations on Systematics in Paleolithic Archaeology	29	(28)
Geoffrey A. Clark
Julien Riel-Salvatore
Testing Retouched Flake Tool Standardization During the Middle Paleolithic: Patterns and Implications	57	(28)
Gilliane Monnier
Diversity of Lithic Production Systems During the Middle Paleolithic in France: Are There Any Chronological Trends?	85	(24)
Anne Delagnes
Liliane Meignen
Trajectories of Change in the Middle Paleolithic of Italy	109	(12)
Steven L. Kuhn
Stasis and Change During the Crimean Middle Paleolithic	121	(16)
Anthony E. Marks
Victor P. Chabai
Monospecific or Species-Dominated Faunal Assemblages During the Middle Paleolithic in Europe	137	(12)
Sabine Gaudzinski
Middle Paleolithic Settlement Patterns in the Levant	149	(22)
Liliane Meignen
Ofer Bar-Yosef
John D. Speth
Mary C. Stiner
Housekeeping, Neandertal-Style: Hearth Placement and Midden Formation in Kebara Cave (Israel)	171	(18)
John D. Speth
The Middle Paleolithic of the Levant: Recursion and Convergence	189	(24)
John J. Shea
Middle Paleolithic Subsistence Ecology in the Mediterranean Region	213	(20)
Mary C. Stiner
Projectile Technologies of the African MSA: Implications for Modern Human Origins	233	(24)
Alison S. Brooks
John E. Yellen
Lisa Nevell
Gideon Hartman
From Acheulean to Middle Stone Age in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya	257	(22)
Sally McBrearty
Christian Tryon
The Use of Space in the Late Middle Stone Age of Rose Cottage Cave, South Africa: Was There a Shift to Modern Behavior?	279	(16)
Lyn Wadley
``Now You See it, Now You Don't''---Modern Human Behavior in the Middle Paleolithic	295	(10)
Erella Hovers
Anna Belfer-Cohen
Between Observations and Models: An Eclectic View of Middle Paleolithic Archaeology	305	(22)
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Index	327