Geoffrey A. Clark

Steven Mithen's ‘Ecological Interpretations of Palaeolithic Art’ (PPS57, 103–14) reminded me of a Chinese meal — initially satisfying, but it doesn't stick with you for very long. While I subscribe to broadly similar paradigmatic biases at the level of the metaphysic, the ‘thoughtful forager’ model itself, proposed to relate various aspects of the art under the aegis of a particular kind of adaptationist perspective, seems to be conceptually muddled and operationally problematic. Also, Mithen's starting-point, the notion of an inherent contradiction between human creativity and an adaptationist point of view, is a red herring—wherever did he get it?! I will confine these brief remarks to three points that bear on different conceptions of adaptation and how they effect construals of pattern and the meaning of pattern in Palaeolithic art. I also respond to referees' comments.Mithen takes me, Straus and Gamble to task for omitting the individual and individual decision-...

Comparison of mortuary data from the Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic archaeological record shows that, contrary to previous assessments, there is much evidence for continuity between the two periods. This suggests that if R. H. Gargett’s critique of alleged Middle Paleolithic burials is to be given credence, it should also be applied to the “burials” of the Early Upper Paleolithic. Evidence for continuity reinforces conclusions derived from lithic and faunal analyses and site locations that the Upper Paleolithic as a reified category masks much variation in the archaeological record and is therefore not an appropriate analytical tool. Dividing the Upper Paleolithic into Early and Late phases might be helpful for understanding the cultural and biological processes at work.

Le sondage effectué en 1984 dans l'abri sous roche effondré de Yutil al-Hasa avait livré des assemblages du Paléolithique supérieur final de tradition ahmarienne. De nouveaux sondages en 1993 ont permis de reconnaître des dépôts du Madamaghien et du Natoufien ancien. ...

Le sondage effectué en 1984 dans l'abri sous roche effondré de Yutil al-Hasa avait livré des assemblages du Paléolithique supérieur final de tradition ahmarienne. De nouveaux sondages en 1993 ont permis de reconnaître des dépôts du Madamaghien et du Natoufien ancien. ...

The ANTIQUITY paper by Neeley & Barton (1994) — hereafter ‘N&B'— prompted responses published in the June number last year: Fellner (1995) and Kaufman (1995). Here are more (all shorter than the full versions received), together with a response from Barton & Neeley…

The intellectual traditions that frame Paleolithic research in Europe and the United States are reviewed, and the European Middle Paleolithic archaeological record is examined for patterns that contradict the “textbook generalizations” embodied in Paul Mellars' “human revolution”. The fact that different typologies are used to describe the Middle and Upper Paleolithic respectively emphasizes differences between them (especially if typology “trumps”

CANTABRIAN SEA RASCANO Fig. 1. Eastern Asturias and western Santander, showing major topographic features and the locations of La Riera Cave and a few of the other chief sites. ing of the late Pleistocene-early Holocene regional ecosystems in which prehistoric ...

CANTABRIAN SEA RASCANO Fig. 1. Eastern Asturias and western Santander, showing major topographic features and the locations of La Riera Cave and a few of the other chief sites. ing of the late Pleistocene-early Holocene regional ecosystems in which prehistoric ...

Proceeding from the information exchange theory of style, we argue that the changing temporal and spatial distributions of mobile and parietal art in Paleolithic Europe are related aspects of a single evolutionary process: alternating selective pressures differentially favoring the expression of assertive and emblemic style over the 30–7 kyr BP interval. These pressures result from demographic and social change across the European subcontinent in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. We develop a model of cultural selection for symbolic behavior manifest as art that proceeds from and parallels natural selection in neo‐Darwinian evolutionary theory.

The ANTIQUITY paper by Neeley & Barton (1994) — hereafter ‘N&B'— prompted responses published in the June number last year: Fellner (1995) and Kaufman (1995). Here are more (all shorter than the full versions received), together with a response from Barton & Neeley (B&N) that rounds off the present discussion. The debaters have seen others’ contributions, so there is some cross-comment within them. The questions and the issues are old fundamentals of lithic research and analsis, which one cannot expect to end with this debate.

Cultural and Natural Formation Processes in Late Quaternary Cave and Rocksheiter Sites of Western Europe and the Near East C. Michael Barton Geoffrey A. Clark Arizona State University Caves and rockshelters have played a funda-mental role in the demonstration of human ...

Iberia has become a major focus of modern human origins research because the early dates for the Aurignacian in some sites in northern Spain seem to preclude an ‘Aurignacian invasion’ from east to west. Neanderthals associated with Mousterian industries occur late in time. The occurrence of Neanderthal-modern hybrids dated to around 24 ka, and the possibility of in situ transition between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic along the north Spanish coast, also raise important questions. To approach these questions requires excavations with modern methods of sites containing relevant archaeological records, in situ stratigraphic deposits, and reliable dating. Here we offer a preliminary report on the Sopeña site, a rockshelter containing well stratified late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic deposits. We describe the sedimentology for the archaeological layers, dates obtained so far, and lithic and faunal materials including the micromammal taphonomy from a deep test pit along the east...

... discipline most crucial to those multifaceted aspects of archaeological research con cerned withsampling strategies and designs, although some degree of generalization on the basis of limitedsample information is required of most modern archaeological research, whatever ...

... part of a few, generalized lithic reduction sequence (8). The same arguments can and have been made about Upper and even Epipaleolithic artifacts (9). If we do not abandon typological systematics altogether ... Patterns in stone tool technology, typology, raw material ...