Papers by Dirk Leder
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2024
Ethnographic records show wooden tools played a pivotal role in the daily lives of hunter-gathere... more Ethnographic records show wooden tools played a pivotal role in the daily lives of hunter-gatherers including food procurement tools used in hunting (e.g. spears, throwing sticks) and gathering (e.g. digging sticks, bark peelers), as well as, domestic tools (e.g. handles, vessels). However, wood rarely survives in the archaeological record, especially in Pleistocene contexts and knowledge of prehistoric hunter-gatherer lifeways is strongly biased by the survivorship of more resilient materials such as lithics and bones. Consequently, very few Palaeolithic sites have produced wooden artefacts and among them, the site of Schöningen stands out due to its number and variety of wooden tools. The recovery of complete wooden spears and throwing sticks at this 300,000-year-old site (MIS 9) led to a paradigm shift in the hunter vs scavenger debate. For the first time and almost 30 years after their discovery, this study introduces the complete wooden assemblage from Schöningen 13 II-4 known as the Spear Horizon. In total, 187 wooden artefacts could be identified from the Spear Horizon demonstrating a broad spectrum of wood working techniques, including the splitting technique. A minimum of 20 hunting weapons is now recognised and two newly identified artefact types comprise 35 tools made on split woods, which were likely used in domestic activities. Schöningen 13 II-4 represents the largest Pleistocene wooden artefact assemblage worldwide and demonstrates the key role woodworking had in human evolution. Finally, our results considerably change the interpretation of the Pleistocene lakeshore site of Schöningen.
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Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2021
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In this glossary, we aim to initiate a synthesis and standardisation of analytical terms for earl... more In this glossary, we aim to initiate a synthesis and standardisation of analytical terms for early wood technologies from stone-tool using cultures. This glossary and code relies upon ongoing research and experience of the authors, alongside recent publications that also undertake systematic analyses and descriptions of wood technologies and traces from stone-tool using cultures. While it forms the foundation for our ongoing analysis and documentation of the wet and conserved woods from the Pleistocene site of Schöningen (Germany), we hope it may also provide a means for collaboration and communication with those working on wood from other Pleistocene and Holocene sites.
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The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
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Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2021
While there is substantial evidence for art and symbolic behaviour in early Homo sapiens across A... more While there is substantial evidence for art and symbolic behaviour in early Homo sapiens across Africa and Eurasia, similar evidence connected to Neanderthals is sparse and often contested in scientific debates. Each new discovery is thus crucial for our understanding of Neanderthals’ cognitive capacity. Here we report on the discovery of an at least 51,000-year-old engraved giant deer phalanx found at the former cave entrance of Einhornhöhle, northern Germany. The find comes from an apparent Middle Palaeolithic context that is linked to Neanderthals. The engraved bone demonstrates that conceptual imagination, as a prerequisite to compose individual lines into a coherent design, was present in Neanderthals. Therefore, Neanderthal’s awareness of symbolic meaning is very likely. Our findings show that Neanderthals were capable of creating symbolic expressions before H. sapiens arrived in Central Europe.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01487-z
A 3D video of the engraved giant deer bone is available online. It is free to view at: https://denkmalpflege.niedersachsen.de/live/institution/mediadb/mand_45/psfile/bild/57/CC_BY_SA_3606c7d7aad00b.mp4
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PLOS ONE, 2020
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Nachrichten aus Niedersachsens Urgeschichte, 2019
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International Journal of Archaeology, 2018
The Levant forms a geographic bridge between Africa and Eurasia, making it a focal point for rese... more The Levant forms a geographic bridge between Africa and Eurasia, making it a focal point for research on past
human dispersals. The Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) of the Levant is commonly associated with Homo sapiens’ dispersal
from Africa to Eurasia, which is characterised by substantial changes in material culture when compared to the preceding
Middle Palaeolithic. While many researchers have noticed considerable variability among these IUP lithic assemblages, a
systematic evaluation is currently missing. The study presented here addresses this cavity by employing techno-typological
data from relevant Levantine IUP assemblages. Statistical methods, namely principal component analysis (PCA) and linear
discriminant analysis (LDA) allow structuring these assemblages into distinct groups. These groups are then reviewed against
palaeogeographic data and techno-economic behaviour patterns. Results show that IUP assemblages in the Mediterranean zone
are similar to each other in regards to techno-typology, palaeogeography and techno-economic behaviour, being indicative of
residential base camps. Contrastingly, assemblages in the semi-arid zone are more variable in regards to techno-typology and
techno-economy, indicating more specialised activities such as hunting/butchering, which is often combined with local raw
material exploitation.
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International Journal of Archaeology. Vol. 6, No. 1, 2018, pp. 23-36.
doi: 10.11648/j.ija.20180601.14
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Rietberg - Große Höppe is an Azilian/ Early Federmesser site complex located in the Westphalian B... more Rietberg - Große Höppe is an Azilian/ Early Federmesser site complex located in the Westphalian Basin, Germany, that is radiocarbon dated to the early Allerød phase GI-1c3 (13.700 cal BP). Currently, it represents the earliest dated evidence for the re-colonization of Westphalia after the LGM. Pollen evidence suggests an open woodland landscape surrounding the Pleistocene Ems floodplain where the Rietberg sites are located. The three major sites Rietberg 1, 2 and 5 represent different activities spectrums. While Rietberg 1 stands for a typical bas camp structured by domestic and re-tooling activities, at Rietberg 2 a single fire place was entertained that likely served to repair projectiles. Rietberg 5 is structured by small flint knapping areas, fire activities and pit features. A sparsity of retouched tools combined with an abundance of knapping debris at Rietberg 5 supports the notion of a workshop site. Studies on the lithic techno-typology have shown similarities with Azilian assemblages in the Paris Basin, such as Conty, le Marais, niveau inférieur and Hangest-sur-Somme III.1, niveau inférieur. Other objects of interest found at Rietberg 1 are comprised of a shaft straightener and a perforated stone that may have served as a pendant; both are rare finds in Late Palaeolithic contexts in Central Europe.
Reference: A. Maier & D. Leder 2018. Rietberg. Die spätglaziale Wiederbesiedlung Westfalens. In: J. Richter 2018 (Ed.), 111 Jahre Prähistorische Archäologie in Köln. Köln, Kölner Studien zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 9., 110-121. ISBN 978-3-86757-369-6
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Long-term studies by the Forschungsstelle Asia Minor of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University Münst... more Long-term studies by the Forschungsstelle Asia Minor of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University Münster investigating the Dülük Baba Tepesi near Gaziantep, southern Turkey are dedicated to exploring the history and archaeology of the Roman cult of Iupiter Dolichenus that originated here. Besides numerous architectural features and archaeological finds dating back to the Iron and younger periods, some hundred lithic artefacts belong into the prehistoric era. The paper highlights the findings that emerged from a lithics analysis of those artefacts which allows to position them largely in a PPNB context. The Dülük Baba Tepesi thus belongs to the few known and published Turkish sites west of the Euphrates that yielded PPNB material. Also, the lithic finds suggest that Dülük Baba Tepesi had served as a resource extraction site rather than a settlement site at that time.
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Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society , 2016
The Levant occupies a particular geographic position between Africa and Europe that has made it p... more The Levant occupies a particular geographic position between Africa and Europe that has made it pivotal in understanding human dispersals between Africa and Eurasia. The so-called Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition between 50–40 ka calBP is traditionally seen as related to the advent of Homo sapiens in the Levant (Out-of-Africa 2b). This time is characterised by substantial changes in material culture. Associated lithic assemblages are traditionally accommodated under the umbrella terms Transitional industries or Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP). The aim of this paper is to identify core reduction strategies carried out at the IUP sites of Ksar Akil and Abou Halka in Lebanon and their intended end products, providing new data on past human behaviour that shaped material culture. While most studies on lithic materials from IUP assemblages revolve around techno-typological data that were collected on individual artefacts (static approach), the approach chosen here partially follows the chaîne opératoire concept that permits a reconstruction of flint knapping processes and its presumed goals (dynamic approach). Chaîne opératoire analysis was carried out in concert with multivariate statistical tests. The study shows that the various reduction strategies characterising the Lebanese IUP were not pursued to obtain specific end products, consequently, alternative hypotheses such as adaptive behaviour responding to variable raw material properties are discussed.
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Tempora: Annales d’histoire et d’archéologie, 2015
Michmiche Gouffre is a Late Middle Palaeolithic site in Mount Lebanon located at 1500m asl. Michm... more Michmiche Gouffre is a Late Middle Palaeolithic site in Mount Lebanon located at 1500m asl. Michmiche Gouffre is one of the so-called Meyroubian sites that are characterised by Levallois concepts plus blade production from volumetric cores. The tool kit consist mainly of sidescrapers, Levallois and retouched points plus endscrapers, burins and truncations suggesting a broad range of activities carried out at the site. Local raw material sources were used almost exclusively. Although Michmiche Gouffre is a surface site, it is comparable to another open-air site in the Levant that has been dated to MIS 4-3 and is associated with Neanderthal remains (Ein Quashish).
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Rietberg 5 ist Teil des frühen Federmessenfundplatzes Riteberg-Große Höppe in der Westfälischen B... more Rietberg 5 ist Teil des frühen Federmessenfundplatzes Riteberg-Große Höppe in der Westfälischen Bucht, der um ca. 13,800 cal BP datiert. Das lithische Inventar von Rietberg 5 wurde mithilfe von Zusammensetzungen und Attributsanalysen untersucht und zeigt einige, für frühe Federmesserinventare typische Merkmale auf. Anhand der Zusammensetzungen und weiterer Kartierung konnten auf dem Fundplatz verschiedene Aktivitätszonen unterschieden werden, die teils mit Gruben im Zusammenhang stehen. Ein weiterer Aspekt von Rietberg 5 ist, dass Werkzeuge hier stark unterrepräsentiert sind und die Fundstelle den Charakter eines Schlagplatzes aufweist, an dem wohl auch Vorräte in den Gruben zurückgelassen wurden.
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Books by Dirk Leder
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic shift is one of the major issues connected to the dispersal of H... more The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic shift is one of the major issues connected to the dispersal of Homo sapiens from Africa into Eurasia around 50 ka BP. The Levant is consistent with the theoriy of a northern dispersal route and forms the regional reference for this study. The study focuses on technological and typological changes of a number of Midddle and Initial Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblages in Lebanon that is part of the Levant. The study shows that technological changes across that chronological boundary are more apparent than typological once, speaking for novelties (technology) on the one hand, while sustaining similar tool kits (typology) on the other. The new findings are put in context with the wider Levantine record, also evaluating possible connections to Africa an the Arabian Peninsula. Wether such techno-typological changes speak for a population shift in the Near East after 50 ka BP, or rather for the transmission of new ideas, or a mixture of both, must remain open for now.
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Conference Presentations by Dirk Leder
Call for contributions. EAA2023 session #489 , 2023
For the EAA Annual Meeting in 2023 we are looking for colleagues to contribute via presentatio/po... more For the EAA Annual Meeting in 2023 we are looking for colleagues to contribute via presentatio/poster to session #489: Rare and precious. Recent advances on the analysis of archaeological wood. This session aims to bring together specialists on the analysis of archaeological wood through archaeobotany, experimental archaeology, tool-mark analysis, use-wear analysis, dendrology or ethnoarchaeology. Contributions from any geographical and chronological context are welcome. We particularly invite submissions highlighting new methodological approaches, analytical tools, and protocols to identify, record, and analyse wood technologies.
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Presentation at the 63rd Annual Meeting April 19th to 23rd, 2022, 2022
The recently discovered of an engraved giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) bone from Einhornhöhle ... more The recently discovered of an engraved giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) bone from Einhornhöhle in Lower Saxony, Germany contributes an important new element to the body of knowledge connected to Neanderthal symbolic behaviour. A review of the corpus of symbolic behaviour in Neanderthals and Palaeolithic modern humans suggests that both hominins did similar things rather simultaneously yet on different continents. Engraved objects reported from South Africa dating c. 80 -70 ka old (Blombos Cave, Diepkloof and are connected to H. sapiens, while engraved objects in Europe are connected to Neanderthals beginning c. 70 ka ago (e.g. La Ferrassie, Les Pradelles). Shell beads were perforated and coloured with red ochre in the Middle East by H. sapiens c. 120 ka ago (Skhul, Qafzeh) and somewhat later in Europe by Neanderthals before 50 ka ago (Cueva Anton, Cueva de los Aviones, Fumane Cave). However, personal adornment in the form of bird feathers, talons, and phalanges seem to have a long tradition in European Neanderthals going back as far as 130 ka (e.g. Krapina, Combe-Grenal). The emerging pattern indicates that symbolic behaviour in Neanderthals and H. sapiens was ubiquitous, yet expressed sporadically before c. 45-40 ka while a clear difference in either quantity or quality is not apparent. Only with the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic such expressions become more frequent, and figurative art in the form of cave paintings, carved figurines and decorated tools represent a new quality of symbolic expressions in H. sapiens. There is thus a clear shift in the world of art some 40 ka ago “from abstract to figurative” while sustaining abstract expressions in the form of personal adornment and objects decorated with line patterns. Consequently, current evidence suggests that symbolic behaviour is not species-specific, but may rather reflect aspects of human cognitive evolution and/or social behaviour.
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In the last decade evidence of sophisticated symbolic and cultural behaviour among Neanderthals h... more In the last decade evidence of sophisticated symbolic and cultural behaviour among Neanderthals has accumulated substantially across Eurasia. This is exemplified by Neanderthal's usage of birds of prey feathers, talons, and phalanges at a number of European Mediterranean sites, by engraved rocks, lithics, and bone objects from a variety of places, the usage of spaces deep inside caves and colorants, by human burials, and potentially by cave paintings in Iberia, among further examples. The very notion of sophisticated symbolic and cultural behaviour in Neanderthals pivotally bears implications in regard to human evolution and the cognitive abilities of one of our genetically closest relatives. Is Homo sapiens as special as we like to believe, or have there been other human species that-under yet unknown circumstances-disappeared in the past, but had strikingly similar abilities? What are the cognitive underpinnings of these recent discoveries and recognitions? Do we need more research on human cognitive evolution, neurosciences and past brain development connected to these particular questions? The archaeological discoveries of objects with symbolically mediated behaviour lay the foundations for new possibilities to reconsider the very nature of Neanderthals-first regarded as primitives, later seen as capable of adapting to a variety of environments and climate changes, and now possibly as self-aware human beings that were able to communicate in abstract ways, displayed care for their deceased, and commanded imaginative means similar to us. Were these complex behaviours independent 'inventions' or the result of acculturation? Do we suffer from a historical legacy of seeing Neanderthals as 'the others'? Where do we stand today, and which direction does future research need to take in order to investigate such complex issues that ultimately aim to address one of the most essential questions humankind might have-what makes us human?
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ESHE Meeting, 2021
An engraved giant deer phalanx from Einhornhöhle demonstrates Neanderthals’ capacity for symbolic... more An engraved giant deer phalanx from Einhornhöhle demonstrates Neanderthals’ capacity for symbolic expressions before Homo sapiens arrived in Europe. The bone was directly radiocarbon dated to c. 51,000 years predating e.g. the Bachokirian and Aurignacian in Europe. The systematic arrangement of individual lines, the selection of a phalanx bone from an impressive giant deer, and the efforts necessary to engrave the object suggest premeditated behaviour. The engraved item thus demonstrates that conceptual imagination, as a prerequisite to compose individual lines into a coherent design, was present already in Neanderthals.
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Papers by Dirk Leder
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01487-z
A 3D video of the engraved giant deer bone is available online. It is free to view at: https://denkmalpflege.niedersachsen.de/live/institution/mediadb/mand_45/psfile/bild/57/CC_BY_SA_3606c7d7aad00b.mp4
human dispersals. The Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) of the Levant is commonly associated with Homo sapiens’ dispersal
from Africa to Eurasia, which is characterised by substantial changes in material culture when compared to the preceding
Middle Palaeolithic. While many researchers have noticed considerable variability among these IUP lithic assemblages, a
systematic evaluation is currently missing. The study presented here addresses this cavity by employing techno-typological
data from relevant Levantine IUP assemblages. Statistical methods, namely principal component analysis (PCA) and linear
discriminant analysis (LDA) allow structuring these assemblages into distinct groups. These groups are then reviewed against
palaeogeographic data and techno-economic behaviour patterns. Results show that IUP assemblages in the Mediterranean zone
are similar to each other in regards to techno-typology, palaeogeography and techno-economic behaviour, being indicative of
residential base camps. Contrastingly, assemblages in the semi-arid zone are more variable in regards to techno-typology and
techno-economy, indicating more specialised activities such as hunting/butchering, which is often combined with local raw
material exploitation.
(OPEN ACCESS)
International Journal of Archaeology. Vol. 6, No. 1, 2018, pp. 23-36.
doi: 10.11648/j.ija.20180601.14
Reference: A. Maier & D. Leder 2018. Rietberg. Die spätglaziale Wiederbesiedlung Westfalens. In: J. Richter 2018 (Ed.), 111 Jahre Prähistorische Archäologie in Köln. Köln, Kölner Studien zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 9., 110-121. ISBN 978-3-86757-369-6
(OPEN ACCESS)
Books by Dirk Leder
Conference Presentations by Dirk Leder
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01487-z
A 3D video of the engraved giant deer bone is available online. It is free to view at: https://denkmalpflege.niedersachsen.de/live/institution/mediadb/mand_45/psfile/bild/57/CC_BY_SA_3606c7d7aad00b.mp4
human dispersals. The Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) of the Levant is commonly associated with Homo sapiens’ dispersal
from Africa to Eurasia, which is characterised by substantial changes in material culture when compared to the preceding
Middle Palaeolithic. While many researchers have noticed considerable variability among these IUP lithic assemblages, a
systematic evaluation is currently missing. The study presented here addresses this cavity by employing techno-typological
data from relevant Levantine IUP assemblages. Statistical methods, namely principal component analysis (PCA) and linear
discriminant analysis (LDA) allow structuring these assemblages into distinct groups. These groups are then reviewed against
palaeogeographic data and techno-economic behaviour patterns. Results show that IUP assemblages in the Mediterranean zone
are similar to each other in regards to techno-typology, palaeogeography and techno-economic behaviour, being indicative of
residential base camps. Contrastingly, assemblages in the semi-arid zone are more variable in regards to techno-typology and
techno-economy, indicating more specialised activities such as hunting/butchering, which is often combined with local raw
material exploitation.
(OPEN ACCESS)
International Journal of Archaeology. Vol. 6, No. 1, 2018, pp. 23-36.
doi: 10.11648/j.ija.20180601.14
Reference: A. Maier & D. Leder 2018. Rietberg. Die spätglaziale Wiederbesiedlung Westfalens. In: J. Richter 2018 (Ed.), 111 Jahre Prähistorische Archäologie in Köln. Köln, Kölner Studien zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 9., 110-121. ISBN 978-3-86757-369-6
(OPEN ACCESS)
Epipalaeolithic sites.
Contemporaneous pollen records located at the East Mediterranean coast and the nearby Dead Sea evidence predominantly dry climate conditions with a general trend from moderate climate around 45 ka calBP to very dry and cold conditions around 20 ka calBP [12]. At the same time, the southern Levant was characterised by a mixed Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia steppe and a relatively sparse tree cover.
The many Wadi Sabra sites dating to MIS 3-2 illustrate that prehistoric humans were well equipped to live in, adapt to and interact with this challenging environment. They devolved adaptive strategies such as microlithisation and increased residential mobility as a response to palaeoenvironmental changes.