Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvi

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2. Methodological and Theoretical Perspectives

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Has the Notion of “Transitions” in Paleolithic Prehistory Outlived Its Usefulness? The European Record in Wider Context

      • Lawrence Guy Straus

      Pages 3-18

   3. Accidents of History: Conceptual Frameworks in Paleoarchaeology

      • Geoffrey A. Clark

      Pages 19-41

   4. Defining Modernity, Establishing Rubicons, Imagining the Other—and the Neanderthal Enigma

      • Olga Soffer

      Pages 43-64

   5. The Longest Transition or Multiple Revolutions?

      • John A. J. Gowlett

      Pages 65-78

   6. Quantifying Transitions: Morphometric Approaches to Palaeolithic Variability and Technological Change

      • Stephen J. Lycett

      Pages 79-92

   7. ESR Dating at Hominid and Archaeological Sites During the Pleistocene

      • Bonnie A.B. Blackwell, Anne R. Skinner, Joel I.B. Blickstein, L.V. Golovanova, V.B. Doronichev, M.R. Séronie-Vivien

      Pages 93-119

   8. The South Asian Paleolithic Record and Its Potential for Transitions Studies

      • Parth R. Chauhan

      Pages 121-139

   9. DISCUSSION 1: An Overview of Matters Transitional, From the Outside Looking In

      • Angela E. Close

      Pages 141-152

3. Changes Within the Lower Paleolithic

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153

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   2. From Nothing to Something: The Appearance and Context of the Earliest Archaeological Record

      • Michael J. Rogers, Sileshi Semaw

      Pages 155-171

   3. The Oldowan-Acheulian Transition: Is there a “Developed Oldowan” Artifact Tradition?

      • Sileshi Semaw, Michael Rogers, Dietrich Stout

      Pages 173-193

   4. Lower Palaeolithic Transitions in the Northern Latitudes of Eurasia

      • Jan Michal Burdukiewicz

      Pages 195-209

   5. Hominin Adaptability and Patterns of Faunal Turnover in the Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition in the Levant

      • Miriam Belmaker

      Pages 211-227

   6. DISCUSSION 2: Transitions: Behavioral Change in the Early Pleistocene

      • Robin Dennell

      Pages 229-234

4. Lower to Middle Paleolithic Transitions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 235-235

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   2. Assessing the Lower to Middle Paleolithic Transition

      • Michael Chazan

      Pages 237-243

   3. The East Asian Middle Paleolithic Reexamined

      • Christopher J. Norton, Xing Gao, Xingwu Feng

      Pages 245-254

   4. The Lower to Middle Paleolithic Transition in South Asia and Its Implications for Hominin Cognition and Dispersals

      • H. James, M.D. Petraglia

      Pages 255-264

As the study of Palaeolithic technologies moves towards a more analytical approach, it is necessary to determine a consistent procedural framework. The contributions to this timely and comprehensive volume do just that. This volume incorporates a broad chronological and geographical range of Palaeolithic material from the Lower to Upper Palaeolithic. The focus of this volume is to provide an analysis of Palaeolithic technologies from a quantitative, empirical perspective. As new techniques, particularly quantitative methods, for analyzing Palaeolithic technologies gain popularity, this work provides case studies particularly showcasing these new techniques. Employing diverse case studies, and utilizing multivariate approaches, morphometrics, model-based approaches, phylogenetics, cultural transmission studies, and experimentation, this volume provides insights from international contributors at the forefront of recent methodological advances.

• Archaeological Theory
• Archaic period in North America
• Glas
• Hominin Dispersal
• Middle Paleolithic
• Pleistocene
• Stone Age
• archaeology of modern human origins
• behavioral response to Paleolithic transition
• holocene
• hominid
• mesolithic
• neanderthal
• paleolithic
• prehistory

• Dept. Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, U.S.A.

  Marta Camps

• CRAFT Stone Age Institute, Indiana University, Gosport, U.S.A.

  Parth Chauhan

 Parth R. Chauhan is an Indian-American Research Associate with the Stone Age Institute (Indiana, USA). He obtained his PhD from the University of Sheffield (UK) in 2005 and his MA from Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute (Pune, India) in 1998. His research interests include Old World prehistory, Palaeolithic archaeology, hominin dispersals, Asian paleoanthropology, vertebrate paleontology and taphonomy and lithic technology. He is currently carrying out research on early human technological and environmental adaptations during the Quaternary of India and Yemen.

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