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Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician points were used primarily as hunting weapons: morphological and functional analysis of points from Nietoperzowa Cave, southern Poland

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Abstract

Points from the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician complex (LRJ) evoke numerous comments regarding their cultural patterning and their typo-technological characteristics. The unceasing interest in this group of tools is additionally stimulated by the fact that, in light of the most recent chronometric data, the development of the LRJ complexes in Europe coincides exactly with the period of the Neanderthals’ extinction and the niche extension by modern humans. So far, however, scant information has been provided on the weapon systems used by the hunter-gatherers of LRJ. A re-examination of this group of tools from Nietoperzowa Cave in Poland, the richest LRJ set in Europe, provides new data which fill this gap. Using a multi-proxy approach, which involves geometric-morphometric analyses as well as microscopic and technological studies, we concluded that the points form a homogeneous group with respect to their morphology and functional character. Our findings suggest that the shape subject to predominantly laterisation was the result of the selection of half-product or elongated flakes, and the use of a consistently repetitive procedure to form the proximal and distal parts. The microscopic examination provided evidence that the points were mainly used as components of hunting weapons. We also obtained, for the first time, evidence that answers the question of how some points may have been mounted. In terms of tip cross-section indices, the points from Nietoperzowa Cave are intermediate between arrowheads and tips of the atlatl and examples of Middle Palaeolithic points; they differ only slightly from Szeletian points, which are assigned to the late Middle Palaeolithic or Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP). They show an affinity to some blade EUP industries.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following institutions which made their material available for this study: the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, the National Museum of Archaeology in Warsaw, and the Władysław Szafer Museum of Natural History in Ojców. We also thank the reviewers for their helpful constructive comments. We used reference data accumulated within project no. 2017/25/B/HS3/00925, financed by the National Science Centre.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Szewska 48, 50-139, Wrocław, Poland

    Andrzej Wiśniewski

  2. Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927, Warsaw, Poland

    Katarzyna Pyżewicz & Małgorzata Kot

  3. Independent Researcher, Krakowska 26, 32-353, Jangrot, Poland

    Kamil Serwatka

  4. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Solidarności 105, 00-140, Warsaw, Poland

    Katarzyna Kerneder-Gubała

  5. State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw, Długa 52, 00-041, Warsaw, Poland

    Witold Grużdź

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Wiśniewski, A., Pyżewicz, K., Serwatka, K. et al. Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician points were used primarily as hunting weapons: morphological and functional analysis of points from Nietoperzowa Cave, southern Poland. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 90 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01552-z

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