Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Use of Lithic Assemblages for the Definition of Short-Term Occupations in Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory

  • Chapter
Short-Term Occupations in Paleolithic Archaeology

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

Abstract

One of the main elements in prehistoric research is the study of settlement patterns. In the last five decades, stemming partially from Binford’s research on the topic, the idea of settlement patterns is based on site typology, including the traditional residential and logistic concepts. Both models of land use and exploitation are certainly marked by the notion of short-term occupation. This concept, used freely by many archaeologists, tends to rely on two main ideas: an occupation lasted a short span of time and resulted in a limited amount of material culture. Our aim, based on our results from various archaeological case studies dated to the Upper Palaeolithic of Portugal, is to show that neither idea is necessarily correct: e.g. there may be short-term occupations with the production of large amounts of artefacts, such as lithic workshops; there might be very small collections, such as lithic caches, resulting from short occupations but with very long uses of the site; and most times, both are hardly differentiated within complex palimpsests. Our study shows that the common use of lithic volumetric density and retouch frequency is not always sufficient to differentiate between short- and long-term occupations. Also, there are other variables that are more sensitive to indicate the duration of occupation of an archaeological context that should be used in the identification of time length.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Almeida, F. (2000). The terminal Gravettian of Portuguese estremadura: Technological variability of the lithic industries (PhD Thesis). Southern Methodist University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amick, D. S. (1996). Regional patterns of Folsom mobility and land use in the American Southwest. World Archaeology, 27, 411–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1996.9980317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aubry, T., Peyrouse, J.-B., & Walter, B. (2003). Les feuilles de laurier de Volgu (Saône-et-Loire): Une énigme en partie résolue? PALEO. Revue d’archéologie préhistorique, 15, 251–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton, C. M. (1990). Stone tools and Paleolithic settlement in the Iberian Peninsula. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 56, 15–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0079497X00005004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barton, C. M., & Clark, G. A. (1993). Cultural and natural formation processes in late Quaternary cave and rockshelter sites of western Europe and the Near East. In P. Goldberg, D. T. Nash, & M. D. Petraglia (Eds.), Formation processes in archaeological context (pp. 33–52). Madison: Prehistory Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton, C. M., & Riel-Salvatore, J. (2014). The formation of lithic assemblages. Journal of Archaeological Science, 46, 334–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.031.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barton, C. M., Villaverde, V., Zilhão, J., Aura, J. E., Garcia, O., & Badal, E. (2013). In glacial environments beyond glacial terrains: Human eco-dynamics in late Pleistocene Mediterranean Iberia. Quaternary International, 318, 53–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.05.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N. (1992). Technological change in the final upper paleolithic of Rio Maior, Portuguese Estremadura (PhD thesis). Southern Methodist University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N. (1993). Late Glacial prehistory of central and southern Portugal. Antiquity, 67, 761–775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N. (1994). The end of the Paleolithic and the Mesolithic in Portuga. Current Anthropology, 35, 664–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N. (2005). The extinction of Neanderthals and the emergence of the Upper Paleolithic in Portugal. Promontoria, 3, 173–228.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N. (2009). On the edge: Early Holocene adaptations in Southwestern Iberia. Journal of Anthropological Research, 65, 185–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Stiner, M. C., & Lindly, J. (2004). Shell ornaments, bone tools and long distance connections in the Upper Paleolithic of Southern Portugal. In M. Otte (Ed.), La Spiritualité - Actes du colloque International de Liège (Vol. ERAUL 106, pp. 71–80). Liège: Études et Recherches Archéologiques de l’Université de Liège.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Haws, J., & Hockett, B. (2006). Two sides of the same coin—rocks, bones and site function of Picareiro Cave, central Portugal. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 25, 485–499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2006.03.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Manne, T., Marreiros, J., Cascalheira, J., Pereira, T., Tátá, F., et al. (2013). The ecodynamics of the first modern humans in Southwestern Iberia: The case of Vale Boi, Portugal. Quaternary International, 318, 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.06.029.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Marreiros, J., Cascalheira, J., Pereira, T., & Haws, J. (2015). Bayesian modeling and the chronology of the Portuguese Gravettian. Quaternary International, 359–360, 499–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.04.040.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Marreiros, J., Cascalheira, J., & Raja, M. (2016). An Early Gravettian Point Cache from Vale Boi: Implications for the Arrival of Anatomically Modern Humans to Southern Iberia. Paper presented at 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Cascalheira, J., & Gonçalves, C. (2017a). Early Upper Paleolithic colonization across Europe: Time and mode of the Gravettian diffusion. PLoS One, 12, e0178506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Cascalheira, J., Marreiros, J., & Pereira, T. (2017b). Rapid climatic events and long term cultural change: The case of the Portuguese Upper Paleolithic. Quaternary International, 428, 3–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1978a). Dimensional analysis of behavior and site structure: Learning from an Eskimo hunting stand. American Antiquity, 43, 330–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1978b). Nunamiut ethnoarchaeology. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1980). Willow smoke and dogs’ tails: Hunter-gatherer settlement systems and archaeological site formation. American Antiquity, 4–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1981). Bones: Ancient men and modern myths. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1982). The archaeology of place. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 1, 5–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bleed, P. (1986). The optimal design of hunting weapons: Maintainability or reliability. American Antiquity, 51, 737–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bretzke, K., Kandel, A. W., & Conard, N. J. (2017). The Middle Paleolithic sequence of Wadi Mushkuna Rockshelter and its implications for hominin settlement dynamics in western Syria. Quaternary International, 435, 106–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carbonell, E. (Ed.). (2012). High resolution archaeology and Neanderthal behavior: Time and space in Level J of Abric Romaní (Capellades, Spain). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho, A. F. (2007). A neolitização do Portugal meridional: Os exemplos do Maciço calcário estremenho e do Algarve ocidental (PhD thesis). Universidade do Algarve.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cascalheira, J. (2010). Tecnologia lítica do abrigo Solutrense de Vale Boi. Lisbon: UNIARQ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cascalheira, J. (2013). A influência mediterrânica nas redes sociais do Solutrense final peninsular (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis). Universidade do Algarve, Faro.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cascalheira, J., & Bicho, N. (2013). Hunter–gatherer ecodynamics and the impact of the Heinrich event 2 in Central and Southern Portugal. Quaternary International, 318, 117–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.05.039.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cascalheira, J., & Bicho, N. (2015). On the chronological structure of the Solutrean in Southern Iberia. PLoS One, 10, e0137308. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0137308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, G. A., & Barton, C. M. (2017). Lithics, landscapes & la Longue-durée – Curation & expediency as expressions of forager mobility. Quaternary International, 450, 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crassard, R., Petraglia, M. D., Drake, N. A., Breeze, P., Gratuze, B., Alsharekh, A., et al. (2013). Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic occupations around Mundafan Palaeolake, Saudi Arabia: Implications for climate change and human dispersals. PLoS One, 8, e69665. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069665.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Sonneville-Bordes, D., & Perrot, J. (1954). Lexique typologique du Paléolithique supérieur: Outillage lithique: I Grattoirs-II Outils solutréens. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, 51(Fasc. 7), 327–335.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Sonneville-Bordes, D., & Perrot, J. (1955). Lexique typologique du Paléolithique supérieur, Outillage lithique, III-Outils composites-Perçoirs. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, 52(1), 76–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Sonneville-Bordes, D., & Perrot, J. (1956a). Lexique typologique du Paléolithique supérieur: Outillage lithique-IV Burins. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, 53(Fasc. 7/8), 408–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Sonneville-Bordes, D., & Perrot, J. (1956b). Lexique typologique du Paléolithique supérieur: Outillage lithique. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, 53 (Fasc. 9), 547–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillehay, T., Stackelbeck, K., Rossen, J., & Maggard, G. (2011). Research history, methods, and site types. In T. D. Dillehay (Ed.), From foraging to farming in the Andes: New perspectives on food production and social organization (pp. 29–41). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Farrand, W. R. (2001). Sediments and stratigraphy in rockshelters and caves: A personal perspective on principles and pragmatics. Geoarchaeology, 16(5), 537–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, P., & Aldeias, V. (2018). Why does (archaeological) micromorphology have such little traction in (geo) archaeology? Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 10(2), 269–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grove, M. (2009). Hunter–gatherer movement patterns: Causes and constraints. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 28, 222–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2009.01.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haws, J. A. (2012). Paleolithic socionatural relationships during MIS 3 and 2 in central Portugal. Quaternary International, 264, 61–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.10.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, R. L. (1995). The foraging spectrum. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, S. L. (1992). On planning and curated technologies in the Middle Paleolithic. Journal of Anthropological Research, 48, 185–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, S. L. (1995). Mousterian lithic technology. Princeton University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zv59w.

  • Lê, S., Josse, J., & Husson, F. (2008). FactoMineR: An R package for multivariate analysis. Journal of Statistical Software, 25(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madsen, D. B., Haizhou, M., Brantingham, P. J., Xing, G., Rhode, D., Haiying, Z., & Olsen, J. W. (2006). The late Upper Paleolithic occupation of the northern Tibetan Plateau margin. Journal of Archaeological Science, 33, 1433–1444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manne, T. (2014). Early Upper Paleolithic bone processing and insights into small-scale storage of fats at Vale Boi, southern Iberia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 43, 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.12.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks, A. E., Bicho, N., Zilhão, J., & Reid Ferring, C. (1994). Upper Pleistocene prehistory in Portuguese Estremadura: Results of preliminary research. Journal of Field Archaeology, 21, 53–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marreiros, J., & Bicho, N. (2013). Lithic technology variability and human ecodynamics during the Early Gravettian of Southern Iberian Peninsula. Quaternary International, 318, 90–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.05.008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marwick, B. (2016). Computational reproducibility in archaeological research: Basic principles and a case study of their implementation. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 24(2), 424–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9272-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marwick, B., Boettiger, C., & Mullen, L. (2017). Packaging data analytical work reproducibly using R (and friends). The American Statistician, 0–0. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2017.1375986.

  • McCall, G. S. (2006). Multivariate perspectives on change and continuity in the Middle Stone Age lithics from Klasies River Mouth, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 51, 429–439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.06.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCall, G. S. (2007). Behavioral ecological models of lithic technological change during the later Middle Stone Age of South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science, 34, 1738–1751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.12.015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McPherron, S. P. (1994). A reduction model for variability in Acheulian biface morphology (PhD Thesis). University of Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendonça, C. I. da S. (2009). A tecnologia lítica no Tardiglaciar do Algarve (PhD thesis).

    Google Scholar 

  • Moncel, M.-H., & Rivals, F. (2011). On the question of short-term neanderthal site occupations: Payre, France (MIS 8-7), and Taubach/Weimar, Germany (MIS 5). Journal of Anthropological Research, 67(1), 47–75. https://doi.org/10.3998/jar.0521004.0067.104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, M. C. (1991). The study of technological organization. Archaeological Method and Theory, 3, 57–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nishiaki, Y., & Akazawa, T. (2015). Patterning of the early Middle Paleolithic occupations at Douara Cave and its implications for settlement dynamics in the Palmyra basin, Syria. l’Anthropologie, 119, 519–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pereira, T., Bicho, N., Cascalheira, J., Infantini, L., Marreiros, J., Paixão, E., & Terradas, X. (2016). Territory and abiotic resources between 33 and 15.6 ka at Vale Boi (SW Portugal). Quaternary International, 412,. Part A, 124–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.071.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Picin, A. (2016). Short-term occupations at the lakeshore: A technological reassessment of the open–air site Königsaue (Germany). Quartär, 63, 7–32. https://doi.org/10.7485/QU63_1.

  • Porraz, G. (2009). Middle Paleolithic mobile toolkits in shortterm human occupations: Two case studies. Eurasian Prehistory, 6(1–2), 33–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team. (2013). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://www.R-project.org/.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riel-Salvatore, J. (2010). A Niche construction perspective on the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition in Italy. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 17, 323–355. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-010-9093-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riel-Salvatore, J., & Barton, C. M. (2004). Late Pleistocene technology, economic behavior, and land-use dynamics in southern Italy. American Antiquity, 69(2), 257–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riel-Salvatore, J., & Barton, C. M. (2007). New quantitative perspectives on the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition: The view from the northern Mediterranean. BAR International Series, 1620, 61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivals, F., Moncel, M.-H., & Patou-Mathis, M. (2009a). Seasonality and intra-site variation of Neanderthal occupations in the Middle Palaeolithic locality of Payre (Ardèche, France) using dental wear analyses. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36(4), 1070–1078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.12.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivals, F., Schulz, E., & Kaiser, T. M. (2009b). A new application of dental wear analyses: Estimation of duration of hominid occupations in archaeological localities. Journal of Human Evolution, 56(4), 329–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.11.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahlins, M. (1972). Stone age economics. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandgathe, D. M. (2005). Examining the Levallois reduction strategy from a design theory point of view. Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd., BAR International Series 1417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffer, M. B. (1983). Toward the identification of formation processes. American Antiquity, 48, 675–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiffer, M. B. (1987). Formation processes of the archaeological record. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shennan, S. (1997). Quantifying archaeology. University of Iowa Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. K., Deo, J. N., & Phillips, L. S. (2003). Big sites—short time: Accumulation rates in archaeological sites. Journal of Archaeological Science, 30, 297–316. https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.2002.0838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabarev, A. V., Gillam, J. C., Kanomata, Y., & Gunchinsuren, B. (2013). A Paleolithic cache at tolbor (Northern Mongolia). Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, 41(3), 14–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terradillos-Bernal, M., Fernández-Lomana, J. C. D., Pardo, J.-F. J., Benito-Calvo, A., Clemente, I., & Marcos-Sáiz, F. J. (2017). San Quirce (Palencia, Spain). A Neanderthal open air campsite with short term-occupation patterns. Quaternary International, 435, 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.09.082.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaquero, M., & Romagnoli, F. (2017). Searching for lazy people: The significance of expedient behavior in the interpretation of Paleolithic assemblages. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 25(2), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9339-x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villaverde, V., Aura, J. E., & Barton, C. M. (1998). The Upper Paleolithic in Mediterranean Spain: A review of current evidence. Journal of World Prehistory, 12, 121–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickham, H. (2015). R packages: Organize, test, document, and share your code. Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yellen, J. E. (1977). Archaeological approaches to the present: Models for reconstructing the past (Vol. 1). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zilhão, J. (1997). O Paleolítico Superior da Estremadura portuguesa. Lisbon: Colibri.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Andrea Picin for inviting us to the SAA symposium on short-term occupations, held in Vancouver, Canada, in 2017, and the two anonymous reviewers whose commentaries and suggestions helped to improve the final version of this paper.

We also would like to thank Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia for financial support on various projects, including UID/ARQ/04211/2013 and PTDC/EPH-ARQ/4998/2012. JC is funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, contract ref. DL 57/2016/CP1361/CT0026.

The sites in the Rio Maior region (ArI, CRII, CPM, PC and QS) were all excavated under Anthony Marks’ US National Science Foundation grant ‘The Prehistory of Portugal’ #8803789, as well as with his direct supervision and participation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICArEHB, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Nuno Bicho & João Cascalheira

Authors
  1. Nuno Bicho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. João Cascalheira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nuno Bicho .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ICArEHB, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    João Cascalheira

  2. Department of Human Evolution, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

    Andrea Picin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bicho, N., Cascalheira, J. (2020). Use of Lithic Assemblages for the Definition of Short-Term Occupations in Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory. In: Cascalheira, J., Picin, A. (eds) Short-Term Occupations in Paleolithic Archaeology. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27403-0_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27403-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27402-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27403-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation