The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making: From Origin to Modern Experimentation

ISBN-13: 9781489991102 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 536 str.

Pierre M. Desrosiers

Opis

Human development is a long and steady process that began with stone tool making. Because of this skill, humans were able to adapt to climate changes, discover new territories, and invent new technologies. "Pressure knapping" is the common term for one method of creating stone tools, where a larger device or blade specifically made for this purpose is use to press out the stone tool. Pressure knapping was invented in different locations and at different points in time, representing the adoption of the Neolithic way of life in the Old world. Recent research on pressure knapping has led for the first time to a global thesis on this technique. The contributors to this seminal work combine research findings on pressure knapping from different cultures around the globe to develope a cohesive theory. This contributions to this volume represents a significant development to research on pressure knapping, as well as the field of lithic studies in general. This work will be an important reference for anyone studying the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods, lithic studies, technologies, and more generally, cultural transmission.

Recenzje

"This volume should be commended for its successful and holistic effort in highlighting phenomena associated with pressure blade production through experimental, archaeological and historical investigations. This almost Herculean effort is clear, concise and marks a milestone in studies of blade technology. It is quintessential for anyone interested in studies of pressure blade production." (Christian Steven Hoggard, Journal of Lithic Studies , Vol. 2, 2015)

"The Desrosiers volume leans more strongly towards the Continental tradition, and in typical c haîne opératoire fashion relies on empirical data to inform on lithic connaissances (knowledge) and savoir-faires (knowhow) to trace the culture historical progress of pressure blade flaking...Desrosiers provides an ideal opportunity to widen the investigative lens by considering technological approaches holistically." (Sarah Wurz, South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol 199, 2014 )

Spis treści

Chapter 1. Introduction: Breaking Stones Without Striking Them

 

Pierre M. Desrosiers

 

 

Chapter 2. Pressure Débitage in the Old World. Forerunners, Researchers, Geopolitics:

Handing On the Baton

 

Marie-Louise Inizan

 

 

Chapter 3. Stoneworkers’ Approaches to Replicating Prismatic Blades

 

John E. Clark

 

 

Chapter 4. Early Holocene Climate Change and the Adoption of Pressure Technique in the Maghreb: the Capsian Sequence at Kef Zoura D (Eastern Algeria)

 

Noura Rahmani and David Lubell

 

 

Chapter 5. Pressure Blade Production with a Lever in the Early and Late Neolithic

of the Near East

 

Ciler Altınbilek-Algül, Laurence Astruc, Didier Binder and Jacques Pelegrin

 

 

Chapter 6. Two examples of Pressure Blade Production with a Lever: Recent Research from the Southern Caucasus (Armenia) and Northern Mesopotamia (Syria, Iraq)

 

Jacques Chabot and Jacques Pelegrin

 

 

Chapter 7. Pressure Knapping Blade Production in the North-Western Mediterranean Region during the 7^th millennium cal B.C.

 

Didier Binder, Carmine Collina, Raphaëlle Guilbert, Thomas Perrin and with the collaboration of Oreto Garcia-Puchol

 

Chapter 8. Origin And Development Of Pressure Blade Production In The Southern Iberian Peninsula (6th-3rd Millennium B.C.)

Antonio Morgado and Jacques Pelegrin

 

 

Chapter 9. The Arrival and Development of Pressure Blade Technology in Southern Scandinavia

 

Mikkel Sørensen

 

 

Chapter 10. Surface Pressure Flaking in Eurasia: Mapping the innovation, diffusion and evolution of a technological element in the production of projectile points

 

Kim Darmark

 

 

Chapter 11. Emergence and Development of the Pressure Microblade Production: A View from the Upper Paleolithic of Northern Japan

 

Jun Takakura

 

 

Chapter 12. The Technique of Pressure Knapping in Central Asia: Innovation or Diffusion?

 

Frédérique Brunet

 

 

Chapter 13. Blades and Microblades, Percussion and Pressure: Towards the Evolution

of Lithic Technologies of the Stone Age Period, Russian Far East

 

Andrei V. Tabarev

 

 

Chapter 14. Pressure Microblade Industries in Pleistocene-Holocene Interior Alaska:

Current Data and Discussions

Yan Axel Gómez Coutouly

 

 

Chapter 15. Eastern Arctic under Pressure: from Paleoeskimo to Inuit Culture (Canada and Greenland)

Pierre M. Desrosiers and Mikkel Sørensen

 

 

Chapter 16. The Organizational Structures of Mesoamerican Obsidian Prismatic Blade Technology

 

Kenneth G. Hirth

 

 

Chapter 17. Development of Pressure Blade Technology in North-Central and West Mexico

 

Véronique Darras

 

 

Chapter 18. New Experimental Observations for the Characterization of Pressure Blade Production Techniques

 

Jacques Pelegrin

 

 

Chapter 19. Measurable Flintknapping for Long Pressure Blades

 

P. Kelterborn

Blurb

The evolution of humanity has been a long and steady process in which stone tool technology played a prominent role for the bulk of human history. Through advancements in lithic technology, humans were able to adapt to different climates, colonize new territories, and produce new inventions. One important breakthrough occurred with the adoption of pressure blade production, which in some places was closely followed by the beginning of the Neolithic way of life and the development of state societies. It may prove to have been a significant step towards the emergence of more complex societies. It was also a valuable acquisition in hunter-gatherer societies, some of which then proceeded to subsist in previously uninhabited environments such as the High Arctic. The advent of pressure blade production undoubtedly constituted a considerable improvement in stone tool technology, and as such formed a major step in the evolution of human kind.

Research on pressure blade making has intensified to the point where we are now able to compile a global overview on the use of this technique, presented for the first time in this volume. The research assembled here covers the origins, development and eventual abandonment of this technology within a variety of geographical and temporal contexts. This seminal effort presents research into past cultures from around the globe, resulting in a comprehensive portrait of pressure blade production.  

This work will be an important reference for anyone studying lithic technology and experimental archaeology, or those interested in the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods, as well as the colonization of the New World. More generally, it is of interest to anyone who wants to garner an understanding of the mechanisms of cultural transmission through time and space.