The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making

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2 The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making

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4 Pierre M. Desrosiers Editor The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making From Origin to Modern Experimentation

5 Editor Pierre M. Desrosiers Ste-Catherine , H3Z 2Y5 Westmount, Québec, Canada ISBN e-isbn DOI / Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (

6 Foreword The initial conception of this book occurred during a session at the congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences held in Lisbon, Portugal, back in September of 2006 and represents an ambitious undertaking covering over 20,000 years of human evolution across nearly all continents. The focal point of the works included herein is pressure blade production, 1 and one will note a plethora of significant archaeological data that corresponds to a diverse range of cultural and environmental contexts spanning various chronological periods. This session was held in honour of Jacques Tixier and Marie-Louise Inizan, two key pioneering figures in the study of lithic technology, specifically in the application of pressure techniques. While this project was originally to be organized by Noura Rahmani and myself, Noura ended up changing careers which placed me solely at the helm. The impetus for this collaborative undertaking evolved over the subsequent years within the context of a larger project comprised of contributions from both prominent and emerging archaeologists. Three themes are brought forth in the following chapters and include: the history of research in the domain of pressure techniques, syntheses concerning different time periods and geographic areas as well as experimental works. This book presents a collection of the most recent research on the topic and has demanded a great deal of patience from all participants. I sincerely hope the wait was worth it. The reader will notice that a large number of contributors to this book are not native English speakers, making this a unique opportunity for readers to have access to the data from other countries. This was made possible thanks to the members of an external review committee who invested considerable effort. These members include in alphabetical order: Adrian Burke (Université de Montréal), Tristan Carter (McMaster University), Jenneth Curtis (Parks Canada), Max Friesen (University of Toronto), Lynda Gullason, Raymond Le Blanc (University of Alberta), Susan Lofthouse (Avataq Cultural Institute), David Lubell 2 (University of Waterloo), 1 Blade production is applied in this instance as a general term and includes bladelets and microblades. 2 David Lubell was initially selected as a member of the external committee and, later on, ended up contributing to the book. v

7 vi Foreword Michael Shott (University of Akron), Farina Sternke (University of Glasgow), Jonathan Thomas (University of Iowa) and Lucy Wilson (University of New Brunswick). I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude for the collaborative efforts of these great colleagues and friends of mine. Furthermore, review and preparation of the final manuscript was made possible with the help of David Howard and Benjamin Patenaude, to whom I am indebted. However, it has to be said that the final review of the content and English has been the responsibility of each contributor.

8 Contents Part I History of Research 1 Introduction: Breaking Stones Without Striking Them... 3 Pierre M. Desrosiers 2 Pressure Débitage in the Old World: Forerunners, Researchers, Geopolitics Handing on the Baton Marie-Louise Inizan 3 Stoneworkers Approaches to Replicating Prismatic Blades John E. Clark Part II Pressure Blade Production in the World 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 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 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 vii

9 viii Contents 7 Pressure-Knapping Blade Production in the North-Western Mediterranean Region During the Seventh Millennium cal B.C Didier Binder, Carmine Collina, Raphaëlle Guilbert, Thomas Perrin, and Oreto Garcia-Puchol 8 Origin and Development of Pressure Blade Production in the Southern Iberian Peninsula (6th 3rd Millennia B.C.) Antonio Morgado and Jacques Pelegrin 9 The Arrival and Development of Pressure Blade Technology in Southern Scandinavia Mikkel Sørensen 10 Surface Pressure Flaking in Eurasia: Mapping the Innovation, Diffusion and Evolution of a Technological Element in the Production of Projectile Points Kim Darmark 11 Emergence and Development of the Pressure Microblade Production: A View from the Upper Paleolithic of Northern Japan Jun Takakura 12 The Technique of Pressure Knapping in Central Asia: Innovation or Diffusion? Frédérique Brunet 13 Blades and Microblades, Percussion and Pressure: Towards the Evolution of Lithic Technologies of the Stone Age Period, Russian Far East Andrei V. Tabarev 14 Pressure Microblade Industries in Pleistocene-Holocene Interior Alaska: Current Data and Discussions Yan Axel Gómez Coutouly 15 Eastern Arctic Under Pressure: From Paleoeskimo to Inuit Culture (Canada and Greenland) Pierre M. Desrosiers and Mikkel Sørensen 16 The Organizational Structures of Mesoamerican Obsidian Prismatic Blade Technology Kenneth G. Hirth 17 Development of Pressure Blade Technology in North-Central and Western Mexico Véronique Darras

10 Contents ix Part III Recent Advances in Experimentation 18 New Experimental Observations for the Characterization of Pressure Blade Production Techniques Jacques Pelegrin 19 Measurable Flintknapping for Long Pressure Blades Peter Kelterborn Index