Taking as its central theme the issue of whether early Hominins organized themselves into societies as we understand them, John McNabb looks at how modern researchers recognize such archaeological cultures. He examines the existence of a stone tool culture called the Clactonian to introduce the multidisciplinary nature of the subject. In analyzing the various kinds of data archaeologists would use to investigate the existence of a Palaeolithic culture, this book represents the latest research in archaeology, population dispersals, geology, climatology, human palaeontoloty, evolutionary psychology, environmental and biological disciplines and dating techniques, along with many other research methods.
The British Palaeolithic provides the first academic synthesis of the entire British Palaeolithic, from the earliest occupation to the end of the Ice Age. It fills a major gap in teaching resources as well in research by providing a current synthesis of the latest research on the period.
The Earliest Europeans explores the early origins of man in Europe through the perspective of ‘a year in the life’: how hominins in the Lower Palaeolithic coped with the year-round practical challenges of mid-latitude Europe with its distinctive temperatures, seasonality patterns, and available resources. Current research has provided increasingly robust archaeological and Quaternary Science records, but there are ongoing uncertainties as to both the earliest Europeans’ specific survival strategies and behaviours, and the character of their dispersals into Europe. In short, how sustained and ‘successful’ were the individual phases of European occupation by Lower Palaeolithic hominins and what sorts of ‘human’ where they? Using a season-by-season chapter structure to explore, for example, the contrasting demands and opportunities of winter versus summer survival, Hosfield explores how foods and other resources would vary across the four seasons in quantity and quality, and the resulting implications for hominin behaviours. Text boxes provide the background on key issues, and the book draws on a range of supporting evidence including technology (e.g. the nature of Lower Palaeolithic stone tools; the evidence for organic tools), hominin life history (e.g. the length of infant dependency; the nature of ‘parenting’; the implications of different mating models; the Social Brain Hypothesis), cognitive studies (e.g. brain scanning research into possible planning capabilities) and potential bias in the archaeological record (e.g. in terms of what is and isn’t preserved). By testing the likelihood of different scenarios by comparing short-term, site-based insights with long-term, regional trends, Hosfield is able to out forward ideas on how our earliest European ancestors survived and what their lives were like.
This book deals with the earliest period of human settlement in Britain, proposing a series of archaeological stages for the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic periods. An introduction on the problems and methods of studying the Palaeolithic and Pleistocene periods leads into the technical argument, a sequence of development derived from evidence of stone artefacts and other signs of human activity at stratified sites in south-east England. Materials from all occupied parts of Britain are related to this basic sequence and, stressing that Britain lay on the edge of the Palaeolithic world, the author also brings in essential evidence from Europe and farther afield. The final chapter suggests the probable way of life of human groups in this period. This broad survey synthesises material from widely scattered sources including museums from all over Britain and has an extensive bibliography. Originally published in 1981.
The British Palaeolithic provides the first academic synthesis of the entire British Palaeolithic, from the earliest occupation to the end of the Ice Age. It fills a major gap in teaching resources as well in research by providing a current synthesis of the latest research on the period.
The picture of the Palaeolithic adaptations in the Italian Peninsula has always been coarse-grained compared to various well-researched regional hotspots in central and western Europe. This volume aims to fill that gap by presenting the latest advances in Palaeolithic research in Italy.
