Papers by James Blinkhorn
PLoS One, 2019
Microliths-small, retouched, often-backed stone tools-are often interpreted to be the product of ... more Microliths-small, retouched, often-backed stone tools-are often interpreted to be the product of composite tools, including projectile weapons, and efficient hunting strategies by modern humans. In Europe and Africa these lithic toolkits are linked to hunting of medium-and large-sized game found in grassland or woodland settings, or as adaptations to risky environments during periods of climatic change. Here, we report on a recently excavated lithic assemblage from the Late Pleistocene cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in the tropical evergreen rainforest of Sri Lanka. Our analyses demonstrate that Fa-Hien Lena represents the earliest microlith assemblage in South Asia (c. 48,000-45,000 cal. years BP) in firm association with evidence for the procurement of small to medium size arboreal prey and rainforest plants. Moreover, our data highlight that the lithic technology of Fa-Hien Lena changed little over the long span of human occupation (c. 48,000-45,000 cal. years BP to c. 4,000 cal. years BP) indicating a successful, stable technological adaptation to the tropics. We argue that microlith assemblages were an important part of the environmental plasticity that enabled Homo sapiens to colonise and specialise in a diversity of ecological settings during its expansion within and beyond Africa. The proliferation of diverse microlithic technologies across Eurasia c. 48-45 ka was part of a flexible human 'toolkit' that assisted our species' spread into all of the world's environments, and the development of specialised technological and cultural approaches to novel ecological situations. PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 2019
The appearance of hafting technologies marks a key shift in hominin behavioural evolution. Haftin... more The appearance of hafting technologies marks a key shift in hominin behavioural evolution. Hafting first appears in Africa and Western Eurasia across the transition from Late Acheu-lean to Middle Palaeolithic technologies ~ 300-200 thousand years ago (ka). Hafting technology in South Asia may have emerged as a result of a local innovation, through cultural diffusion or a population dispersal. The resolution of the South Asian Palaeolithic records has improved significantly over the past decade, enabling examination of patterns of change through time in stone tool technologies. Although functional studies of tool use remain limited in the region, a range of indices of hafting appear in stone tool assemblages that offer the first means to evaluate the origins of hafting in South Asia. Rare examples appear in Middle Pleistocene contexts, but indices of hafting appear repeatedly in Middle Palaeolithic assemblages dating within the past 100 thousand years and are commonplace amongst Late Palaeolithic assemblages dating within the past 45 thousand years. This dataset remains too immature to authoritatively resolve between alternate models for the origins of hafting, whereas direct association with discrete hominin populations is hampered by the region's scant fossil record. Nevertheless, this examination of the origin of hafting technology presents the means to reorient approaches to Late Pleistocene behavioural change in South Asia and integrate them within global debates regarding hominin innovation , demographic interaction and population expansion.
Scientific Reports, 2018
The Acheulean is the longest lasting cultural–technological tradition in human evolutionary histo... more The Acheulean is the longest lasting cultural–technological tradition in human evolutionary history. However, considerable gaps remain in understanding the chronology and geographical distribution of Acheulean hominins. We present the first chronometrically dated Acheulean site from the Arabian Peninsula, a vast and poorly known region that forms more than half of Southwest Asia. Results show that Acheulean hominin occupation expanded along hydrological networks into the heart of Arabia from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 until at least ~190 ka ̶ the youngest documented Acheulean in Southwest Asia. The site of Saffaqah features Acheulean technology, characterized by large flakes, handaxes and cleavers, similar to Acheulean assemblages in Africa. These findings reveal a climatically mediated later Acheulean expansion into a poorly known region, amplifying the documented diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour across the Old World and elaborating the terminal archaic landscape encountered by our species as they dispersed out of Africa.
The Middle Stone Age (MSA) of eastern Africa has a long history of research and is accompanied by... more The Middle Stone Age (MSA) of eastern Africa has a long history of research and is accompanied by a rich fossil record, which, combined with its geographic location, have led it to play an important role in investigating the origins and expansions of Homo sapiens. Recent evidence has suggested an earlier appearance of our species, indicating a more mosaic origin of modern humans, highlighting the importance of regional and interregional patterning and bringing into question the role that eastern Africa has played. Previous evaluations of the eastern African MSA have identified substantial variability, only a small proportion of which is explained by chronology and geography. Here, we examine the structure of behavioural, temporal, geographic and environmental variability within and between sites across eastern Africa using a quantitative approach. The application of hierarchical clustering identifies enduring patterns of tool use and site location through the MSA as well as phases of significant behavioural diversification and colonisation of new landscapes, particularly notable during Marine Isotope Stage 5. As the quantity and detail of technological studies from individual sites in eastern Africa gathers pace, the structure of the MSA record highlighted here offers a roadmap for comparative studies.
The terminology used to describe Palaeolithic industries has an important impact upon our interpr... more The terminology used to describe Palaeolithic industries has an important impact upon our interpretation of past behaviour. In South Asia, the term Late Palaeolithic is employed to refer to Late Pleistocene microlithic industries, distinguishing them chronologically from Holocene Mesolithic industries, and technologically from preceding Middle Palaeolithic technologies. Historically, however, an intermediate technological stage between Middle Palaeolithic and microlithic industries has been recognised and called ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic. Examining whether these ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic industries fit contemporary definitions of Middle or Late Palaeolithic technologies, distinct diversity within one of these technologies or a transitional phase between the two is therefore necessary to reintegrate these ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic sites into current debate. This is a particularly timely issue as the connection between some Late Palaeolithic artefact types, particularly backed microliths, and the earliest modern human populations in South Asia no longer appears tenable, and thus a rush to identify the earliest appearance of microliths must give way to more detailed examinations of behavioural variability. This paper re-examines lithic assemblages from Buddha Pushkar, western India, originally reported as an ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic industry. An attribute study of metric and categorical variables recorded on stone tools is used to examine how flaking technology, raw material use and reduction intensity vary within and between these assemblages. The results indicate raw material choices had a marked impact on stone tool technologies, nested within a pattern of technological diversity in western India during the terminal Pleistocene that complement models of regional trajectories in the evolution of Late Palaeolithic technologies.
Examinations of modern human dispersals are typically focused on expansions from South, East or N... more Examinations of modern human dispersals are typically focused on expansions from South, East or North Africa into Eurasia, with more limited attention paid to dispersals within Africa. The paucity of the West African fossil record means it has typically been overlooked in appraisals of human expansions in the Late Pleistocene, yet regions such as Senegal occur in key biogeographic transitional zones that may offer significant corridors for human occupation and expansion. Here, we report the first evidence for Middle Stone Age occupation of the West African littoral from Ti emassas, dating to ~44 thousand years ago, coinciding with a period of enhanced humidity across the region. Prehistoric populations mainly procured raw material from exposed Ypresian limestone horizons with Levallois, discoidal and informal reduction sequences producing flake blanks for retouched tools. We discuss this mid-Marine Isotope Stage 3 occupation in the context of the site's unique, ecotonal position amongst Middle Stone Age sites across West Africa, and its significance for Later Stone Age colonization of near coastal forests in the region. The results also support previous suggestions for connections between Middle Stone Age populations in West Africa and the Maghreb, for which the coastline may also have played a significant role.
Current Anthropology, 2017
The Indian subcontinent lies on a key east-west corridor for hominin expansions across Asia, whic... more The Indian subcontinent lies on a key east-west corridor for hominin expansions across Asia, which has led to it playing a prominent role in debate surrounding the dispersal of modern humans. The current geography and ecology of the region consists of a diverse array of habitats. An examination of changes in monsoonal intensity indicates that geographic reconfiguration of ecological diversity occurred, but at a regional level, South Asia is shown to provide suitable environments for hominin occupations throughout the Late Pleistocene. Unfortunately, the fossil record of South Asia remains poor, preventing decisive resolution of modern human dispersal debates. However, in the past decade new interdisciplinary approaches to the archaeological record have overhauled the framework for understanding behavioral change during the Late Pleistocene. While the nature of the Late Acheulean to Middle Paleolithic transition remains to be resolved, it is now clear that it appears significantly later than in other Old World regions and may coincide with the expansion of modern humans across Asia. Mounting evidence supports a gradual rather than abrupt transition from Middle to Late Paleolithic technologies, which does not easily reconcile with arguments for the introduction of microlithic tool kits by the earliest expansions of modern humans.
Journal of Anthropological Research, 2017
Climate change is frequently highlighted as a key driver of biological evolution and cultural inn... more Climate change is frequently highlighted as a key driver of biological evolution and cultural innovation in our species. It is often seen as influencing behavioural plasticity and the development of buffering mechanisms, for example in the form of more efficient technology and subsistence strategies. However, such hypotheses are yet to be studied in detail in South Asia, despite improving Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental records in this region and its crucial position in human dispersals beyond Africa. Here, we review evidence for technological and behavioural innovation across three regions of South Asia: the Thar Desert (northwest India), the Jurreru River Valley (southeast India), and the lowland Wet Zone of Sri Lanka. Together these areas form an ecotone from hyper-arid desert to humid rainforest that show different dynamics in the Late Pleistocene, and particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum. The archaeological records from each of these areas demonstrate a distinct nature and tempo of cultural change, probably reflecting, to some extent, the influence of climate change on forming heterogeneous local environments. Overall, however, the mosaic environments of South Asia made it an attractive region for the persistence of our species and their gradual uptake of cultural innovations during the Late Pleistocene.
Climate change is frequently highlighted as a key driver of biological evolution and cultural inn... more Climate change is frequently highlighted as a key driver of biological evolution and cultural innovation in our species. It is often seen as influencing behavioural plasticity and the development of buffering mechanisms, for example in the form of more efficient technology and subsistence strategies. However, such hypotheses are yet to be studied in detail in South Asia, despite improving Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental records in this region and its crucial position in human dispersals beyond Africa. Here, we review evidence for technological and behavioural innovation across three regions of South Asia: the Thar Desert (northwest India), the Jurreru River Valley (southeast India), and the lowland Wet Zone of Sri Lanka. Together these areas form an ecotone from hyper-arid desert to humid rainforest that show different dynamics in the Late Pleistocene, and particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum. The archaeological records from each of these areas demonstrate a distinct nature and tempo of cultural change, probably reflecting, to some extent, the influence of climate change on forming heterogeneous local environments. Overall, however, the mosaic environments of South Asia made it an attractive region for the persistence of our species and their gradual uptake of cultural innovations during the Late Pleistocene.
The Indian Ocean coastline is argued to have been a critical route of modern human dispersal from... more The Indian Ocean coastline is argued to have been a critical route of modern human dispersal from Africa, introducing Late Palaeolithic industries into South Asia, but a dearth of evidence has prevented a direct evaluation of this. Kachchh (Gujarat, India), located immediately east of the Indus Delta, is an important setting to appraise the Palaeolithic occupation of the western Indian coastline. Targeted survey of Late Pleistocene sediments there found widespread evidence for occupation of Kachchh during the Late Pleistocene: Middle Palaeolithic and possibly Late Acheulean lithic artifacts. The conspicuous absence of Late Palaeolithic industries in these Late Pleistocene deposits, with their presence only noted in Holocene contexts, does not support the model of modern human expansions into India with these industries via the coastal route. We evaluate these results in the context of current debates regarding Late Pleistocene hominin demography, adaptation, and expansions.
Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironments in the Thar Desert (India), located at the eastern extent of ... more Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironments in the Thar Desert (India), located at the eastern extent of the Saharo-Arabian desert belt, have fluctuated considerably as a result of the varying range and intensity of the Indian summer monsoon. Phases of widespread Pleistocene aridity are well documented in the Thar Desert, but research focusing on humid proxies is critical to examine how the region may have facilitated population expansions across southern Asia. At Katoati, located on the northeast margin of the Thar Desert, the combination of field recording of sediment sections with detailed analyses (micromorphology, stable isotope, loss on ignition, magnetic susceptibility, and X-ray fluorescence) from an archaeological site identify a series of hominin occupations during phases of enhanced humidity between ~96 and 60 ka. A gradient of humidity on the eastern margin of the Thar Desert during the Late Pleistocene is identified, with the periodic humidity evident at Katoati occurring more frequently and with longer duration towards the southern margin. This uneven distribution of humidity in the Thar Desert is likely to have strongly influenced when and where hominin populations could expand into and across the region.
Quantitative, attribute-based analyses of stone tools (lithics) have been frequently used to faci... more Quantitative, attribute-based analyses of stone tools (lithics) have been frequently used to facilitate large-scale comparative studies, attempt to mitigate problems of assemblage completeness and address interpretations of the co-occurrence of unrelated technological processes. However, a major barrier to the widespread acceptance of such methods has been the lack of quantified experiments that can be externally validated by theoretically distinct approaches in order to guide analysis and confidence in results. Given that quantitative, attribute-based studies now underpin several major interpretations of the archaeological record, the requirement to test the accuracy of such methods has become critical. In this paper, we test the utility of 31 commonly used flake attribute measurements for identifying discrete reduction trajec-tories through three refitted lithic sets from the Middle Palaeolithic open-air site of Le Pucheuil, in northern France. The experiment had three aims: (1) to determine which, if any, attribute measurements could be used to separate individual refitted sets, (2) to determine whether variability inherent in the assemblage was primarily driven by different reduction trajectories, as represented by the refitted sets, or other factors, and (3) to determine which multivariate tests were most suitable for these analyses. In order to test the sensitivity of the sample, we ran all analyses twice, the first time with all the available lithics pertaining to each refitted set and the second time with randomly generated 75 % subsamples of each set. All results revealed the consistent accuracy of 16 attribute measurements in quadratic and linear discriminant analyses, principal component analyses and dissimilarity matrices. These results therefore provide the first J Archaeol Method Theory
The evolutionary origins of Homo sapiens and associated behavioural changes are increasingly seen... more The evolutionary origins of Homo sapiens and associated behavioural changes are increasingly seen as complex processes, involving multiple regions of Africa. In West Africa, Terminal Pleistocene/Holocene aged human fossils, demonstrating the late continuity of archaic morphological features in the region have been linked to models of surprisingly recent admixture processes between late archaic hominins and H. sapiens. However, the limited chronological resolution of the archaeological record has prevented evaluation of how these biological records relate to patterns of behaviour. Here, we provide a preliminary report of the first excavated and dated Stone Age site in northern Senegal which features the youngest Middle Stone Age (MSA) technology yet documented in Africa. Ndiayène Pendao features classic MSA core axes, basally thinned flakes, Levallois points and denticu-lates mostly made from chert. Similar technological features characterise several, larger surface sites in the vicinity. From this, it is postulated that populations using 'anachronistic' technologies in the Lower Senegal Valley around the transition to the Holocene may have been widespread, in sharp contrast to other areas of Senegal and West Africa. The chronology and technology of Ndiayène Pendao provides the first cultural evidence to support a complex evolutionary history in West Africa. This is consistent with a persistently high degree of Pleisto-cene population substructure in Africa and the spatially and temporally complex character of behavioural and biological evolution.
Rock Art Research in India: 2010-2014, in Rock Art Studies: News of the World V, Bahn, P., Franklin, N., Strecker, M., and Delvet, E. (Eds.), 2016. Oxford: Archaeopress pp 155-162 (Corrected Manuscript) This paper reviews rock art research conducted between 2010 and 2014 in India. Its goal is to sum... more This paper reviews rock art research conducted between 2010 and 2014 in India. Its goal is to summarise rock art research over the past five years in the region, and identify some common themes in rock art studies. Unfortunately, this review cannot be exhaustive due to the difficulties of accessing much of the literature on the topic that is produced and published in South Asia, but is not widely distributed beyond the region and is not readily available on the internet. As a result, inclusion within the review primarily relates to accessibility to peer reviewed and published sources. A number of overviews of rock art research, unavailable for review in this article, have been published by South Asian authors over the past five years, notably those by Biswas and Malla (2013; 2014a, b), and regional overviews including Verma's (2012) review of Rock Art of the Central Region, and Dubey-Pathak's (2013) Rock Art of Pachmarhi Biosphere. Purakala, the journal of the Rock Art Society of India (RASI), is not currently available on the internet, and as a result many discoveries published in this venue are inaccessible outside of the subcontinent. A recent special issue of Man in India (2011) focuses upon rock art research, but again, it is unavailable on the internet making it largely inaccessible outside of India. This paper will review recent, accessible publications focused upon rock art research in India, split between synthetic approaches, and regional discoveries and reviews, presented in a state by state fashion, working broadly from north to south.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013
India has one of the world's largest and most significant bodies of rock paintings and engravings... more India has one of the world's largest and most significant bodies of rock paintings and engravings, yet not a single rock art site or image has been directly and accurately dated using radiometric techniques. Here we report on results from the Billasurgam Cave complex near Kurnool in southern India. Although this cave complex has been investigated archaeologically since the late 1800s, it was not until 2008 that a large petroglyph, consisting of the remains of three nested diamond designs on a stalactite, was noted. In order to determine if this petroglyph had been made recently, flowstone was sampled from on top of and below the engraving. Radiocarbon dating revealed a mid-Holocene age of about 5000 cal BP for the petroglyph, but we cannot rule out the possibility that the engraving is several centuries younger. Similar nested diamond designs at some rock painting sites and on a chert core elsewhere in India have been assumed to be Mesolithic. Our result is consistent with this hypothesis, although we note that it also consistent with the creation of the petroglyph in the early Neolithic. We conclude that the Billasurgam engraved diamond design was probably made by Mesolithic foragers of the Kurnool region and is the oldest surviving form of rock art yet directly dated in southern India.
The importance of Africa in human origins is widely recognised, yet knowledge remains strongly bi... more The importance of Africa in human origins is widely recognised, yet knowledge remains strongly biased towards certain regions of the continent at the expense of others. West Africa in particular is a vast area with extremely limited archaeological, environmental and fossil records. In this paper, we contribute towards redressing this imbalance though a summary of the state of knowledge of the West African Middle Stone Age (MSA), and the presentation of preliminary analyses of ten newly discovered MSA archaeological sites situated along the Senegal River. Archaeological, fossil and genetic data relevant to the West African MSA, a period currently thought to span from at least ~150 thousand years ago (ka) until the Terminal Pleistocene, are first discussed. Technological analyses of newly discovered MSA assemblages in Senegal are then presented and contextualised with the ecology and environmental evolution of West Africa. Our preliminary findings suggest an overall high level of technological diversity along the Senegal River, but identify common technological features between assemblages in northern Senegal. These include an emphasis on centripetal methods of Levallois reduction (both preferential and recurrent). The discovery of tools in northern Senegal with basal modifications consistent with tanging may also suggest some form of connection with North African assemblages and is commensurate with the role of Senegal as a transitional zone between sub-Saharan and Saharan Africa. Although preliminary, the emerging results demonstrate the potential of the region to contribute to debates on intra-African dispersals, including population persistence and turnovers.
The Indian subcontinent contains a number of volcanic ash deposits representing the Youngest Toba... more The Indian subcontinent contains a number of volcanic ash deposits representing the Youngest Toba Tuff
(YTT) volcanic eruption of 75,000 years ago, though relatively few localities have been reported in detail.
Here, we identify tephra deposits in the Sagileru Valley, south India, in association with Palaeolithic
industries. The glass shard and biotite composition of the Sagileru tephra matches that of the YTT from
other terrestrial sites in India and from the Toba caldera, and are distinct from earlier large eruptions
from Toba. Moreover, our survey identified rare associations between lithic artefacts and YTT deposits,
making the Sagileru Valley one of the few globally identified locations with both ash and archaeology.
The identification of ash deposits and stone tool assemblages in the Sagileru Valley provides another
source of information for understanding Late Pleistocene climate change, depositional environments and
hominin occupations of South Asia.
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Papers by James Blinkhorn
(YTT) volcanic eruption of 75,000 years ago, though relatively few localities have been reported in detail.
Here, we identify tephra deposits in the Sagileru Valley, south India, in association with Palaeolithic
industries. The glass shard and biotite composition of the Sagileru tephra matches that of the YTT from
other terrestrial sites in India and from the Toba caldera, and are distinct from earlier large eruptions
from Toba. Moreover, our survey identified rare associations between lithic artefacts and YTT deposits,
making the Sagileru Valley one of the few globally identified locations with both ash and archaeology.
The identification of ash deposits and stone tool assemblages in the Sagileru Valley provides another
source of information for understanding Late Pleistocene climate change, depositional environments and
hominin occupations of South Asia.
(YTT) volcanic eruption of 75,000 years ago, though relatively few localities have been reported in detail.
Here, we identify tephra deposits in the Sagileru Valley, south India, in association with Palaeolithic
industries. The glass shard and biotite composition of the Sagileru tephra matches that of the YTT from
other terrestrial sites in India and from the Toba caldera, and are distinct from earlier large eruptions
from Toba. Moreover, our survey identified rare associations between lithic artefacts and YTT deposits,
making the Sagileru Valley one of the few globally identified locations with both ash and archaeology.
The identification of ash deposits and stone tool assemblages in the Sagileru Valley provides another
source of information for understanding Late Pleistocene climate change, depositional environments and
hominin occupations of South Asia.