Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions

Parth R. Chauhan is an Indian-American Research Associate with the Stone Age Institute (Indiana, USA). He obtained his PhD from the University of Sheffield (UK) in 2005 and his MA from Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute (Pune, India) in 1998. His research interests include Old World prehistory, Palaeolithic archaeology, hominin dispersals, Asian paleoanthropology, vertebrate paleontology and taphonomy and lithic technology. He is currently carrying out research on early human technological and environmental adaptations during the Quaternary of India and Yemen.

Contributors Acknowledgements Preface Foreword Introduction PART I: METHODOLOGICAL & THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Lycett, Stephen: Quantifying transitions: morphometric approaches to Palaeolithic variability and technological change Blackwell, Bonnie: ESR dating at hominid and archaeological sites during the Plio-Pleistocene Bar-Yosef, Ofer: Revolutions and Transitions in Prehistory Soffer, Olga: The Politics of Rubicons And The Imagined Pasts Straus, Lawrence: Has the notion of "transitions" in Paleolithic prehistory outlived its usefulness? Gowlett, John: The long gradient of human evolution in relation to transitions in archaeology: proxy evidence, biological classification and unintended effects Clark, Geoff: Accidents of History Haynes, Gary: Between the Transitions Chauhan, Parth R.: Assessing Palaeolithic Transitions in the Indian Subcontinent: Implications and Limitations Korisettar, Ravi: Geologic and Geomorphic Perspectives on Hominin Dispersal into South Asia: an inquiry into the dispersal routes and patterns of settlement Discussion PART II: CHANGES WITHIN THE LOWER PALEOLITHIC Rogers, Mike et al.: From Nothing to Something: The Earliest Archaeological Record Semaw, Sileshi: Early Acheulian at Gona: insights on the Oldowan-Acheulian technological transition Harris, Jack W.K.: A reevaluation of the Oldowan to Acheulian transition against the background of the evolutionary changes seen in the emergence of Homo ergaster/early Homo erectus Braun, David: Technological Change in the Early Stone Age: Evidence from the Koobi Fora Formation Burdukiewicz, J.M.: Lower Palaeolithic transitions in northern latitudes of Eurasia Belmaker, Miriam: The oak and the reed: Hominin adaptability and patterns of environmental change in the Lower Pleistocene of the Levant Discussion PART III: LOWER TO MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC TRANSITIONS Chazan, Michael: Assessing the Lower to Middle Paleolithic Transition Vishnyatsky, Leonid: Cultural dynamics in the Middle Paleolithic: gradual evolution, series of transitions, or undirected fluctuation? Monnier, Gilliane: A closer look at typological trends across the Lower/Middle Paleolithic transition in Western Europe Close, Angela: Forced and Unforced Transitions in Northern Africa Brooks, Alison & Yellen, J.: From Acheulian to Middle Stone Age in Eastern Africa Tryon, Christian: Is it the Middle Stone Age yet? An eastern African perspective on the Early to Middle Stone Age transition Ajitprasad, P.: Developmental Trends and the Transition of the Middle Palaeolithic Assemblage in the Sukhi Valley, Gujarat Norton, Christopher: Chinese Middle - Late Pleistocene Transition Reexamined: Behavioural Perspectives Williams, Martin A.J.: The impact of the Toba super-eruption on hominin populations Discussion Postscript: M. Camps & P. Chauhan PART IV: MIDDLE TO UPPER PALAEOLITHIC TRANSITIONS Bednarik, Robert: The Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition revisited Harrold, Francis: Historical Perspectives on the Transition from Middle to Upper Paleolithic Zilhao, Joao: Issues of sample association in the dating of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe Adams, Brian: The Bukk Mountain Szeletian: Old and New Views on "Transitional" material from the Eponymous site of the Szeletian Arrizabalaga, A.: Through the Looking-Glass. The most recent years of Cantabrian Research in Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition Bernaldo de Quiros, F.: Middle to Upper Paleolithic at Cantabrian Spain Camps, Marta: Past and Present: The Mid-Upper Paleolithic Transition in SW Europe Feblot-Augustins, J: Lithic raw material provenance studies in western and central Europe: a Paleolithic perspective Karanavic, I & Patou-Mathis, M.: Middle/Upper Paleolithic interface at Vindija cave (Croatia): new results and interpretations Riel-Salvatore, Julien: The Uluzzian as a Manifestation of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition Montes, Lourdes: The Ebro Basin and the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic Transition: Data and Ideas Ambrose, Stanley: Behavioral and Technological Transitions within the MSA and to the LSA in Eastern and Southern Africa Willoughby, Pamela: From the Middle to the Later Stone Age in Eastern Africa Olszewski, Deborah: Comparing Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transitions in the Middle East and Egypt James, Hannah & Petraglia, Mike: The Lower to Middle Palaeolithic Transition in South Asia and Its Implications for Hominin Cognition and Dispersals Shen, Chen: The Transition to Upper Palaeolithic in northern China Pinto, Ana: The Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic of Sopena (Asturias, Spain) Patou-Mathis, M.: The subsistence behaviours of the last Crimean Neanderthals (Ukraine) Montet-White, A.: From mammoth to reindeer hunting, impact of the LGM on hunting strategies in Central Europe Discussion PART V: THE LATER PALEOLITHIC Steguweit, Leif: Testing the Aurignacian/ Gravettian transition in the Bistrita Valley (NE-Romania) Otte, Marcel: The Paleolithic-Mesolithic Transition Martinez, Jorge (I. de la Torre & R. Mora): Discontinuity or continuity in the Mesolithic of the South-eastern Pyrenees Leon, Elmo: Pan-American Transitions in the Terminal-Pleistocene/Early Holocene: Clovis Macroblades vs. El Inga Microblades Adovasio, James: Meadowcroft Rockshelter and the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition in Southwestern Pennsylvania Graf, Kelly: Successful Human Colonization of the Siberian Mammoth-Steppe: A View from South-Central Siberia Discussion Postscript: M. Camps & P. Chauhan