Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic
Twenty-three artefacts previously identified as being manufactured from adinole, a fine-grained metasomatic rock, from late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic cave sites in southwest Wales have been re-examined in terms of their petrology and geochemistry. Standard petrography has been combined with autom...
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Elsevier
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Quaternary Environments and Humans |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236525000027 |
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| author | Richard Bevins Elizabeth A. Walker Nick Pearce Duncan Pirrie Rob Ixer Ian Saunders Matthew Power |
| author_facet | Richard Bevins Elizabeth A. Walker Nick Pearce Duncan Pirrie Rob Ixer Ian Saunders Matthew Power |
| author_sort | Richard Bevins |
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| description | Twenty-three artefacts previously identified as being manufactured from adinole, a fine-grained metasomatic rock, from late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic cave sites in southwest Wales have been re-examined in terms of their petrology and geochemistry. Standard petrography has been combined with automated SEM-EDS analysis for a single artefact to determine the mineralogy and textures of that artefact, while portable XRF and μXRF have been combined to establish the geochemical characteristics of all twenty-three artefacts analysed. These investigations have shown that the artefacts were manufactured from rhyolite rather than adinole, a misidentification that has been in the literature for over 100 years. Some artefacts appear to cluster on geochemical plots, such as a group of eight artefacts from Hoyle’s Mouth Cave which share petrological characteristics and appear to have come from a common source. In other cases, however, certain artefacts with similar chemistries have dissimilar petrological characteristics and are not from a common source. This highlights the need to consider both petrological and geochemical characteristics when classifying rhyolitic artefacts. The artefacts studied show that this spotted variety of rhyolite was a preferred source of raw material throughout the late Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, despite having no obvious physical or practical advantages. Identifying rhyolite rather than adinole as the raw material used in the manufacture of the studied artefacts negates the need to consider long distance transport of either raw materials or finished artefacts. It strongly suggests that people in southwest Wales, where raw materials were scarce, were using materials that were local to them. Further, there is evidence that people were effectively planning for future use or reuse of artefacts, involving curation of tools. The next phase of work will use the lithological characteristics identified here to explore potential sources for the raw material used in the manufacture of these artefacts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f247f86d046a44c8b000696dfa079e0f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2950-2365 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Quaternary Environments and Humans |
| spelling | doaj-art-f247f86d046a44c8b000696dfa079e0f2025-02-06T05:13:10ZengElsevierQuaternary Environments and Humans2950-23652025-03-0131100058Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper PalaeolithicRichard Bevins0Elizabeth A. Walker1Nick Pearce2Duncan Pirrie3Rob Ixer4Ian Saunders5Matthew Power6Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, United Kingdom; Corresponding author.Department of History and Archaeology, Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, United KingdomDepartment of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, United KingdomFaculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 4BD, United KingdomInstitute of Archaeology, University College London, London WC1H 0PY, United KingdomDepartment of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, United KingdomVidence Inc., 4288 Lozells Avenue, Suite 213 – L, Burnaby, BC V5A 0C7, CanadaTwenty-three artefacts previously identified as being manufactured from adinole, a fine-grained metasomatic rock, from late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic cave sites in southwest Wales have been re-examined in terms of their petrology and geochemistry. Standard petrography has been combined with automated SEM-EDS analysis for a single artefact to determine the mineralogy and textures of that artefact, while portable XRF and μXRF have been combined to establish the geochemical characteristics of all twenty-three artefacts analysed. These investigations have shown that the artefacts were manufactured from rhyolite rather than adinole, a misidentification that has been in the literature for over 100 years. Some artefacts appear to cluster on geochemical plots, such as a group of eight artefacts from Hoyle’s Mouth Cave which share petrological characteristics and appear to have come from a common source. In other cases, however, certain artefacts with similar chemistries have dissimilar petrological characteristics and are not from a common source. This highlights the need to consider both petrological and geochemical characteristics when classifying rhyolitic artefacts. The artefacts studied show that this spotted variety of rhyolite was a preferred source of raw material throughout the late Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, despite having no obvious physical or practical advantages. Identifying rhyolite rather than adinole as the raw material used in the manufacture of the studied artefacts negates the need to consider long distance transport of either raw materials or finished artefacts. It strongly suggests that people in southwest Wales, where raw materials were scarce, were using materials that were local to them. Further, there is evidence that people were effectively planning for future use or reuse of artefacts, involving curation of tools. The next phase of work will use the lithological characteristics identified here to explore potential sources for the raw material used in the manufacture of these artefacts.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236525000027PalaeolithicCave artefactsAdinoleRhyoliteWales |
| spellingShingle | Richard Bevins Elizabeth A. Walker Nick Pearce Duncan Pirrie Rob Ixer Ian Saunders Matthew Power Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Quaternary Environments and Humans Palaeolithic Cave artefacts Adinole Rhyolite Wales |
| title | Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_full | Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_fullStr | Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_short | Lithological and geochemical characterization of ‘adinole’ artefacts from cave deposits in southwest Wales: A material of choice during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic |
| title_sort | lithological and geochemical characterization of adinole artefacts from cave deposits in southwest wales a material of choice during the late middle to upper palaeolithic |
| topic | Palaeolithic Cave artefacts Adinole Rhyolite Wales |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236525000027 |
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