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2017-12-12 17:03:16   •   ID: 1697

Polyhedrons / Spheroids / Bola Stones

Figure 1
This is a Polyhedron from the Acheulian of central France.

In this region, such findings are present in variable quantities in Middle Pleistocene river terraces together with large quantities of Bifaces.

A Spheroid/Polyhedron is a blocky core with more than one discrete worked edge. Polyhedral shaping is carried out in relation to a virtual point of balance around which the volume of the piece is more or less equally distributed.

The method consists in striking off non-contiguous flakes from opposite directions, the intersection of the removals forming an angle of more than 90°. This ensures that the thickness of the artifact will be preserved and at the same time creates the ridges that are typical of the true polyhedron. The wider the angles, the closer the polyhedral form comes to being a Spheroid.

Figure2
It is possible to obtain a Bola from a polyhedron. In this case all ridges / facets are crushed by pecking in order to obtain a perfect sphere / stone-ball. Polyhedrons, spheroids and bolas may represent different stages of a single chaîne opératoire.

Technically, polyhedral and spheroidal shaping is carried out by direct percussion with a hard hammer. The transformation of a polyhedron into a spheroid, or even more so, that of a spheroid into a bola, is achieved through pecking, with a shift in techniques: first direct percussion and then pecking. If this technological sequence was intentional or not, remains an open question.

Functionally, Stone balls if made from relatively soft stones like limestone may serve as Percuteurs for shaping other tools, especially scrapers. This situation was reconstructed at the Middle Paleolithic at Jonzac, France, where Limestone balls were used in shaping bifacial Quina artifacts.

Another functional possibility could be the use of Polyhedrons / Spheroids as Hammer-stones that were used for buttering/pounding purposes processing vegetal material and/or tendering meat.

Analysis of damage and residues on pitted stones from Lower Paleolithic contexts at Gesher Benot Ya’acov suggests these tools were used to crush seeds and to crack nuts. Anyhow, most often Polyhedrons were simply exhausted cores.

Stone Balls are called Bola stones and are ethnographic hunting weapons consisting of sets of stones individually wrapped in leather pouches that are linked together at the ends of ropes and thrown at fleeing animal prey.

During the early Paleolithic they may have been used in capturing animals or as effective throwing stones (Leakey 1931). An enigmatic structure of approximately 60 spheroidal stone balls which formed a regular cone 75 cm high and 1,50 m in diameter was recovered from a fossil spring at the Tunesian MSA site of El-Guettar.

If this ensemble was embedded in a symbolic context or was caused by taphonomic processes remains unclear. Polyhedral and spheroidal shaping appears very early on, in the Oldowan period, and endures throughout the Acheulean.

In East Africa the Oldowan industries dating to 2,6-1,5 m.a. are characterized by simple technologies consisting of cores made on pebbles or chunks (choppers, discoids, polyhedrons, heavy‐duty scrapers, facetted spheroids and polyhedrons), debitage (flakes and fragments), and more rarely, irregular retouched pieces.

The best contextualized but isolated location for a Olduvan in North Africa remains the site of Aïn Hanech, near Sétif in northern Algeria, and the nearby sites of El-Kherba and Ain Boucherit. Ain Hanech and El–Kherba exhibit an Oldowan ensemble, nearly 1.8 million years old at Ain Hanech and include Polyhedrons / Spheroids .

Ain Boucherit, located near Ain Hanech in the High Plateaus of eastern Algeria, shows two distinct strata estimated to be about 1.9 and 2.4 million years-old. The assemblages contained stone tools similar to that recovered from the earliest sites in East Africa. Polyhedrons / Spheroids were found both in the 1,9 Mya and 2,4 Mya old ensembles. Fossil bones, found at the site many show the hallmark V-shaped gouges and microscopic chipping suggestive for butchery and marrow extraction, were also found.

Currently Polyhedrons have not be recognized from the 3,3-million-year-old stone tool ensemble from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya. Polyhedrons and spheroids are an invariable part of the African / Near Eastern Acheulean. Good documented examples come from Kalambo Falls, Olorgesailie, Isimila, Nadaouyieh Aïn Askar, Thomas and STIC Quarries (Casablanca), Kariandusi, Latamne and Ubeidiya.

“The important thing about the Olorgesailie site, however, was the finding of bolas stones in groups of three in situ, and not merely lying on the surface. Ten sealed living sites were found there, and groups of bolas stones were found on several of these associated with handaxes and cleavers, and with fossil bones, the remains of the meals of Acheulian man. In addition, of course, many single bolas stones were found scattered on the surface at Olorgesailie where erosion had cut into the deposits and disturbed part of the camp sites” (Leakey, 1947: 48)

While Spheroids/Polyhedron are known from the European Lower Paleolithic, especially from the large surface collections from S/W-France and the Quartzite Acheulean in Northern Hessen, their appearance in stratified context is extremely rare- one good example is Arago (MIS 14).

A very interesting ensemble of stone balls was found in the Amudian layers at Qesem Cave in Israel (Barkai et al. 2016). Here stone balls were found mostly concentrated in particular locations in the south-western part of the cave in the lower part of the stratigraphic sequence.

New results about the use of stone balls come from Quesem: "Use-wear and abundant bone and fat residues found on ten shaped stone balls indicate crushing of fresh bones by thrusting percussion and provide direct evidence for the use of these items to access bone marrow of animal prey at this site". Two experiments conducted to investigate and verify functional aspects proved Qesem Cave shaped stone balls are efficient for bone processing and provide a comfortable grip and useful active areas for repeated use. (Assaf et al 2020).

As early as 1947 LSB Leaky observed: “The important thing about the Olorgesailie site, however, was the finding of bolas stones in groups of three in situ, and not merely lying on the surface. Ten sealed living sites were found there, and groups of bolas stones were found on several of these associated with handaxes and cleavers, and with fossil bones, the remains of the meals of Acheulian man. In addition, of course, many single bolas stones were found scattered on the surface at Olorgesailie where erosion had cut into the deposits and disturbed part of the camp sites” (Leakey, 1947: 48).

The latest Paleolithic Polyhedrons, which are interpreted as cores were found at Ar Rasfa in the Jordan Rift Valley (a "Tabun C "Ensemble) but The Levantine Mousterian from Israel, Syria and Lebanon is usually devoid of this artifact classes.

Polyhedrons / Spheroids / Bola Stones disappear from the old world Paleolithic archaeological record, not without a resurrection of the concept in different parts of the world during later times- but this issue is not part of Aggsbachs Paleolithic blog.

Provenance-Ph. Cabey, Vienne (FR)

See also in this blog: 1258 and 1426



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