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Bayani KYT, Natraj N, Khresdish N, Pargeter J, Stout D, Wheaton LA. Emergence of perceptuomotor relationships during paleolithic stone toolmaking learning: intersections of observation and practice. Commun Biol 2021; 4:1278. [PMID: 34764417 PMCID: PMC8585878 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02768-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Stone toolmaking is a human motor skill which provides the earliest archeological evidence motor skill and social learning. Intentionally shaping a stone into a functional tool relies on the interaction of action observation and practice to support motor skill acquisition. The emergence of adaptive and efficient visuomotor processes during motor learning of such a novel motor skill requiring complex semantic understanding, like stone toolmaking, is not understood. Through the examination of eye movements and motor skill, the current study sought to evaluate the changes and relationship in perceptuomotor processes during motor learning and performance over 90 h of training. Participants' gaze and motor performance were assessed before, during and following training. Gaze patterns reveal a transition from initially high gaze variability during initial observation to lower gaze variability after training. Perceptual changes were strongly associated with motor performance improvements suggesting a coupling of perceptual and motor processes during motor learning.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nikhilesh Natraj
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Division of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Nada Khresdish
- Anthropology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Justin Pargeter
- Anthropology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Dietrich Stout
- Anthropology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Lewis A Wheaton
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Pargeter J, Khreisheh N, Shea JJ, Stout D. Knowledge vs. know-how? Dissecting the foundations of stone knapping skill. J Hum Evol 2020; 145:102807. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 04/02/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Mika A, Flood K, Norris JD, Wilson M, Key A, Buchanan B, Redmond B, Pargeter J, Bebber MR, Eren MI. Miniaturization optimized weapon killing power during the social stress of late pre-contact North America (AD 600-1600). PLoS One 2020; 15:e0230348. [PMID: 32182279 PMCID: PMC7077820 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Before Europeans arrived to Eastern North America, prehistoric, indigenous peoples experienced a number of changes that culminated in the development of sedentary, maize agricultural lifeways of varying complexity. Inherent to these lifeways were several triggers of social stress including population nucleation and increase, intergroup conflict (warfare), and increased territoriality. Here, we examine whether this period of social stress co-varied with deadlier weaponry, specifically, the design of the most commonly found prehistoric archery component in late pre-contact North America: triangular stone arrow tips (TSAT). The examination of modern metal or carbon projectiles, arrows, and arrowheads has demonstrated that smaller arrow tips penetrate deeper into a target than do larger ones. We first experimentally confirm that this relationship applies to arrow tips made from stone hafted onto shafts made from wood. We then statistically assess a large sample (n = 742) of late pre-contact TSAT and show that these specimens are extraordinarily small. Thus, by miniaturizing their arrow tips, prehistoric people in Eastern North America optimized their projectile weaponry for maximum penetration and killing power in warfare and hunting. Finally, we verify that these functional advantages were selected across environmental and cultural boundaries. Thus, while we cannot and should not rule out stochastic, production economizing, or non-adaptive cultural processes as an explanation for TSAT, overall our results are consistent with the hypothesis that broad, socially stressful demographic changes in late pre-contact Eastern North America resulted in the miniaturization–and augmented lethality–of stone tools across the region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Mika
- Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Kat Flood
- Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, United States of America
| | - James D. Norris
- Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Michael Wilson
- Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Alastair Key
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Kent, United Kingdom
| | - Briggs Buchanan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America
| | - Brian Redmond
- Department of Archaeology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Justin Pargeter
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
- Archaeology and Environmental Studies, School of Geography, Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Michelle R. Bebber
- Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Metin I. Eren
- Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, United States of America
- Department of Archaeology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Ranhorn KL, Pargeter J, Premo LS. Investigating the evolution of human social learning through collaborative experimental archaeology. Evol Anthropol 2020; 29:53-55. [PMID: 32091632 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2019] [Accepted: 01/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn L Ranhorn
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.,School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Justin Pargeter
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York.,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa
| | - L S Premo
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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Pargeter J, Khreisheh N, Stout D. Understanding stone tool-making skill acquisition: Experimental methods and evolutionary implications. J Hum Evol 2019; 133:146-166. [PMID: 31358178 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2019] [Revised: 05/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Despite its theoretical importance, the process of stone tool-making skill acquisition remains understudied and poorly understood. The challenges and costs of skill learning constitute an oft-neglected factor in the evaluation of alternative adaptive strategies and a potential source of bias in cultural transmission. Similarly, theory and data indicate that the most salient neural and cognitive demands of stone tool-making should occur during learning rather than expert performance. Unfortunately, the behavioral complexity and extensive learning requirements that make stone knapping skill acquisition an interesting object of study are the very features that make it so challenging to investigate experimentally. Here we present results from a multidisciplinary study of Late Acheulean handaxe-making skill acquisition involving twenty-six naïve participants and up to 90 hours training over several months, accompanied by a battery of psychometric, behavioral, and neuroimaging assessments. In this initial report, we derive a robust quantitative skill metric for the experimental handaxes using machine learning algorithms, reconstruct a group-level learning curve, and explore sources of individual variation in learning outcomes. Results identify particular cognitive targets of selection on the efficiency or reliability of tool-making skill acquisition, quantify learning costs, highlight the likely importance of social support, motivation, persistence, and self-control in knapping skill acquisition, and illustrate methods for reliably reconstructing ancient learning processes from archaeological evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Pargeter
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
| | | | - Dietrich Stout
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Pargeter J, Shea JJ. Going big versus going small: Lithic miniaturization in hominin lithic technology. Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:72-85. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2018] [Revised: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 02/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Justin Pargeter
- Department of Anthropology Emory University Atlanta Georgia
- Palaeo‐Research Institute University of Johannesburg Auckland Park South Africa
| | - John J. Shea
- Anthropology Department & Turkana Basin Institute Stony Brook University Stony Brook New York
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Will M, Tryon C, Shaw M, Scerri EML, Ranhorn K, Pargeter J, McNeil J, Mackay A, Leplongeon A, Groucutt HS, Douze K, Brooks AS. Comparative analysis of Middle Stone Age artifacts in Africa (CoMSAfrica). Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:57-59. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2018] [Accepted: 01/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Will
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary EcologyUniversity of Tübingen Tübingen Germany
| | - Christian Tryon
- Department of AnthropologyPeabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts
| | - Matthew Shaw
- Centre for Archaeological ScienceUniversity of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales, Australia
| | - Eleanor M. L. Scerri
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena Germany
- School of ArchaeologyUniversity of Oxford Oxford United Kingdom
| | - Kathryn Ranhorn
- Department of AnthropologyPeabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts
| | - Justin Pargeter
- Department of AnthropologyEmory University Atlanta Georgia
- Centre for Anthropological Research & Department of Anthropology and Development StudiesUniversity of Johannesburg Johannesburg South Africa
| | - Jessica McNeil
- Department of AnthropologyPeabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts
| | - Alex Mackay
- Centre for Archaeological ScienceUniversity of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales, Australia
| | - Alice Leplongeon
- Institute of Advanced Studies and Department of Cultural HeritageUniversity of Bologna Bologna Italy
- UMR CNRS 7194, Département Homme et EnvironnementMuséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, Alliance Sorbonne Université Paris France
| | - Huw S. Groucutt
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena Germany
- School of ArchaeologyUniversity of Oxford Oxford United Kingdom
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena Germany
| | - Katja Douze
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit, Archaeology and Population in AfricaUniversity of Geneva Geneva Switzerland
| | - Alison S. Brooks
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of AnthropologyGeorge Washington University Washington District of Columbia
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian Institution Washington District of Columbia
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Pargeter J, Ménard C, Hildebrand E. Small things and big news at the 2016 SAfA meetings in Toulouse, France. Evol Anthropol 2017; 26:39-41. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Justin Pargeter
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Department of Anthropology and Development Studies; University of Johannesburg; South Africa
| | - Clément Ménard
- Department of Anthropology; University of Florida
- Unité Mixte de Recherche TRACES; Toulouse France
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Pargeter
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, New York.,Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Steven A Brandt
- Department of Anthropology and Center for African Studies, University of Florida, Gainseville
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Pargeter J, Duke H. Redefining boundaries at the 2015 paleoanthropology society and society for american archaeology (SAA) meeting in san francisco. Evol Anthropol 2015; 24:104-5. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Justin Pargeter
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences; Stony Brook University
- Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg; South Africa
| | - Hilary Duke
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences; Stony Brook University
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