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Li L, Reeves JS, Lin SC, Braun DR, McPherron SP. Did Early Pleistocene hominins control hammer strike angles when making stone tools? J Hum Evol 2023; 183:103427. [PMID: 37734121 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [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: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
In the study of Early Pleistocene stone artifacts, researchers have made considerable progress in reconstructing the technical decisions of hominins by examining various aspects of lithic technology, such as reduction sequences, hammer selection, platform preparation, core management, and raw material selection. By comparison, our understanding of the ways in which Early Pleistocene hominins controlled the delivery and application of percussive force during flaking remains limited. In this study, we focus on a key aspect of force delivery in stone knapping, namely the hammerstone striking angle (or the angle of blow), which has been shown to play a significant role in determining the knapping outcome. Using a dataset consists of 12 Early Pleistocene flake assemblages dated from 1.95 Ma to 1.4 Ma, we examined temporal patterns of the hammer striking angle by quantifying the bulb angle, a property of the flake's Hertzian cone that reflects the hammer striking angle used in flake production. We further included a Middle Paleolithic flake assemblage as a point of comparison from a later time period. In the Early Pleistocene dataset, we observed an increased association between the bulb angle and other flake variables related to flake size over time, a pattern similarly found in the Middle Paleolithic assemblage. These findings suggest that, towards the Oldowan-Acheulean transition, hominins began to systematically adjust the hammer striking angle in accordance with platform variables to detach flakes of different sizes more effectively, implying the development of a more comprehensive understanding of the role of the angle of blow in flake formation by ∼1.5 Ma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Li
- The Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), University of Algarve, Faro 8005-139, Portugal; Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
| | - Jonathan S Reeves
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Sam C Lin
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia
| | - David R Braun
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Shannon P McPherron
- The Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), University of Algarve, Faro 8005-139, Portugal; Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
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2
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Reeves JS, Proffitt T, Almeida-Warren K, Luncz LV. Modeling Oldowan tool transport from a primate perspective. J Hum Evol 2023; 181:103399. [PMID: 37356333 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [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: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
Living nonhuman primates have long served as a referential framework for understanding various aspects of hominin biological and cultural evolution. Comparing the cognitive, social, and ecological contexts of nonhuman primate and hominin tool use has allowed researchers to identify key adaptations relevant to the evolution of hominin behavior. Although the Oldowan is often considered to be a major evolutionary milestone, it has been argued that the Oldowan is rather an extension of behaviors already present in the ape lineage. This is based on the fact that while apes move tools through repeated, unplanned, short-distance transport bouts, they produce material patterning often associated with long-distance transport, planning, and foresight in the Oldowan. Nevertheless, remain fundamental differences in how Oldowan core and flake technology and nonhuman primate tools are used. The goal of the Oldowan hominins is to produce sharp-edged flakes, whereas nonhuman primates use stone tools primarily as percussors. Here, we present an agent-based model that investigates the explanatory power of the ape tool transport model in light of these differences. The model simulates the formation of the Oldowan record under the conditions of an accumulated short-distance transport pattern, as seen in extant chimpanzees. Our results show that while ape tool transport can account for some of the variation observed in the archaeological record, factors related to use-life duration severely limit how far an Oldowan core can be moved through repeated short-distance transport bouts. Thus, the ape tool transport has limitations in its ability to explain patterns in the Oldowan. These results provide a basis for discussing adaptive processes that would have facilitated the development of the Oldowan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan S Reeves
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 2nd Street, NW, 20052, USA.
| | - Tomos Proffitt
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
| | - Katarina Almeida-Warren
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PN, UK; Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Lydia V Luncz
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 800 2nd Street, NW, 20052, USA
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3
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Cáceres I, Chelli Cheheb R, van der Made J, Harichane Z, Boulaghraief K, Sahnouni M. Assessing the subsistence strategies of the earliest North African inhabitants: evidence from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (Algeria). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 2023; 15:87. [PMID: 37251552 PMCID: PMC10220151 DOI: 10.1007/s12520-023-01783-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The archaeological data on the earliest hominin behavioral subsistence activities in North Africa are derived primarily from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (northeastern Algeria). Ain Boucherit consists of two archaeological layers, Ain Boucherit Upper (AB-Up) and Ain Boucherit Lower (AB-Lw), estimated to ~ 1.9 Ma and ~ 2.4 Ma, respectively. Cutmarked and hammerstone percussed bones associated with Oldowan stone tools were found in both layers, with AB-Lw yielding the oldest in North Africa. The faunal assemblages from both deposits are dominated by small-sized bovids and equids. Evidence of cutmarks and percussion marks in both assemblages shows that hominins exploited animal carcasses, involving skinning, evisceration and defleshing activities. The evidence of meat and marrow acquisition is more abundant at AB-Lw with carnivore activity being scarce. However, the AB-Up assemblage shows more carnivore damage and less hominin-induced tool marks. Ain Boucherit evidence, is similar, in type and chronology, to that provided by the Early Pleistocene sites in East Africa (e.g., the Gona sites), where the oldest evidence of stone tools used in faunal exploitation have been discovered. This paper reports on the ability of early North African Oldowans to compete successfully for accessing animal resources with other predators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Cáceres
- Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain
| | - Razika Chelli Cheheb
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
| | - Jan van der Made
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales & Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Zoheir Harichane
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
- Musée Public National du Bardo, Algiers, Algeria
| | - Kamel Boulaghraief
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
| | - Mohamed Sahnouni
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
- Stone Age Institute & Anthropology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN USA
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Linares-Matás GJ, Clark J. Seasonality and Oldowan behavioral variability in East Africa. J Hum Evol 2021;:103070. [PMID: 34548178 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The extent, nature, and temporality of early hominin food procurement strategies have been subject to extensive debate. In this article, we examine evidence for the seasonal scheduling of resource procurement and technological investment in the Oldowan, starting with an evaluation of the seasonal signature of underground storage organs, freshwater resources, and terrestrial animal resources in extant primates and modern human hunter-gatherer populations. Subsequently, we use the mortality profiles, taxonomic composition, and taphonomy of the bovid assemblages at Kanjera South (Homa Peninsula, Kenya) and FLK-Zinj (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) to illustrate the behavioral flexibility of Oldowan hominins, who were targeting different seasonally vulnerable demographics. In terms of the lithic assemblages, the specific opportunities and constraints afforded by dry season subsistence at FLK-Zinj may have disincentivized lithic investment, resulting in a more expedient toolkit for fast and effective carcass processing. This may have been reinforced by raw material site provisioning during a relatively prolonged seasonal occupation, reducing pressures on the reduction and curation of lithic implements. In contrast, wet season plant abundance would have offered a predictable set of high-quality resources associated with low levels of competition and reduced search times, in the context of perhaps greater seasonal mobility and consequently shorter occupations. These factors appear to have fostered technological investment to reduce resource handling costs at Kanjera South, facilitated by more consistent net returns and enhanced planning of lithic deployment throughout the landscape. We subsequently discuss the seasonality of freshwater resources in Oldowan procurement strategies, focusing on FwJj20 (Koobi Fora, Kenya). Although more analytical studies with representative sample sizes are needed, we argue that interassemblage differences evidence the ability of Oldowan hominins to adapt to seasonal constraints and opportunities in resource exploitation.
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Reeves JS, Braun DR, Finestone EM, Plummer TW. Ecological perspectives on technological diversity at Kanjera South. J Hum Evol 2021; 158:103029. [PMID: 34384939 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [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: 07/03/2020] [Revised: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 05/23/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The aspects of hominin behavior responsible for Oldowan stone tool variation are the focus of much debate. There is some consensus that this variation arises from a combination of ecological and cultural factors. The diversity of raw material types and technological strategies present at Kanjera South, Kenya, provide an opportunity to examine the interacting influences of ecology and culture on Oldowan stone tool variation. Here, we combine previous analyses of raw material properties, provenance, and technology with quantitative measures of core reduction intensity and tool utilization to examine the influence of both ecological and technocultural factors on stone tool variation at Kanjera South. The results of this analysis reflect a dynamic relationship between raw material properties, provenance, and hominin mobility. Exotic raw materials are generally more resistant to edge attrition compared with those available locally, which may have incentivized their transport over long distances and more extensive reduction. Cores produced on raw materials from distant sources also exhibit more complex core reduction strategies than locally acquired materials. While this pattern is partially due to the differences in the quality of knappable stone, bifacial centripetal and multifacial core reduction strategies also arise due to the continuous transport and use of exotic raw materials. Moreover, the variation in stone tool reduction is not consistent with neutral models of stone tool transport and discard. These results demonstrate that ecological factors such as raw material provenance and physical properties have strong impacts on reduction intensity and the technological strategies used by hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan S Reeves
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
| | - David R Braun
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, 800 22nd Street, North West, Washington D.C., USA; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
| | - Emma M Finestone
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Thomas W Plummer
- Dept of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367-1597, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA
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Kuman K, Granger DE, Gibbon RJ, Pickering TR, Caruana MV, Bruxelles L, Clarke RJ, Heaton JL, Stratford D, Brain CK. A new absolute date from Swartkrans Cave for the oldest occurrences of Paranthropus robustus and Oldowan stone tools in South Africa. J Hum Evol 2021; 156:103000. [PMID: 34020297 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [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: 02/17/2020] [Revised: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The Early Pleistocene site of Swartkrans in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site has been significant for our understanding of the evolution of both early Homo and Paranthropus, as well as the earliest archaeology of southern Africa. Previous attempts to improve a faunal age estimate of the earliest deposit, Member 1, had produced results obtained with uranium-lead dating (U-Pb) on flowstones and cosmogenic burial dating of quartz, which placed the entire member in the range of >1.7/1.8 Ma and <2.3 Ma. In 2014, two simple burial dates for the Lower Bank, the earliest unit within Member 1, narrowed its age to between ca. 1.8 Ma and 2.2 Ma. A new dating program using the isochron method for burial dating has established an absolute age of 2.22 ± 0.09 Ma for a large portion of the Lower Bank, which can now be identified as containing the earliest Oldowan stone tools and fossils of Paranthropus robustus in South Africa. This date agrees within one sigma with the U-Pb age of 2.25 ± 0.08 Ma previously published for the flowstone underlying the Lower Bank and confirms a relatively rapid rate of accumulation for a large portion of the talus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen Kuman
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa.
| | - Darryl E Granger
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, IN, 47907, USA.
| | | | - Travis Rayne Pickering
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa
| | - Matthew V Caruana
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa
| | - Laurent Bruxelles
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa; TRACES, UMR 5608 du CNRS, 5 allées Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse Cedex 09, France; INRAP, French Institute for Preventive Archaeological Researches, 561 rue Etienne Lenoir, km delta, 30900, Nîmes, France
| | - Ronald J Clarke
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa
| | - Jason L Heaton
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa; Department of Biology, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, AL 35254, USA
| | - Dominic Stratford
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa
| | - C K Brain
- Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Transvaal Museum), Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
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Key AJM, Roberts DL, Jarić I. Statistical inference of earlier origins for the first flaked stone technologies. J Hum Evol 2021; 154:102976. [PMID: 33773284 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [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: 11/06/2020] [Revised: 02/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Identifying when hominins first produced Lomekwian, Oldowan, and Acheulean technologies is vital to multiple avenues of human origins research. Yet, like most archaeological endeavors, our understanding is currently only as accurate as the artifacts recovered and the sites identified. Here we use optimal linear estimation (OLE) modelling to identify the portion of the archaeological record not yet discovered, and statistically infer the date of origin of the earliest flaked stone technologies. These models provide the most accurate framework yet for understanding when hominins first produced these tool types. Our results estimate the Oldowan to have originated 2.617 to 2.644 Ma, 36,000 to 63,000 years earlier than current evidence. The Acheulean's origin is pushed back further through OLE, by at least 55,000 years to 1.815 to 1.823 Ma. We were unable to infer the Lomekwian's date of origin using OLE, but an upper bound of 5.1 million years can be inferred using alternative nonparametric techniques. These dates provide a new chronological foundation from which to understand the emergence of the first flaked stone technologies, alongside their behavioral and evolutionary implications. Moreover, they suggest there to be substantial portions of the artifact record yet to be discovered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alastair J M Key
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK.
| | - David L Roberts
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK
| | - Ivan Jarić
- Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic; University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Department of Ecosystem Biology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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Eren MI, Lycett SJ, Tomonaga M. Underestimating Kanzi? Exploring Kanzi- Oldowan comparisons in light of recent human stone tool replication. Evol Anthropol 2020; 29:310-316. [PMID: 32857904 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [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: 06/05/2019] [Revised: 01/13/2020] [Accepted: 07/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The knapping experiments with Kanzi, a bonobo, are among the most insightful experiments into Oldowan technology ever undertaken. Comparison of his artifacts against archeological material, however, indicated he did not produce Oldowan lithic attributes precisely, prompting suggestions that this indicated cognitive or biomechanical impediments. The literature describing the learning environment provided to Kanzi, we suggest, indicates alternative factors. Based on consideration of wild chimpanzee learning environments, and experiments with modern knappers that have looked at learning environment, we contend that Kanzi's performance was impeded by an impoverished learning environment compared to those experienced by novice Oldowan knappers. Such issues are precisely those that might be tested via a repeat study, but in this case, practical and ethical constraints likely impede this possibility. We propose experiments that may be relevant to drawing conclusions from Kanzi's experiments that may not need to use non-human primates, thus bypassing some of these issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Metin I Eren
- Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA.,Department of Archaeology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Stephen J Lycett
- Department of Anthropology, University at Buffalo, New York, USA
| | - Masaki Tomonaga
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan
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Abstract
A sizeable dataset comprising millions of lithic artifacts sampling over two million years of early paleolithic tool technology from Africa and Eurasia is now available. The widespread presupposition of an exclusively cultural, that is, socially learned, nature of early stone tools from at least Acheulean times onwards has been challenged by researchers who hypothesize that these tools, a crucial element of early hominin survival strategies, may partly have been under genetic control, next to the effects of various other determinants. The discussion this hypothesis has sparked off in the present journal is here explored somewhat further, focusing on the Baldwin effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raymond Corbey
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
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10
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Braun DR, Aldeias V, Archer W, Arrowsmith JR, Baraki N, Campisano CJ, Deino AL, DiMaggio EN, Dupont-Nivet G, Engda B, Feary DA, Garello DI, Kerfelew Z, McPherron SP, Patterson DB, Reeves JS, Thompson JC, Reed KE. Earliest known Oldowan artifacts at >2.58 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, highlight early technological diversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:11712-7. [PMID: 31160451 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1820177116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The manufacture of flaked stone artifacts represents a major milestone in the technology of the human lineage. Although the earliest production of primitive stone tools, predating the genus Homo and emphasizing percussive activities, has been reported at 3.3 million years ago (Ma) from Lomekwi, Kenya, the systematic production of sharp-edged stone tools is unknown before the 2.58-2.55 Ma Oldowan assemblages from Gona, Ethiopia. The organized production of Oldowan stone artifacts is part of a suite of characteristics that is often associated with the adaptive grade shift linked to the genus Homo Recent discoveries from Ledi-Geraru (LG), Ethiopia, place the first occurrence of Homo ∼250 thousand years earlier than the Oldowan at Gona. Here, we describe a substantial assemblage of systematically flaked stone tools excavated in situ from a stratigraphically constrained context [Bokol Dora 1, (BD 1) hereafter] at LG bracketed between 2.61 and 2.58 Ma. Although perhaps more primitive in some respects, quantitative analysis suggests the BD 1 assemblage fits more closely with the variability previously described for the Oldowan than with the earlier Lomekwian or with stone tools produced by modern nonhuman primates. These differences suggest that hominin technology is distinctly different from generalized tool use that may be a shared feature of much of the primate lineage. The BD 1 assemblage, near the origin of our genus, provides a link between behavioral adaptations-in the form of flaked stone artifacts-and the biological evolution of our ancestors.
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Domínguez-Rodrigo M, Cobo-Sánchez L, Aramendi J, Gidna A. The meta-group social network of early humans: A temporal-spatial assessment of group size at FLK Zinj (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). J Hum Evol 2018; 127:54-66. [PMID: 30777358 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [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: 05/15/2018] [Revised: 10/30/2018] [Accepted: 11/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Humans are the only primates that maintain regular inter-group relationships and meta-group social networks that enable the inter-group flow of individuals. This is the basis of the band/tribe concept in the anthropology of modern foragers. The present work is a theoretical approach to the development of analytical tools to understand group size and the temporal scale of site occupation in the archaeological record. We selected FLK Zinj as one of the oldest examples of a taphonomically-supported anthropogenic site in which both variables (group size and time) could be modelled using a combination of modern forager regression estimates from their camp sizes and estimates derived from the combined use of modern African foragers' meat consumption rates per day per capita during the dry season and minimum estimates of flesh yields provided by the carcass parts preserved at FLK Zinj. This approach provides the basis for a testable hypothesis which should be further tested in other Oldowan sites. An estimate of 18-28 individuals occupying FLK Zinj was made, which is similar to the estimated 16 individuals of one of the 1.5 Ma Ileret Homo erectus footprint trails. It also shows a similar proportional distribution to Dunbar's equations (group size to neocortex ratio) as documented in modern foragers, which suggest that most of the social network of H. erectus was in the meta-group level as is the case of modern foragers. Irrespective of the range of variation discussed for both variables (group size and length of time represented), it is argued that neither small estimates of time nor small group sizes can account for the formation of FLK Zinj.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo
- IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), University of Alcalá de Henares, Covarrubias 36, 28010 Madrid, Spain; Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren S/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
| | - Lucía Cobo-Sánchez
- IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), University of Alcalá de Henares, Covarrubias 36, 28010 Madrid, Spain; Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren S/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Julia Aramendi
- IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), University of Alcalá de Henares, Covarrubias 36, 28010 Madrid, Spain; Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren S/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Agness Gidna
- Paleontology and Archaeology Unit, National Museums of Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
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12
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Kuman K, Sutton MB, Pickering TR, Heaton JL. The Oldowan industry from Swartkrans cave, South Africa, and its relevance for the African Oldowan. J Hum Evol 2018; 123:52-69. [PMID: 30097184 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [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: 12/05/2017] [Revised: 06/12/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The oldest recognized artifacts at the Swartkrans cave hominid-bearing site in South Africa have long been known to occur in the Lower Bank of Member 1, now dated with the cosmogenic nuclide burial method to ca. 1.8-2.19 Ma. However, the affinities of this industry have been debated due to small sample size. In this paper we present newly excavated material from the Lower Bank retrieved since 2005 in the Swartkrans Paleoanthropological Research Project. The sample is now large enough to confirm its affinity with the Oldowan industrial complex. The assemblage is highly expedient and core reduction strategies are largely casual. Although freehand flaking is present, the bipolar technique is most significant, even in non-quartz raw materials. The Swartkrans assemblage shows some significant contrasts with the Sterkfontein Oldowan, ca. 2.18 Ma, which can be explained by its closer proximity to raw material sources, its somewhat different geographic context, and its more expedient nature. The Swartkrans Oldowan now provides us with the first good indication of Oldowan variability in southern Africa, where only two sizeable assemblages have thus far been discovered. Comparisons are made with other sites across Africa that help to place this variability within our overall understanding of the Oldowan industrial complex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen Kuman
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa.
| | - Morris B Sutton
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa
| | - Travis Rayne Pickering
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa
| | - Jason L Heaton
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa; Department of Biology, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, AL, 35254, USA
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13
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Abstract
The idea that early Australopithecus shaped stone tools to butcher large mammals before the emergence of Homo around 2 million years ago has excited both primatologists and archaeologists. Such claims depend on interpreting modifications found on the surfaces of fossil bones. Recent experiments involving the feeding of mammal carcasses to modern crocodiles have revealed that equifinality—the creation of similar products by different processes—is more important than previously appreciated by zooarchaeologists. Application of these findings to Ethiopian fossils casts doubt on claims for the earliest large mammal butchery and indicates the need for reassessment of all Oldowan-associated bone assemblages to determine the degree to which equifinality compromises earlier interpretations of hominid subsistence activities and their role in human evolution. Zooarchaeologists have long relied on linear traces and pits found on the surfaces of ancient bones to infer ancient hominid behaviors such as slicing, chopping, and percussive actions during butchery of mammal carcasses. However, such claims about Plio–Pleistocene hominids rely mostly on very small assemblages of bony remains. Furthermore, recent experiments on trampling animals and biting crocodiles have shown each to be capable of producing mimics of such marks. This equifinality—the creation of similar products by different processes—makes deciphering early archaeological bone assemblages difficult. Bone modifications among Ethiopian Plio–Pleistocene hominid and faunal remains at Asa Issie, Maka, Hadar, and Bouri were reassessed in light of these findings. The results show that crocodiles were important modifiers of these bone assemblages. The relative roles of hominids, mammalian carnivores, and crocodiles in the formation of Oldowan zooarchaeological assemblages will only be accurately revealed by better bounding equifinality. Critical analysis within a consilience-based approach is identified as the pathway forward. More experimental studies and increased archaeological fieldwork aimed at generating adequate samples are now required.
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Maurin T, Bertran P, Delagnes A, Boisserie JR. Early hominin landscape use in the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia: Insights from the taphonomical analysis of Oldowan occurrences in the Shungura Formation (Member F). J Hum Evol 2017; 111:33-53. [PMID: 28874273 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [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: 10/11/2016] [Revised: 06/09/2017] [Accepted: 06/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The Oldowan archeological record of the Shungura Formation, Member F (Lower Omo valley, Ethiopia) comprises more than one hundred occurrences distributed within archeological complexes, where multiple small spots were found in association with one or two larger occurrences. Such spatial patterning could reflect hominin spatial behavior, repeated occupations within a single sedimentary unit, or taphonomic and/or collection biases. Here we test these hypotheses by way of a geoarcheological and taphonomical analysis using four criteria to assess the preservation of the lithic assemblages: (1) size composition, (2) artifact abrasion, (3) bone abrasion, and (4) orientations of lithic artifacts and bones (i.e., fabrics). We propose a new model of taphonomically induced spatial patterning where the multiple, small, well circumscribed occurrences result primarily from post-depositional processes and therefore do not reflect any underlying behavioral patterns. The large number of archeological occurrences documented in Member F, therefore, corresponds to a limited number of primary occupations (<10). The archeological occupation is mainly restricted to the lower part of Member F and may reflect a single or a small number of occupation episodes, which were located on previous levees of the paleo-Omo River, in nearby floodplain areas, or on the riverbank. This strongly suggests that most of the knapping activities originally took place close to the river. This preference of the Omo toolmakers for riverine environments could explain the scarcity of archeological material in the upper part of Member F that comprises primarily distal floodplain sedimentary facies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiphaine Maurin
- University of Bordeaux/CNRS, PACEA, bâtiment B8, allée Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, Pessac cedex, France.
| | - Pascal Bertran
- University of Bordeaux/CNRS, PACEA, bâtiment B8, allée Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, Pessac cedex, France; Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives, 140 avenue du Maréchal Leclerc, 33130, Bègles, France
| | - Anne Delagnes
- University of Bordeaux/CNRS, PACEA, bâtiment B8, allée Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, Pessac cedex, France
| | - Jean-Renaud Boisserie
- CNRS/French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, French Center for Ethiopian Studies, P.O. Box, 5554, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia; CNRS/University of Poitiers, IPHEP, 6, rue Michel-Brunet, 86000, Poitiers, France
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15
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Abstract
Oldowan lithic assemblages are often portrayed as a product of the need to obtain sharp flakes for cutting into animal carcases. However, ethnographic and experimental research indicates that the optimal way to produce flakes for such butchering purposes is via bipolar reduction of small cryptocrystalline pebbles rather than from larger crystalline cores resembling choppers. Ethnographic observations of stone tool-using hunter-gatherers in environments comparable with early hominins indicate that most stone tools (particularly chopper forms and flake tools) were used for making simple shaft tools including spears, digging sticks and throwing sticks. These tools bear strong resemblances to Oldowan stone tools. Bipolar reduction for butchering probably preceded chopper-like core reduction and provides a key link between primate nut-cracking technologies and the emergence of more sophisticated lithic technologies leading to the Oldowan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Hayden
- Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
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16
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Barsky D, Vergès JM, Sala R, Menéndez L, Toro-Moyano I. Limestone percussion tools from the late Early Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain). Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:rstb.2014.0352. [PMID: 26483530 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, there is growing interest in the study of percussion scars and breakage patterns on hammerstones, cores and tools from Oldowan African and Eurasian lithic assemblages. Oldowan stone toolkits generally contain abundant small-sized flakes and their corresponding cores, and are characterized by their structural dichotomy of heavy- and light-duty tools. This paper explores the significance of the lesser known heavy-duty tool component, providing data from the late Lower Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain), dated 1.4-1.2 Myr. Using quantitative and qualitative data from the large-sized limestone industries from these two major sites, we present a new methodology highlighting their morpho-technological features. In the light of the results, we discuss the shortfalls of extant classificatory methods for interpreting the role of percussive technology in early toolkits. This work is rooted in an experimental program designed to reproduce the wide range of percussion marks observed on the limestone artefacts from these two sites. A visual and descriptive reference is provided as an interpretative aid for future comparative research. Further experiments using a variety of materials and gestures are still needed before the elusive traces yield the secrets of the kinds of percussive activities carried out by hominins at these, and other, Oldowan sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deborah Barsky
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Josep-María Vergès
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Robert Sala
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Leticia Menéndez
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Isidro Toro-Moyano
- Museo Arqueológico de Granada, Carrera del Darro 41-43, 18010 Granada, Spain
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17
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Abstract
One of the key challenges confronting cognitive science is to discover natural categories of cognitive function. Of special interest is the unity or diversity of cognitive control mechanisms. Evolutionary history is an underutilized resource that, together with neuropsychological and neuroscientific evidence, can help to provide a biological ground for the fractionation of cognitive control. Comparative evidence indicates that primate brain evolution has produced dissociable mechanisms for external action control and internal self-regulation, but that most real-world behaviors rely on a combination of these. The archeological record further indicates the timing and context of distinctively human elaborations to these cognitive control functions, including the gradual emergence of increasingly complex hierarchical action control.
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Abstract
One of the key challenges confronting cognitive science is to discover natural categories of cognitive function. Of special interest is the unity or diversity of cognitive control mechanisms. Evolutionary history is an underutilized resource that, together with neuropsychological and neuroscientific evidence, can help to provide a biological ground for the fractionation of cognitive control. Comparative evidence indicates that primate brain evolution has produced dissociable mechanisms for external action control and internal self-regulation, but that most real-world behaviors rely on a combination of these. The archeological record further indicates the timing and context of distinctively human elaborations to these cognitive control functions, including the gradual emergence of increasingly complex hierarchical action control.
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