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Ignacio De La Torre - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • pounding tools in hwk ee and ef hr olduvai gorge tanzania percussive activities in the oldowan Acheulean transition
    Journal of Human Evolution, 2017
    Co-Authors: Adrian Arroyo, Ignacio De La Torre
    Abstract:

    In this paper, we present pounded objects from excavations at HWK EE and EF-HR, which are studied from macro and microscopic perspectives. Analysis of HWK EE revealed one of the largest collections of percussive objects from Olduvai Gorge, while excavations at EF-HR have allowed us to recover a much wider collection of percussive tools than previously recorded. Differences are observed between the two localities. At the Acheulean site of EF-HR, percussive tools were predominantly used in the production of flakes and large cutting tools (LCTs). At the Oldowan site of HWK EE, the tool repertoire probably related to a wider range of activities, including bone breaking and bipolar knapping. Comparison of these two assemblages, potentially produced by different hominin species, helps provide a wider picture of pounding activities during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge.

  • the transition to the Acheulean in east africa an assessment of paradigms and evidence from olduvai gorge tanzania
    Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2014
    Co-Authors: Ignacio De La Torre, Rafael Mora
    Abstract:

    The origin of the Acheulean constitutes a key aspect of current research in the archaeology of human evolution. Olduvai Gorge is one of the main sites in Africa in the study of the transition from the Oldowan to the Acheulean, due to both the uniqueness of its archaeological record, and the influence of early investigations at Olduvai on the development of Early Stone Age research. This paper reviews the impact of work at Olduvai in shaping a modern view of cultural evolution from the Oldowan to the Acheulean. It also evaluates the lithic assemblages excavated by Mary Leakey in Olduvai Middle and Upper Bed II, based on a first-hand review of the collections. We conclude that previous paradigms used to explain inter-assemblage variability are not superseded as much as generally assumed, and that a modern view of the origins of the Acheulean requires a reassessment of the cultural, biological, and paleoecological evidence at Olduvai and elsewhere in Africa.

  • Acheulean technological behaviour in the middle pleistocene landscape of mieso east central ethiopia
    Journal of Human Evolution, 2014
    Co-Authors: Ignacio De La Torre, Rafael Mora, Adrian Arroyo, Alfonso Benitocalvo
    Abstract:

    The Mieso valley is a new paleoanthropological sequence located in East-Central Ethiopia. It contains Middle and Upper Pleistocene deposits with fossil and lithic assemblages in stratified deposits. This paper introduces the Middle Pleistocene archaeological sequence, attributed to the late Acheulean. Low density clusters of artefacts suggest short-term use of the landscape by Acheulean hominins. In Mieso 31, one of the excavated assemblages, refit sets indicate fragmentation of the reduction sequences and enable study of the initial stages of biface manufacture. Mieso 7, also a stratified site, is primarily characterized by a small concentration of standardized cleavers, and portrays another dimension of Acheulean technology, that related to final stages of use and discard of large cutting tools. Available radiometric dates place the Mieso Acheulean around 212 ka (thousands of years) ago, which would make this sequence among the latest evidence of the Acheulean in East Africa, in a time span when the Middle Stone Age is already documented in the region.

  • the origins of the Acheulean at olduvai gorge tanzania a new paleoanthropological project in east africa
    Artificial Intelligence, 2012
    Co-Authors: Ignacio De La Torre, Lindsay J Mchenry, Jackson K Njau, Michael C Pante
    Abstract:

    The disappearance of the earliest human culture, the Oldowan, and its substitution by a new technology, the Acheulean, is one of the main topics in modern Paleoanthropology. Recent research has established that the Acheulean emerged originally in East Africa around 1.7–1.6 million years ago, and from that area expanded across the rest of Africa, Europe and parts of Asia. Despite the great relevance of the Oldowan-Acheulean transition, little is known about the biological and cultural evolutionary mechanisms underlying this process. Traditionally, it has been assumed that this major cultural change was ignited by the emergence of a new human species, Homo ergaster/erectus, and that there was a steady technological evolution during the Oldowan that eventually led to the emergence of the Acheulean handaxes. However, these assumptions are not grounded in the current available evidence, but rooted in cultural-history paradigms that should now be superseded. Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is the site where the traditional view of the Oldowan-Acheulean transition was established. The aim of the recently launched Olduvai Geochronology and Archaeology Project is to tackle this question by conducting a comprehensive research program at Olduvai, based on the retrieval of fresh data derived from new laboratory and fieldwork research. The multidisciplinary character of this ongoing study is providing an integrative perspective to the analysis of the paleoecology, archaeology, geology and geochronology of the transition to the Acheulean at Olduvai. Using an innovative theoretical perspective that combines interests in cultural change, ecological adaptations, and biological evolution, and state-of-the-art methods in archaeology, geology and taphonomy, this project aims to make Olduvai one of the world’s best references for the understanding of the evolutionary processes that led to the emergence of the Acheulean, the longest lasting culture in the history of humankind.

  • the early Acheulean in peninj lake natron tanzania
    Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2008
    Co-Authors: Ignacio De La Torre, Rafael Mora, Jorge Martinezmoreno
    Abstract:

    Abstract The aim of this study is to reassess the early Acheulean at Peninj, on the western shore of Lake Natron (Tanzania). This paper describes the archaeological contexts and technological strategies of two assemblages, RHS-Mugulud and MHS-Bayasi, dated to 1.5–1.1 myr ago. The study of lithic artefacts from Glynn Isaac’s excavations in 1960s–1980s, curated at the National Museum of Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), the review of Isaac’s unpublished field notes and manuscripts held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and new data from recent excavations in RHS-Mugulud, have made it possible to characterize these emblematic assemblages of the early African Acheulean, and to reflect on the technological meaning of the first large cutting tools (LCTs).

Kathleen Kuman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • experimental flaking in the danjiangkou reservoir region central china a rare case of bipolar blanks in the Acheulean
    Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017
    Co-Authors: Hao Li, Chaorong Li, Nicole L Sherwood, Kathleen Kuman
    Abstract:

    Abstract The exploration of techniques used to produce large flakes has long been a focus in Acheulean studies, especially from an experimental perspective. In this study we develop an experimental methodology to analyze Acheulean materials from the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (DRR) in central China. The results show that large flakes experimentally produced with the bipolar technique can be easily distinguished from flakes produced by the other techniques due to the compression fracture unique to this method of flaking. These bipolar flakes show features consistent with those observed on a portion of the DRR archaeological handaxes. We suggest that the internal flaws and foliated structure found in quartz phyllite can actually assist in splitting cobbles, and consequently, they make bipolar flaking easier and effective. The anvil and throwing techniques have the next most successful ratio in detaching large flakes. The freehand technique is the least successful. Overall, the experimental study reported in this paper clearly demonstrates that raw materials influence the choice of flaking techniques, and the bipolar technique is a unique characteristic of the DRR Acheulean.

  • The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa
    Quaternary International, 2017
    Co-Authors: Kathleen Kuman, Ryan J Gibbon
    Abstract:

    Abstract South Africa has a rich record of Acheulean sites, but the Early Acheulean is thus far limited to a handful of secondary context sites. These are in the Cradle of Humankind (ca 1.7 to 1.0 Ma) in Gauteng Province in the northeast and in two site complexes in the Northern Cape Province in the interior of the country. This paper describes the typology and technology of an assemblage from Rietputs 15, Northern Cape Province, where burial dating with cosmogenic nuclides has demonstrated the first Early Acheulean assemblages beyond Gauteng Province (Gibbon et al., 2009). The assemblage is named ACP after its location (Artefact Collection Pit) near Rietputs Pit 1, which has an age of ca 1.7 Ma and is at the western side of the Rietputs farm. Organized core reduction strategies are absent from ACP, but they are present in a second assemblage collected from Rietputs Pit 5 over 2 km to the east in the same site complex, where dates from five gravels, all of which contain stone tools, range from ca 1.2 to 1.6 Ma. The Pit 5 assemblage with organized core flaking strategies is directly dated to ca 1.3 Ma (Leader et al., in press). Also at the nearby site of Canteen Kopje, an assemblage excavated from a layer dated to 1.51 Ma contains organized core reduction strategies (Leader 2014). Based on these technological comparisons and on the comparable nature of the large cutting tools (LCTs) with those from the Cradle of Humankind, we interpret the ACP site at Rietputs 15 to be older than 1.3–1.5 Ma. This assemblage adds to our understanding of the Early Acheulean in South Africa. Large cutting tools in the two regions were made both on flakes and cobbles and show much variability in plan form. Pick-like forms are common but not exclusive. The LCTs from both regions are described to provide a picture of Early Acheulean adaptations in South Africa.

  • early Acheulean organised core knapping strategies ca 1 3 ma at rietputs 15 northern cape province south africa
    Quaternary International, 2016
    Co-Authors: Kathleen Kuman, George M Leader, Ryan J Gibbon, Darryl E Granger
    Abstract:

    Abstract The Rietputs 15 site near Windsorton (Northern Cape, South Africa) has recently gained attention as the first Early Acheulean site in South Africa to be dated with an absolute rather than relative method (Gibbon et al., 2009). A large assemblage from Pit 5 has a cosmogenic nuclide burial age of 1.31 ± 0.21 Ma. In addition to the Early Acheulean handaxes, cleavers and picks retrieved from this pit, a notable feature is the presence of an organised core flaking strategy, which contrasts with the simpler reduction methods that dominate the assemblage. Just over 17% of the cores display features that demonstrate hominids were able to control core working in order to exploit the largest surface, occasionally for a preferential removal. The most common form of organised core has an asymmetrical shape, in which the underside is worked pyramidally to produce a larger upper surface suitable for yielding sizeable flakes, and in the most developed form flakes are removed perpendicular to the surface. Limited platform working of these cores suggests that raw materials were intentionally selected for large surfaces and shapes appropriate for organised flaking. Hornfels comprises over 64% of the raw materials, which is unusual in the African earlier Acheulean. Rietputs 15 provides strong supporting evidence for the origins of organised flaking strategies during the course of the Early Acheulean.

  • handaxes in south africa two case studies in the early and later Acheulean
    Quaternary International, 2016
    Co-Authors: Hao Li, Kathleen Kuman, George M Leader, Raymond Couzens
    Abstract:

    Abstract As a characteristic component of the Acheulean Complex that is particularly significant in understanding the technological behaviour of early hominids, handaxes have been extensively discussed for a very long time. However, the fundamental question of temporal trends in handaxe technology is still debated in current research. To contribute to the further understanding of this question, we present a quantitative study of the technology and morphology of handaxes from two sites widely separated in time—the Rietputs 15 earlier Acheulean ca 1.3 Ma, and the Cave of Hearths later Acheulean ca 0.5 Ma. Results show that the technological practice of handaxe manufacture is consistent and conservative through time in these two sites, despite significant differences in raw materials. These commonalities include the ability to detach large flakes, to shape many handaxes with bifacial flaking, and to apply both primary and secondary flaking in shaping and edge refinement. However, there is an increased investment in the time and energy devoted to flaking of the younger Acheulean handaxe sample. Temporal differences in the morphology of handaxes between the two assemblages are not shown in most metrical attributes and indices used in this study. In contrast, extensive variability is observed at the intra-assemblage level in both samples, with Cave of Hearths showing relatively more variability. We argue that the conservatism and variability shown in the handaxes from these two sites widely separated in time are a reflection of the shared and long-lasting success of the Acheulean technological tradition and its flexibility of adaptation to different subsistence niches.

  • large cutting tools from the danjiangkou reservoir region central china comparisons and contrasts with western and south asian Acheulean
    Quaternary International, 2016
    Co-Authors: Kathleen Kuman, Hao Li, Chaorong Li
    Abstract:

    Abstract The Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (DRR) in central China has been studied since 1994 and is known for its Large Cutting Tools (LCTs), with similarities to both western and south Asian LCTs of the Acheulean industrial complex. However, the origins of LCT technology in China is a much debated topic. In this paper, we address several of the major arguments used to support an indigenous development for eastern LCTs—greater thickness, a poorer Refinement Index, greater weight, and a preference for cobbles over flakes for LCT blanks. In comparisons based on a large database of Acheulean LCTs, DRR examples are shown to compare well with Acheulean technology in terms of thickness and ‘refinement,’ traits which we here link to raw material shapes and flaking properties. A relatively more frequent use of cobbles for blanks, however, characterizes the DRR and other Chinese LCTs, but there is also regional variability in this feature. Weight, on the other hand, is consistently larger for all Chinese LCTs, including those from DRR, although these fall at the low end of the range. Nevertheless, there are important features in common between Acheulean and Chinese LCTs which indicate either a common origin or periods of admixture culturally and probably physically. These features include the use of large flake blanks, the presence of cleavers in some industries, and the shaping of handaxes by both primary and secondary flaking. The influence of regional cultural traditions on Chinese material, geographic distance and limited migration routes, cultural drift, differences in subsistence ecology, and the demographics of small population sizes seem ultimately to be responsible for the differences, and they should not be used to obscure the commonalities.

Rosalia Gallotti - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Before, During, and After the Early Acheulean at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia): A Techno-economic Comparative Analysis
    Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, 2018
    Co-Authors: Rosalia Gallotti, Margherita Mussi
    Abstract:

    The emergence of the Acheulean is a major topic, currently debated by archaeologists researching all over East Africa. Despite the ongoing discussion and the increasing amount of available data, the mode(s) of the technological changes leading to this emergence remain(s) largely unexplained. Overall, there is a dearth of continuous stratigraphic sequences recording both the late Oldowan and the early Acheulean at the same site. Accordingly, the technological changes cannot be evaluated taking into account the variability of each microregional context. Besides, the early Acheulean must be defined not only with respect to the Oldowan, but also in comparison with the following middle Acheulean.

  • The Emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa: Historical Perspectives and Current Issues
    Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, 2018
    Co-Authors: Rosalia Gallotti, Margherita Mussi
    Abstract:

    We review below the Acheulean of East Africa from two perspectives: the history of research and the current state of the art. The definition of Acheulean industries has changed considerably over 150 years and since the earliest research in Africa. A brief presentation of the main discoveries, of the many theories, and of the various methods used in Acheulean archaeological research will help in understanding the current debate and the topics addressed in this volume.

  • Two Acheuleans, two humankinds: From 1.5 to 0.85 Ma at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopian highlands).
    Journal of anthropological sciences = Rivista di antropologia : JASS, 2016
    Co-Authors: Rosalia Gallotti, Margherita Mussi
    Abstract:

    The Acheulean is the longest-lasting human cultural record, spanning approximately 1.5 Ma and three continents. The most comprehensive sequences are found in East Africa, where, in largescale syntheses, the Lower Pleistocene Acheulean (LPA) has often been considered a uniform cultural entity. Furthermore, the emergence and development of Acheulean technology are seen as linked to the emergence and evolution of Homo ergaster/erectus. The criterion for grouping together different lithic assemblages scattered over space and time is the presence of large cutting tools (LCTs), more than of any other component. Their degree of refinement has been used, in turn, as a parameter for evaluating Acheulean development and variability. But was the East African LPA really uniform as regards all components involved in lithic productions? The aim of this paper is to evaluate the techno-economic similarities and differences among LPA productions in a specific micro-regional and environmental context, i.e. at Melka Kunture, in the Ethiopian highlands, and in a specific period of time: between ≈1.5 Ma, when some of the earliest Acheulean complexes appeared, and 1.0-0.85 Ma, when LCTs productions became intensive and widespread. Our detailed comparative analyses investigate all aspects and phases of the chaînes opératoires. Since hominin fossil remains were discovered at some of the analyzed sites, we also discuss differences among lithic productions in relation to the changing paleoanthropological record. Our studies show that at Melka Kunture the LPA techno-complexes cannot be grouped into a single uniform entity. The assembled evidence points instead to "two Acheuleans" well-defined by a strong discontinuity in various aspects of techno-economic behaviors. This discontinuity is related to a major step in human evolution: the transition from Homo ergaster/ erectus to Homo heidelbergensis.

  • the east african origin of the western european Acheulean technology fact or paradigm
    Quaternary International, 2016
    Co-Authors: Rosalia Gallotti
    Abstract:

    Abstract The East African genesis of the Western European Acheulean is an axiom for most scholars. The main component of the Acheulean, i.e. lithic assemblages, has been used to identify technical traditions, as well as to draw scenarios on the tempos, modes, causes and origin(s) of the early peopling of Europe. The presence and frequency of large shaped tools has been seen as a proxy of the emergence and development of the Acheulean technology. Despite the typological variability of these tools, which was already highlighted during the 20th century, the East African and the Western European Acheulean have been usually considered as a homogeneous entity when comparing lithic techno-complexes and creating models for the European human settlements. However, such large-scale syntheses can be flawed because the archaeological data are highly fragmented both in time and space and frequently incomparable given the different theoretical/methodological approaches adopted. The aim of this paper is to avoid such pitfalls. Accordingly, I will systematically review the Lower/early Middle Pleistocene East African assemblages and the late Lower/early Middle Pleistocene Western European assemblages which have been labeled as “Acheulean”. The contemporaneous core and flake industries will be taken into account and discussed. This will allow evaluating the theoretical/methodological implications of an East African origin for the Western European Acheulean, and understanding if it is a fact or a paradigm.

  • an older origin for the Acheulean at melka kunture upper awash ethiopia techno economic behaviours at garba ivd
    Journal of Human Evolution, 2013
    Co-Authors: Rosalia Gallotti
    Abstract:

    Abstract In the 1970s and 1980s, the emergence of the Acheulean at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia) was dated to 1 Ma (million years ago), based on the typo-metrical analysis of the lithic assemblage of Garba XIIJ. Older sites such as Gombore I, Karre I, and Garba IV (1.7–1.5 Ma) were classified as Oldowan/Developed Oldowan. Consequently, the Oldowan and the Acheulean at Melka Kunture were interpreted as two distinct technologies separated by a chronological gap of 0.5 Ma. The archaeostratigraphic unit D of Garba IV, dated to ∼1.5 Ma, yielded one of the richest Early Stone Age lithic series in East Africa. In this paper, a review traces methods of technological analysis, based on the concept of chaine operatoire, to update our knowledge of the techno-economic behaviours at this site. The results show two major elements characteristic of cultural changes in the Melka Kunture sequence: (1) the emergence of a new chaine operatoire focused on large flake/large cutting tool (LCT) production, and (2) a large variability of small debitage modalities with systematic preparation of the striking platform and the appearance of a certain degree of predetermination. These technological traits are shared by the contemporaneous sites in East Africa and are considered to be typical of the early Acheulean. This suggests an older origin for the Acheulean at Melka Kunture, 0.5 Ma than previously inferred.

Gonen Sharon - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Squeezing Minds From Stones - Early Convergent Cultural Evolution: Acheulean Giant Core Methods of Africa
    Squeezing Minds From Stones, 2019
    Co-Authors: Gonen Sharon
    Abstract:

    Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar traits in different species, resulting from adaptation to separate ecosystems. Two Acheulean giant core methods, discussed in this chapter, illustrate this mechanism in an early stage of human cultural evolution. Victoria West core method was used only in central South Africa, while the Tabelbala-Tachenghit method is confined to the Western Sahara Desert of North Africa. Although the Victoria West and Tabelbala-Tachenghit core methods differ to a degree in their technological character and in the morphology of their resulting products, they bear great resemblance. These core methods were decidedly similar solutions to the same needs experienced by different groups of Acheulean large flake makers. The fact that core methods closely resembling one another in technology and design were developed by different Acheulean populations in remote and disconnected geographical regions provides us with a very early example of convergent cultural evolution.

  • Flakes Crossing the Straits? Entame Flakes and Northern Africa–Iberia Contact During the Acheulean
    African Archaeological Review, 2011
    Co-Authors: Gonen Sharon
    Abstract:

    La méthode de débitage par entame a été définie lors de l'étude des bifaces acheuléens du site de Ternifine en Algérie. Cette méthode, spécialisée dans la production de grands éclats (>10cm) utilisés comme supports de bifaces implique le détachement d'éclats primaires sur des galets en quartzite soigneusement sélectionnés. La méthode est simple et c'est la sélection rigoureuse du bloc et le soin apporté au détachement de l'éclat qui permet d'obtenir un support parfaitement adapté à la production de bifaces, requérant de ce fait un façonnage minimal. L'emploi de cette méthode est révélé par la forte fréquence de supports d'entame dans les assemblages lithiques acheuléens de Ternifine et de la Péninsule Ibérique. Ces derniers sont en revanche absents des autres sites acheuléens spécialisés dans la production de grands éclats. Il est ici proposé que l'usage fréquent de la méthode par entame, commun à l'Afrique du Nord et à la Péninsule Ibérique, reflète des traditions lithiques communes entre ces deux espaces. Cela pourrait soutenir l'idée que l'Acheuléen ibérique trouve son origine en Afrique du Nord, au Pléistocène moyen. The entame core method was defined after studying the Acheulean bifaces from the site of Ternifine, Algeria. This specialized core method for the production of larges flakes (>10 cm) used for biface blanks involves the detachment of primary large flakes from skillfully selected quartzite cobbles. While technologically simple, a competent selection of raw material and dexterous detachment of the flake resulted in a blank perfectly suitable for the production of bifaces, with minimal further shaping required. This core method resulted in high frequencies of entame blanks in the Ternifine lithic assemblages, as well as from the Iberian Peninsula Acheulean, but not in assemblages from other large flake Acheulean sites. It is suggested that the frequent use of the entame core method common to both North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula indicates similarity in lithic tradition during the Acheulean. This may support the view of North African origin for the Iberian Acheulean during the Middle Pleistocene.

  • Flakes Crossing the Straits? Entame Flakes and Northern Africa–Iberia Contact During the Acheulean
    African Archaeological Review, 2011
    Co-Authors: Gonen Sharon
    Abstract:

    The entame core method was defined after studying the Acheulean bifaces from the site of Ternifine, Algeria. This specialized core method for the production of larges flakes (>10 cm) used for biface blanks involves the detachment of primary large flakes from skillfully selected quartzite cobbles. While technologically simple, a competent selection of raw material and dexterous detachment of the flake resulted in a blank perfectly suitable for the production of bifaces, with minimal further shaping required. This core method resulted in high frequencies of entame blanks in the Ternifine lithic assemblages, as well as from the Iberian Peninsula Acheulean, but not in assemblages from other large flake Acheulean sites. It is suggested that the frequent use of the entame core method common to both North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula indicates similarity in lithic tradition during the Acheulean. This may support the view of North African origin for the Iberian Acheulean during the Middle Pleistocene.

  • flakes crossing the straits entame flakes and northern africa iberia contact during the Acheulean
    African Archaeological Review, 2011
    Co-Authors: Gonen Sharon
    Abstract:

    The entame core method was defined after studying the Acheulean bifaces from the site of Ternifine, Algeria. This specialized core method for the production of larges flakes (>10 cm) used for biface blanks involves the detachment of primary large flakes from skillfully selected quartzite cobbles. While technologically simple, a competent selection of raw material and dexterous detachment of the flake resulted in a blank perfectly suitable for the production of bifaces, with minimal further shaping required. This core method resulted in high frequencies of entame blanks in the Ternifine lithic assemblages, as well as from the Iberian Peninsula Acheulean, but not in assemblages from other large flake Acheulean sites. It is suggested that the frequent use of the entame core method common to both North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula indicates similarity in lithic tradition during the Acheulean. This may support the view of North African origin for the Iberian Acheulean during the Middle Pleistocene.

  • The impact of raw material on Acheulian large flake production
    Journal of Archaeological Science, 2008
    Co-Authors: Gonen Sharon
    Abstract:

    Raw material properties and availability have always been considered as having a definitive impact on the morphology, size and production technology of Acheulian large cutting tools. Shape and size of the naturally available raw material blocks have been cited as key factors in determining Acheulian biface blank production technology as well as tool morphological variability. In other words, where large blocks of raw material were available (Africa), large flakes were produced, and where only smaller cobbles and nodules were to be found (Europe), they become the primary type of blank used. In this paper, I explore a large body of data collected from Acheulian sites from India to Morocco and from South Africa to England to test this common premise. Different raw material exploitation patterns as reflected in the bifacial tools in the various assemblages are described and analyzed. The results indicate that in large flake based Acheulian assemblages, raw material constraints did not significantly affect either the blank production process or large cutting tool shape and size variability. The Acheulian large cutting toolmakers used the rock types available in the vicinity of their site in a sophisticated reduction sequence aimed to produce large cutting tools that are surprisingly similar regardless of the original shape, size and type of raw material from which they were produced. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ceri Shipton - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Squeezing Minds From Stones - The Evolution of Social Transmission in the Acheulean
    Squeezing Minds From Stones, 2019
    Co-Authors: Ceri Shipton
    Abstract:

    Human social transmission is unrivalled in its precision and complexity. High-fidelity social transmission ensures each generation does not have to reinvent the wheel, while the sharing of knowledge and skills enables the extraordinary feats of technology and artistry. This chapter explores the evolutionary foundations of our high-fidelity social transmission during the Acheulean period. Archaeological evidence is presented for the trait of over-imitation: the tendency of humans to copy all purposeful actions when imitating, regardless of whether they are causally opaque, or even redundant. By the Late Acheulean, the causal opacity and physical subtlety of some knapping actions were such that they were likely difficult to transmit without some form of verbal teaching. Despite high-fidelity social transmission, cumulative culture does not seem to have begun building up in earnest during the Acheulean, perhaps because Acheulean hominins did not share our cognitive capacities for hierarchical organization, recursion, and generativity.

  • were Acheulean bifaces deliberately made symmetrical archaeological and experimental evidence
    Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2019
    Co-Authors: Ceri Shipton, Chris Clarkson, Rommy Cobden
    Abstract:

    Acheulean bifaces dominate the archaeological record for 1.5 million years. The meaning behind the often symmetrical forms of these tools is the topic of considerable debate, with explanations ranging from effectiveness as a cutting tool to sexual display. Some, however, question whether the symmetry seen in many Acheulean bifaces is intentional at all, with suggestions that it is merely the result of a bias in hominin perception or an inevitable consequence of bifacial flaking. In this paper we address the issue of intention in biface symmetry. First, we use transmission chain experiments designed to track symmetry trends in the replication of biface outlines. Secondly, we use archaeological data to assess the symmetry of Acheulean bifaces from British, East African and Indian assemblages in relation to reduction intensity; the degree of bifaciality; and the symmetry of four Middle Palaeolithic bifacial core assemblages. Thirdly, we look at specific examples of the reduction sequences that produced symmetrical Acheulean cleavers at the sites of Olorgesailie CL1-1, Isinya, Chirki, Morgaon and Bhimbetka. All three lines of evidence support the notion that symmetry was a deliberately imposed property of Acheulean bifaces and not an epiphenomenon of hominin visual perception or bifacial technology.

  • the expansion of later Acheulean hominins into the arabian peninsula
    Scientific Reports, 2018
    Co-Authors: Eleanor M L Scerri, Ceri Shipton, Laine Clarkbalzan, Marine Frouin, Jeanluc Schwenninger, Huw S Groucutt, Paul S Breeze, Ash Parton
    Abstract:

    The Acheulean is the longest lasting cultural-technological tradition in human evolutionary history. However, considerable gaps remain in understanding the chronology and geographical distribution of Acheulean hominins. We present the first chronometrically dated Acheulean site from the Arabian Peninsula, a vast and poorly known region that forms more than half of Southwest Asia. Results show that Acheulean hominin occupation expanded along hydrological networks into the heart of Arabia from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 until at least ~190 ka the youngest documented Acheulean in Southwest Asia. The site of Saffaqah features Acheulean technology, characterized by large flakes, handaxes and cleavers, similar to Acheulean assemblages in Africa. These findings reveal a climatically-mediated later Acheulean expansion into a poorly known region, amplifying the documented diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour across the Old World and elaborating the terminal archaic landscape encountered by our species as they dispersed out of Africa.

  • Acheulean technology and landscape use at dawadmi central arabia
    PLOS ONE, 2018
    Co-Authors: Ceri Shipton, Huw S Groucutt, Paul S Breeze, Patrick Cuthbertson, Nicholas Drake, James Blinkhorn, Richard P Jennings
    Abstract:

    Despite occupying a central geographic position, investigations of hominin populations in the Arabian Peninsula during the Lower Palaeolithic period are rare. The colonization of Eurasia below 55 degrees latitude indicates the success of the genus Homo in the Early and Middle Pleistocene, but the extent to which these hominins were capable of innovative and novel behavioural adaptations to engage with mid-latitude environments is unclear. Here we describe new field investigations at the Saffaqah locality (206–76) near Dawadmi, in central Arabia that aim to establish how hominins adapted to this region. The site is located in the interior of Arabia over 500 km from both the Red Sea and the Gulf, and at the headwaters of two major extinct river systems that were likely used by Acheulean hominins to cross the Peninsula. Saffaqah is one of the largest Acheulean sites in Arabia with nearly a million artefacts estimated to occur on the surface, and it is also the first to yield stratified deposits containing abundant artefacts. It is situated in the unusual setting of a dense and well-preserved landscape of Acheulean localities, with sites and isolated artefacts occurring regularly for tens of kilometres in every direction. We describe both previous and recent excavations at Saffaqah and its large lithic assemblage. We analyse thousands of artefacts from excavated and surface contexts, including giant andesite cores and flakes, smaller cores and retouched artefacts, as well as handaxes and cleavers. Technological assessment of stratified lithics and those from systematic survey, enable the reconstruction of stone tool life histories. The Acheulean hominins at Dawadmi were strong and skilful, with their adaptation evidently successful for some time. However, these biface-makers were also technologically conservative, and used least-effort strategies of resource procurement and tool transport. Ultimately, central Arabia was depopulated, likely in the face of environmental deterioration in the form of increasing aridity.

  • biface knapping skill in the east african Acheulean progressive trends and random walks
    African Archaeological Review, 2018
    Co-Authors: Ceri Shipton
    Abstract:

    Over the 1.5-million-year duration of the Acheulean, there is considerable variation in biface finesse. It is not clear, however, if there is an improvement in biface knapping ability over time, or if variation between sites is largely unrelated to their age. The diversity and duration of the East African Acheulean presents an opportunity to examine this issue. Variables that reflect difficult aspects of biface knapping, and which were likely important goals for Acheulean hominins, were measured in order to assess skill. These variables—refinement (thinness), edge straightness, and symmetry—were compared across four East African Acheulean sites: Olduvai Gorge, Olorgesailie, Kariandusi, and Isinya. The influence of rock type, blank type, reduction intensity, aberrant scar terminations, and invasive flaking on these variables was assessed. Over relatively short timescales, confounding factors, including ones not possible to control for, tend to obscure any temporal signature in biface knapping skill. However, over the vast timespan of the Acheulean at Olduvai Gorge, a temporal trend was indeed apparent. Possible factors influencing this trend include the invention of new knapping techniques, the addition of adolescence as a life history stage, and evolving hominin cognition.