A Key

Biographic Data

ID47544
NAMEA Key
GIVEN NAMESA
FAMILY NAMEKey
SIGNATUREKEY A
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Kent
ORCID0000-0001-5576-1200
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS52
TOTAL CITATIONS604
AUTHOR COUNT52
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2011
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX14

  • Acheulean Expediency Potential: Handaxe Manufacturing Time Costs, Covariates and Skill

    Open AccessA Key, Finn Stileman et al.ARTICLELithic Technology2026References: 74

    Despite decades of replicative experiments, the fundamental question “how long did it take to make an Acheulean handaxe” remains poorly understood. Archaeologists routinely base influential Pleistocene behavioral theory on lithic-related time budget considerations, so it is important to accurately understand their possible manufacturing costs. Here, we synthesize data from 227 handaxes manufactured by experienced, apprentice, and novice knappers.…

  • What can lithics tell us about hominin technology's ‘primordial soup’? An origin of stone knapping via the emulation of Mother Nature

    Open AccessM I Eren, Stephen J Lycett et al.ARTICLEArchaeometry2025References: 81

    The use of stone hammers to produce sharp stone flakes—knapping—is thought to represent a significant stage in hominin technological evolution because it facilitated the exploitation of novel resources, including meat obtained from medium‐to‐large‐sized vertebrates. The invention of knapping may have occurred via an additive (i.e., cumulative) process that combined several innovative stages. Here, we propose that one of these stages was the homin…

  • Edge Sharpness Does Not Vary Between Palaeolithic Flake Technologies, With the Possible Exception of Levallois Débitage

    Open AccessAnna Mika, A KeyARTICLEArchaeometry2025References: 98

    Investigating why hominins adopted particular flake technologies during the Mid‐to‐Late Pleistocene is essential to understanding patterns of lithic innovation. This period witnessed the emergence of Levallois technologies (~350–250 ka) and later blades, each “replacing” earlier forms. While prior studies have emphasised technological efficiency and utility, comparative assessments of functional performance—particularly edge sharpness—are limited…

  • Who made the Oldowan? Reviewing African hominin fossils and archaeological sites from 3.5 million years ago

    Open AccessEleanor M Williams, Eloise Williams et al.ARTICLEJournal of Anthropological…2025Cited by: 1References: 154

    The question of which African hominin taxon/taxa was responsible for producing Oldowan stone tools has persisted for nearly a century. Homo habilis , Paranthropus boisei , Homo erectus , Australopithecus garhi, and Australopithecus africanus, among others, have been proposed as candidates, but we have never had a definitive answer to ‘who made the Oldowan’. We review the hominin taxa that overlap temporally with the Oldowan, and use optimal linea…

  • When less is more: Risk, reward and optimisation in Acheulean handaxe manufacture and the impact of skill

    Open AccessFinn Stileman, A KeyARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2025Cited by: 2References: 53

    As the most numerous manifestations of technology across the Palaeolithic record, linking stone tool artefacts to past hominin cognition and expertise represents a major pursuit of human origins researchers. Acheulean handaxes are of special interest as the earliest tools with clear design modalities, along with their presence spanning major evolutionary events of the Homo genus between 1.8 and 0.2 million years ago. Prior knapping experiments ha…

  • What is a ‘Giant’ Handaxe? Ergonomic Thresholds, Functional Impacts and Acheulean Social Signalling Potential

    Open AccessA Key, Stephen J Lycett et al.ARTICLECambridge Archaeological Journal2025References: 70

    Giant’ handaxes are a widely recognized but infrequently investigated phenomenon of the Acheulean period. The scale of their distribution and the selective pressures underpinning their production are not well explored. Here, we report new data from a large-scale experimental study that identifies the point at which handaxes become too large to use with a single hand, alongside a review of known Acheulean assemblages displaying ‘giant’ handaxes. O…

  • Elliptical Fourier analysis of bullet ricochet impact site plan-view shape in concrete

    Open AccessJonathan Paige, Robert S Walker et al.ARTICLEForensic Sciences Research2025References: 27

    Bullet ricochets often leave impact sites that can be useful for shooting incident reconstruction. Here, we assess the proposal that these sites can potentially provide information about the design and composition of the projectile and possibly the corresponding firearm. We produced impact sites in concrete from five bullet types fired at two distances, for a total of 10 experimental conditions. Then, using elliptical Fourier analysis, we assesse…

  • Acheulean Handaxes in Medieval France: An Earlier ‘Modern’ Social History for Palaeolithic Bifaces

    Open AccessA Key, J Desmond Clark et al.ARTICLECambridge Archaeological Journal2024References: 54

    Handaxes have a uniquely prominent role in the history of Palaeolithic archaeology, and their early study provides crucial information concerning the epistemology of the field. We have little conclusive evidence, however, of their investigation or societal value prior to the mid seventeenth century. Here we investigate the shape, colour and potential flake scarring on a handaxe-like stone object seen in the Melun Diptych, painted by the French fi…

  • Revising the oldest Oldowan: Updated optimal linear estimation models and the impact of Nyayanga (Kenya)

    Open AccessA Key, Tomos ProffittARTICLEJournal of Human Evolution2024Cited by: 6References: 52

    The Oldowan lithic industry represents the earliest known evidence of efficiently and expeditiously produced flake stone tools (Toth, 1985; Braun et al., 2019; Reti, 2016; Stout et al., 2019). Complex technological strategies were employed to produce these artefacts compared to earlier hominin stone tools, and potential organic tool-use behaviors inferred via parsimony with non-human primates (Braun et al., 2019; Boesch et al., 2020; Delagnes and…

  • Bullet ricochet mark plan-view morphology in concrete: An experimental assessment of five bullet types and two distances using machine learning

    Open AccessM I Eren, Jay Romans et al.ARTICLEForensic Sciences Research2023References: 2

    Bullet ricochet impact sites can help with shooting incident reconstruction.A random forest machine learning algorithm classified bullet type from ricochet morphology.Results suggest that unknown bullets can potentially be determined from ricochet impact site morphology.Human identification of bullet types from ricochet sites may be erroneous

  • Intercomparison of Form, Size and Allometry in a Million-year-old and Modern Replicated Handaxe Set

    Open AccessA Key, J A J GowlettARTICLELithic Technology2023Cited by: 3References: 50

    We report here on an intercomparison between two large handaxe sets – one from a million-year-old site in Africa, the other a modern set made for experimental purposes. Our investigation was designed primarily to determine whether ancient handaxe series have measurable characteristics which tend not to appear in replica sets (and vice versa). We also wished to compare the fields of form variation in the two sets. The particular comparison was cho…

  • Clovis bone versus stone weapon tip penetration: Thinking about relative costs and benefits, experimental assumptions, and archaeological unknowns at Sheriden Cave, Ohio, U.S.A

    Open AccessG Miles Conrad, Savannah Hough et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science…2023Cited by: 5References: 58

  • Statistical assessment of the temporal and cultural relationship between the Lomekwian and Oldowan

    Open AccessDylan Flicker, A KeyARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science…2023Cited by: 4References: 37

    The temporal relationship between the Lomekwi 3 archaeological site and the Oldowan stone tool industry is not well explored. Lomekwi 3 dates to 3.3 million years ago (Ma), meaning the ‘Lomekwian’ as we currently understand it is 719 thousand years (Ka) older than the current oldest known Oldowan site, Ledi-Gararu. Here, we investigate the temporal relationship between Lomekwi 3 and early Oldowan occurrences using the ‘surprise test’, a statistic…

  • The West Tofts handaxe: A remarkably average, structurally flawed, utilitarian biface

    Open AccessEmily Flanders, A KeyARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2023Cited by: 6References: 59

    The West Tofts handaxe is a small British Acheulean biface well known for its cortical preservation of a fossilised bivalve shell. The shell's retention, its prominent central placement, and perceptions of the tool's broader aesthetic-value have resulted in it being described as an example of early hominin aesthetic intent. When combined with its mid-to-late Pleistocene age, the handaxe plausibly has implications for our understanding of hominin …

  • Identifying accurate artefact morphological ranges using optimal linear estimation: Method validation, case studies, and code

    Open AccessA Key, M I Eren et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2023Cited by: 2References: 42

    A fundamental goal of archaeologists is to infer the behaviour of past humans from the attributes of the artefacts they left behind. The archaeological record is, however, fragmented and often provides a partial record of the total artefacts produced by a given population. In turn, there is potential for population-level morphometric data, and therefore behavioural inferences, to be biased relative to the trends realised in the past. This include…

  • Hominins likely occupied northern Europe before one million years ago

    Open AccessA Key, Nick AshtonARTICLEEvolutionary Anthropology Issues…2023Cited by: 3References: 87

    Our understanding of when hominins first reached northern Europe is dependent on a fragmented archaeological and fossil record known from as early as marine isotope stage (MIS) 21 or 25 (c. 840 or 950 thousand years ago [Ka]). This contrasts sharply with southern Europe, where hominin occupation is evidenced from MIS 37 to 45 (c. 1.22 or 1.39 million years ago [Ma]). Northern Europe, however, exhibits climatic, geological, demographic, and histor…

  • Antarctica as a 'natural laboratory' for the critical assessment of the archaeological validity of early stone tool sites

    Open AccessM I Eren, Michelle Bebber et al.ARTICLEAntiquity2023Cited by: 3References: 48

    Lithic technologies dominate understanding of early humans, yet natural processes can fracture rock in ways that resemble artefacts made by Homo sapiens and other primates. Differentiating between fractures made by natural processes and primates is important for assessing the validity of early and controversial archaeological sites. Rather than depend on expert authority or intuition, the authors propose a null model of conchoidally fractured Ant…

  • North American Clovis Point Form and Performance III: An Experimental Assessment of Knife Cutting Efficiency

    Anna Mika, Briggs Buchanan et al.ARTICLELithic Technology2022Cited by: 9References: 81

    This study is an experimental assessment of Clovis knife use. This work is the third contribution in a series of experiments aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis “point” forms. Here, we used seven replica Clovis point forms, representing the average and extremes of observed Clovis form, in two cutting tasks: rope cutting and clay cutting. Statistical comparison of cutting time, our measure of cutting efficiency…

  • Another tool in the experimental toolbox: On the use of aluminum as a substitute for chert in North American prehistoric ballistics research and beyond

    Open AccessM I Eren, Lawrence Mukusha et al.ARTICLENorth American Archaeologist2022Cited by: 7References: 37

    Experimental archaeology continues to mature methodologically and theoretically. Around the world, practitioners are increasingly using modern materials that would have been unavailable to prehistoric people in archaeological experiments. The use of a modern material substitute can offer several benefits to experimental method, design, control, replicability, feasibility, and cost, but it should be directly compared to its “traditional” analogue …

  • Quantifying Edge Sharpness on Stone Flakes: Comparing Mechanical and Micro-Geometric Definitions Across Multiple Raw Materials from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

    Open AccessA Key, Tomasz Bartkowiak et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Method…2022Cited by: 12References: 37

    In line with engineering research focusing on metal tools, techniques to record the attribute of ‘edge sharpness’ on stone tools can include both mechanical and micro-geometric approaches. Mechanically-defined sharpness techniques used in lithic studies are now well established and align with engineering research. The single micro-geometrically-defined technique—tip curvature—is novel relative to approaches used elsewhere, and has not explicitly …

  • Revisiting lithic edge characterization with microCT: Multiscale study of edge curvature, re-entrant features, and profile geometry on Olduvai Gorge quartzite flakes

    Open AccessD A Macdonald, Tomasz Bartkowiak et al.ARTICLEArchaeological and Anthropological…2022Cited by: 20References: 124

  • The Acheulean is a temporally cohesive tradition

    Open AccessA KeyARTICLEWorld Archaeology2022Cited by: 9References: 111

    The Acheulean has long been considered a single, unified tradition. Decades of morphometric and technological evidence supports such an understanding by demonstrating that a single fundamental Bauplan was followed for more than 1.6 million years. What remains unknown is whether sites assigned to the Acheulean represent multiple socially-independent iterations of the same technological solution to shared ecological (functional) and ergonomic deman…

  • Optimal Linear Estimation (OLE) Modeling Supports Early Holocene (9000-8000 RCYBP) Copper Tool Production in North America

    Open AccessMichelle Bebber, A Key et al.ARTICLEAmerican Antiquity2022Cited by: 5References: 50

    The discovery and development of metal as a tool medium is a topic of global interest. A fundamental research goal involves establishing the timing of human experimentation with naturally occurring copper ore, which is commonly associated with sedentary, agrarian-based societies. However, in North America, there is well-documented millennia-scale exploitation of copper as tool media by small, seasonally mobile hunter-gatherer groups in the wester…

  • Reconstructing the full temporal range of archaeological phenomena from sparse data

    Open AccessA Key, David L Roberts et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2021Cited by: 6References: 16

  • Modelling the end of the Acheulean at global and continental levels suggests widespread persistence into the Middle Palaeolithic

    Open AccessA Key, Ivan Jarić et al.ARTICLEHumanities and Social Sciences…2021Cited by: 22References: 69

    The Acheulean is the longest cultural tradition ever practised by humans, lasting for over 1.5 million years. Yet, its end has never been accurately dated; only broad 300–150 thousand years ago (Kya) estimates exist. Here we use optimal linear estimation modelling to infer the extinction dates of the Acheulean at global and continental levels. In Africa and the Near East the Acheulean is demonstrated to end between 174 and 166 Kya. In Europe it i…