The Use of tools by human and non-human primates
Journal Data
| Type | SOURCE_BOOK |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Clarendon Press (GB) |
| ISBN-13 | 9780198522638 |
| Open Library | OL21368964W |
| Total publications | 7 |
| Coverage period | 1993 - 1993 |
| Language | EN |
Compares the results, and considers the fabrication and use of tools in the course of human evolution, and analyzes the movements dictated to the brain. Tools of wood, stone and metal have often been influenced by needs imposed by the environment leading to technical progress.
Introduction to Chapters 17 and 18
Extract The prehistorian attempts to reconstruct the technical system of a given group, with all the elements of that system. The easiest process to analyse is that of flint-knapping, since it is the one for which we possess the greatest number of examples. At present, it is not only possible to describe the technical facts but also to explain the cognitive and psychomotor phenomena apparently underlying them. Socio-economic aspects of its applic…
The origin of tool use and the evolution of social space in palaeolithic times
The identification of the ‘concept of culture’, along with the most ancient signs of instrument use, has always been characterized by a diachronic process. This decides the course of its rapid change because of the development of knowledge in the field and has always been linked to the historical progress of research. The aim has been to discover a philosophical distinction and a culture gap which might in some way serve as an element of ‘separat…
The earliest stone tools
This chapter gives a preliminary review of new findings from older archaeological occurrences as evidence for the movements and activities of tool-using hominids dating from the late Pliocene between approximately 2.5 and 2 million years ago. These significantly earlier occurrences are also attributed to the Oldowan Industrial Complex principally because the typological composition of artefact assemblages consists of simple cores and unmodified f…
A framework for analysing prehistoric stone tool manufacture and a tentative application to some early stone industries
Compared with other raw materials used by prehistoric people, stone has rather unusual properties. The conchoidal fracture, or ‘fragile rupture’, of stone is difficult to model and proves to be empirically susceptible to a large number of variables. Even in direct striking or ‘percussion’, the first technique developed, which has never been forgotten, the quality, mass, and shape of both the raw material and the manufactured tool, i.e. the pebble…
Are we able to determine the function of the earliest palaeolithic tools?
Microscope examination of neolithic and middle palaeolithic tools shows that the marks on the earlier tools are generally longer and more difficult to interpret. The later tools almost always show more characteristic wear traces. The colder the tool, the more difficult it is to determine the ergonomy. This does not mean that the validity of the results obtained for the earliest tools is in question, but only that the interpretations are more diff…
Ecological determinism, group strategies, and individual decisions in the conception of prehistoric stone assemblages
Carving, scraping, cutting, and drilling were among the main actions performed with prehistoric stone tools. These implements, which constitute the chipped stone assemblages, are interesting in that, while satisfying a fairly restricted number of functions, they are extremely varied with respect to the materials used, the production techniques, and the tool shapes. Such variability is expressed in time, along a diachronic axis, as well as in spac…
The Use of tools by human and non-human primates
Compares the results, and considers the fabrication and use of tools in the course of human evolution, and analyzes the movements dictated to the brain. Tools of wood, stone and metal have often been influenced by needs imposed by the environment leading to technical progress
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Introduction to Chapters 17 and 18
Extract The prehistorian attempts to reconstruct the technical system of a given group, with all the elements of that system. The easiest process to analyse is that of flint-knapping, since it is the one for which we possess the greatest number of examples. At present, it is not only possible to describe the technical facts but also to explain the cognitive and psychomotor phenomena apparently underlying them. Socio-economic aspects of its applic…
The origin of tool use and the evolution of social space in palaeolithic times
The identification of the ‘concept of culture’, along with the most ancient signs of instrument use, has always been characterized by a diachronic process. This decides the course of its rapid change because of the development of knowledge in the field and has always been linked to the historical progress of research. The aim has been to discover a philosophical distinction and a culture gap which might in some way serve as an element of ‘separat…
The earliest stone tools
This chapter gives a preliminary review of new findings from older archaeological occurrences as evidence for the movements and activities of tool-using hominids dating from the late Pliocene between approximately 2.5 and 2 million years ago. These significantly earlier occurrences are also attributed to the Oldowan Industrial Complex principally because the typological composition of artefact assemblages consists of simple cores and unmodified f…
A framework for analysing prehistoric stone tool manufacture and a tentative application to some early stone industries
Compared with other raw materials used by prehistoric people, stone has rather unusual properties. The conchoidal fracture, or ‘fragile rupture’, of stone is difficult to model and proves to be empirically susceptible to a large number of variables. Even in direct striking or ‘percussion’, the first technique developed, which has never been forgotten, the quality, mass, and shape of both the raw material and the manufactured tool, i.e. the pebble…
Are we able to determine the function of the earliest palaeolithic tools?
Microscope examination of neolithic and middle palaeolithic tools shows that the marks on the earlier tools are generally longer and more difficult to interpret. The later tools almost always show more characteristic wear traces. The colder the tool, the more difficult it is to determine the ergonomy. This does not mean that the validity of the results obtained for the earliest tools is in question, but only that the interpretations are more diff…
Ecological determinism, group strategies, and individual decisions in the conception of prehistoric stone assemblages
Carving, scraping, cutting, and drilling were among the main actions performed with prehistoric stone tools. These implements, which constitute the chipped stone assemblages, are interesting in that, while satisfying a fairly restricted number of functions, they are extremely varied with respect to the materials used, the production techniques, and the tool shapes. Such variability is expressed in time, along a diachronic axis, as well as in spac…
The Use of tools by human and non-human primates
Compares the results, and considers the fabrication and use of tools in the course of human evolution, and analyzes the movements dictated to the brain. Tools of wood, stone and metal have often been influenced by needs imposed by the environment leading to technical progress