An Experimental Examination of the Potential Function of Early Stone Age Tool Technology and Implications for Subsistence Behavior
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5227550 |
|---|---|
| Authors | G S Mccall (0000-0003-3717-2407, University of Iowa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-43 |
| Publication date | 2005-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Lithic Technology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0197-7261 • E-ISSN: 2051-6185 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01977261.2005.11721023 |
| OpenAlex | W2322535401 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
| References cited | 28 |
This paper presents; an experimental examination of the potential function of Early Stone Age (ESA) stone tool technology. The discussion situates the behavior associated with ESA technology within the context of evidence for subsistence activities from faunal remains. On the basis of this experiment, I argue that: (I) many tasks associated with carcass processing in situations of secondary carcass access could have been carried out with equal efficiency with unmodified cobbles rather than modified stone tools; (2) core tools offer no major advantages over unmodified cobbles in bone breaking; and (3) flakes are generally more effective than core tools in cutting tasks such as defleshing and joint disarticulation. Therefore, I argue that defleshing and joint disarticulation were the primary uses of stone tool technology within the context off carcass processing I also propose that a great deal of early hominid carcass processing was done without modified stone tools, leaving neither lithic nor faunal evidence of these activities. Stone tools may have been infrequently required for regular subsistence activities, but they take on such importance because of their visibility relative to other remains. Finally, the paper suggests that stone tool manufacture may have emerged from a pattern of marginal scavenging that required no stone tool manufacture and left no archaeological evidence
Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Disarticulation · Geography · Lithic technology · Stone tool · Subsistence agriculture · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology · Geology
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Teaching Ancient Technology using “Hands-On” Learning and Experimental Archaeology
Looking at handaxes from another angle
Testing Differences in the Cutting Precision of Flakes and Handaxes
Testing imaging confocal microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy, and focus variation microscopy for microscale measurement of edge cross-sections and calculation of edge curvature on stone tools
Chipped-Stone Crescents from the Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene of Far Western North America and the Transverse Projectile Point Hypothesis
Disentangling carcass processing activities and the state of worked hide from use-wear patterns on expedient bone tools
D multiscale curvature analysis of tool edges as an indicator of cereal harvesting intensity
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Early stage blunting causes rapid reductions in stone tool performance
Could woodworking have influenced variation in the form of Acheulean handaxes
Edge Angle as a Variably Influential Factor in Flake Cutting Efficiency
Cut Mark Cluster Geometry and Equifinality in Replicated Early Stone Age Butchery
Reassessing the production of handaxes versus flakes from a functional perspective
Muscle recruitment and stone tool use ergonomics across three million years of Palaeolithic technological transitions
The impact of flake tool attributes and butcher experience on carcass processing time and efficiency during experimental butchery trials
Did the use of bone flakes precede the use of knapped stone flakes in hominin meat processing and could this be detectable archaeologically
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Early hominid hunting, butchering, and carcass-processing behaviors
Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai
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Cut and Tooth Mark Distributions on Large Animal Bones
The predatory implemental technique of Australopithecus
Characteristics of an Early Hominid Scavenging Niche [and Comments and Reply]
Systematic Butchery by Plio/Pleistocene Hominids at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania [and Comments and Reply]
Behavioral inferences from Early Stone artifact assemblages
Percussion marks, tooth marks, and experimental determinations of the timing of hominid and carnivore access to long bones at FLK Zinjanthropus, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Experimental determinations of carcass processing by Plio-Pleistocene hominids and carnivores at FLK 22 (Zinjanthropus), Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Carnivore tooth marks and stone tool butchery marks on scavenged bones
Meat-eating by early hominids at the FLK 22Zinjanthropussite, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)
Methods, marks, and models for inferring hominid and carnivore behavior
Spiral Fractures and Bone Pseudotools at Paleontological Sites
Functional Analysis of Flaked Stone Artifacts
Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins
Scavenging or Hunting in Early Hominids
Why the Oldowan? Plio-Pleistocene Toolmaking and the Transport of Resources
| Unique citing works | 17 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,55 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 17 |