Stone tools and fossil bones : debates in the archaeology of human origins

Cover
......Page 1
STONE TOOLS AND FOSSIL BONES......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Tables......Page 11
Figures......Page 13
Contributors......Page 15
Introduction......Page 17
References......Page 26
CHAPTER 1: Toward a scientific-realistic theory on the origin of human behavior......Page 27
Defining the concepts and formulating the hierarchy of the theory components......Page 31
Hypothesis interrelatedness: The neural network of the theoretical body......Page 44
How to measure the heuristic value of alternative theories?......Page 45
Discussion and conclusion......Page 50
References......Page 55
PART I: On the Use of Analogy I: The Earliest Meat Eaters......Page 61
CHAPTER 2: Conceptual premises in experimental design and their bearing on the use of analogy: A critical example from experiments on cut marks......Page 63
Analogy, uniformitarianism, and the concept of regularity......Page 65
A practical example documenting conceptual variability in hypothesis testing: Experimental replication and interpretation of cut marks......Page 67
On the use of analogy......Page 82
Conclusion......Page 88
References......Page 90
The role of bone surface modifications in understanding faunal assemblage formation......Page 96
The role of actualism in identifying and interpreting bone surface modifications......Page 97
Hominid damage......Page 98
Carnivore damage......Page 100
Tooth mark dimensions and identifying carnivore types......Page 102
Protocol, problems, and pitfalls in the identification of bone surface modifications......Page 104
Quantification and analysis of bone surface modifications......Page 106
Actualistic samples and the timing of hominid and carnivore access to carcasses......Page 109
Comparing surface mark frequencies between fossil and actualistic assemblages......Page 112
What have bone surface modifications taught us about the Oldowan?......Page 114
Where do we go from here?......Page 117
Conclusion......Page 119
References......Page 120
CHAPTER 4: On early hominin meat eating and carcass acquisition strategies: Still relevant after all these years?......Page 131
Unpacking the hunting-versus-scavenging debate......Page 133
Zooarchaeological and taphonomic evidence......Page 137
Impacts from multiple agents......Page 140
Systematic butchering......Page 144
Life-history profiles, meat acquisition, and dietary change......Page 146
Big-game acquisition as a competitive display......Page 147
Hunting and embodied capital......Page 149
Where do we go from here? Moving beyond stone and bones......Page 151
Conclusion......Page 154
References......Page 155
CHAPTER 5: Meat foraging by Pleistocene African hominins: Tracking behavioral evolution beyond baseline inferences of early access to carcasses......Page 168
Perspectives of the first indications of hominin meat eating......Page 170
Lessons from extant hominoids: chimpanzees and human hunter-gatherers......Page 173
Stabbing, thrusting, and casting......Page 175
“Man the ambush predator”: unthinkable, unknowable, or unavoidable?......Page 180
Charting the course forward......Page 183
References......Page 184
The fundamentals of referential modeling in paleoanthropology......Page 190
Hominin habitats......Page 194
Chimpanzee hunting......Page 196
A simple hypothesis of Mio-Pliocene hominin hunting......Page 201
Discussion......Page 204
References......Page 206
PART II: On the use of analogy II: The earliest stone toolmakers......Page 215
To model or not to model?......Page 217
The origins of the Oldowan: When, who, and how?......Page 219
Nut cracking by wild chimpanzees: Bossou and West Africa......Page 221
Study site and methods......Page 225
Results......Page 227
Discussion......Page 229
Acknowledgments......Page 231
References......Page 232
CHAPTER 8: What does Oldowan technology represent in terms of hominin behavior?......Page 238
What do we want to know about Oldowan behavior? Why should anyone care?......Page 239
1. Oldowan hominins selected stones based on their mechanical properties.......Page 242
2. Hominins transported stones around the landscape.......Page 243
3. Hominin artifact manufacture was guided by specific technical rules.......Page 244
What don't we know about Oldowan artifacts?......Page 246
Where do we go from here?......Page 251
Conclusion......Page 252
References......Page 253
CHAPTER 9: Testing cognitive skills in Early Pleistocene hominins: An analysis of the concepts of hierarchization and predetermination in the lithic assemblages of Type Section (Peninj, Tanzania)......Page 261
Method......Page 264
Archaeological sample analysis......Page 265
Experimental analyses......Page 268
Statistical analyses of data......Page 274
Statistical comparison of the archaeological and experimental flakes......Page 279
Technical analysis of the archaeological sample......Page 290
The experimental replication of the hierarchical centripetal model......Page 306
The statistical analysis......Page 310
The status of the Type Section industry in its regional framework......Page 313
Conclusion......Page 316
References......Page 318
How many bifaces are needed to characterize a site as Acheulean?......Page 326
The Mode 2 and the Acheulean......Page 331
Are hand axes imperative to identify the Acheulean?......Page 337
Current facts about the Early Acheulean......Page 340
Technological characterizations......Page 342
Paleoenvironmental settings and regional analyses......Page 347
Site formation contexts......Page 349
Lithic functional studies......Page 350
Experimental approaches to understanding the Acheulean......Page 352
Conclusion......Page 358
Acknowledgments......Page 359
References......Page 360
Index......Page 375