The origins of stone tool reduction and the transition to knapping: An experimental approach

Summary

There is now a general consensus that the earliest Oldowan artifacts were made by skilled toolmakers with a clear understanding of the fracturing mechanics of different toolstone materials, thus leading several researchers to propose a simpler lithic reduction stage that occurred prior to 2.6 Ma. Three reduction techniques that are within the behavioral repertoire of the genus Pan are proposed as potential intermediate stages between the percussion behaviors of the LCA of chimpanzees and humans and the skilled knapping of the Oldowan toolmakers. These include direct and indirect projectile percussion and bipolar flaking techniques. To better understand some of the factors that influenced how early hominins obtained sharp flake tools, measures of productivity, expediency, and efficiency were obtained and compared between these three reduction techniques and novice knapping. The results of this experiment indicate that dropping or throwing a large hammerstone on a brittle core is the most efficient way to exploit a core, while bipolar flaking is the most expedient method; however, novice knapping creates the most productive flakes with large, sharp cutting edges. Thus, the transition to knapping in the late Pliocene may have been due to a shifting emphasis on productive toolmaking over expediency or efficiency.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

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