Experiment to Investigate the Effect of Animal Trampling on Flat Objects

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Researchers have found bifaces situated on edge at Acheulean sites in what are felt to be undisturbed sediments, and have posited that they were placed this way by early humans, offering a clue to the use of the devices. Opposing this, it has been argued that animal trampling of such objects will turn them on edge, challenging the idea that they were placed that way purposefully. Using benchtop devices, experiments are undertaken in an attempt to demonstrate this turning-on-edge effect. The author argues that if such effect exists, it could have been exploited by early human hunters setting bifaces in the ground as traps, and would have acted to keep the devices in the edge up, dangerous, animal damaging armed mode.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23262