Functional Perspective on the Evolution of Hunting Technology in Africa and Europe

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The development of hunting technology is a key aspect of human behavioral evolution. Many efforts have therefore been made to identify prehistoric projectiles and propulsion modes, especially to determine when long-range hunting weapons were first invented. The African record has been central to such debates thanks to the early dates for stone projectiles and claims made for the first appearance of bow-and-arrow technology in South Africa. Research into the origins of projectile technology suffers however from two major setbacks. First, no reliable method exists for identifying propulsion modes, and the present claims therefore largely rely on circumstantial evidence. Second, functional studies have been infrequent, and projectile function has instead been assumed on typological or morphological grounds, Tip Cross-sectional area (TCSA) values being a case in point. Analyses incorporating so-called diagnostic impact fractures have provided more specific data but have sometimes also added confusion. In this paper, we review current projectile evidence for the Middle Stone Age in Africa and the Paleolithic period in Europe and based on our recent experimental and methodological work we propose some avenues that hold promise for future research.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41483.0