The Camera and the Trowel: Two Approaches to Tool-Using Primates

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Primate archaeology is a burgeoning area of inquiry that sheds light on the technological aspects of primate behavior and its implications for human evolution. However, primate archaeology also offers opportunities for the validation of archaeological proxies through actualistic study. Among living primates, behavior and site formation can be observed concurrently, offering insight into both phenomena. White-faced capuchins in Coiba National Park, Panama habitually use stone pounding tools, which produces a material record of hammerstones, anvils, and debris from processed foods. In 2022 and 2023, we collected linked behavioral and archaeological data from two capuchin tool use sites on the island of Jicarón, Panama. We monitored activity at the sites through video-based observation, producing a high-resolution behavioral data set. During the same period, we monitored site formation through the accumulation of artifacts and food debris at the sites. Here, we present a comparison of these two approaches to primate stone tool use, comparing archaeological proxies of site activity with direct observations. These data provide novel perspectives on the application of archaeological methods to primate contexts and the interpretation of excavated collections.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53832