500,000 year old blades from the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya

Johnson, Cara Roure; McBrearty, Sally

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.10.001

Cited by 145 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The first evidence of blade production was found in Africa at two sites, Kathu Pan (Wilkins & Chazan 2012) and Kapturin (Johnson & McBrearty 2010), both approximately 500,000 years old ( Figure 1). …”

Section: The Blade Phenomenon In the Middle Paleolithicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between the flake and the blade: Associated systems of production at Riparo Tagliente (Veneto, northern Italy)

Carmignani

2017

JLS

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Abstract:The Riparo Tagliente site (Verona, Italy) shows three macro phases in which high technological variability can be observed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the specific role of the Middle Paleolithic blade production within this variability. Preliminary results show a complex scenario in which the role of the blade is strictly linked with flake production through mixed reduction systems.Two different approaches were used for analysing the lithic assemblages from the site. The first analysis focused on the identification of the reduction systems by determining the techniques, methods and concepts underlying the entire chaîne opératoire. The second approach concentrated on analysing blade production in order to identify its variability.Evidence of blade technology from the Middle Pleistocene (MIS 8-6) has been found in northern Europe (France, Belgium). Later, during MIS 5 blades can be found over a larger area, this time also including north-western Germany and the central-southern part of France. A third period (MIS 4-3) marks the appearance of laminar production in southern Europe, including in the Italian peninsula. Based on the present state of research these three phases appear to be on-and-off events without clear evolutionary continuity.By repositioning the sequence of Riparo Tagliente within the Italian context we can observe that at the end of the Mousterian period the technological patterns differ greatly, with laminar production being one of its most evident expressions. The origin of this fragmentation is questionable.

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Section: The Blade Phenomenon In the Middle Paleolithicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between the flake and the blade: Associated systems of production at Riparo Tagliente (Veneto, northern Italy)

Carmignani

2017

JLS

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“…preferential, centripetal, convergent, etc.). In fact, production of diverse small tools in 'Late Acheulean' times may have been underestimated (cf [50]), and standardized blade production (long considered a hallmark of modern humans) has been reported from two 0.5 Ma sites in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya [52].…”

Section: Stone Toolmaking Action Hierarchiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stone toolmaking and the evolution of human culture and cognition

Stout

2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

378

245

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Although many species display behavioural traditions, human culture is unique in the complexity of its technological, symbolic and social contents. Is this extraordinary complexity a product of cognitive evolution, cultural evolution or some interaction of the two? Answering this question will require a much better understanding of patterns of increasing cultural diversity, complexity and rates of change in human evolution. Palaeolithic stone tools provide a relatively abundant and continuous record of such change, but a systematic method for describing the complexity and diversity of these early technologies has yet to be developed. Here, an initial attempt at such a system is presented. Results suggest that rates of Palaeolithic culture change may have been underestimated and that there is a direct relationship between increasing technological complexity and diversity. Cognitive evolution and the greater latitude for cultural variation afforded by increasingly complex technologies may play complementary roles in explaining this pattern.

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“…Further, several elements of lithic technology found at MSA sites find their first expression in the Acheulian. These include the production of blades from cylindrical cores and particularly Levallois methods of flake production from assemblages with handaxes and cleavers (Johnson and McBrearty 2010;Leakey et al 1969;McBrearty 1999;Tryon 2006). In the Kapthurin Formation and elsewhere in eastern Africa (reviewed in Sharon 2007;Tryon, McBrearty, and Texier 2005), Levallois technology formed one of several methods of producing Acheulian large flake blanks that could be transformed into other tools.…”

Section: The Msa Developed From Local Acheulian Antecedentsmentioning

confidence: 99%