Assessing the function of pounding tools in the Early Stone Age: A microscopic approach to the analysis of percussive artefacts from Beds I and II, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

Abstract

This study explores the function of quartzite pounding tools from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) using microscopic and use wear spatial distribution analysis. A selection of pounding tools from several Bed I and II assemblages excavated by Mary Leakey (1971) were studied under low magnification (<100x), and the microscopic traces developed on their surfaces are described. Experimental data and results obtained from analysis of the archaeological material are compared in order to assess activities in which pounding tools could have been involved. Results show that experimental anvils used for meat processing, nut cracking and/or bone breaking have similar wear patterns as those observed on archaeological percussive artefacts. This is the first time that a microscopic analysis is applied to Early Stone Age pounding artefacts from Olduvai Beds I and II, and this paper highlights the importance that percussive activities played during the Early Pleistocene, suggesting a wider range of activities in addition to knapping and butchering.

Nut Cracking Tools Used by Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Their Comparison with Early Stone Age Percussive Artefacts from Olduvai Gorge

“…A recent microscopic analysis of a selection of pounding tools from Olduvai Gorge, originally classified by Leakey as anvils [74], showed percussive traces (mainly impact points and crushing areas), and occasional fractures located on the edges. A very low percentage of the surface (<1%, see [74]) of the so-called anvils classified by Leakey were covered by percussive traces, and had a similar wear pattern to that identified on anvils used by captive chimpanzees. Wear patterns on experimental anvils used in human pounding activities and archaeological pounding tools resemble those on tools used by the captive chimpanzees in this study.…”

Habitual stone-tool-aided extractive foraging in white-faced capuchins,Cebus capucinus

“…Percussive techniques like those observed in non-human primates may have been the precursor to the earliest hominin stone tool making around 3 Ma [10–14]. Thus, a better understanding of tool use in non-human primates helps us to validate and critically evaluate our interpretations of the fossil and archaeological records [15].…”

Habitual Stone-Tool Aided Extractive Foraging in White-Faced Capuchins,Cebus Capucinus

“…Comparative studies of stone tool use in non-human primates is of particular interest to paleoanthropologists as it provides a model of the possible tool use behaviors that led to the emergence of earliest known stone tool production in hominins. Percussive techniques like those observed in non-human primates may 20 have been the precursor to the earliest hominin stone tool making around 3 mya (Panger et al, 2002a;Toth and Schick, 2009;McPherron et al, 2010;Harmand et al, 2015;Arroyo and de la Torre, 2016). Thus, a better understanding of tool use in non-human primates helps us to validate and critically evaluate our interpretations of the fossil and archaeological records (Proffitt et al, 2016).…”