Late Pliocene hominid knapping skills: The case of Lokalalei 2C, West Turkana, Kenya

Delagnes, Anne; Roche, Hélène

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.12.005

Cited by 302 publications

(227 citation statements)

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“…Although derived unintentionally, the result is the repetitive splitting of cobbles similar to that identified in the archaeological record. In the latter instance, this behaviour has been interpreted as an intentional hominin behaviour to facilitate flake production 7 . Furthermore, the capuchins produce a combination of flake scars and fracture plane patterning that fall within the morphology of unifacial choppers 1 (Extended Data 6).…”

Section: Flaked Hammerstonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Suggested hallmarks of the earliest stone tool technology include (i) controlled, conchoidal flaking 5 , (ii) production of sharp cutting edges 6 , (iii) repeated removal of multiple flakes from a single core, (iv) clear targeting of core edges, and (v) adoption of specific flaking patterns 7 . These characteristics underlie the identification of intentional stone flaking at all early archaeological sites 3,5,[7][8][9][10][11][12] , as they do not co-occur under natural geological conditions. To date, comparisons between hominin intentional stone flaking and wild primate stone tool use have focused on West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) [13][14][15][16] .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Wild monkeys flake stone tools

Proffitt

Luncz

Falótico

et al. 2016

Nature

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* These authors contributed equally to this work. Paleoanthropologists use the distinctive characteristics of flaked stone tools both to distinguish them from naturally broken stones, and to interpret the behaviour of the hominins that produced them 4 . Suggested hallmarks of the earliest stone tool technology include (i) controlled, conchoidal flaking 5 , (ii) production of sharp cutting edges 6 , (iii) repeated removal of multiple flakes from a single core, (iv) clear targeting of core edges, and (v) adoption of specific flaking patterns 7 . These characteristics underlie the identification of intentional stone flaking at all early archaeological sites 3,5,[7][8][9][10][11][12] , as they do not co-occur under natural geological conditions. To date, comparisons between hominin intentional stone flaking and wild primate stone tool use have focused on West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) [13][14][15][16] . Nevertheless, stone breakage during chimpanzee tool use is accidental 15 , a result of missed hits or indirect force application during activities such as nut-cracking. The resulting stone fragments lack most of the diagnostic criteria listed above for hominin flakes 10,17 . Even when the manufacture of sharp edges was taught to captive bonobos (Pan paniscus), the resulting flaked assemblage did not replicate the early hominin archaeological record 18 .The capuchins of Serra da Capivara National Park (SCNP) in Brazil use stone tools in more varied activities than any other known non-human primate, including for pounding foods, digging, and in sexual displays [19][20][21] . Bearded capuchins and some Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) are known to pound stones directly against each other 22 , however, the SCNP capuchins are the only wild primates that do so for the purpose of damaging those stones 19 . This activity, which we term stone on stone (SoS) percussion, typically involves an individual selecting rounded quartzite cobbles from a conglomerate bed (active hammers), and with one or two hands striking the hammerstone forcefully and repeatedly on quartzite In addition to deliberately crushing the surface of both the active and passive hammers, the capuchins regularly unintentionally break the stones during use (Extended Data 1). In addition, we observed a capuchin purposefully place a newly fractured stone flake on top of another stone, and then strike it with a hammer in a manner resembling chimpanzee nutcracking or human bipolar reduction (Extended Data 1). Nevertheless, while the monkeys were seen to re-use broken hammerstone parts as fresh hammers, they were not observed using the sharp edges of fractured tools to cut or scrape other objects.We collected fragmented stones immediately after capuchins were observed using them at the Oitenta site in SCNP (8º 52.394 S, 42º 37.971 W) (Figure 1), as well as from surface surveys and archaeological excavation in the same area (Extended Data 2). The assemblage consists of 111 capuchin modified stone artefacts, including complete and broken hammerst...

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Section: Flaked Hammerstonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild monkeys flake stone tools

Proffitt

Luncz

Falótico

et al. 2016

Nature

185

125

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“…The techniques used in the Oldowan were knapping with a hammer stone using direct percussion or bipolar percussion with an anvil (Braun et al 2008). Refitting analyses demonstrate that core maintenance was practised (Delagnes & Roche 2005). Core maintenance is achieved by detaching flakes in a way that makes it possible to strike further flakes from the same core, that is, keeping the core active in a toolkit without immediately exhausting it (Braun et al 2008).…”

Section: Figure 1 Schematic Illustration Of How the Kinds Of Knowledmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowing, Learning and Teaching—How Homo Became Docens

Högberg

Gärdenfors

Larsson

2015

CAJ

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“…Systematic flaking is an exclusive behavioral characteristic of PlioPleistocene hominins (18)(19)(20)(21). During the Holocene, Later Stone Age lithic assemblages from the African rainforest (22) demonstrate that systematic flaking can be identified beyond any doubt when one or more of the following criteria are present: cores that display logical reduction strategies (e.g., radial), cores with more than five flake scars, intentional creation or preparation of platforms, bifacial reduction, retouch, or blade production.…”

Section: Discriminating Systematic Flaking From Thrusting Percussion mentioning

confidence: 99%