The technological behaviours of Homo antecessor: core management and reduction intensity at Gran Dolina-TD6.2 (Atapuerca, Spain)

Abstract

Approaching the life history of artefacts is fundamental for understanding both the formation processes of archaeological assemblages and their technological variability. In this paper, we explore the variability of technological behaviours exhibited by the hominins from subunit TD6.2 at the Gran Dolina site (Atapuerca, Burgos), by combining both technological and reduction intensity analyses of the cores recovered. We used the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM) to estimate the original volume of the blanks and quantify the reduction intensity of each core individually, after which we characterised the reduction distribution patterns using Weibull probability distribution functions. Our results suggest differential raw material management in terms of reduction intensity, according to the characteristics of each lithology. This could reflect a solid understanding of raw material qualities and a certain degree of planning. From a technological perspective, our results suggest continuity between knapping strategies through reduction, which seems to indicate constant adaptation to raw material constraints as well as particular knapping conditions, rather than to specific compartmentalised mental schemes.

Oldowan Technology Amid Shifting Environments ∼2.03–1.83 Million Years Ago

“…In this article, we deployed a quantitative approach to lithic analysis known as VRM (Lombao et al, 2020(Lombao et al, , 2021, which facilitates inter-assemblage comparability using geometric principles and is potentially applicable to any lithic assemblage regardless of context and techno-typological affiliation. Given the qualitative nature of conventional techno-typological analysis, we argue in this study for a quantitative approach to interpret lithic assemblages (Diez-Martín et al, 2010;de la Torre et al, 2021).…”

“…Previous studies relied on technological indices from variables like the number of removals on a core, cortex remaining, or average platform angles, among other proxies of reduction intensity (Clarkson, 2013;Douglass et al, 2018). We opted for the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM) (Lombao et al, 2020(Lombao et al, , 2021, grounded in geometrical formulae specific to quartzite-based assemblages and the three-dimensional shapes under scrutiny. The VRM is specifically designed to examine Oldowan technology, addressing common problems such as the overlapping effect of stone reduction processes (Lombao et al, 2019), while allowing for comparisons among multiple knapping methods.…”