The origin of bone tool technology and the identification of early hominid cultural traditions (original) (raw)
A number of natural processes occurring during the life of an animal or after its death can produce pseudotools, mimics of human-made objects. A number of purported bone tools from Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites have been published without any validating microscopic analysis of the bone surfaces showing possible traces of manufacture and use. This paper discusses the evolutionary significance of bone tool technology and summarises results of research on the use of bone tools by early hominids between one and two million years ago (Mya). It attempts to establish formal criteria for the identification of minimally modified bone tools by characterising the modifications produced by known human and non-human agents, and applying these criteria to the purported bone tool collections from Swartkrans, Sterkfontein and Olduvai Gorge. A number of experiments involving a variety of tasks were conducted in order to increase the range of diagnostic features available. New analytical techniques have been developed for the quantification of microscopic use-wear, and a wide range of taphonomic and morphometric variables have been used to isolate idiosyncratic populations of specimens for which a robust argument can be made for their identification as tools. South and East African early hominid From Tools to Symbols 240 les outils en os d'Afrique du Sud, suggèrent que les auteurs de ces outils avaient une claire compréhension des propriétés de l'os, qu'ils pouvaient prévoir le résultat de leur actions sur la matière et qu'ils ont, dans les deux cas, été capables de développer des traditions techniques bien adaptées à la matière première disponible dans le but d'obtenir une efficacité optimale dans les tâches pour lesquelles ces outils étaient utilisés.
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