Stone Tools and Sociality: Potential Effects of Conversation and Hobbies on Lithic Quality Public
Shrinivas, Krithika (Spring 2023)
Published
Abstract
Stone tool making is an inherently social process that has allowed for the transmission of ideas, culture, and the development of human cognitive capacities. This study explored the impact that sociality has on the quality of stone flakes produced through the observation and analysis of conversation that occurred between participants and their instructor during three 30 minute Oldowan style knapping sessions. Participant hobbies based on a self-assessment were also considered in relation to lithic efficacy. The conversational patterns of 15 adult participants were recorded using an ethogram in order to determine whether the initiator of conversations, durations of silence, and questions asked by participants had a bearing on the lithics generated. Each participant was given a score on a sociality index ranging from Minimally Social (1) to Strongly Social (5) based on their proclivity for socializing. Participants were assigned to 3 groups based on their reported hobbies: a fine motor activity group (Group 1), a physical activity group (Group 2), and a group that allegedly did not engage in physical activity (Group 3). The social behaviors and hobbies were correlated with the reduction intensities of participants’ cores in order to assess the impact that these variables had on the quality of flakes yielded using bivariate correlations, ANOVA, and t-tests on SPSS and Excel. Reduction intensity is a measurement for how much the core was reduced through the knapping process and is a proxy for efficient flake removal. It was found that metrics of sociality and hobbies had no significant effect on lithic quality. However, general trends pointed towards participants who engaged in less conversation having better knapping outcomes, suggesting that socialization may have served as a source of distraction. Despite this, the findings also revealed that learning occurred over the three sessions with drastic increases in reduction intensity on average between the first and third session among most participants. Given the small sample size and short duration of this study, more research must be conducted in order to better understand the effects of sociality and hobbies on lithic quality.
Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1-2
Background……………………………………………………………………………3-7
I. Oldowan stone tools……………………………………………3-4
II. Why Oldowan………………………………………………………4-5
III. Sociality……………………………………………………………….5-6
IV. Hobbies……………………………………………………………….6
V. Novel Contributions to the field………………………….6-7
VI. Key Terms……………………………………………………………7
Objectives and Hypothesis……………………………………………………..8
Methods…………………………………………………………………………………9-22
I. Experimental Set-up…………………………………………9
II. Teaching Approach………………………………………….9-10
III. Participant Selection……………………………………….10-11
IV. Ethogram Creation………………………………………….11-14
V. Sociality Index………………………………………………….14-15
VI. Flake Quality……………………………………………………15-16
VII. Lithic Analysis Methods…………………………………...16-17
VIII. Sociality and Hobbies Analysis Methods…………..18-19
IX. Lithic Analysis Tests………………………………………….19-22
X. Statistical Tests…………………………………………………22
Results……………………………………………………………………………………23-27
I. Ethnographic Findings…………………………………………..23
II. Lithic Analyses of Performance…………………………….23-27
Discussion……………………………………………………………………………….28-31
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………….32-39
References………………………………………………………………………………..40-48
About this Honors Thesis
| School | |
|---|---|
| Department | |
| Degree | |
| Submission | |
| Language |
|
| Research Field | |
| Mot-clé | |
| Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor | |
| Committee Members |
Primary PDF
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Stone Tools and Sociality: Potential Effects of Conversation and Hobbies on Lithic Quality () | 2023-04-10 12:18:57 -0400 |
|
Supplemental Files
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
|---|