Behavior, learning, and lithics: Understanding the process of learning, and handaxe production through behavior Open Access

Abstract

Archeologists argue that stone toolmaking, or knapping, is linked to the evolution of language, teaching, and social learning. Handaxe making is an energy-intensive, and complex skill that archeologists have associated with a cognitive shift in the hominin lineage. Due to the nature of the archeological record, information about behavioral traits that accompanied the practice of handaxe making is scarce. While handaxe analysis can reliably predict some aspects of ancient toolmaking, analysis of behavioral data is crucial to capturing processes such as core manipulation, and equifinality. While modern experiments have helped to shed light on the factors that influence variation in handaxe production, few studies have focused on how individual behavioral variability affects variation in handaxe production. 

I analyzed video recordings from the most comprehensive and longest-running handaxe-making training experiment conducted yet.  In this experiment, novice knappers were given 90-hours of expert training in Late Acheulean style handaxe making. I established a methodology to code behavioral data by tracking variables related to the kinematics and processes of handaxe making. In this thesis, I explore the relationship between different knapping behaviors, and lithic products. The data show that performance can be traced through handaxes, debris, and behaviors, and point to factors that lead to differential acquisition of skills across novice knappers. Furthermore, similarity of lithic outcomes resulting from a highly variable knapping behaviors highlight the ambiguity in the behavioral interpretation of technological features on artifacts. The study and its methodological contributions highlight the importance of qualitative approaches to understanding studies of real-world skill acquisition, add a new dimension to our understandings of prehistoric technologies, and expand the range of inferences that can be drawn from lithic artifacts in the archaeological record.

Table of Contents

Introduction..................................................1

I.      Experimental approach.................................1

II.    Handaxes in the evolutionary context............5

III.       Learning to make a handaxe......................6

Experimental Background.............................8

Previous lithic studies............................................9

Methods.........................................................11

Results...........................................................19

I.      Results from Video Data................................19

i) Inspection times..............................................19

ii) Core Movement..............................................20

iii) Percussions....................................................21

iv) Flake Detachments.........................................23

II.    Results from Lithic Data..................................26

i)  Flakes...............................................................26

ii) Handaxes.........................................................28

III.       Results from Qualitative Analysis................33

Discussion.......................................................35

I.      Behavioral variation.......................................35

II.    Relation to artifacts.........................................40

III.       Methodological lessons................................43

Future Directions............................................46

Conclusion......................................................47

References.......................................................48

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Anthropology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Anthropology, Archaeology
Keyword	experimental archeology handaxe
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Stout, Dietrich, Emory University
Committee Members	Pargeter, Justin, Emory University De Roode, Jaap, Emory University Konner, Melvin, Emory University

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