Aspects of tool production, use, and hafting in Palaeolithic assemblages from Northeast Africa

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.01.001

Journal of Human Evolution

Volume 60, Issue 5, May 2011, Pages 637-664

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.01.001 Get rights and content

Abstract

A detailed microwear study was performed on several assemblages from Northeast Africa to provide an anthropological scenario of late middle and upper Pleistocene populations in the Nile Valley and adjacent zones. Results are presented from the wear analysis of five sites, and an interpretation is provided of the keystones of MSA behaviour and its evolution throughout about 150,000 years. Locally available raw materials were predominantly used. Different tool uses were identified based on wear evidence, and it was demonstrated that stone tools were hafted from at least the early MSA onwards. In particular stone tools for which hafting was a necessity for their use, such as percussion implements and projectiles, were hafted. Both tool functions remain important throughout the Middle Stone Age. For tools with other uses, such as knives, hafting was demonstrated in certain cases. Hafting proved to be integrated into the stone tool production process, indicating a certain degree of anticipation and planning. Ochre was present at most of the sites in different forms, and mainly seems to have served a utilitarian function, and a possible symbolic use. The included sites could be interpreted as specialised sites, and in all but one case were situated in a production context. The evidence indicates the existence of a regional settlement system with different logistic nodes.

Introduction

In the past, detailed microwear studies of Middle Stone Age (MSA) material were rarely attempted due to the perception that preservation conditions would preclude positive results. Thanks to progress in microwear studies, the impact of post-depositional processes is currently better understood (Levi-Sala, 1986, Levi-Sala, 1996), and interpretations rest on firmer methodological grounds. The rise of residue analysis (Fullagar et al., 1996, Fullagar, 1998) positively influenced the renewed interest in functional studies of MSA material (Lombard, 2004, Lombard, 2005, Lombard, 2008). MSA stone tools are often made from coarser-grained raw materials (e.g., quartz, quartzite) than the fine-grained flint that is generally used in European sites. These coarser materials initially discouraged more standard microwear analyses. Residue analysis, preferably in combination with use-wear analysis (Rots and Williamson, 2004), provides a solution to this problem, at least for newly excavated sites where precautions that are necessary to prevent contamination can be observed during excavation and subsequent handling (Fullagar et al., 1996, Fullagar, 1998). Nevertheless, more standard microwear analyses have also been performed (Donahue et al., 2004). Interpretative possibilities now extend beyond wear resulting from tool use only (Keeley, 1980, Odell, 1980) and include inferences regarding tool production, handling, and hafting (Rots et al., 2001, Rots et al., 2006, Rots, 2002a, Rots, 2002b, Rots, 2003, Rots, 2004, Rots, 2005, Rots, 2010a). For more recent periods in Europe, it has been demonstrated that an integrated functional analysis of different raw materials (Van Gijn, 2008) and the integration of functional results with typological, technological, and spatial data contribute significantly to a better comprehension of behavioural systems (Cahen et al., 1979, Cahen and Keeley, 1980, Pétrequin et al., 1998, De Bie and Caspar, 2000). The latter procedure is also believed to have important potential for MSA studies, particularly now that prehension and hafting can be integrated (Rots and Van Peer, 2006, Van Peer et al., 2008). Hafting has always been considered an important issue in human evolution studies and has been proposed as one of the indicators of modern behaviour (McBrearty and Brooks, 2000).

Systematic wear analysis has formed part of a large-scale research project aimed at the description of technological chaînes opératoires of MSA sites in Northeast Africa as evidenced in both the appearance and the structure of their lithic assemblages. On the premise that an understanding of the operational principles in the domain of lithic technology offers insight into aspects of the social system at work, the overall goal of this project is to provide an anthropological scenario of late middle and upper Pleistocene populations in the environments of the Nile Valley and adjacent zones. In a number of contributions we have reported on the wear analysis of specific assemblages (Rots and Van Peer, 2006, Van Peer et al., 2008). Here, it is our intention to present primary data for a number of other assemblages from five sites and to provide an interpretation of some keystones of behaviour and their evolution through ∼150,000 years of the Middle Stone Age in Northeast Africa.

Section snippets

The sites

Short descriptions of all the sites concerned in this wear analysis are presented below (Fig. 1). First, however, we recapitulate some issues relating to general taxonomy. In this article we adopt our previously expressed position (Van Peer and Vermeersch, 2007) that the sub-Saharan nomenclature is appropriate for the designation of northeast African assemblages from the projected window of time.

Within the MSA, the Nubian Complex has been defined as a regional variant (Clark, 1988). Conceived

Methods

Functional wear studies have used different procedures to obtain data, differing mainly in the magnification and equipment used (Anderson-Gerfaud, 1980, Keeley, 1980, Odell, 1981, Fullagar et al., 1996). As demonstrated elsewhere, the most fruitful and reliable approach is one that combines different methods (Rots, 2003, Rots et al., 2006). Therefore, whenever possible, a macroscopic, low power and high power analysis were combined for this research. Low power analysis is performed with a

Sai 8-B-11: the early MSA levels

The functional results discussed here concern the Lower and Middle Sangoan and the Lupemban levels (Van Peer et al., 2004). Results obtained for the core-axes of the Middle Sangoan level were published in Rots and Van Peer (2006). Here, the remaining part of the Middle Sangoan assemblage is incorporated and the core-axe data are compared with data obtained for other levels.

A total of 656 pieces, for the three levels, was examined under the microscope for wear traces (Table 1). This number

Sodmein cave

Ten pieces were examined, all of which are end products and some of which are retouched (Table 3; see also Van Peer et al., 1996, Van Peer and Vermeersch, 2000). The results are summarised in Table 3.

Most pieces showed signs of use and the pieces with a preserved non-active part showed distinct evidence of hafting in the form of wear traces and residues. Tip fragments with evidence of use in hunting also provide indirect evidence of hafting, as hafting was a condition for their use as a

Taramsa 1

The analysis of a late MSA assemblage with transitional technological features from Taramsa 1 differs in nature from the previously analysed sites. First of all, it is clear that the site, throughout its long history, exclusively served as a chert extraction and workshop locale (Van Peer et al., 2010). Hence, a different realm of the behavioural spectrum of the late MSA groups is represented here, posing other questions and challenges to a wear analysis. Furthermore, the features of lithic

Sai 8-B-11: the upper levels

As mentioned, late MSA occupation levels are found within Nilotic silts overlying the middle Pleistocene sediments that contain the early MSA. These silts have been heavily affected by vertisol formation, resulting in serious post-depositional displacement of the lithic debris. Deflation and slope wash processes have further added to the loss of primary contexts. Even if a succession of distinct occupation events took place during the deposition of these floodplain sediments, it can be assumed

Nazlet Khater-4

The early Upper Palaeolithic axes of Nazlet Khater-4 show a remarkable degree of morphological similarity to the Sangoan core-axes of Sai 8-B-11 (Fig. 23). It has been argued elsewhere that the early Upper Palaeolithic industry of Nazlet Khater-4 is part of a process of technological transformation from within the Nubian Complex (Van Peer et al., 2010). An axe of Nazlet Khater-type also occurs in one of the latest assemblages at Taramsa 1 and at other Nubian Complex sites like Bir Tarfawi

Discussion

Before discussing some wider implications of these results, some considerations are essential regarding the nature of the presented data. While the functional analysis of the material from Sai 8-B-11 concerned large percentages of the assemblages (for the early MSA even the complete assemblages) and is thus representative for Sai 8-B-11 as a whole, this is not the case for the Egyptian material where the functional analysis is restricted to small or very small samples. For Sodmein Cave, only

Conclusion

The predominance of percussion implements and projectiles throughout the MSA is important. Percussion tools and projectiles are the first tools to be hafted and in a later stage also the first tools that are morphologically adapted to facilitate hafting. The percussion implements are obviously linked with heavy-duty work, in the form of sub-surface exploitation of resources, but in later stages also with woodworking. The projectiles indicate the existence of hunting, both in the form of thrown

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the Onderzoeksfonds of the “Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders for their financial support of this research. The Egyptian sites were excavated over the years as part of the Belgian Middle Egypt Prehistoric Project of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Research at Sai Island is a joint effort of the Mission archéologique française from the University of Lille III (former director F. Geus†) and of the Prehistoric Archaeology Unit

References (135)

L.S. Barham
Backed tools in middle Pleistocene central Africa and their evolutionary significance
J. Hum. Evol.
(2002)
C.B. Bousman
Coping with risk: later stone age technological strategies at Blydefontein rock shelter, South Africa
J. Anthropol. Archaeol.
(2005)
J.D. Clark
The Twin Rivers Kopje, Zambia: stratigraphy, fauna, and artefact assemblages from the 1954 and 1956 excavations
J. Archaeol. Sci.
(2001)
M. Dominguez- Rodrigo et al.
Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania)
J. Hum. Evol.
(2001)
C.S. Henshilwood et al.
An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language
J. Hum. Evol.
(2001)
I. Levi-Sala
Use wear and post depositional surface modification: a word of caution
J. Archaeol. Sci.
(1986)
M. Lombard
Evidence of hunting and hafting during the middle stone age at Sibidu cave, KwaZulu-natal, South Africa: a multi analytical approach
J. Hum. Evol.
(2005)
M. Lombard
Finding resolution for the Howiesons Poort through the microscope: micro-residue analysis of segments from Sibudu Cave, South Africa
J. Archaeol. Sci.
(2008)
P.P.A. Mazza et al.
A new Palaeolithic discovery: tar-hafted stone tools in a European Mid-Pleistocene bone-bearing bed
J. Archaeol. Sci.
(2006)
S. McBrearty et al.
The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior
J. Hum. Evol.
(2000)

N. Mercier et al.

Thermoluminescence dating of a middle palaeolithic occupation at Sodmein cave, red Sea Mountains (Egypt)

J. Archaeol. Sci.

(1999)

S.H. Ambrose

Small things remembered: origins of early microlithic industries in Sub-Saharan Africa

P. Anderson-Gerfaud

A testimony of prehistoric tasks: diagnostic residues on stone tool working edges

World Archaeol.

(1980)

P. Anderson-Gerfaud et al.

L’emmanchement au Moustérien

F. Audouin et al.

Les ocres et leurs témoins au Paléolithique en France: enquête et expériences sur leur validité archéologique

Cahiers du centre de recherché préhistoriques

(1982)

L.S. Barham

Possible early pigment use in South-Central Africa

Curr. Anthropol.

(1998)

L.S. Barham

Systematic pigment use in the middle Pleistocene of South-central Africa

Curr. Anthropol.

(2002)

Barham, L.S., Pinto Llona, A.C., Stringer, C.B., 2002. Bone tools from broken Hill (Kabwe) cave, Zambia, and their...

S. Beyries

Quelques exemples de stigmates d’emmanchements observés sur des outils du Paléolithique moyen

S. Beyries

Étude tracéologique des racloirs du niveau IIA

S. Beyries

Le travail du cuir chez les Tchouktches et les Athapaskans: implications ethno-archéologiques

S. Beyries et al.

Typologie, ocre, fonction. Tailler! pour quoi faire: Préhistoire et technologie lithique II. Recent Progress in Microwear Studies

(1982)

L.R. Binford

Willow Smoke and Dogs’ Tails: hunter-gatherer settlement systems and archaeological site formation

Am. Antiq.

(1980)

E. Boëda

Le concept Levallois: variabilité des méthodes

(1994)

E. Boëda

Middle Palaeolithic bitumen use at Umm el Tlel around 70,000 BP

Antiquity

(2008)

E. Boëda et al.

Bitumen as a hafting material on Middle Palaeolithic artefacts

Nature

(1996)

F. Bordes

Typologie du Paléolithique ancien et moyen

(1961)

C.B. Bousman

Hunter-gatherer adaptations, economic risk and tool design

Lithic Technol.

(1993)

J. Büller

Handling, hafting and ochre Stains

D. Cahen

Typologie Nouvelles fouilles à la pointe de la Gombe (ex-pointe de Kalina), Kinshasha, Zaire

L’Anthropologie

(1976)

D. Cahen et al.

Not less than 2, not more than 3

World Archaeol.

(1980)

D. Cahen et al.

Stone tools, toolkits, and human-behavior in prehistory

Curr. Anthropol.

(1979)

V.P. Chabai et al.

Western Crimea Middle Palaeolithic paleoenvironment and paleoeconomy

J.D. Clark

The middle stone age of East Africa and the beginnings of regional identity

J. World Prehist.

(1988)

J.D. Clark

Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site: Volume 3, the Earlier Cultures: Middle and Earlier Stone Age

(2001)

J.D. Clark

Ecological and behavioral implications of the siting of Middle Stone Age rockshelters and cave settlement in Africa

D.L. Clarke

Analytical Archaeology

(1968)

N.J. Conard

Tonchesberg and Its Position in the Paleolithic Prehistory of Northern Europe

(1992)

N.J. Conard

River terraces, volcanic craters and Middle Paleolithic Settlement

N.J. Conard et al.

Lithic reduction and Hominid behavior in the middle paleolithic of the Rhineland

J. Anthropol. Res.

(1997)

C. Couraud

Pigments utilisés en Préhistoire: provenance, préparation, mode d’utilisation

L’Anthropologie

(1988)

I. Crevecoeur

Étude anthropologique du squelette du Paléolithique supérieur de Nazlet Khater 2 (Égypte). Apport à la compréhension de la variabilité passée des hommes modernes

(2008)

M. De Bie et al.

Rekem. A Federmesser Camp on the Meuse River Bank

(2000)

D. De Loecker

(2005)

F. d’Errico et al.

Bone tool use in termite foraging by early hominids and its impact on our understanding of early hominid behaviour

S. Afr. J. Sci.

(2001)

F.P. Dickson

Australian Stone Hatchets. A Study in Design and Dynamics

(1981)

R.E. Donahue et al.

Lithic microwear analysis of Middle Stone Age Artifacts from white paintings rock shelter, Botswana

J. Field Archaeol.

(2004)

C. Ferring

The Aterian in North African prehistory

Cited by (111)

Traditional adhesive production systems in Zambia and their archaeological implications
2024, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
This study explores traditional adhesives using an ethnobiological approach within a multisocioecological context in Zambia. Through semi-structured interviews, videotaped demonstrations, and herbarium collections, we investigated the traditional adhesives people know and use, the flexibility of production processes, resource usage, and knowledge transmission in adhesive production. Our findings reveal flexibility in adhesive production systems. People use a wide range of organic and inorganic materials in their adhesive recipes. Recipes are flexible, demonstrating the ability to adapt to changes and substitute materials as needed to achieve the desired end product. Additionally, our study reveals a variety of redundant pathways for knowledge transmission typically confined within individual population groups. These include same-sex vertical transmission and distinct learning spaces and processes. Also, we identified material procurement zones showing that people are prepared to travel 70 km for ingredients. We use our findings to review the archaeology and we discuss the identification of archaeological adhesives, the functional roles of adhesive materials, adhesive storage, and the sustained human interaction with species from families such as Euphorbiaceae and Apiade. Our findings underscore the diversity and adaptability of traditional adhesive production and suggest that further research on adhesives would reveal similar diversity within the archaeological record.
New technological considerations on some Lupemban museum collections from the Congo Basin
2023, Anthropologie (France)
In the Congo Basin, a regional industry attributed to the Middle Stone Age, the Lupemban, has been empirically considered as a technological adaptation to African tropical rainforests. The “forest industry” hypothesis is based on the presence of diverse heavy-duty tools and their location on the valley bottoms of the Congo Basin. Nowadays, the Lupemban complex in Central Africa remains poorly contextualized preventing us from integrating this geographical crossroad into a pan-African Middle Stone Age framework. Other features such as blade production, backing, hafting and pigment-use are also associated with the Lupemban complex, suggesting an important role of this industry for understanding the emergence and intra-continental diffusion of modern human behaviours. However, this was lacking strong supporting evidence such as chronological, stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental context, as well as thorough technological and functional evaluation. Indeed, only few sites contributed to define the Lupemban and these latters are mainly peripheral to the Congo Basin. In addition, most of the Congo Basin Lupemban collections have been collected several decades ago. Even though poorly documented, these collections constitute a major fund for documenting the prevailing technological features of the Lupemban. Here, we present a technological analysis of lithic production using a qualitative approach to describe five Lupemban lithic collection stored at the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle and at the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine that were collected between the 1930s and 1970s in the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. We highlight some repeated technological patterns and discuss their representativity for characterizing Central African Upper Pleistocene lithic assemblage.
Dans le bassin du Congo, un faciès régional attribué au Middle Stone Age, le Lupembien, a été empiriquement considéré comme une adaptation technologique aux forêts tropicales et équatoriales d’Afrique centrale. L’hypothèse d’une « industrie forestière » ou d’un « faciès forestier » est basée sur la présence de divers outils massifs et leur localisation dans les fonds de vallée du Bassin du Congo. Aujourd’hui, ce faciès d’Afrique centrale reste mal contextualisé, nous empêchant d’intégrer un espace géographique clé, au coeur du continent dans une perspective panafricaine du Middle Stone Age. D’autres caractéristiques telles que la production laminaire, l’emmanchement et l’utilisation de pigments sont également associées au Lupembien, suggérant un rôle important de cette industrie pour comprendre l’émergence et la diffusion intracontinentale des comportements humains « modernes ». Cependant, il manque toujours d’importantes données et notamment un contexte chronostratigraphique et paléoenvironnemental, ainsi qu’une évaluation technologique et fonctionnelle approfondie de l’outillage en pierre. Dans ce contexte, le Lupembien a principalement été défini à partir de sites localisés aux marges du Bassin du Congo. De plus, la plupart des artefacts lupembiens du Bassin du Congo proviennent des collections constituées il y a plusieurs décennies. Malgré qu’elles soient peu contextualisées, ces collections constituent un fonds majeur pour documenter les caractères techniques lupembiens. Ici, nous présentons une analyse technologique de la production lithique en utilisant une approche qualitative pour décrire cinq collections lithiques lupembiennes conservées au Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle et à l’Institut de Paléontologie Humaine qui ont été collectées entre 1930 et 1970 en République centrafricaine et en République du Congo. Nous mettons en évidence certains caractères techniques redondants et discutons de leur représentativité pour caractériser les tendances technologiques lithiques du Pléistocène supérieur d’Afrique centrale.
The revolution that still isn't: The origins of behavioral complexity in Homo sapiens
2023, Journal of Human Evolution
The behavioral origins of Homo sapiens can be traced back to the first material culture produced by our species in Africa, the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Beyond this broad consensus, the origins, patterns, and causes of behavioral complexity in modern humans remain debated. Here, we consider whether recent findings continue to support popular scenarios of: (1) a modern human ‘package,’ (2) a gradual and ‘pan-African’ emergence of behavioral complexity, and (3) a direct connection to changes in the human brain. Our geographically structured review shows that decades of scientific research have continuously failed to find a discrete threshold for a complete ‘modernity package’ and that the concept is theoretically obsolete. Instead of a continent-wide, gradual accumulation of complex material culture, the record exhibits a predominantly asynchronous presence and duration of many innovations across different regions of Africa. The emerging pattern of behavioral complexity from the MSA conforms to an intricate mosaic characterized by spatially discrete, temporally variable, and historically contingent trajectories. This archaeological record bears no direct relation to a simplistic shift in the human brain but rather reflects similar cognitive capacities that are variably manifested. The interaction of multiple causal factors constitutes the most parsimonious explanation driving the variable expression of complex behaviors, with demographic processes such as population structure, size, and connectivity playing a key role. While much emphasis has been given to innovation and variability in the MSA record, long periods of stasis and a lack of cumulative developments argue further against a strictly gradualistic nature in the record. Instead, we are confronted with humanity's deep, variegated roots in Africa, and a dynamic metapopulation that took many millennia to reach the critical mass capable of producing the ratchet effect commonly used to define contemporary human culture. Finally, we note a weakening link between ‘modern’ human biology and behavior from around 300 ka ago.
The contribution of stone tool residues in reconstructing Late Pleistocene hominin stone tool behaviour at Grotta di Fumane, Italy
2022, Quaternary Science Reviews
Understanding the relationship between stone tool technology and Late Pleistocene hominins has been one of the most fundamental questions within the field of human evolution. While this question has traditionally been addressed through the technological and typological study of lithic remains, improvements in detecting and identifying stone tool residues offer new avenues for reconstructing Late Pleistocene stone tool technologies. However, the possible contribution of stone tool residues in the reconstruction of Late Pleistocene stone tool technologies remains unclear due to unsolved methodological issues. The remaining issues include uncertainties concerning the exact role of optical microscopy, the effect of the depositional context on residue preservation and the effect of (post-)excavation treatment. This paper explores the possible contribution of stone tool residues through a large-scale residue analysis of a lithic assemblage from Grotta di Fumane, including stone tools from Middle and Upper Palaeolithic layers. Including different microscopic techniques, lithics from different depositional contexts and treated through different (post-)excavation procedures allowed the verification of the effects of all these variables on the possible contribution of residues for reconstructing Late Pleistocene technologies. The results indicate that all these variables play a role in interpreting stone tool residues and should be considered crucial elements of a residue analysis protocol.
Technological and geometric morphometric analysis of ‘post-Howiesons Poort points’ from Border Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
2022, Quaternary Science Reviews
Lithic assemblages immediately following the Howiesons Poort, often loosely referred to as the ‘post-Howiesons Poort’ or MSA III, have attracted relatively little attention when compared to other well-known phases of the South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) sequence. Current evidence from sites occurring in widely-differing environments suggests that these assemblages are marked by temporal and technological variability, with few features in common other than the presence of unifacial points. Here we present a technological and geometric morphometric analysis of ‘points’ from the new excavations of Members 2 BS, 2 WA and the top of 3 BS members at Border Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, one of the key sites for studying modern human cultural evolution. Our complementary methodologies demonstrate that, at this site, hominins adopted a knapping strategy that primarily produced non-standardised unretouched points. Triangular morphologies were manufactured using a variety of reduction strategies, of which the discoidal and Levallois recurrent centripetal methods produced distinctive morphologies. We find technological and morphological variability increases throughout the post-Howiesons Poort sequence, with clear differences between and within chrono-stratigraphic groups. Finally, we assess the suitability of the ‘Sibudan’ cultural-technological typology proposed for post-Howiesons Poort assemblages at Sibhudu, another KwaZulu-Natal site, and find similarities in the morphological axes characterising the samples, despite differences in the shaping strategies adopted. Overall, our work contributes to the growing body of research that is helping to address historical research biases that have slanted our understanding of cultural evolution during the MSA of southern Africa towards the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort technocomplexes.
Stone tool backing and adhesion in hunting weaponry: First results of an experimental program
2022, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Citation Excerpt :
Currently, the oldest known backed tools occur in deposits dated to > 265 kya at the sites of Kalambo Falls and Twin Rivers in Zambia (Barham, 2002). Quartz backed tools from Sai Island in Sudan date to ca. 180 – 220 kya (Rots et al., 2011). At Mumbwa in Zambia backed quartz blades are dated to ca. 130 – 116 kya (Barham, 2000).
Stone tool backing repeatedly occurred on several continents throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene. Yet, any potential utilitarian advantages or disadvantages of backed stone tools relative to non-backed tools has been experimentally under-explored. Modern engineering experiments involving adhesion mechanics suggest an inverse relationship between surface area and the strength of a bond, especially on heterogeneous surfaces like stone. Some stone flakes, especially those with longer edges, may have been backed to make them easier to hold and safer to use. Further, Stone Age humans hafted both backed and un-backed tools for millennia in many parts of the world, suggesting effective hafting could occur with or without backing. Backing itself is a relatively simple technique providing toolmakers with an easy way to shape stone flakes. Some archaeologists have even hypothesized backed tool shaping was an end to communicate social information via stone symbols. This is the first pilot in a series of experiments testing a straightforward null and alternative hypothesis assessing the relationship between backing and adhesion and shaft damage with respect to projectile weaponry. Overall, our experimental results suggested two central conclusions with respect to backing. First, backing does not appear to improve adhesion but instead significantly worsens it. Second, laterally backed tools seem to increase the chances of shaft splitting relative to laterally hafted non-backed tools. Assuming for a moment that our results are supported by our future experimental research, our findings suggest that factors other than increased adhesion, such as intentional ‘failure,’ drift, or non-functional bias during social signaling or symbolic communication events, may have been responsible for the adoption and transmission of backed tools.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Aspects of tool production, use, and hafting in Palaeolithic assemblages from Northeast Africa

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

The sites

Methods

Sai 8-B-11: the early MSA levels

Sodmein cave

Taramsa 1

Sai 8-B-11: the upper levels

Nazlet Khater-4

Discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

J. Hum. Evol.

J. Anthropol. Archaeol.

J. Archaeol. Sci.

J. Hum. Evol.

J. Hum. Evol.

J. Archaeol. Sci.

J. Hum. Evol.

J. Archaeol. Sci.

J. Archaeol. Sci.

J. Hum. Evol.

J. Archaeol. Sci.

Small things remembered: origins of early microlithic industries in Sub-Saharan Africa

A testimony of prehistoric tasks: diagnostic residues on stone tool working edges

World Archaeol.

L’emmanchement au Moustérien

Les ocres et leurs témoins au Paléolithique en France: enquête et expériences sur leur validité archéologique

Cahiers du centre de recherché préhistoriques

Possible early pigment use in South-Central Africa

Curr. Anthropol.

Systematic pigment use in the middle Pleistocene of South-central Africa

Curr. Anthropol.

Quelques exemples de stigmates d’emmanchements observés sur des outils du Paléolithique moyen

Étude tracéologique des racloirs du niveau IIA

Le travail du cuir chez les Tchouktches et les Athapaskans: implications ethno-archéologiques

Typologie, ocre, fonction. Tailler! pour quoi faire: Préhistoire et technologie lithique II. Recent Progress in Microwear Studies

Willow Smoke and Dogs’ Tails: hunter-gatherer settlement systems and archaeological site formation

Am. Antiq.

Le concept Levallois: variabilité des méthodes

Middle Palaeolithic bitumen use at Umm el Tlel around 70,000 BP

Antiquity

Bitumen as a hafting material on Middle Palaeolithic artefacts

Nature

Typologie du Paléolithique ancien et moyen

Hunter-gatherer adaptations, economic risk and tool design

Lithic Technol.

Handling, hafting and ochre Stains

Typologie Nouvelles fouilles à la pointe de la Gombe (ex-pointe de Kalina), Kinshasha, Zaire

L’Anthropologie

Not less than 2, not more than 3

World Archaeol.

Stone tools, toolkits, and human-behavior in prehistory

Curr. Anthropol.

Western Crimea Middle Palaeolithic paleoenvironment and paleoeconomy

The middle stone age of East Africa and the beginnings of regional identity

J. World Prehist.

Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site: Volume 3, the Earlier Cultures: Middle and Earlier Stone Age

Ecological and behavioral implications of the siting of Middle Stone Age rockshelters and cave settlement in Africa

Analytical Archaeology

Tonchesberg and Its Position in the Paleolithic Prehistory of Northern Europe

River terraces, volcanic craters and Middle Paleolithic Settlement

Lithic reduction and Hominid behavior in the middle paleolithic of the Rhineland

J. Anthropol. Res.

Pigments utilisés en Préhistoire: provenance, préparation, mode d’utilisation

L’Anthropologie

Étude anthropologique du squelette du Paléolithique supérieur de Nazlet Khater 2 (Égypte). Apport à la compréhension de la variabilité passée des hommes modernes

Rekem. A Federmesser Camp on the Meuse River Bank

Bone tool use in termite foraging by early hominids and its impact on our understanding of early hominid behaviour

S. Afr. J. Sci.

Australian Stone Hatchets. A Study in Design and Dynamics

Lithic microwear analysis of Middle Stone Age Artifacts from white paintings rock shelter, Botswana

J. Field Archaeol.

The Aterian in North African prehistory