Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Behavioral Lithic Artifact Analysis: Methods For Determining Differential Behaviors In Stone Tool Production Among Oldowan Hominins

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With National Science Foundation support Mr. J.S. Reti will analyze artifact assemblages from two important human evolutionary sites: Koobi Fora, Northern Kenya and Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Both Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge are renowned for their stone tool and fossil assemblages from the earliest recognized stone tool industry, known as the Oldowan. Though research into early human behavior via stone (lithic) artifacts has a long history, traditional analytical methods have focused on the potential functional utility of these artifacts, often without substantiated or quantified evidence. Other research has classified these lithic implements into cultural groups, thus making an explicit statement regarding how stone tools are behaviorally related.This project seeks to quantify and statistically identify the behaviors utilized by Oldowan-producing hominins to produce Oldowan lithic artifacts. Identification of specific production behaviors will allow for direct comparisons between Oldowan assemblages to determine if early human populations were practicing behaviorally uniform strategies to make stone tools or if there were divergent behaviors, which might be interpreted as early cultural differences. In order to assess what behaviors are necessary to make early stone tools, Oldowan artifacts will be replicated by the researcher and each lithic flake that is removed will have an empirically determined technological behavior associated with it. The author has experimentally identified five prerequisite behaviors associated with Oldowan stone tool production and these behaviors will form the foundation for behavioral comparisons. Replicated assemblages are measured on twelve technological features and statistically analyzed to determine which features reliably separate flakes produced via different behaviors. Archaeological assemblages from Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge can then be measured against the known replicated assemblages so as to determine if similar and/or different behaviors were utilized to produce them. Significantly, this research is the first to directly compare the Oldowan assemblages of Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge. Comparison will yield important information as to specific cultural differences between early humans and will provide insight as to how these populations differentially addressed adaptive problems concerning technology. This research will have broader impacts on both archaeological and educational communities. Archaeologically, this project will construct a methodology, termed Behavioral Lithic Analysis, which will provide a foundation for data sharing and site comparison for archaeologists. Educationally, this project will train undergraduate students in lithic analytical techniques and provide a training opportunity for several Kenyan and Tanzanian graduate students. The raw material collection phase of this research will overlap with an archaeological field school in Kenya and will provide specific instruction to students regarding early hominin procurement strategies and production techniques.