Hammer time: experimental investigations on the role of organic knapping percussors in Lower Palaeolithic technology and culture

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This proposal is for a multidisciplinary study of flint-knapping percussor technology, focusing on the technical, cognitive, and cultural implications of organic (soft) hammers within Lower Palaeolithic toolkits. The adoption of soft hammers is recognised as an important step in the development of stone tool technologies, which are hypothesised to facilitate more controlled reduction and more refined products. However, the emergence of this technology is poorly understood due to the scarce preservation of organic artefacts; inferences of soft hammer technology are often superficial, based on the perceived refinement of lithic assemblages, particularly of bifaces. This approach is problematic, leaving much to the personal experience of researchers, rather than standard indices and criteria. This project will explore bespoke digital software on experimental and archaeological lithic assemblages, in order to infer production methods and percussor types. Specifically testing 3D Geometric Morphometrics (statistics including Principal Component Analysis) and trained Deep Learning algorithms. The study will provide new insights into the chaine opératoires underpinning stone tool technologies, facilitating discussions on skill acquisition during the Lower Palaeolithic and their evolutionary implications. As a highly innovative project, testing new applications of bespoke digital software, this research will have important contributions to methodology within lithic studies broadly.