Old stones' song: use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: cristina.lemorini@uniroma1.it.
² Department of Anthropology, Queens College and NYCEP, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367, USA. Electronic address: thomas.plummer@qc.cuny.edu.
³ Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa; Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, George Washington University, 2110 G Street NW, Washington DC 20052, USA; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: drbraun76@gmail.com.
⁴ Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5003, USA. Electronic address: Alyssa.Crittenden@unlv.edu.
⁵ Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QT, UK. Electronic address: peter.ditchfield@rlaha.ox.ac.uk.
⁶ Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. Electronic address: L.C.Bishop@ljmu.ac.uk.
⁷ Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330-8303, USA. Electronic address: fritz.hertel@csun.edu.
⁸ Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK; Department of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL, 62703 USA. Electronic address: J.S.Oliver@2012.ljmu.ac.uk.
⁹ Division of Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QG, UK. Electronic address: frank.marlowe@gmail.com.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: mjschoen@ucsd.edu.
¹¹ Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA; Palaeontology Section, Earth Sciences Department, National Museums of Kenya, Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya. Electronic address: POTTSR@si.edu.

PMID: 24726228
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.002

Old stones' song: use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Cristina Lemorini et al. J Hum Evol. 2014 Jul.

. 2014 Jul:72:10-25.

doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.002. Epub 2014 Apr 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: cristina.lemorini@uniroma1.it.
² Department of Anthropology, Queens College and NYCEP, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367, USA. Electronic address: thomas.plummer@qc.cuny.edu.
³ Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa; Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, George Washington University, 2110 G Street NW, Washington DC 20052, USA; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: drbraun76@gmail.com.
⁴ Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5003, USA. Electronic address: Alyssa.Crittenden@unlv.edu.
⁵ Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QT, UK. Electronic address: peter.ditchfield@rlaha.ox.ac.uk.
⁶ Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. Electronic address: L.C.Bishop@ljmu.ac.uk.
⁷ Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330-8303, USA. Electronic address: fritz.hertel@csun.edu.
⁸ Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK; Department of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL, 62703 USA. Electronic address: J.S.Oliver@2012.ljmu.ac.uk.
⁹ Division of Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QG, UK. Electronic address: frank.marlowe@gmail.com.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: mjschoen@ucsd.edu.
¹¹ Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA; Palaeontology Section, Earth Sciences Department, National Museums of Kenya, Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya. Electronic address: POTTSR@si.edu.

PMID: 24726228
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.002

Abstract

Evidence of Oldowan tools by ∼2.6 million years ago (Ma) may signal a major adaptive shift in hominin evolution. While tool-dependent butchery of large mammals was important by at least 2.0 Ma, the use of artifacts for tasks other than faunal processing has been difficult to diagnose. Here we report on use-wear analysis of ∼2.0 Ma quartz and quartzite artifacts from Kanjera South, Kenya. A use-wear framework that links processing of specific materials and tool motions to their resultant use-wear patterns was developed. A blind test was then carried out to assess and improve the efficacy of this experimental use-wear framework, which was then applied to the analysis of 62 Oldowan artifacts from Kanjera South. Use-wear on a total of 23 artifact edges was attributed to the processing of specific materials. Use-wear on seven edges (30%) was attributed to animal tissue processing, corroborating zooarchaeological evidence for butchery at the site. Use-wear on 16 edges (70%) was attributed to the processing of plant tissues, including wood, grit-covered plant tissues that we interpret as underground storage organs (USOs), and stems of grass or sedges. These results expand our knowledge of the suite of behaviours carried out in the vicinity of Kanjera South to include the processing of materials that would be 'invisible' using standard archaeological methods. Wood cutting and scraping may represent the production and/or maintenance of wooden tools. Use-wear related to USO processing extends the archaeological evidence for hominin acquisition and consumption of this resource by over 1.5 Ma. Cutting of grasses, sedges or reeds may be related to a subsistence task (e.g., grass seed harvesting, cutting out papyrus culm for consumption) and/or a non-subsistence related task (e.g., production of 'twine,' simple carrying devices, or bedding). These results highlight the adaptive significance of lithic technology for hominins at Kanjera.

Keywords: Artifact function; Early Pleistocene; Kenya; Oldowan archaeological sites.

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Old stones' song: use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Affiliations

Old stones' song: use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

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Abstract

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