Three thousand years of wild capuchin stone tool use

The human archaeological record changes over time. Finding such change in other animals requires similar evidence, namely, a long-term sequence of material culture. Here, we apply archaeological excavation, dating and analytical techniques to a wild capuchin monkey (Sapajus libidinosus) site in Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil. We identify monkey stone tools between 2,400 and 3,000 years old and, on the basis of metric and damage patterns, demonstrate that capuchin food processing changed between ~2,400 and 300 years ago, and between ~100 years ago and the present day. We present the first example of long-term tool-use variation outside of the human lineage, and discuss possible mechanisms of extended behavioural change

Técnicas de excavación en yacimientos paleolíticos. Algunos casos de estudio

Les tècniques d’excavació utilitzades en jaciments arqueològics poques vegades s’especifiquen en les publicacions acadèmiques, sota l’entesa tàcita que els mètodes de treball de camp estan prou estandarditzats per fer-ne la descripció innecessària. No obstant això, tot i que aquest és probablement el cas de l’arqueologia d’urgència, és una suposició injustificada pel que fa a l’arqueologia acadèmica, i deixa de banda l’àmplia gamma de diferents tècniques de camp utilitzades durant les excavacions arqueològiques per cada equip d’investigació. En aquest treball presentem els mètodes de camp utilitzats pel nostre grup de recerca en l’excavació de jaciments paleolítics a Espanya i a l’Àfrica oriental, des de la selecció dels llocs per a l’excavació fins al processament digital de les dades espacials i arqueològiques resultants. El nostre objectiu és contribuir a la consolidació d’un corpus de pràctiques estandarditzades en les excavacions acadèmiques modernes el control de qualitat de les quals és essencial per garantir l’èxit de la recollida de les dades utilitzades per a la interpretació de les restes arqueològiques.Field techniques used in the excavation of archaeological sites are rarely specified in academic publications, under the tacit understanding that fieldwork methods are standardized enough to make their description unnecessary. Although that is probably the case in commercial archaeology, it is however an unwarranted assumption as far as academic archaeology is concern, and neglects the wide range of different field techniques used during archaeological excavations by each research team. In this paper, we outline field methods used by our research group in the excavation of Palaeolithic sites in Spain and East Africa, from the selection of localities for excavation to the digital processing of the resulting spatial and archaeological data. Our aim is to contribute to consolidating a corpus of standard practices in modern research archaeological excavation, whose quality control is essential to guarantee a successful collection of data used for the interpretation of archaeological remains.Las técnicas de excavación utilizadas en los yacimientos arqueológicos rara vez se especifican en las publicaciones académicas, bajo el entendimiento tácito de que los métodos de trabajo de campo están suficientemente estandarizados para hacer su descripción innecesaria. Sin embargo, aunque éste es probablemente el caso de la arqueología de urgencia, es una suposición injustificada en cuanto a la arqueología académica, y obvia la amplia gama de diferentes técnicas de campo utilizadas durante las excavaciones arqueológicas por cada equipo de investigación. En este trabajo presentamos los métodos de campo utilizados por nuestro grupo de investigación en la excavación de yacimientos paleolíticos en España y África oriental, desde la selección de los sitios para la excavación hasta el procesado digital de los datos espaciales y arqueológicos obtenidos. Nuestro objetivo es contribuir a la consolidación de un corpus de prácticas estandarizadas en las excavaciones académicas modernas, cuyo control de calidad es esencial para garantizar el éxito en la recogida de los datos utilizados para la interpretación de los restos arqueológicos

Archaeological fieldwork techniques in Stone Age sites : some case studies

Field techniques used in the excavation of archaeological sites are rarely specified in academic publications, under the tacit understanding that fieldwork methods are standardized enough to make their description unnecessary. Although that is probably the case in commercial archaeology, it is however an unwarranted assumption as far as academic archaeology is concern, and neglects the wide range of different field techniques used during archaeological excavations by each research team. In this paper, we outline field methods used by our research group in the excavation of Palaeolithic sites in Spain and East Africa, from the selection of localities for excavation to the digital processing of the resulting spatial and archaeological data. Our aim is to contribute to consolidating a corpus of standard practices in modern research archaeological excavation, whose quality control is essential to guarantee a successful collection of data used for the interpretation of archaeological remains.Les tècniques d'excavació utilitzades en jaciments arqueològics poques vegades s'especifiquen en les publicacions acadèmiques, sota l'entesa tàcita que els mètodes de treball de camp estan prou estandarditzats per fer-ne la descripció innecessària. No obstant això, tot i que aquest és probablement el cas de l'arqueologia d'urgència, és una suposició injustificada pel que fa a l'arqueologia acadèmica, i deixa de banda l'àmplia gamma de diferents tècniques de camp utilitzades durant les excavacions arqueològiques per cada equip d'investigació. En aquest treball presentem els mètodes de camp utilitzats pel nostre grup de recerca en l'excavació de jaciments paleolítics a Espanya i a l'Àfrica oriental, des de la selecció dels llocs per a l'excavació fins al processament digital de les dades espacials i arqueològiques resultants. El nostre objectiu és contribuir a la consolidació d'un corpus de pràctiques estandarditzades en les excavacions acadèmiques modernes el control de qualitat de les quals és essencial per garantir l'èxit de la recollida de les dades utilitzades per a la interpretació de les restes arqueològiques.Las técnicas de excavación utilizadas en los yacimientos arqueológicos rara vez se especifican en las publicaciones académicas, bajo el entendimiento tácito de que los métodos de trabajo de campo están suficientemente estandarizados para hacer su descripción innecesaria. Sin embargo, aunque éste es probablemente el caso de la arqueología de urgencia, es una suposición injustificada en cuanto a la arqueología académica, y obvia la amplia gama de diferentes técnicas de campo utilizadas durante las excavaciones arqueológicas por cada equipo de investigación. En este trabajo presentamos los métodos de campo utilizados por nuestro grupo de investigación en la excavación de yacimientos paleolíticos en España y África oriental, desde la selección de los sitios para la excavación hasta el procesado digital de los datos espaciales y arqueológicos obtenidos. Nuestro objetivo es contribuir a la consolidación de un corpus de prácticas estandarizadas en las excavaciones académicas modernas, cuyo control de calidad es esencial para garantizar el éxito en la recogida de los datos utilizados para la interpretación de los restos arqueológicos

Technological response of wild macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to anthropogenic change

Anthropogenic disturbances have a detrimental impact on the natural world; the vast expansion of palm oil monocultures is one of the most significant agricultural influences. Primates worldwide consequently have been affected by the loss of their natural ecosystems. Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascilularis) in Southern Thailand have, however, learned to exploit oil palm nuts using stone tools. Using camera traps, we captured the stone tool behavior of one macaque group in Ao Phang-Nga National Park. Line transects placed throughout an abandoned oil palm plantation confirmed a high abundance of nut cracking sites. Long-tailed macaques previously have been observed using stone tools to harvest shellfish along the coasts of Thailand and Myanmar. The novel nut processing behavior indicates the successful transfer of existing lithic technology to a new food source. Such behavioral plasticity has been suggested to underlie cultural behavior in animals, suggesting that long-tailed macaques have potential to exhibit cultural tendencies. The use of tools to process oil palm nuts across multiple primate species allows direct comparisons between stone tool using nonhuman primates living in anthropogenic environments

Group-specific archaeological signatures of stone tool use in wild macaques

Stone tools in the prehistoric record are the most abundant source of evidence for understanding early hominin technological and cultural variation. The field of primate archaeology is well placed to improve our scientific knowledge by using the tool behaviours of living primates as models to test hypotheses related to the adoption of tools by early stone-age hominins. Previously we have shown that diversity in stone tool behaviour between neighbouring groups of long-tailed macaques (Macaca-fascicularis) could be explained by ecological and environmental circumstances (Luncz et al., 2017b). Here however, we report archaeological evidence, which shows that the selection and reuse of tools cannot entirely be explained by ecological diversity. These results suggest that tool-use may develop differently within species of old-world monkeys, and that the evidence of material culture can differ within the same timeframe at local geographic scales and in spite of shared environmental and ecological settings

Looking at handaxes from another angle: Assessing the ergonomic and functional importance of edge form in Acheulean bifaces

Edge angle is widely considered to be a morphological attribute that influences the functional performance of lithic technologies. However, the comparative performance capabilities of handaxes that vary in terms of edge angles has never been investigated under experimental conditions. Similarly, detailed accounts of Acheulean handaxe angle variation from archaeological examples have not been reported in the literature. Consequently, it has not previously been possible to assess the extent to which Palaeolithic individuals adhered to specific edge angle ranges during handaxe production or whether resultant artifactual properties may have been in response to varying rates of utility. Here, using a substantial experimental program (n = 500 handaxes), we investigate the impact that edge angle variation has on the cutting efficiency of handaxes at a “whole tool” and “edge-point localized” level. We then examine edge angles in a temporally and geographically wide range of handaxes (n = 643) and assess the extent to which hominins were likely altering tool production choices in response to functional pressures. Our experimental results demonstrate that, up to a certain value, higher edge angles in handaxes can actually increase functional performance. Furthermore, results indicate that edges in the proximal portion of handaxes have the greatest influence over efficiency rates. Combined with examination of archaeological specimens, these results suggest that hominins actively pursued the production of more obtuse edges in the proximal (butt) portion of handaxes in order to increase ergonomic features that facilitated greater efficiency during use. Edge angle values in the proximal portion of the archaeological handaxes were, however, consistently found to be below an efficiency threshold identified at ?70 degrees, above which, an edge’s ability to effectively be applied to cutting tasks decreases markedly. This further suggests that the proximal edges of handaxes, at least occasionally, were required as a functional working edge

An interdisciplinary approach to percussive technology - International conference, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, September 18th - 19th, 2014

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