Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262552086
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology by : Michael J. O'Brien

Download or read book Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology written by Michael J. O'Brien and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars from a variety of disciplines consider cases of convergence in lithic technology, when functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages. Hominins began using stone tools at least 2.6 million years ago, perhaps even 3.4 million years ago. Given the nearly ubiquitous use of stone tools by humans and their ancestors, the study of lithic technology offers an important line of inquiry into questions of evolution and behavior. This book examines convergence in stone tool-making, cases in which functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages. Identifying examples of convergence, and distinguishing convergence from divergence, refutes hypotheses that suggest physical or cultural connection between far-flung prehistoric toolmakers. Employing phylogenetic analysis and stone-tool replication, the contributors show that similarity of tools can be caused by such common constraints as the fracture properties of stone or adaptive challenges rather than such unlikely phenomena as migration of toolmakers over an Arctic ice shelf. Contributors R. Alexander Bentley, Briggs Buchanan, Marcelo Cardillo, Mathieu Charbonneau, Judith Charlin, Chris Clarkson, Loren G. Davis, Metin I. Eren, Peter Hiscock, Thomas A. Jennings, Steven L. Kuhn, Daniel E. Lieberman, George R. McGhee, Alex Mackay, Michael J. O'Brien, Charlotte D. Pevny, Ceri Shipton, Ashley M. Smallwood, Heather Smith, Jayne Wilkins, Samuel C. Willis, Nicolas Zayns

The Archaeology of Southern Africa

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1009324764
Total Pages : 586 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis The Archaeology of Southern Africa by : Peter Mitchell

Download or read book The Archaeology of Southern Africa written by Peter Mitchell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2024-06-06 with total page 586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some of humanity's earliest ancestors lived in southern Africa and evidence from sites there has inspired key debates on human origins and the emergence of complex cognition. Building on its rich rock art heritage, archaeologists have developed theoretical work that continues to influence rock art studies worldwide, with the relationship between archaeological and anthropological data central to understanding past hunter-gatherer, pastoralist, and farmer communities alike. New work on pre-colonial states contests models that previously explained their emergence via external trade, while the transformations wrought by European colonialism are being rewritten to emphasise Indigenous agency, feeding into efforts to decolonise the discipline itself. Inhabited by humans longer than almost anywhere else and with an unusually varied, complex past, southern Africa thus has much to contribute to archaeology worldwide. In this revised and updated edition, Peter Mitchell provides a comprehensive and extensively illustrated synthesis of its archaeology over more than three million years.

Transitions Before the Transition

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 0387246614
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (872 download)

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Book Synopsis Transitions Before the Transition by : Erella Hovers

Download or read book Transitions Before the Transition written by Erella Hovers and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-01-06 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern human origins and the fate of the Neanderthals are arguably the most compelling and contentious arenas in paleoanthropology. The much-discussed split between advocates of a single, early emergence of anatomically modern humans in sub-Saharan Africa and supporters of various regional continuity positions is only part of the picture. Equally if not more important are questions surrounding the origins of modern behavior, and the relationships between anatomical and behavioral changes that occurred during the past 200,000 years. Although modern humans as a species may be defined in terms of their skeletal anatomy, it is their behavior, and the social and cognitive structures that support that behavior, which most clearly distinguish Homo sapiens from earlier forms of humans. This book assembles researchers working in Eurasia and Africa to discuss the archaeological record of the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age. This is a time period when Homo sapiens last shared the world with other species, and during which patterns of behavior characteristic of modern humans developed and coalesced. Contributions to this volume query and challenge some current notions about the tempo and mode of cultural evolution, and about the processes that underlie the emergence of modern behavior. The papers focus on several fundamental questions. Do typical elements of "modern human behavior" appear suddenly, or are there earlier archaeological precursors of them? Are the archaeological records of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age unchanging and monotonous, or are there detectable evolutionary trends within these periods? Coming to diverse conclusions, the papers in this volume open up new avenues to thinking about this crucial interval in human evolutionary history.

Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Stone Age Weaponry

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9401776024
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Stone Age Weaponry by : Radu Iovita

Download or read book Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Stone Age Weaponry written by Radu Iovita and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-05-28 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this volume is to showcase the contemporary state of research on recognizing and evaluating the performance of stone age weapons from a variety of viewpoints, including investigating their cognitive and evolutionary significance. New archaeological finds and experimental studies have helped to bring this subject back to the forefront of human origins research. In the last few years, investigations have expanded beyond examining the tools themselves to include studies of damage caused by projectile weapons on animal and hominin bones and skeletal asymmetries in ancient hominin populations. Only recently has there been a growing interest in controlled and replicative experiments. Through this book readers will be updated in the state of knowledge through a multidisciplinary scientific reconstruction of prehistoric weapon use and its implications. Contributions from expert authors are organized into three themed parts: recognizing weapon use (experimental and archaeological studies of impact traces), performance of weapon systems (factors influencing penetration depth etc.), and behavioral and evolutionary ramifications (cognitive and ecological effects of using different weapons).

Lithics After the Stone Age

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman Altamira
ISBN 13 : 9780761991243
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Lithics After the Stone Age by : Steven A. Rosen

Download or read book Lithics After the Stone Age written by Steven A. Rosen and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 1997 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not everyone bought into the Bronze Age right away, and Rosen describes and classifies the stone tools that continued to be made and used in the Middle East for the next two thousand years. He considers subtypes, function, distribution, chronology, the organization of production, styles, the relationship between lithic and metal technology, and other aspects. Over 100 drawings and maps provide archaeologists with a guide to identifying finds. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Middle Stone Age of Nigeria in its West African Context

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Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1789691397
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (896 download)

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Book Synopsis The Middle Stone Age of Nigeria in its West African Context by : Philip Allsworth-Jones

Download or read book The Middle Stone Age of Nigeria in its West African Context written by Philip Allsworth-Jones and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2019-05-02 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fully up-to-date account of the evidence relating to the Middle Stone Age in Nigeria and the other countries of West Africa, based upon the author’s own fieldwork and extensive personal knowledge of the region and its archaeology.

Use-Wear and Residue Analysis in Archaeology

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319082574
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Use-Wear and Residue Analysis in Archaeology by : João Manuel Marreiros

Download or read book Use-Wear and Residue Analysis in Archaeology written by João Manuel Marreiros and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-06 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is designed to act as a readily accessible guide to different methods and techniques of use-wear and residue analysis and therefore includes a wide range of different and complementary essential topics: experimental tests, observation and record methods and techniques and the interpretation of a diversity of tool types and worked raw materials. The onset of use-wear studies was marked by the development of theory, method and techniques in order to infer prehistoric tools functionality and, therefore, understand human technological, social and cultural behavior. The last decade of functional studies, use-wear and residue analysis have been aimed at the observation, recording and interpretation of different activities and worked materials found on archaeological tools made on different types of organic and non-organic materials. This international group of contributions will be fundamental for all researchers and students of the discipline.

Lithic Technological Organization and Paleoenvironmental Change

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319644076
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (196 download)

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Book Synopsis Lithic Technological Organization and Paleoenvironmental Change by : Erick Robinson

Download or read book Lithic Technological Organization and Paleoenvironmental Change written by Erick Robinson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this edited volume is to bring together a diverse set of analyses to document how small-scale societies responded to paleoenvironmental change based on the evidence of their lithic technologies. The contributions bring together an international forum for interpreting changes in technological organization - embracing a wide range of time periods, geographic regions and methodological approaches.​ ​As technology brings more refined information on ancient climates, the research on spatial and temporal variability of paleoenvironmental changes. In turn, this has also broadened considerations of the many ways that prehistoric hunter-gatherers may have responded to fluctuations in resource bases. From an archaeological perspective, stone tools and their associated debitage provide clues to understanding these past choices and decisions, and help to further the investigation into how variable human responses may have been. Despite significant advances in the theory and methodology of lithic technological analysis, there have been few attempts to link these developments to paleoenvironmental research on a global scale.

The Oldowan

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Author :
Publisher : Stone Age Institute Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oldowan by : Kathy Diane Schick

Download or read book The Oldowan written by Kathy Diane Schick and published by Stone Age Institute Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The earliest traces of proto-human technology emerged over 2.5 million years ago on the African continent. Called the Oldowan after the famous site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, these technologies herald a major evolutionary shift in the human lineage. The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age provides a critical look at early archaeological sites and their evidence. This volume also shows how a range of probing, multidisciplinary, experimental investigations - including experimental tool-making, comparative studies of ape technologies, biomechanical analysis, and PET studies of brain activity - help us evaluate this tantalizing prehistoric evidence and appreciate its relevance to human evolution.

Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107006988
Total Pages : 427 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East by : John J. Shea

Download or read book Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East written by John J. Shea and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book surveys the archaeological record for stone tools from the earliest times to 6,500 years ago in the Near East.

Lithic Technological Systems and Evolutionary Theory

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316194426
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (161 download)

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Book Synopsis Lithic Technological Systems and Evolutionary Theory by : Nathan Goodale

Download or read book Lithic Technological Systems and Evolutionary Theory written by Nathan Goodale and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-22 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stone tool analysis relies on a strong background in analytical and methodological techniques. However, lithic technological analysis has not been well integrated with a theoretically informed approach to understanding how humans procured, made, and used stone tools. Evolutionary theory has great potential to fill this gap. This collection of essays brings together several different evolutionary perspectives to demonstrate how lithic technological systems are a by-product of human behavior. The essays cover a range of topics, including human behavioral ecology, cultural transmission, phylogenetic analysis, risk management, macroevolution, dual inheritance theory, cladistics, central place foraging, costly signaling, selection, drift, and various applications of evolutionary ecology.

The Neanderthal Legacy

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691034935
Total Pages : 508 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (349 download)

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Book Synopsis The Neanderthal Legacy by : Paul Mellars

Download or read book The Neanderthal Legacy written by Paul Mellars and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Good books on Neanderthals have been a pleasing feature of the last few years; especially notable being The Neanderthals (Trinkhaus and Shipman 1994) and the prize-winning, In Search of the Neanderthals (Stringer and Gamble 1994).

Prehistoric Stone Tools of Eastern Africa

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108424430
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis Prehistoric Stone Tools of Eastern Africa by : John J. Shea

Download or read book Prehistoric Stone Tools of Eastern Africa written by John J. Shea and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-16 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed overview of the Eastern African stone tools that make up the world's longest archaeological record.

Africa, the Cradle of Human Diversity

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Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004500227
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (45 download)

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Book Synopsis Africa, the Cradle of Human Diversity by :

Download or read book Africa, the Cradle of Human Diversity written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores important chapters of past and recent African history from a multidisciplinary perspective. It covers an extensive time range from the evolution of early humans to the complex cultural and genetic diversity of modern-day populations in Africa. Through a comprehensive list of chapters, the book focuses on different time-periods, geographic regions and cultural and biological aspects of human diversity across the continent. Each chapter summarises current knowledge with perspectives from a varied set of international researchers from diverse areas of expertise. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars interested in evolutionary history and human diversity in Africa. Contributors are Shaun Aron, Ananyo Choudhury, Bernard Clist, Cesar Fortes-Lima, Rosa Fregel, Jackson S. Kimambo, Faye Lander , Marlize Lombard, Fidelis T. Masao, Ezekia Mtetwa, Gilbert Pwiti, Michèle Ramsay, Thembi Russell, Carina Schlebusch, Dhriti Sengupta, Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi, Mário Vicente.

The Nature of Culture

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9401774269
Total Pages : 153 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis The Nature of Culture by : Miriam N. Haidle

Download or read book The Nature of Culture written by Miriam N. Haidle and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-19 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume introduces a model of the expansion of cultural capacity as a systemic approach with biological, historical and individual dimensions. It is contrasted with existing approaches from primatology and behavioural ecology; influential factors like differences in life history and demography are discussed; and the different stages of the development of cultural capacity in human evolution are traced in the archaeological record. The volume provides a synthetic view on a) the different factors and mechanisms of cultural development, and b) expansions of cultural capacities in human evolution beyond the capacities observed in animal culture so far. It is an important topic because only a volume of contributions from different disciplines can yield the necessary breadth to discuss the complex subject. The model introduced and discussed originates in the naturalist context and tries to open the discussion to some culturalist aspects, thus the publication in a series with archaeological and biological emphasis is apt. As a new development the synthetic model of expansion of cultural capacity is introduced and discussed in a broad perspective. ​

Lithics

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521615006
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Lithics by : William Andrefsky, Jr

Download or read book Lithics written by William Andrefsky, Jr and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-12-08 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fully updated and revised edition of William Andrefsky Jr's ground-breaking manual on lithic analysis is designed for students and professional archaeologists. It explains the fundamental principles of the measurement, recording and analysis of stone tools and stone tool production debris. Introducing the reader to lithic raw materials, classification, terminology and key concepts, the volume comprehensively explores methods and techniques, presenting detailed case studies of lithic analysis from around the world. It also examines new emerging techniques and includes a new section on stone tool functional studies.

Settlement, Society and Cognition in Human Evolution

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 131621396X
Total Pages : 443 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (162 download)

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Book Synopsis Settlement, Society and Cognition in Human Evolution by : Fiona Coward

Download or read book Settlement, Society and Cognition in Human Evolution written by Fiona Coward and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-26 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a landscape narrative of early hominin evolution, linking conventional material and geographic aspects of the early archaeological record with wider and more elusive social, cognitive and symbolic landscapes. It seeks to move beyond a limiting notion of early hominin culture and behaviour as dictated solely by the environment to present the early hominin world as the outcome of a dynamic dialogue between the physical environment and its perception and habitation by active agents. This international group of contributors presents theoretically informed yet empirically based perspectives on hominin and human landscapes.