Browsing by Author "Proffitt, Tomos"
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- The archaeological visibility of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) nut-crackingPublication . Proffitt, Tomos; Pacome, Serge Soiret; Reeves, Jonathan S.; Wittig, Roman M.; Luncz, Lydia V.The earliest evidence for complex tool use in the archaeological record dates to 3.3 Ma. While wooden tools may have been used by our earliest ancestors, the evidence is absent due to poor preservation. However, insights into possible early hominin wooden tool use can be gained from observing the tool-use practices of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). By using stone hammers used to crack various nuts, chimpanzees leave a durable material signature comprised of formal tools and associated diagnostic fragments. While the archaeological evidence of chimpanzee wooden tool use is temporary, the combination of stone hammers and wooden anvils can create a more enduring lithic record. This study explores the lithic assemblages associated with wooden and stone anvil use at nut-cracking sites in Ta & iuml; National Park, C & ocirc;te d'Ivoire, using technological and use-wear analyses. Our results indicate clear differences in density, fracture patterns, and use-wear in the lithic records between wooden anvil and stone anvil sites. New archaeological excavations at six chimpanzee nut-cracking sites reveal that the anvils' material directly influences the visibility of nut-cracking evidence in the archaeological record. By examining the nature of the lithic signatures associated with wooden anvil and stone anvil use by chimpanzees, we can formulate hypotheses about the probability of such behaviors being preserved and identifiable in the Plio-Pleistocene hominin archaeological record. The variability in material signatures from nut-cracking on different anvils suggests that stone anvils leave a clear archaeological record. Evidence for wooden anvil use is likely underrepresented due to the more ephemeral nature of the associated percussive damage and material signature. It may, however, still be possible, albeit challenging, to identify wooden anvil use in the archaeological record.
- Modeling Oldowan tool transport from a primate perspectivePublication . Reeves, Jonathan S.; Proffitt, Tomos; Almeida-Warren, Katarina; Luncz, Lydia V.Living nonhuman primates have long served as a referential framework for understanding various aspects of hominin biological and cultural evolution. Comparing the cognitive, social, and ecological contexts of nonhuman primate and hominin tool use has allowed researchers to identify key adaptations relevant to the evolution of hominin behavior. Although the Oldowan is often considered to be a major evolutionary milestone, it has been argued that the Oldowan is rather an extension of behaviors already present in the ape lineage. This is based on the fact that while apes move tools through repeated, unplanned, short-distance transport bouts, they produce material patterning often associated with longdistance transport, planning, and foresight in the Oldowan. Nevertheless, remain fundamental differences in how Oldowan core and flake technology and nonhuman primate tools are used. The goal of the Oldowan hominins is to produce sharp-edged flakes, whereas nonhuman primates use stone tools primarily as percussors. Here, we present an agent-based model that investigates the explanatory power of the ape tool transport model in light of these differences. The model simulates the formation of the Oldowan record under the conditions of an accumulated short-distance transport pattern, as seen in extant chimpanzees. Our results show that while ape tool transport can account for some of the variation observed in the archaeological record, factors related to use-life duration severely limit how far an Oldowan core can be moved through repeated short-distance transport bouts. Thus, the ape tool transport has limitations in its ability to explain patterns in the Oldowan. These results provide a basis for discussing adaptive processes that would have facilitated the development of the Oldowan. (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Revising the oldest oldowan: updated optimal linear estimation models and the impact of Nyayanga (Kenya)Publication . Key, Alastair; Proffitt, TomosThe Oldowan lithic industry represents the earliest known evidence of efficiently and expeditiously produced flake stone tools (Toth, 1985; Braun et al., 2019; Reti, 2016; Stout et al., 2019). Complex technological strategies were employed to produce these artefacts compared to earlier hominin stone tools, and potential organic tool-use behaviors inferred via parsimony with non-human primates (Braun et al., 2019; Boesch et al., 2020; Delagnes and Roche, 2005; Gürbüz and Lycett, 2021; Harmand et al., 2015; Lombard et al., 2018; Plummer et al., 2023; Proffitt et al., 2023a, 2023b; Stout et al., 2010; Toth and Schick, 2009). Consequently, the emergence of the Oldowan can still (cf. Leakey, 1971) be argued to reflect a behavioral and evolutionary shift within the hominin lineage, although the nature and species-associations of any changes have become less clear in recent years (Bobe and Wood, 2021; Braun et al., 2019; Hovers, 2012; Lewis and Harmand, 2016; Plummer et al., 2023). Nyayanga, located in the Homa Peninsula of Kenya, has recently emerged as an important archaeological and paleontological site yielding evidence of Oldowan stone tools and butchered fauna dating to between 2.595 and 3.032 Ma (Plummer et al., 2023). These findings not only represent the earliest currently known occurrences of the Oldowan but also greatly expand our understanding of its early geographic distribution. Further, some lithics at Nyayanga were found alongside Paranthropus molars, challenging prevailing assumptions regarding Oldowan species-associations and providing a rare instance of Early Stone Age (ESA) hominin fossil and lithic remains in close association. The co-occurrence of cut marked fauna and flakes, including those excavated in direct contact with hippopotamid remains, further distin guishes Nyayanga as an exceptional ESA occurrence extending hominin dietary and technological behaviors “similar to other Oldowan assem blages” into the Pliocene (Plummer et al., 2023: 563).
- Searching for the earliest archaeological record: insights from chimpanzee material landscapesPublication . Reeves, Jonathan S.; Proffitt, Tomos; Pacome, Soiret Serge; Luncz, Lydia V.The origin of tool use is a central question in human evolutionary studies. Plio-Pleistocene core and flake technologies represent the earliest evidence of tool use in the human lineage. Some suggest this form of tool use is probably pre-dated by a phase of percussive tool use. However, there is currently no evidence for such a record. The archaeological signature of solely percussive behaviours is not as well understood as that associated with cores and flakes. The durable nature of primate percussive stone tools and their by-products provide an opportunity to investigate what such a record looks like. Here, we present a landscape-scale study of the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) material culture from the Djouroutou Chimpanzee Project, Ta & iuml; Forest, Cote d'Ivoire. This study explores the interplay between behavioural and environmental factors in shaping the stone record of nut cracking. Through a survey of nut-cracking sites, the available nut species, and raw materials, we show how resource availability influences the resulting material signature of nut cracking. These results also reveal the diversity of material signatures associated with a purely percussive material record. We gain insight into the range of signatures that may be associated with a pre-core and flake archaeological record, providing new expectations for an earlier record of tool use.