Although many species display behavioural traditions, human culture is unique in the complexity of its technological, symbolic and social contents. Is this extraordinary complexity a product of cognitive evolution, cultural evolution or some interaction of the two? Answering this question will require a much better understanding of patterns of increasing cultural diversity, complexity and rates of change in human evolution. Palaeolithic stone tools provide a relatively abundant and continuous record of such change, but a systematic method for describing the complexity and diversity of these early technologies has yet to be developed. Here, an initial attempt at such a system is presented. Results suggest that rates of Palaeolithic culture change may have been underestimated and that there is a direct relationship between increasing technological complexity and diversity. Cognitive evolution and the greater latitude for cultural variation afforded by increasingly complex technologies may play complementary roles in explaining this pattern.

/pdf/stone-toolmaking-and-the-evolution-of-human-culture-and-5fplfgavgc.pdf

Stone toolmaking and the evolution of human culture and cognition.

The evolution of prehistoric weaponry remains an open question in North American archaeology. The traditional model argues for an early use of the throwing spear followed by the spearthrower and bow and arrow. A major difficulty in testing this model is, identifying the functional variables that characterize different weaponry. The evolution of prehistoric weaponry is reexamined here from an evolutionary perspective where projectile points are considered part of the complete weapon system and variation within that system is identified. The engineering of four weapon systems, the thrusting spear, throwing spear, spearthrower, and bow, are examined to identify those point variables that enhance the success of the system. These variables are then measured on a 9000-year sequence of projectile points from northwestern Wyoming to examine time/space patterns. The patterns reveal that the spearthrower was in use prior to 7500 years ago.

Getting to the point: Evolutionary change in prehistoric weaponry

Researchers who analyze stone tools and their production debris have made significant progress in understanding the relationship between stone tools and human organizational strategies. Stone tools are understood to be morphologically dynamic throughout their use-lives; the ever-changing morphology of stone tools is intimately associated with the needs of tool users. It also has become apparent to researchers that interpretations of lithic analysis are more productive when the unique contexts and situations for which lithic artifacts were made, used, modified, and ultimately discarded are considered. This article reviews the recent literature on stone tool production with an emphasis on raw material procurement, manufacturing techniques, and tool maintenance processes as they relate to adaptive strategies of toolmakers and users.

The Analysis of Stone Tool Procurement, Production, and Maintenance

Stone tools are the most durable and common type of archaeological remain and one of the most important sources of information about behaviors of early hominins. This book develops methods for examining questions of cognition, demonstrating the progression of mental capabilities from early hominins to modern humans through the archaeological record. Dating as far back as 2.5-2.7 million years ago, stone tools were used in cutting up animals, woodworking, and preparing vegetable matter. Today, lithic remains give archaeologists insight into the forethought, planning, and enhanced working memory of our early ancestors. Contributors focus on multiple ways in which archaeologists can investigate the relationship between tools and the evolving human mind - including joint attention, pattern recognition, memory usage, and the emergence of language. Offering a wide range of approaches and diversity of place and time, the chapters address issues such as skill, social learning, technique, language, and cognition based on lithic technology. The book will be of interest to Paleolithic archaeologists and paleoanthropologists interested in stone tool technology and cognitive evolution.

https://www.paleoanthro.org/static/journal/content/PA20110072.pdf

Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition

http://scholarblogs.emory.edu/stoutlab/files/2013/07/Stout-et-al-2014.pdf

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