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Cebeiro A, Key A. Captive bonobos (Pan paniscus) apply precision grips when using flaked stone tools. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024; 183:e24759. [PMID: 37218536 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Current evidence suggests that flaked stone tool technologies did not emerge until ~3.3-2.6 million-years-ago (Ma). It is often hypothesized that early hominin (principally Ardipithecus and early Australopithecus) manual anatomy may have prevented an earlier emergence, as the forceful precision grips essential to flake tool-use may have been ineffectively performed by these species. Marzke, Marchant, McGrew, and Reece (2015) observed potentially forceful pad-to-side precision grips being recruited by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) during feeding behaviors, indicating that Pan-like manual anatomy, and therefore potentially early hominin anatomy, may be capable of effectively securing flake stone tools during their use. MATERIALS AND METHODS Here, we report on the grips recruited by four captive, human-trained, bonobos (Pan paniscus) during the use of stone and organic tools, including flake stone tools during cutting behaviors. RESULTS It is revealed that pad-to-side precision grips are frequently recruited by these bonobos when securing stone flakes during cutting actions. In some instances, high forces could have been resisted and applied by the thumb and fingers. DISCUSSION While our analyzes are preliminary and limited to captive individuals, and Pan is not suggested to secure flakes with the same efficacy as Homo or Australopithecus, it points to early hominins potentially being able to perform the precision grips required to use flake stone tools. In turn, the ability to gain tangible benefits from the effective use of flake tools (i.e., gain energetic returns from processing food resources) may have been - at least anatomically - possible in early Australopithecus and other pre-Early Stone Age hominin species. In turn, hominin manual anatomy may not be a leading restriction on the emergence of the earliest stone tool technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adela Cebeiro
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Alastair Key
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Gossa T, Hovers E. Continuity and change in lithic techno-economy of the early Acheulian on the Ethiopian highland: A case study from locality MW2; the Melka Wakena site-complex. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0277029. [PMID: 36477016 PMCID: PMC9728887 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent research has made great strides clarifying the chronology, temporal span, and geographic and technological patterning of the Acheulian in eastern Africa. However, highland occurrences of the Acheulian remain under-represented and their relationship to cultural dynamics in the Rift are still poorly understood. Recently, a stratified sequence of four archaeological layers, recording Acheulian occupations dated between ~1.6 Ma and ~1.3 Ma, has been discovered in locality MW2 of the Melka Wakena site-complex (south-central Ethiopian highlands). This database enabled a systematic exploration of the question of tempo and mode of technological changes at a local sequence, allowing, for the first time, comparison with other highland sites as well as in the Rift. The detailed techno-economic study presented in this study shows that the early Acheulian at the locality was characterized by the co-existence of lithic reduction sequences for small debitage and for flake-based Large Cutting Tool production. In the early, ~1.6 Ma assemblage, a strategy of variable raw material exploitation and technological emphasis on small debitage were coupled with production of few crude bifacial elements. These shifted at ~1.4 Ma towards a preferential and intensive exploitation of a highly knappable glassy ignimbrite and emphasis on Large Cutting Tool production, including higher investment in their techno-morphological aspects. The MW2 sequence tracks lithic technological trends observed in the Rift, with only a short time lag. Diachronic changes in the raw material economy and land use patterns may have occurred at MW2 earlier than previously reported for the Acheulian on the highlands. The behavioral dynamics gleaned from the early Acheulian assemblages at MW2 are important for our understanding of the diachronic changes in the abilities of Acheulian hominins to exploit the diverse geographic and ecological habitats of eastern Africa and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tegenu Gossa
- Human Evolution Research Center (HERC), The University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States of America
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Department of History and Heritage Management, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia
- * E-mail:
| | - Erella Hovers
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Affiliate Researcher, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
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Braucher R, Oslisly R, Mesfin I, Ntoutoume PP. In situ-produced 10Be and 26Al indirect dating of Elarmékora Earlier Stone Age artefacts: first attempt in a savannah forest mosaic in the middle Ogooué valley, Gabon. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200482. [PMID: 35249387 PMCID: PMC8899616 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Discovered in 1988 by R. Oslisly and B. Peyrot, Elarmékora is a high terrace that, today, is situated 175 m above the Ogooué River in the historical complex of Elarmékora, attached to the Lopé National Park in Gabon, a World Heritage site since 2007. The site yielded a small lithic assemblage, including mainly cobble artefacts embedded within the 1 m thick alluvial material. Based on geomorphological and palaeoclimatological criteria, the preliminary dating suggested an age of 400 ka. However, Elarmékora could be a key site for Atlantic Central Africa if this lithic industry can be dated absolutely. In 2018 and 2019, two field trips were organized to collect surface samples as well as samples in vertical depth profiles with the aim of measuring their in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclide (10Be and 26Al) content. Results suggest a surface abandonment between 730 and 620 ka ago representing a minimum age for the cobble artefacts. Concurrently, technological reappraisal of the artefacts suggests an atypical lithic industry that should, for the moment, be considered as ‘undiagnostic’ Earlier Stone Age. This age bracketing may be compared with a similar age range obtained for prehistoric occupations in Angola using the same approach. This age will place Elarmékora among the oldest evidence for the presence of hominins in western Central Africa and raises the question of a ‘West Side Story’ to early human dispersals in Africa. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Tropical forests in the deep human past’.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Braucher
- Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS-IRD-Collège de France-INRAE, UM 34 CEREGE, BP 80, 13545 Aix- en-Provence Cedex 4, France
| | - R Oslisly
- Cellule Scientifique, Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, BP 20379 Libreville, Gabon.,Patrimoines Locaux Environnement et Globalisation UMR 208, IRD, MNHN, 57 rue Cuvier - C.P. 51, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France
| | - I Mesfin
- Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7194 HNHP - MNHN, CNRS, UPVD - Alliance Sorbonne Université. Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France
| | - P P Ntoutoume
- Cellule Scientifique, Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, BP 20379 Libreville, Gabon
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- Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS-IRD-Collège de France-INRAE, UM 34 CEREGE, BP 80, 13545 Aix- en-Provence Cedex 4, France
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Key AJM, Roberts DL, Jarić I. Statistical inference of earlier origins for the first flaked stone technologies. J Hum Evol 2021; 154:102976. [PMID: 33773284 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Revised: 02/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Identifying when hominins first produced Lomekwian, Oldowan, and Acheulean technologies is vital to multiple avenues of human origins research. Yet, like most archaeological endeavors, our understanding is currently only as accurate as the artifacts recovered and the sites identified. Here we use optimal linear estimation (OLE) modelling to identify the portion of the archaeological record not yet discovered, and statistically infer the date of origin of the earliest flaked stone technologies. These models provide the most accurate framework yet for understanding when hominins first produced these tool types. Our results estimate the Oldowan to have originated 2.617 to 2.644 Ma, 36,000 to 63,000 years earlier than current evidence. The Acheulean's origin is pushed back further through OLE, by at least 55,000 years to 1.815 to 1.823 Ma. We were unable to infer the Lomekwian's date of origin using OLE, but an upper bound of 5.1 million years can be inferred using alternative nonparametric techniques. These dates provide a new chronological foundation from which to understand the emergence of the first flaked stone technologies, alongside their behavioral and evolutionary implications. Moreover, they suggest there to be substantial portions of the artifact record yet to be discovered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alastair J M Key
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK.
| | - David L Roberts
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK
| | - Ivan Jarić
- Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic; University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Department of Ecosystem Biology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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Smith GM, Ruebens K, Gaudzinski-Windheuser S, Steele TE. Subsistence strategies throughout the African Middle Pleistocene: Faunal evidence for behavioral change and continuity across the Earlier to Middle Stone Age transition. J Hum Evol 2019; 127:1-20. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2018] [Revised: 11/20/2018] [Accepted: 11/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Key A, Merritt SR, Kivell TL. Hand grip diversity and frequency during the use of Lower Palaeolithic stone cutting-tools. J Hum Evol 2018; 125:137-158. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2017] [Revised: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Favero G, Moretti E, Bonomini F, Reiter RJ, Rodella LF, Rezzani R. Promising Antineoplastic Actions of Melatonin. Front Pharmacol 2018; 9:1086. [PMID: 30386235 PMCID: PMC6198052 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2018.01086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2018] [Accepted: 09/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Melatonin is an endogenous indoleamine with an incredible variety of properties and activities. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have investigated this indoleamine’s interaction with cancerous cells. In particular, it seems that melatonin not only has the ability to improve the efficacy of many drugs used in chemotherapy but also has a direct inhibitory action on neoplastic cells. Many publications underlined the ability of melatonin to suppress the proliferation of various cancer cells or to modulate the expression of membrane receptors on these cells, thereby reducing tumor aggressiveness to metastasize. In addition, while melatonin has antiapoptotic actions in normal cells, in many cancer cells it has proapoptotic effects; these dichotomous actions have gained the interest of researchers. The increasing focus on melatonin in the field of oncology and the growing number of studies on this topic require a deep understanding of what we already know about the antineoplastic actions of melatonin. This information would be of value for potential use of melatonin against neoplastic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaia Favero
- Anatomy and Physiopathology Division, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Enrico Moretti
- Anatomy and Physiopathology Division, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Francesca Bonomini
- Anatomy and Physiopathology Division, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.,Interdipartimental University Center of Research "Adaption and Regeneration of Tissues and Organs," University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Russel J Reiter
- Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, United States
| | - Luigi Fabrizio Rodella
- Anatomy and Physiopathology Division, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.,Interdipartimental University Center of Research "Adaption and Regeneration of Tissues and Organs," University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Rita Rezzani
- Anatomy and Physiopathology Division, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.,Interdipartimental University Center of Research "Adaption and Regeneration of Tissues and Organs," University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
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Key AJM, Dunmore CJ. Manual restrictions on Palaeolithic technological behaviours. PeerJ 2018; 6:e5399. [PMID: 30128191 PMCID: PMC6098946 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2018] [Accepted: 07/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The causes of technological innovation in the Palaeolithic archaeological record are central to understanding Plio-Pleistocene hominin behaviour and temporal trends in artefact variation. Palaeolithic archaeologists frequently investigate the Oldowan-Acheulean transition and technological developments during the subsequent million years of the Acheulean technocomplex. Here, we approach the question of why innovative stone tool production techniques occur in the Lower Palaeolithic archaeological record from an experimental biomechanical and evolutionary perspective. Nine experienced flintknappers reproduced Oldowan flake tools, ‘early Acheulean’ handaxes, and ‘late Acheulean’ handaxes while pressure data were collected from their non-dominant (core-holding) hands. For each flake removal or platform preparation event performed, the percussor used, the stage of reduction, the core securing technique utilised, and the relative success of flake removals were recorded. Results indicate that more heavily reduced, intensively shaped handaxes with greater volumetric controls do not necessarily require significantly greater manual pressure than Oldowan flake tools or earlier ‘rougher’ handaxe forms. Platform preparation events do, however, require significantly greater pressure relative to either soft or hard hammer flake detachments. No significant relationships were identified between flaking success and pressure variation. Our results suggest that the preparation of flake platforms, a technological behaviour associated with the production of late Acheulean handaxes, could plausibly have been restricted prior to the emergence of more forceful precision-manipulative capabilities than those required for earlier lithic technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alastair J M Key
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher J Dunmore
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom
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de la Torre I. The origins of the Acheulean: past and present perspectives on a major transition in human evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0245. [PMID: 27298475 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of the Acheulean from the earlier Oldowan constitutes a major transition in human evolution, the theme of this special issue. This paper discusses the evidence for the origins of the Acheulean, a cornerstone in the history of human technology, from two perspectives; firstly, a review of the history of investigations on Acheulean research is presented. This approach introduces the evolution of theories throughout the development of the discipline, and reviews the way in which cumulative knowledge led to the prevalent explanatory framework for the emergence of the Acheulean. The second part presents the current state of the art in Acheulean origins research, and reviews the hard evidence for the appearance of this technology in Africa around 1.7 Ma, and its significance for the evolutionary history of Homo erectusThis article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
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de la Torre I, Hirata S. Percussive technology in human evolution: an introduction to a comparative approach in fossil and living primates. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:rstb.2014.0346. [PMID: 26483526 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Percussive technology is part of the behavioural suite of several fossil and living primates. Stone Age ancestors used lithic artefacts in pounding activities, which could have been most important in the earliest stages of stone working. This has relevant evolutionary implications, as other primates such as chimpanzees and some monkeys use stone hammer-and-anvil combinations to crack hard-shelled foodstuffs. Parallels between primate percussive technologies and early archaeological sites need to be further explored in order to assess the emergence of technological behaviour in our evolutionary line, and firmly establish bridges between Primatology and Archaeology. What are the anatomical, cognitive and ecological constraints of percussive technology? How common are percussive activities in the Stone Age and among living primates? What is their functional significance? How similar are archaeological percussive tools and those made by non-human primates? This issue of Phil. Trans. addresses some of these questions by presenting case studies with a wide chronological, geographical and disciplinary coverage. The studies presented here cover studies of Brazilian capuchins, captive chimpanzees and chimpanzees in the wild, research on the use of percussive technology among modern humans and recent hunter-gatherers in Australia, the Near East and Europe, and archaeological examples of this behaviour from a million years ago to the Holocene. In summary, the breadth and depth of research compiled here should make this issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, a landmark step forward towards a better understanding of percussive technology, a unique behaviour shared by some modern and fossil primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Satoshi Hirata
- Kumamoto-Sanctuary of Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, 990 Ohtao, Misumi, Uki, Kumamoto 869-3201, Japan
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Whiten A. Experimental studies illuminate the cultural transmission of percussive technologies in Homo and Pan. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:rstb.2014.0359. [PMID: 26483537 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The complexity of Stone Age tool-making is assumed to have relied upon cultural transmission, but direct evidence is lacking. This paper reviews evidence bearing on this question provided through five related empirical perspectives. Controlled experimental studies offer special power in identifying and dissecting social learning into its diverse component forms, such as imitation and emulation. The first approach focuses on experimental studies that have discriminated social learning processes in nut-cracking by chimpanzees. Second come experiments that have identified and dissected the processes of cultural transmission involved in a variety of other force-based forms of chimpanzee tool use. A third perspective is provided by field studies that have revealed a range of forms of forceful, targeted tool use by chimpanzees, that set percussion in its broader cognitive context. Fourth are experimental studies of the development of flint knapping to make functional sharp flakes by bonobos, implicating and defining the social learning and innovation involved. Finally, new and substantial experiments compare what different social learning processes, from observational learning to teaching, afford good quality human flake and biface manufacture. Together these complementary approaches begin to delineate the social learning processes necessary to percussive technologies within the Pan-Homo clade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
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HUNT GAVINR, UOMINI NATALIE. A complex adaptive system may be essential for cumulative modifications in tool design. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.2502/janip.66.2.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - NATALIE UOMINI
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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