Abstract
A study of raw material selection patterns at a Late Pliocene Oldowan site (A. L. 894, Hadar, Ethiopia) raised methodological questions inherent specifically to the study of the very early lithic assemblages. These in turn have a significant effect on our understanding of patterns of raw material selection and use as well as inferences about hominin cognitive abilities and ecological adaptations. Here we identify some of these methodological problems and propose potential ways of addressing them.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Interdisciplinary approaches to the Oldowan |
| Editors | Erella Hovers, David R Braun |
| Place of Publication | Dordrecht |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Pages | 71-84 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 1282037986, 1402090595, 1402090609, 9786612037986 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781402090592 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2009 |
Publication series
| Name | Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology |
|---|---|
| ISSN (Print) | 1877-9077 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Field and laboratory work at A. L. 894 and on finds from the site was supported by NSF grant BCS-0080378 (to W. H. Kimbel), NGS grant #7352-02 and grants from the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation (2002, 2005) to EH. We thank the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the Afar Regional Government for their administrative help, and the staff of the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, where our laboratory work was conducted for many months, for their assistance. Special thanks go to Mamitu Yilma, Menkir Bitew and Alemu Ademasu for their help when working in the museum. We thank Gerry Eck, Bill Kimbel, Caley Orr, Yoel Rak, Amy Rector, Karen Shcollmeyer, and especially Craig Feibel and Chris Campisano for their support and help in the field. We are also grateful to Ilan Sharon for his help in statistical matters and to Gonen Sharon, Naama Goren-Inbar and David Braun, as well as two anonymous reviewers, for their comments on various drafts of this paper. The graduate students of the prehistory lab at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University were a tough critical audience to bounce ideas off. Last but not least, the Addis crew and the Afar people of Eloha and the Hadar region have been great hosts and great friends to us, and we thank them for that.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments . Field and laboratory work at A. L. 894 and on finds from the site was supported by NSF grant BCS-0080378 (to W. H. Kimbel), NGS grant #7352-02 and grants from the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation (2002, 2005) to EH. We thank the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the Afar Regional Government for their administrative help, and the staff of the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, where our laboratory work was conducted for many months, for their assistance. Special thanks go to Mamitu Yilma, Menkir Bitew and Alemu Ademasu for their help when working in the museum. We thank Gerry Eck, Bill Kimbel, Caley Orr, Yoel Rak, Amy Rector, Karen Shcollmeyer, and especially Craig Feibel and Chris Campisano for their support and help in the field. We are also grateful to Ilan Sharon for his help in statistical matters and to Gonen Sharon, Naama Goren-Inbar and David Braun, as well as two anonymous reviewers, for their comments on various drafts of this paper. The graduate students of the prehistory lab at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University were a tough critical audience to bounce ideas off. Last but not least, the Addis crew and the Afar people of Eloha and the Hadar region have been great hosts and great friends to us, and we thank them for that.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2009, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Keywords
- Hadar
- Mobility
- Oldowan
- Plio-Pleistocene
- Raw material selectivity
