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An experimental program was designed to compare and contrast the stone tool-making skills of modern African apes (bonobos or Pan paniscus), of prehistoric toolmakinghominins from the earliest known Palaeolithic sites at Gona, Ethiopia (sites EG 10 and EG 12) dating to approximately 2.6 million years ago (possibly Australopithecusgarhi), and of mode...
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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 Ache...
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... Developing a skill takes time only after using it under different situations and constraints, someone can be considered an expert in the field. Along the same line, stoneknapping is not a natural ability but rather a complex activity learned by our ancestors at least 2.6 Ma ago (Toth et al., 2006), if not before (Harmand et al., 2015). It increased in complexity during the course of human history, developing in accordance with our ancestors' daily needs (Pelegrin, 2005;Stout, 2011). ...
... Prior to our studies, two research projects investigated the abilities of non-human great apes (henceforth apes) to make and use sharp stone tools (several bonobos, Pan paniscus, and one orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus; Toth et al. 1993Toth et al. , 2006Wright 1972). The goal of these projects was to assess if great apes could acquire sharp stone tool-making and using abilities via the observation of human demonstrations, and if they could, to evaluate the extent of these abilities. ...
... In the 1990s, Schick, Toth and colleagues similarly tested the language-trained bonobo Kanzi on his abilities to use and produce stone tools after being exposed to demonstrations by a human model (Toth et al. 1993). Additionally, the researchers investigated the development of these skills over a period of several years (Schick et al. 1999;Toth et al. 2006). In the first set of experiments, Kanzi was provided with human demonstrations (before the start of the tests) on how to produce sharpedged stones using the freehand knapping technique described above as well as on how to use these sharp-edged stones as cutting tools to sever a rope (Toth et al. 1993). ...
... Kanzi's half-sister Panbanisha was later reported to have learnt to use and produce sharp-edged stone tools via freehand percussion after observing a human demonstrator (Savage-Rumbaugh and Fields 2006). Similarly, Panbanisha's two sons were also reported to have acquired sharp-edged stone-making andusing skills via the observation of the two more experienced bonobos (Kanzi and Panbanisha), although neither the learning process nor the bonobos' knapping skills were tested nor described in detail (Toth et al. 2006) and should therefore be considered with caution. ...
Ape knapping experiments complement human knapping experiments as a source of behavioral data to build hypotheses about the learning mechanisms underlying the acquisition of knapping skills in extinct hominins. In addition, ape knapping experiments provide information regarding the stone-related behaviors that could have preceded the systematic production and use of sharp stones in our lineage. In this chapter, we review previous ape knapping experiments with a focus on those that tested apes‘ abilities to socially learn from human demonstrators. Two studies, investigating one orangutan and one bonobo, concluded that both apes could socially learn sharp stone tool making and use from human demonstrations. These results were interpreted as evidence of the reliance of early hominins on social learning to acquire knapping skills. However, alternative explanations exist. We provide novel data from two experiments investigating the abilities of the two previously untested great ape species (chimpanzees and gorillas) to learn knapping from human demonstrations. Contrary to the previous studies, the chimpanzees and gorillas in our experiments did not acquire sharp stone tool-making or use socially from human demonstrations. However, the apes we tested frequently manipulated the testing materials and two chimpanzees engaged in two events of lithic percussion involving an active hammer (although these actions did not lead to flake detachment). Our results suggest that the observation of human demonstrations is insufficient for the tested apes to acquire knapping abilities. This disparity in results between studies is unlikely to be explained by species differences in tool-use proficiency but rather by the particular rearing background of the previously tested individuals. We discuss how our previous results on both the individual and social learning abilities of unenculturated, untrained orangutans compare to our new results on gorillas and chimpanzees. In addition, we comment on the general implications of ape knapping experiments for understanding the likely origin and maintenance of knapping skills in pre-modern hominins.
... After human training and moulding of the behaviour, the orangutan eventually made and used flakes as cutting tools. Subsequently, Toth and colleagues 15,16 followed a similar experimental paradigm with two captive bonobos (Kanzi and Panbanisha). After human training and demonstrations, the bonobos also started making their own flakes, using them to cut open a baited puzzle box. ...
... Once inside the testing area, the subject had access to a baited puzzle box (which could only be opened with a cutting tool), a suitable stone core, and three hammerstones. The puzzle box was modelled on the earlier version described in [14][15][16] . The door of the reward box was pulled shut by a rope that ran through the inside, exited through a hole in the opposite end where it was accessible for approx. ...
... The cores were modified to create a platform angle variability that would allow the chimpanzees to remove sharp fragments without requiring that the hammers be manipulated with precision grips (which are anatomically difficult for chimpanzees). This procedure is standard when testing non-human primates (e.g., see 15,16,19 for further discussion on this process). The prepared cores were then packed separately and shipped to Chimfunshi. ...
Although once regarded as a unique human feature, tool-use is widespread in the animal kingdom. Some of the most proficient tool-users are our closest living relatives, chimpanzees. These repertoires however consist primarily of tool use, rather than tool manufacture (for later use). Furthermore, most populations of chimpanzees use organic materials, such as sticks and leaves, rather than stones as tools. This distinction may be partly ecological, but it is also important as chimpanzees are often used as models for the evolution of human material culture, the oldest traces of which consist of manufactured sharp stone tools (so-called “flakes”). Thus, examining the conditions (if any) under which chimpanzees may develop flake manufacture and use can provide insight into the drivers of these behaviours in our own lineage. Previous studies on non-human apes’ ability to make and use flakes focused on enculturated apes, giving them full demonstrations of the behaviour immediately, without providing social information on the task in a stepwise manner. Here we tested naïve, captive chimpanzees (N = 4; three potentially enculturated and one unenculturated subject) in a social learning experimental paradigm to investigate whether enculturated and/or unenculturated chimpanzees would develop flake making and use after social information of various degrees (including a human demonstration) was provided in a scaffolded manner. Even though social learning opportunities were provided, neither the unenculturated subject nor any of the potentially enculturated subjects made or used flakes, in stark contrast to previous studies with enculturated apes. These data suggest that flake manufacture and use is outside of our tested group of captive chimpanzees’ individual and social learning repertoires. It also suggests that high levels of enculturation alongside human demonstrations (and/or training) may be required before captive chimpanzees can develop this behaviour.
... This suggests that even though rudimentary knapping techniques might feasibly have been learned asocially by hominins (Tennie et al. 2017), the inherently hazardous nature of knapping is more likely to have encouraged the deployment of any social learning capacities possessed by hominins, which even for the earliest industries would likely have included stimulus enhancement and emulation (Lycett 2019). Indeed, some of the earliest (Oldowan) stone tool sites display a mastery of conchoidal knapping mechanics that exceeds simply smashing or breaking stones (Delagnes and Roche 2005;Eren et al. 2020;Panger et al., 2003;Roche et al. 1999;Stout and Semaw 2006;Toth et al. 2006). ...
For at least three million years, knapping stone has been practiced by hominin societies large and small, past and present. Thus, understanding knapping, knappers, and knapping cultures is fundamental to anthropological research around the world. Although there is a general sense that stone knapping is inherently dangerous and can lead to injury, little is formally, specifically, or systematically known about the frequency, location, or severity of knapping injuries. Toward this end, we conducted a 31-question survey of modern knappers to better understand knapping risks. Responses from 173 survey participants suggest that knapping injuries are a real and persistent hazard, even though a majority of modern knappers use personal protective equipment. A variety of injuries (lacerations, punctures, aches, etc.) can occur on nearly any part of the body. The severity of injury sustained by some of our participants is shocking, and nearly one-quarter of respondents reported having sought or received professional medical attention for a flintknapping-related injury. Overall, the results of this survey suggest that there would have likely been serious, even fatal, costs to knappers in past societies. Such costs may have encouraged the deployment of any social learning capacities possessed by hominins or delayed the learning or exposure of young infants or children to knapping.
... The relative frequencies of conchoidal and wedge-initiated flakes coupled with mean EPA values within an assemblage may represent the only quantifiable measures (assessed in this study) to distinguish between intentional or unintentional percussive flaking. This is broadly in line with a similar conclusion previously drawn from a comparison between flakes produced by a captive bonobo and archaeological material (Pelegrin, 2005;Toth et al., 2006). It has been shown that EPA has a substantial effect on the overall dimensions of flakes (Dibble and Rezek, 2009;Li et al., 2022;Magnani et al., 2014;Rezek et al., 2011). ...
The production of sharp-edged stone flakes is often viewed as a unique adaptation specific to the hominin lineage. The discovery of large stone cores and flakes dated to 3.3 Ma has shown that the earliest evidence of hominin stone flake production differs from the later Oldowan (dated to 2.6 Ma) record. Recent discoveries have shown that capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) can unintentionally produce sharp-edged flake assemblages as a by-product of percussive behaviour. Capuchin monkeys are the only wild primate to intentionally strike two stones together (stone-on-stone percussion) to produce quartz powder. In doing so, they unintentionally produce high frequencies of sharp-edged flakes. It has been suggested that these possess the same technological attributes commonly used to describe intentional hominin stone flakes. Here we directly compare the basic morphometric descriptions, technological and 3D morphometric properties of unintentional capuchin flakes with experimentally produced flakes derived from two intentional flaking techniques employed during the Plio-Pleistocene, freehand and passive hammer knapping and a sample of Oldowan freehand flakes from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). Our results show that unintentional stone-on-stone flakes overlap in terms of their shape, size and technological attributes with those produced through intentional knapping techniques. We, however, identify attributes that may be critical for differentiating between intentional knapping techniques documented in the early archaeological record and unintentional flakes. Using these data we show that Oldowan flakes more closely resemble intentional freehand techniques.
... Knapping skill and uniformity in the earliest stages of stone tool evolution have been of long interest to archaeologists and paleoanthropologists (Guilmet, 1977;Isaac, 1986;Oakley, 1969;Roche et al., 1999;Stout et al., 2009;Toth et al., 2006). This is, at least in part, due to preconceived notions long held in Western science and society about linear technological progress throughout human history and its link to our cognitive and cultural evolution (Monnier & McNulty, 2010;Oakley, 1969;Trigger, 1996). ...
... Lokalalei 1A and 2C; Delagnes & Roche, 2005;Kibunjia 1994;Roche et al., 1999). Toth et al. (2006) attempted to evaluate skill in the Oldowan using an extensive list of attributes for both flakes and cores with the potential to indicate knapper skill. They compared Oldowan-style artefacts experimentally produced by modern-day Homo sapiens and trained captive Pan paniscus, the bonobo Kanzi and his half-sister Panbanisha, as well as archaeological material produced by hominins at the 2.6 million year old Oldowan site of Gona, Ethiopia (Semaw et al., 1997). ...
... Cores were analyzed and evaluated for a number of attributes others have argued are key to evaluating flaking success in relatively simple Oldowan-like flaking systems (e.g. Stout et al., 2010Stout et al., , 2019Toth et al., 2006). Overall, these attributes relate to an expert's ability to consistently reduce cores to a greater degree than novices by removing a higher number of relatively more invasive flakes and retain a flakable platform by minimizing edge battering while limiting knapping mistakes (Table 2). ...
The Oldowan is the archaeological record's oldest consistent evidence of hominin technical behavior. First appearing ∼2.6 Ma in East Africa, the Oldowan is characterized by simple core and flake technology using direct hard hammer percussion. Archaeologists debate whether Oldowan assemblages are uniform and what role hominin cultural abilities played in generating these assemblages. To improve existing methods for studying Oldowan technical uniformity, we conducted experiments involving 23 novices and one expert knapper. Subjects made simple stone tools under two different instructional conditions (observation-only and direct active instruction) over two hours. We used the resulting cores to track flaking efficiency, reduction intensity, and knapping errors. We find significant differences in the expert and novice core uniformity. Direct active teaching increased core flaking efficiency and reduced knapping errors. Comparisons between our experimental results and an Oldowan sample from Gona, Ethiopia, show core variability patterns that match our expert and actively taught novices.
... Experimental studies. Essentially experimental archaeology applied to non-human primates, this approach was originally employed to investigate the stone-tool making and flaking capabilities of non-human apes (Toth et al., 2006). The best-known example is that of Kanzi, a captive bonobo taught to make flakes. ...
... Experiments with captive bonobos (Pan paniscus) have demonstrated their ability to produce flakes, which they then use to access food following training by human experimenters (Toth et al., 1993;Schick et al., 1999;Savage-Rumbaugh et al., 2007). The resulting core and flake assemblages differed significantly to both Oldowan and human-replicated assemblages (Pelegrin, 2005;Toth et al., 2006;Eren et al., 2020). In wild West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), it is known that, occasionally during nut cracking, either the hammer or anvil are fractured in a way that produces sharp-edged flakes (Hannah and McGrew, 1987;Marchant and McGrew, 2005;Carvalho et al., 2008). ...
When and how human ancestors first used tools remains unknown, despite intense research into the origins of technology. It has been hypothesized that the evolutionary roots of stone flake technology has its origin in percussive behavior. Before intentional stone flaking, hominins potentially engaged in various percussive behaviors resulting in accidental flake detachments. We refer to this scenario as the 'by-product hypothesis.' In this scenario, repeated detachments of sharp stone fragments eventually resulted in intentional flake production. Here, we tested the circumstances of accidental flake production as a by-product of percussive foraging in wild capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) from Brazil, the only nonhuman primate known to habitually produce sharp-edged flakes through a percussive behavior. We conducted field experiments where we tested the potential for accidental flake production during nut cracking. We provided three different types of stone with varied material properties as anvils to assess the circumstances in which accidental production of sharp-edged flakes occurs during nut cracking. A further freehand knapping experiment, with the raw material that exhibited accidental flake detachments, allows a direct comparison of flakes that have been intentionally produced by an experienced knapper and flakes produced during nut cracking by capuchin monkeys. Our results show that raw material quality and morphology significantly affect the rate of sharp-edged flake production as well as the resulting lithic signature of this behavior. In addition, accidental flakes produced during capuchin nut cracking on highly isotropic raw material are similar in many respects to intentionally produced flakes by a human knapper. Our field experiments highlight the fact that nut-cracking behavior can lead to the unintentional production of substantial quantities of sharp-edged flakes and therefore supports the 'by-product hypothesis' as a potential mechanism for the emergence of hominin flake technology.
... While current evidence suggests that the lithic technologies of early hominins and chimpanzees differ in form and function (Arroyo & de la Torre, 2016;Toth et al., 2006), it is likely they had similar plant-dominated diets supported by invertebrates and sporadic meat consumption (Panger et al., 2002). Thus, it is plausible that, like chimpanzees, early hominin tool use operated within behavioural landscapes influenced by localized environmental parameters, where foraging strategies were shaped by the distribution and availability of predictable food sources, the dietary dependence on extractive foraging, and the availability of the necessary raw materials, as well as by the location of places for sleeping. ...
Ecology is fundamental in the development, transmission, and perpetuity of primate technology. Previous studies on tool site selection have addressed the relevance of targeted resources and raw materials for tools, but few have considered the broader foraging landscape. In this landscape-scale study of the ecological contexts of wild chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes verus ) tool use, we investigated the conditions required for nut-cracking to occur and persist in discrete locations at the long-term field site of Bossou, Guinea. We examined this at three levels: selection, frequency of use, and inactivity. We collected data on plant foods, nut trees, and raw materials using transect and quadrat methods, and conducted forest-wide surveys to map the location of nests and watercourses. We analysed data at the quadrat level ( n = 82) using generalised linear models and descriptive statistics. We found that, further to the presence of a nut tree and availability of raw materials, abundance of food-providing trees as well as proximity to nest sites were significant predictors of nut-cracking occurrence. This suggests that the spatial distribution of nut-cracking sites is mediated by the broader behavioural landscape and is influenced by non-extractive foraging of perennial resources and non-foraging activities. Additionally, the number of functional tools was greater at sites with higher nut-cracking frequency, and was negatively correlated with site inactivity. Our research indicates that the technological landscape of Bossou chimpanzees shares affinities with the ‘favoured places’ model of hominin site formation, providing a comparative framework for reconstructing landscape-scale patterns of ancient human behaviour. A French translation of this abstract is provided in theelectronic supplementary information: EMS 2.
... Previously, knapping skill has most often been quantified by the frequency and severity of knapping mistakes and inefficiencies [65,119,[132][133][134][135][136][137][138]. Here, we demonstrate how a precise mathematical feature of ventral surface morphology alone can distinguish knappers of different skill levels. ...
The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual artifacts are recorded, analyzed, and compared within and between contextual assemblages. Here we present and make available for academic-use Artifact3-D, a new software package comprised of a suite of analysis and documentation procedures for archaeological artifacts. We introduce it here, alongside real archaeological case studies to demonstrate its utility. Artifact3-D equips its users with a range of computational functions for accurate measurements , including orthogonal distances, surface area, volume, CoM, edge angles, asymmetry, and scar attributes. Metrics and figures for each of these measurements are easily exported for the purposes of further analysis and illustration. We test these functions on a range of real archaeological case studies pertaining to tool functionality, technological organization, manufacturing traditions, knapping techniques, and knapper skill. Here we focus on lithic arti-facts, but the Artifact3-D software can be used on any artifact type to address the needs of modern archaeology. Computational methods are increasingly becoming entwined in the excavation, documentation, analysis, database creation, and publication of archaeological research. Artifact3-D offers functions to address every stage of this workflow. It equips the user with the requisite toolkit for archaeological research that is accurate, objective, repeat-able and efficient. This program will help archaeological research deal with the abundant material found during excavations and will open new horizons in research trajectories.
