LITHIC ANALYSIS (01-070-391) Rutgers University Spring 2010

SYLLABUS LITHIC ANALYSIS (01-070-391) Rutgers University Spring 2010 Lecture days/hours: Thursday, 2:15-5:15 PM Lecture location: BioSci 206, Douglass Campus Instructors: <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Dr. J.W.K. Harris </li><li style="flex:1">J.S. Reti, MA </li></ul><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1"><a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a></li><li style="flex:1"><a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a></li></ul>Office: BioSci, Room 203B Office Hours: Friday 11:00 – 1:00 Office: BioSci, Room 204C Office Hours: Thursday 1:00 – 3:00 COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is an integrated course that incorporates theoretical, behavioral, and practical aspects of lithic technology. Lithic Analysis is an advanced undergraduate course in human and non-human primate stone technology. Each student is expected to already have taken an introductory course in human evolution, primatology, and/or archaeology. Lithic Analysis is a sub-discipline of archaeology. The focus is on the inferential potential of stone tools with regard to human behavior. Early human ancestors first realized the utility of sharp stone edges for butchery and other practices. Arguably, without the advent of stone tools human evolution would have taken a different path. Stone tools allowed early hominins efficient access to meat resources and provided as avenue for cognitive development and three-dimensional problem solving. This course will provide a three-fold approach to lithic analysis: 1) study of archaeological sites and behavioral change through time relative to lithic technological changes, 2) insight into the art of laboratory lithic analysis and methods employed to attain concrete, quantitative behavioral conclusions, and 3) extensive training in stone tool replication. Such training will provide students with both an appreciation for the skills of our ancestors and with personal skills that will allow for further research into replication and human behavior. Each week the course will be structured with an introductory lecture, which may include or be followed by a lab demonstration by the instructor(s) and a concluding practical component involving all students. Therefore, this course builds on the rudimentary knowledge of students to focus on hands-on laboratory analysis and focused research projects. Instructors and student interns are conducting original research in this subject area and all enrolled class members will participate in this research seminar (both in seminar presentations, research design and implementation). This course format allows students to participate in actual experimental studies and to learn research design. Experimental work will be designed to learn more about the structure and function of the hand, arm, and shoulder and how that anatomy impacts stone tool function and design. Stone tools of differing size, weight, and shape will be utilized in experimental archaeological projects so that the influences of these different attributes can be quantified and recorded. Required and Recommended Texts - Supplemental Readings Required Text Flint Knapping by J.S. Whittaker This text is at the Campus Bookstore and can also be ordered from Amazon Recommended Supplementary Text <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">1) </li><li style="flex:1">Making Silent Stones Speak, by Kathy Schick and Nick Toth (1993) </li></ul>There is one required text for this course. The text is very hands-on and gives a through background for the laboratory portion of the course. In addition to the required text there are several recommended books that we will be using during the semester. Copies of the books will be available for students to borrow short-term or to be read in the Holt Lab. Each of the recommended texts has important information to contribute to the course. One of the recommended texts is Making Silent Stones Speak, by Kathy Schick and Nick Toth (1993). This text explores in more depth the archaeological record for Human origins. In addition, there will be a series of published papers that comprise essential readings. In many instances, we will post these readings on the SAKAI web site for students’ convenience. Otherwise the readings will be placed in the Holt Laboratory for students to read. The readings are important as they supplement student’s readings from the required text in constructing essays as part of the mid-term exam (see below). Course and Student Objectives •To expand on student’s basic paleoanthropology knowledge by providing students with compressive knowledge of stone tool technology and stone tool analyses from a hands-on actualistic and experimental approach. •To enable students to produce and manufacture the basic tool types in the lithic sequence – Early Stone Age, Middle Stone Age, and Late Stone Age. Students should be able to describe general attributes, functional utility, and to quantify variables relating to various stone tools. Additionally students should be able to record and describe reduction sequences, thereby providing insight into technological approaches to stone tool usage. These technological classifications should supplement and provide students with insights that are different from the typological approaches students study in their introductory courses. •To introduce students to laboratory and hands-on analyses of archaeological materials, to teach through actualistic and experimental work the basic tenants of research design, methodology, and the communication of research results through the final term paper and presentation. ••To undertake an experimental and actualistic approach to the uses and functions of tool technology for the performance of different tasks, such as chopping, pounding, etc. and for students to develop the ability to relate differing technology and functional usage to differing resource exploitation those gaining insight into changing diets of non-human primates and in human past. To replicate, as well as study non-human primate (particularly chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys) use of tools (both stone and non-stone) as analogs useful for the acquisition and consumption of various nut and plant foods Course Requirements Evaluation Scheme: Midterm 20%, Final Term Paper 40%, Labs/Assignments/Notebooks/Quizzes 40% Students are expected to read all of the assigned readings. There will be a mid-term and a final term paper as well as ongoing laboratory assignments. Students must maintain a research notebook that includes class notes, lab notes, lab drawings and lab results. The mid-term exam will be comprised of multiple choice, short answer and essay-type questions. The essay titles will be given out in advance of the exam date but the exam is “closed book.” The term paper will take the form of an experimental research paper with a previous research review, development of a testable hypothesis, experimental methodology and design. A bibliography and research design outline will be reviewed and approved mid-semester. Because this is a hands-on class and we will be working with stone material and doing experimental work, students are required to purchase some additional equipment. Safety goggles and leather gloves must be worn during knapping exercises and an injury waiver must be completed before participating in labs. Safety goggles and Melvic Vernier calipers can be purchased from the instructors. A materials fee for stone may be assessed and students may need to assist in the collection of stone materials. Extra access time to Lab 315 will be provided as necessary to allow students to complete labs and special projects. Course Rules Attendance: Because this is an upper-level course, attendance and participation are required. You are expected to attend all class meetings. We cover a lot of material in class, all of which may appear on the exams and quizzes. You are allowed two excused absences during the semester; thereafter, you are required to have a Dean’s absence note for each subsequent absence (each unexcused absence will lower your grade by 10 points). If you know now that you will be missing a class because of a prior commitment, see me during the first week of classes. This will count towards your two excused absences. Make-ups for missed exams and quizzes will only be permitted with a Dean’s absence form. Policy on Religious Holidays: If you will be observing any religious holidays this semester which will prevent you from attending a regularly scheduled class or interfere with fulfilling any course requirement, I will offer you an opportunity to make up the class or course requirement if you make arrangements by informing me of the dates of your religious holidays during the first week of the semester. Academic Integrity: The Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences mandates that instructors immediately report all cases of suspected plagiarism and cheating to the Dean of Douglass College. All students must strictly adhere to the Rutgers Academic Integrity Policy For details see: <a href="/goto?url=http://ctaar.rutgers.edu/i.ntegrity/policy.html#Integrity" target="_blank">http://ctaar.rutgers.edu/i.ntegrity/policy.html#Integrity </a>Safety and Laboratory Housekeeping: Students must maintain a high level of safety while working in the lab. Students are not permitted to work alone on any flint knapping projects, must wear safety goggles and may only do experimental work when one of the course instructors or student teaching interns is present. Students must follow the instructors’ guidelines for bagging, labeling and data recordation. Students are also responsible for maintaining a clean working environment in the lab. Classroom expectations: • All cell phones must be turned off • No headphones or listening to music • Read the assigned readings before the class • Arrive on time Lithic Analysis: Course Outline Week 1 Jan. 21 Introduction - Syllabus: introduction to the course - Requirements - Safety - Texts /Reading List - Discussion of Readings for next week - Glossary Handout Week 2 Jan. 28 Conchoidal Fracture Mechanics --- Introduction Flaking and Diagrams Morphology and Diagnostics Chaine Operatoire --- Life History Models Stage Approaches Behavioral Reconstruction Evolution of Manipulation <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Hand, power and precision grip </li></ul>Modeling Non-Human Primate Behavior <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Tool Use </li></ul>Lab Activity <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Introduction to lithic manufacture techniques </li></ul>Reading: - Sellet, F. (1993). Chaine Operatoire. - Whittaker, J. (1994). Flintknapping: Basic Principles. - Trinkhaus, E. Evolution of Manipulation article - Haslam et al. (2009). Primate Archaeology. Week 3 Feb. 4 Pounding - Pounding industry (Pre-Oldowan) - Role of non-human primates as models for early hominin tone tool use and resource acquisition - Nature and Character - Lab Demonstration - Digging Sticks (Haslam Article) Case Studies: Apes and Monkeys using Stone Tools - Background and description of the Rutgers Pounding Tool Project Lab Activity - Anvil and Pounding: Nut cracking Readings: - Marchant, L and McGrew, W. (2005) – Chapter 23: Percussive Technology - Boesch and Boesch (2000). Chapter 9. - Schick and Toth (1993). Pan the Toolmaker, p. 134-140. Week 4 Feb. 11 Procurement <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Foraging Models </li><li style="flex:1">-</li></ul><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Preferences </li></ul>-- Relation to hominin evolution Examples: Olduvai Gorge Typologies --- F. Bordes and French History Binford debates Culture vs. Function vs. Technology Oldowan Industry --- Sites Behavioral Inferences Technological Reconstruction Reduction Sequences -- Toth vs. Leakey Typologies Oldowan Application Lab Activity <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Oldowan Reduction sequences: Choppers, </li></ul>bifaces, discoids, polyhedrons Reading: Toth, N. (1987). Behavioral inferences from Early Stone artifact assemblages: an experimental Model. Delagnes, A. and Roche, H. (2005). Late Pliocene hominid knapping skills: The case of Lokalalei 2C, West Turkana, Kenya. Week 5 Feb. 18 Transport <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Exponential Decay </li></ul>-- Behavioral Implications Comparative discussion of Oldowan Sites: Gona, W. Turkana, E. Turkana, Olduvai, Swartkrans Hominin Producers ---A closer look at Homo habilis Morphology Hunting vs. Scavenging Technological and Behavioral Replication Models and application Lab Activity Controlled Oldowan production --<ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Lab analysis of flakes </li></ul>Reading: Blumenschine, R., Cavallo, J. and Capaldo, S. (1994). Competition for carcasses and early hominid behavioral ecology: A case study and conceptual framework. Blumenschine, R., Masao, F., Tactikos, J. and Ebert, J. (2008). Effects of distance from stone source on landscape-scale variation in Oldowan artifact assemblages in the Paleo-Olduvai Basin, Tanzania. Semaw, S. et al. (1997). 2.5-million-year-old stone tools from Gona, Ethiopia. Potts, R. (1991). Why the Oldowan? PlioPleistocene toolmaking and the transport of resources. Week 6 Feb. 25 Manufacture <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Changes in production techniques </li></ul>o Movements toward Developed Oldowan technology -Timing: H. erectus? Developed Oldowan <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Production techniques </li></ul>o Olduvai o Koobi Fora -Status: H. habilis vs. H. erectus o Site associations and behavior Bipolar manufacture Utils ecailles --<ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Spheroids </li></ul>Measurements and Theory --- Selecting variables Making hypotheses and predictions Testing these hypotheses Lab Activity <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Butchery practice: </li></ul>o Skinning, de-fleshing and cracking o Assemblage composition <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Measurement practice of previously produced </li></ul>assemblages Reading: Rogers, M., Harris, J.W.K. and Feibel, C. (1994). Changing patterns of land use by Plio-Pleistocene hominids in the Lake Turkana Basin. Kimura, Y. (2002). Examining time trends in the Oldowan technology at Beds I and II, Olduvai Gorge. Mora, R. and de la Torre, I. (2005). Percussion tools in Olduvai Beds I and II (Tanzania): Implications for early human activities. Dominguez-Rodrigo, M. et al. (2001). Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania). Week 7 March 4 Tool Use - Traces and Usewear - Traditional and Modern lab approaches - Middle Range Research Early Acheulian and Pounding Tools - Earliest Stone Tools: pounding tools (reading discussion) - Experimental Studies: Quantifying traces o Kanzi o Lab Studies at Rutgers: pounding, usewear and traces o Gesher Benot Ya’aqov: pounding tools o Technology of Fire: Koobi Fora, Gesher Benot Ya’aqov Lab Activity -- Pounding Experiments Developed Oldowan manufacture: technological recording of flake morphology and differences from Oldowan assemblages Reading: - Gowlett, J. (1988). A case of Developed Oldowan in the Acheulean? - Mora and de la Torre (2005). Olduvai Gorge - Goren-Inbar et al. (2002). Gesher Benot Ya’aqov - Schick and Toth (2006). Oldowan Overview (p. 24-26) Week 8 March 11 Resharpening/Retouch <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">What happens after tool use? </li><li style="flex:1">-</li></ul><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Application to butchery experiments </li></ul>o Condition of tools? o Options… Rise of the Acheulian -H. erectus behavioral changes o Landscape usage including raw material selection -- Theories regarding body changes and possible effects on lithic manufacture Out of Africa: a technological process? Handaxe Production: Initial Stages and Refining -- Flake blanks and boulder spalling Physics of bifacial thinning o Midline and Convexity -- Platform preparation: abrasion Softhammer billet usage and physics Lab Activity <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Spalling and initial bifacial preparation </li></ul>Handout MIDTERM REVIEW SHEET Reading: Whittaker, J. (1994). Soft-hammer percussion and bifaces. Aiello, L. and Wheeler, P. (1995). The expensive tissue hypothesis: The brain and the digestive system in human and primate evolution. Gabunia, L. et al. (2001). Dmanisi and Dispersal. Goren-Inbar, N. et al. (2000). Pleistocene milestones on the out-of-Africa corridor at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov. Bar-Yosef, O. and Belfer-Cohen, A. (2001). From Africa to Eurasia – early dispersals. Week 9 March 18 March 25 NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Week 10 </li><li style="flex:1">MIDTERM EXAM </li></ul>- REVIEW SESSION: TBD either March 23 or 24 Week 11 April 1 Discard --- Site formation processes Stone and bone preservation/context Effects: edge-wear, size sorting Middle Stone Age and Middle Paleolithic <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Hominin producers: geographical expansion and </li></ul>exposure <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">MSA vs. MP: why? </li></ul>Production Techniques --- Levallois and prepared core technologies: growth out of handaxes The “muffin top” technique: production methods of tortoise shell Levallois The “Y” scar pattern: production methods Mousterian Technology <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Loaded terms and cultural sequences </li></ul>o Back to the Bordian paradigm… “Neandertal” technology: brutish and primitive or efficient and refined? -Lab Activity <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Levallois core manufacture: Tortoise shell and </li></ul>Y scar techniques Reading: Goren-Inbar, N. and Saragusti, I. (1996). An Acheulian Biface Assemblage from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: Indications of African Affinities Kuman, K. (2001). An Acheulean factory site with prepared core technology near Taung, South Africa. Dibble, H. (1987). The interpretation of Middle Paleolithic scraper morphology. Dibble, H. (1991). Mousterian assemblage variability on an interregional scale. Lycett, S. (2009). Are Victoria West cores ‘‘protoLevallois’’? A phylogenetic assessment. Week 12 April 8 Recycling -- Parsimonious procurement Evidence of recycling Fishing Technology - Barbed harpoons, nets and weights Late Stone Age and Upper Paleolithic -- Rise of Homo sapiens and the advent of “advanced” technology o Controversies: teaching the Neanderthals or learning from them? Who reigns in efficiency? Geographical discussion of technology o Similarities, differences and the name game Production Techniques -- Blade cores and raw material Hammerstones, soft hammers and punches o Accuracy of blows and erasure of mistakes o Wooden billets? <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Long distance, light weight spears </li></ul>Lab Activity <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Blade cores and obsidian </li><li style="flex:1">-</li></ul><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Fashioning spearpoints </li></ul>Reading: Kusimba, S.B. (1999). Hunter-gatherer land use patterns in Later Stone Age East Africa. Eren, M. et al. (2008). Are Upper Paleolithic blade cores more productive than Middle Paleolithic disoidal cores? A replication experiment. Bar-Yosef, O. (2002). The Upper Paleolithic revolution. McBrearty, S. and Brooks, A. (2001). The revolution that wasn’t (excerpt). Week 13 April 15 Excavation <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Techniques and Recording of artifact </li></ul>provenience <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Typologies, correlation and relative </li></ul>chronologies: historic aspects of archaeology Pottery - Implications for lifestyle change - Proxy for movements/migrations of populations Neolithic Technology <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">Modern human behaviors </li><li style="flex:1">-</li></ul><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Implementation of more complex lithic </li></ul>technological complexes o Rise of microliths and compound tools o Agricultural applications <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">-</li><li style="flex:1">Metallurgy and effects on lithic manufacture </li></ul>

LITHIC ANALYSIS (01-070-391) Rutgers University Spring 2010

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