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The adaptive shift that favored stone tool–assisted behavior in hominins began by 3.3 million years ago. However, evidence from early archaeological sites indicates relatively short-distance stone transport dynamics similar to behaviors observed in nonhuman primates. Here we report selective raw material transport over longer distances than expected at least 2.6 million years ago. Hominins at Nyayanga, Kenya, manufactured Oldowan tools primarily from diverse nonlocal stones, pushing back the date for expanded raw material transport by over half a million years. Nonlocal cobbles were transported up to 13 kilometers for on-site reduction, resulting in assemblage patterns inconsistent with accumulations formed by repeated short-distance transport events. These findings demonstrate that early toolmakers moved stones over substantial distances, possibly in anticipation of food processing needs, representing the earliest archaeologically visible signal for the incorporation of lithic technology into landscape-scale foraging repertoires.
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Oliver and Orchard Thumbnail Scrapers: A Technological and Source-Area Analysis
The Oliver and Orchard sites are very different in terms of time and space but have both produced thumbnail scarpers which are quite similar in terms of raw material and technology of production. Oliver is located near the Mississippi River in the Yazoo Basin of northwestern Mississippi and produced European trade goods dating to the early 17th century. Orchard is a Chickasaw site located in the Black Prairie of northeastern Mississippi and dates to the decade beginning in 1730. This paper explores the technological and metric similarity to suggest that tool function dictated production technology and form to a large extent. A reflectance spectroscopy analysis of the raw material used in make the tools from both sites demonstrates that similar chert was used in make these tools and the majority of that chert came from the Burlington formation which outcrops in Missouri and Illinois. Oneoto phase sites in that region produce nearly identical thumbnail scrapers made from that same chert and the possibility that Oliver represents and intrusion of Oneoto peoples into the Yazoo Basin is considered. The Chickasaw use of Burlington chert raises equally interesting possibilities including direct procurement in a region which had been cleared out during the slave raids that preceded the occupation at the Orchard site.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1720376
- PAR ID:
- 10286579
- Editor(s):
- Boudreaux, Edmond A.; Meyers, Maureen; Johnson, Jay K.
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Edited Volumes Series
- ISSN:
- 1800-0150
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 57-72
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvx070cr.9
