Possible evidence of bone tool shaping by Swartkrans early hominids

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volumn 30, Issue 12, 2003, Pages 1559-1576

  d'Errico, Francesco ^a   Backwell, Lucinda R ^b  

^a UNIVERSITÉ BORDEAUX 1   (France)

^b UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Bone tools; Early hominid; Plio Pleistocene; Southern Africa; Swartkrans; Taphonomy

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; TOOL USE;

EID: 0344287174     PISSN: 03054403     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0305-4403(03)00052-9     Document Type: Article

References (123)

1. E. Aguirre, Format et technique dans la fracturation d'ossements à Torralba (Soria-Espagne), in: M. Patou (Ed.), Artefacts 3. Outillage peu élaloré en os et en bois de Cervidés, CEDA, Treignes, 1986, pp. 81-89.
2. S.H. Ambrose, Palaeolithic technology and human evolution, Science 291 (2001) 1748-1753.
3. P. Andrews, J. Cook, Natural modification to bone in a temperate setting. Man 20 (1985) 675-691.
4. A.P. Anzidei, A. Arnoldus-Huyzenveld, L. Caloi, C. Lemorini, M.R. Polledrara di Cecanibbio and Rebibbia-Casal de' Pazzi, in: S. Gaudzinski, E. Turner (Eds), The Role of Early Humans in the Accumulation of European Lower and Middle Paleolithic Bone Assemblages. Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 42, Mainz, 1999, pp. 173-195.
5. D. Armand, A. Delagnes, Les retouchoirs en os d'Artenac (couche 6c): perspectives archéozoologiques, taphonomiques et experimentales, in: J.P. Brugel, L. Meignen, M. Patou-Mathis (Eds.). Economic Préhistorique: les Comportements de Subsistance au Paléolithique. APDCA, Sophia Antipolis, 1998, pp. 205-214.
6. G. Avery, K. Cruz-Uribe, P. Goldberg, F.E. Grine, R.G. Klein, M.J. Lenardi, C.W. Marean, W.J. Rink, H.P. Schwarcz, A.I. Thackeray, M.L. Wilson, The 1992-93 excavations at Die Kelders Middle and Later Stone Age cave site, South Africa, Journal of Field Archaeology 24 (1997) 263-291.
7. L.R. Backwell, A Critical Assessment of southern African "Early Hominid Bone Tools", MSc. thesis dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2000.
8. L.R. Backwell, F. d'Errico, Evidence of termite foraging by Swartkrans early hominids, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 98 (4) (2001) 1358-1363.
9. L.R. Backwell, F. d'Errico, Additional evidence on the early hominid bone tools from Swartkrans with reference to spatial distribution of lithic and organic artifacts. South African Journal of Science (in press).
10. A.H. Bastin, Nouvelle contribution à l'étude de l'utilisation de l'os au Paléolithique inférieur. I. l'épieu acheuléen de Saint-Mard (Aisne). II. L'humérus débité de Saratov (U.R.S.S.), Bullétin de la Société Préhistorique Française 29 (1932) 458-465.
11. P. Beaumont, H. De Villiers, J. Vogel, Modern man in sub-Saharan Africa prior to 49,000 BP: a review and evaluation with particular reference to Border Cave. South African Journal of Science 74 (1978) 409-419.
12. A.K. Behrensmeyer, K.D. Gordon, G.T. Yanagi, Trampling as a cause of bone surface damage and pseudo-cutmarks. Nature 319 (1986) 768-771.
13. A.K. Behrensmeyer, K.D. Gordon, G.T. Yanagi, Nonhuman bone modification in Miocene fossils from Pakistan, in: R. Bonnichsen, M.H. Sorg (Eds.). Bone Modification. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Orono, 1989, pp. 99-120.
14. L. Biddittu, A.G. Segre, Utilizzazione dell'osso nel Paleolitico inferiore Italiano, in: Atti della XXIII Riunione Scientifica dell'Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, 1982, pp. 89-105.
15. I. Biddittu, L. Bruni, II rinvenimento di una amigdala in osso del Paleolitico inferiore a Fontana Ranuccio (Anagni). Latium 4 (1987) 3-10.
16. L.R. Binford, Bones, Ancient Men and Modern Myths, Academic Press, New York, 1981.
17. E. Bonifay, Outils en os et os utilisés dans le Paléolithique ancien du Mas des Caves à Lune-Viel (Héraut) (Note préliminaire), in: H. Camps-Fabrer (Ed.), L'industrie de l'os dans la Préhistoire, Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, 1974, pp. 157-167.
18. R. Bonnichsen, M.H. Sorg. Bone Modification, University of Maine, Orono, 1989.
19. C.K. Brain, Bone weathering and the problem of bone pseudo-tools, South African Journal of Science 63 (1967) 97-99.
20. C.K. Brain, The Hunters or The Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1981.
21. C.K. Brain, The evidence of bone modification by early hominids in southern Africa, in: R. Bonnichsen, M.H. Sorg (Eds.), Bone Modification, University of Maine, Orono, 1989, pp. 291-297.
22. C.K. Brain, A. Sillen, Evidence from the Swartkrans cave for the earliest use of fire, Nature 336 (1988) 464-466.
23. C.K. Brain, C.S. Churcher, J.D. Clark, F.E. Grine, P. Shipman, R.L. Susman, A. Turner, V. Watson, New evidence of early hominids, South Africa, South African Journal of Science 84 (1988) 828-835.
24. C.K. Brain, P. Shipman, The Swartkrans bone tools, in: C.K. Brain (Ed.), Swartkrans. A Cave's Chronicle of Early Man, C. T. P. Book Printers. Cape, 1993, pp. 195-215.
25. H. Breuil, Pointe d'épieu en os du Moustérien de la caverne du Castillo (Santander), L'anthropologie 42 (1932) 679-680.
26. H. Breuil, The use of bone implements in the Old Paleolithic period. Antiquity 12 (1938a) 56-67.
27. H. Breuil, Bone and antler industry of the Chou-Koutien Sinanthropus site. Paleontologia Sinica n.s. 6, Pékin, 1938b.
28. H. Breuil, L. Barral, Bois de cervidés et autres os travailles sommairement au Paléolithique ancien du vieux monde et au Moustérien des grottes de Grimaldi et de l'Observatoire de Monaco. Bulletin du Musée d'Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco 2 (1955) 3-34.
29. A.S. Brooks, D.M. Helgren, J.S. Cramer, A. Franklin, W. Hornyak, J.M. Keating, R.G. Klein, W.J. Rink, H. Schwarcz, J.N.L. Smith, N. Todd, J. Verniers, J.E. Yellen, Dating and context of three Middle Stone Age sites with bone points in the Upper Semliki Valley, Zaire, Science 268 (1995) 548-553.
30. H.T. Bunn, Archaeological evidence for meat-eating by Plio-Pleistocene hominids from Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge, Nature 291 (1981) 574-577.
31. D. Cahen, P. Haesaert, W. van Neer, P. van Pamel, Un outil en os du Paléolithique inférieur dans la nappe alluviale de Mesvin, Helinium 19 (1979) 105-127.
32. P.G. Chase, Tool-making tools and Middle Paleolithic behaviour, Current Anthropology 31 (4) (1990) 443-447.
33. J.D. Clark, Bone tools of the earlier Pleistocene, Eretz Israel 13 (1977) 23-37.
34. R.J. Clarke, F.C. Howell, C.K. Brain, More evidence of an advanced hominid at Swartkrans. Nature 225 (1970) 1219-1222.
35. R. Dart, The Osteodontokeratic Culture of Australopithecus Prometheus. Publication of the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria. 1957.
36. J. Deacon, M. Brett, Peeling away the past: The display of excavations at Nelson Bay Cave, South African Archaeological Bulletin 48 (1993) 98-104.
37. H.J. Deacon, J. Deacon, Human Beginnings in South Africa: Uncovering the Secrets of the Stone Age. David Philip, Cape Town. 1999.
38. A. Debenath, L. Duport, Os travaillés et os utilisés de quelques gisements préhistoriques charentais, in: Mémoires de la Société Archéologique et Historique de la Charente, 1971, pp. 183-201.
39. F. d'Errico, The use of resin casts for the study of usewear, in: S.L. Olsen (Ed.) Scanning Electron Microscopy in Archaeology. British Archaeological Report, 1988, pp. 155-167.
40. F. d'Errico, Criteria for identifying utilised bone: the case of the Cantabrian "Tensors", Current Anthropology 34 (3) (1993) 298-311.
41. F. d'Errico, G. Giacobini, P.F. Puech, Varnish replica: a new method for the study of worked bone surfaces, Ossa 9-10 (1984) 29-51.
42. F. d'Errico, P. Villa, Holes and grooves. The contribution of microscopy and taphonomy to the problem of art origins, Journal of Human Evolution 33 (1997) 1-31.
43. F. d'Errico, J. Zilhao, D. Baffier, M. Julien, J. Pelegrin, Neanderthal acculturation in Western Europe? A critical review of the evidence and its interpretation, Current Anthropology 39 (1998) 1-44.
44. F. d'Errico, L.R. Backwell, L.R. Berger, Bone tool use in termite foraging by early hominids and its impact on our understanding of early hominid behaviour, South African Journal of Science 97 (2001) 71-75.
45. F. d'Errico, V. Laroulandie, Bone technology at the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition: the case of the worked bones from Buran-Kaya III level C (Crimea, Ukraine), in: J. Orschiedt, G.C. Weniger (Eds.), Neanderthals and Modern Humans-Discussing the Transition: Central and Eastern Europe from 50,000-30,000 BP, Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, 2000, pp. 227-242.
46. V.T. Dobosi, Description of the archaeological material, in: M. Kretzoi, V.T. Dobosi (Eds), Vértesszölös, Site, Man and Culture, Budapest, 1990, pp. 311-395.
47. J. Erfurt, K.U. Heussner, T. Litt, T. Weber, Schlachtplatz eines waldelefanten in eeminterglazialen ablagerungen von gröbern, kreis gräfenhainichen, Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschritt 31 (1990) 24-42.
48. A.R. Fiorillo, An experimental study of trampling: Implications for the fossil record, in: R. Bonnichsen, M.H. Sorg (Eds.), Bone Modification, Center for the Study of the First Americans, Orono, 1989, pp. 61-71.
49. L.G. Freeman, Mousterian worked bones from Cueva Morin (Santander, Spain). A preliminary description, in: L.G. Freeman (Ed.), Views of the Past, Mouton. The Hague, 1978, pp. 29-51.
50. L.G. Freeman, More on the Mousterian flaked bone from Cueva Morin, Current Anthropology 24 (3) (1983) 366-377.
51. S. Gaudzinski, Middle Palaeolithic bone tools from the open-air site Salzgitter-Lebensted (Germany), Journal of Archeological Science 26 (1999a) 125-141.
52. S. Gaudzinski, The faunal record of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of Europe: remarks on human interference, in: W. Roebroeks, C. Gamble (Eds.), The Middle Palaeolithic Occupation of Europe, University of Leiden, Leiden, 1999b, pp. 215-233.
53. A. Gautier, Une histoire de dents: les soi-disant incisives travaillées du Paléolithique moyen de Sclayn, Hélinium 26 (1986) 177-181.
54. D. Gifford-Gonzalez, Ethnographic analogues for interpreting modified bones: some cases from East Africa, in: R. Bonnichsen, M.H. Sorg (Eds). Bone Modification, University of Maine Center for the Study of the First Americans, Orono. Thompson-Shore Inc. United States of America. 1989, 179-246.
55. D. Gifford-Gonzalez, Bones are not enough: analogues, knowledge, and interpretive strategies in zooarchaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 10 (1991) 215-254.
56. J-M. Granger, F. Lévèque. Parure Castelperronienne et Aurignacienne: Etude de trois séries inédites de dents percées et comparaisons, Comptes Rendus de l'Académie de Sciences de Paris 325 (1997) 537-543.
57. J.W.K. Harris, Cultural beginnings: Plio-Pleistocene archaeological occurrences from the Afar, Ethiopia. The African Archaeological Review 1 (1983) 3-31.
58. G. Haynes, Longitudinal studies of African elephant death and bone deposits, Journal of Archaeological Science 15 (1988) 131-157.
59. G. Haynes, Mammoth, Mastodons, and Elephant: Biology, Behaviour and the Fossil Record, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
60. G. Henri-Martin, Similitude de certains os naturels et de quelques pièces osseuses préhistoriques, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 4 (1907) 432-436.
61. C. Henshilwood, J. Sealey, Bone artefacts from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa, Current Anthropology 38 (1997) 890-895.
62. C. Henshilwood, F. d'Errico, C. Marean, R. Milo, R. Yates, An early bone tool Industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language, Journal of Human Evolution 41 (2002) 631-678.
63. C. Howell, L.G. Freeman, Ivory points from the earlier Acheulean of the Spanish Meseta, Homenaje al Prof. Martin Almagro Basch, Ministerio de Cultura, Madrid, 1983, pp. 41-61.
64. F.C. Howell, P. Haesaerts, J. de Huizelin, Depositional environments, archeological occurences and hominids from Members E and F of the Shunguru Formation (Omo Basin, Ethiopia), Journal of Human Evolution 16 (1987) 665-700.
65. A.R. Hughes, Hyaena versus autralopithecines as agents of bone accumulation, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 12 (1954) 467-486.
66. A. Justus, Der Altpaläolitische fundplatz Dmanisi in Georgien (Kaukasus), (Knochen-und geweihbearbeitung), Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 36 (1989) 107-108.
67. A.W. Keyser, New finds in South Africa, National Geographic May (2000) 77-83.
68. A. Keyser, C.G. Menter, J. Moggi-Cecchi, T.R. Pickering, L.R. Berger, Drimolen: a new hominid-bearing site in Gauteng, South African Journal of Science 96 (2000) 193-197.
69. J.W. Kitching, Bone, Tooth and Horn Tools of Palaeolithic Man: An Account of the Osteodontokeratic Discoveries in Pin Hole Cave, Manchester University Press, Manchester, Derbyshire, 1963.
70. R.G. Klein, Paleoanthropological implications of the non-archaeological bone assemblage from Swartklip I, south-western Cape Province, South Africa, Quaternary Research 5 (1975) 275-288.
71. R.G. Klein, The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989.
72. R.G. Klein, Southern Africa before the Iron Age, in: R.S. Corrucini, R.L. Ciochon (Eds.), Integrative Paths to the Past: Palaeoanthropological Advances in Honour of F. Clark Howell, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1994, pp. 471-519.
73. R.G. Klein, The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins, second ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1999.
74. R.G. Klein, Archeology and the evolution of human behavior, Evolutionary Anthropology 9 (1) (2000) 17-36.
75. K. Kuman, R.J. Clarke, Stratigraphy, artefact industries and hominid associations for Sterkfontein. Member 5, Journal of Human Evolution 38 (2000) 827-847.
76. R.L. Lyman, Broken bones, bone expediency tools, and bone pseudotools: lessons from the blast zone around Mount St. Helens, Washington. American Antiquity 49 (2) (1984) 315-333.
77. G. Malerba, G. Giacobini, Les retouchoirs sur éclats diaphysaires du Paléolithique moyen et supérieur de trois sites de l'Italie nord orientale (Grotte de San Bernardino, Abri de Fumane et Abri Tagliente), in: Atti del XIII Congresso U.I.S.P.P. Forli 1996, vol. 6, tome I, 1998, pp. 167-171.
78. D. Mania, T. Weber, Bilzingsleben III, Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1986.
79. S. McBrearty, A.S. Brooks, The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior, Journal of Human Evolution 39 (2000) 453-563.
80. P. Mellars, Cognitive changes and the emergence of modern humans in Europe, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1 (1991) 63-76.
81. P. Mellars, The Neanderthal Legacy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1996.
82. P. Mellars, Neanderthals, modern humans and the archaeological evidence for language, in: N.G. Jablonski, L.C. Aiello (Eds), The Origin and Diversification of Language. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, 24, San Francisco, 1998, pp. 89-115.
83. C.G. Menter, K.L. Kuykendall, A.W. Keyser, G.C. Conroy, First record of hominid teeth from the Plio-Pleistocene site Gondolin, South Africa, Journal of Human Evolution 37 (1999) 299-307.
84. W. Noble, I. Davidson, Human Evolution, Language and Mind, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996.
85. K. Oakley, P. Andrews, L. Keeley, J.D. Clark, A reappraisal of the Clacton spearpoint, Proceedings of the Prehistorical Society 43 (1977) 13-30.
86. S.L. Olsen, On distinguishing natural from cultural damage on archaeological antler, Journal of Archaeological Science 16 (1989) 125-135.
87. S.L. Olsen, P. Shipman, Surface modification of bone, Trampling versus butchery, Journal of Archaeological Science 15 (1988) 535-553.
88. M. Patou-Mathis, Retouchoirs, compresseurs, percuteurs, Sociéé Préhistorique Française, Paris, 2002.
89. W.C. Pei, Le rôle des animaux et des causes naturelles dans la cassure des os, Palaeontologia Sinica 7 (1938) 1-16.
90. M. Pitts, M. Roberts, Fairweather Eden: life in Britain half a million years ago as revealed by excavations at Boxgrove, Century, London, 1997.
91. I. Plug, D. Meyer zu Bargholz, The faunal remains from Kleinfontein or Olifantspruit 62 JP (Kaditshwene), a Late Iron Age site in the Marico District, Transvaal (in prep.).
92. A.M. Radmilli, G. Boschian, Gli scavi a Castel di Guido, Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Firenze, 1996.
93. J.T. Robinson, A bone implement from Sterkfontein, Nature 184 (1959) 583-585.
94. H. Roche, A. Delagnes, J.P. Brugal, C. Feibel, M. Kibunjia, Mourre, P.J. Texier, Early hominid stone tool production and technical skill 2.34 Myr ago in west Turkana, Kenya. Nature 399 (1999) 57-60.
95. P Shipman, J.E. Phillips, On scavenging by hominids and other carnivores. Current Anthropology 17 (1) (1976) 170-172.
96. P. Shipman, Actualistic studies of animal resources and hominid activities, in: S.L. Olsen (Ed.), Scanning Electron Microscopy in Archaeology, BAR International Series 452. Oxford, 1988, pp. 261-285.
97. P. Shipman, J. Rose, Cutmark mimics on modern and fossil bones, Current Anthropology 25 (1) (1984) 116-117.
98. P. Shipman, J. Rose, Bone tools: An experimental approach, in: S.L. Olsen (Ed.), Scanning Electron Microscopy in Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 452, 1988, pp. 303-335.
99. R. Singer, J. Wymer, The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 1982.
100. A.B. Smith, K. Sadr, J. Gribble, R. Yates, Excavations in the southwestern Cape, South Africa, and the archaeological identity of prehistoric hunter-gatherers within the last 2000 years, South African Archaeological Bulletin 46 (1991) 71-90.
101. V.N. Stepanchuk, Prolom II, a Middle Paleolithic site in the Eastern Crimea with non-utilitarian bone artefacts, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59 (1993) 17-37.
102. C. Stringer, C. Gamble, In Search of the Neanderthals, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1993.
103. A.J. Sutcliffe, Similarity of bones and antlers gnawed by deer to human artefacts, Nature 246 (1973) 428-430.
104. A.J. Sutcliffe, Further notes on bones and antler chewed by deer and other ungulates, Deer 4 (2) (1977) 73-82.
105. H. Thieme, Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany, Nature 385 (1997) 769-771.
106. H. Thieme, S. Veil, Neue untersuchungen zum eemzeitlichen Elefanten-Jagdplatz, Ldkr. Verden, Die Kunde 36 (1985) 11-58.
107. N. Toth, K. Schick, Early stone industries and inferences regarding language and cognition, in: K.R. Gibson, T. Ingold (Eds.), Tools Language and Cognition in Human Evolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993, pp. 346-362.
108. K. Valoch, Das Mittelpaäolithikum mit Blattspitzen (Schicht 9b) aus des Höhle Kulna bei Sloup in Mäheren. Acta Musei Moraviae 53-54 (1968) 5-30.
109. M.M. van der Ryst, The Waterberg Plateau in the Northern Province, South Africa, in the Later Stone Age, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 43, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.
110. P. Villa, Middle Pleistocene prehistory in Southwestern Europe: the state of our knowledge and ignorance, Journal of Anthropological Research 47 (1991) 193-218.
111. P. Villa, L. Bartram, Flaked bone from a hyena den, Paléo 8 (1996) 143-159.
112. P. Villa, F. d'Errico, Bone and ivory points in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Europe, Journal of Human Evolution 41 (2001) 69-112.
113. A. Vincent, L'os comme artefact au Paléolithique moyen: principes d'étude et premiers résultats, in: M. Otte (Ed. , L'Homme de Néandertal 4, Eraul, Liège, 1988a.
114. A. Vincent, Rémarques préliminaries concernant l'outillage osseux de la Grotte Vaufrey, in: J.P. Rigaud (Ed.), La Grotte Vaufrey à Cenac et Sain-Julien (Dordogne). Paleoenvironnement, chronologie et activités humaines, Mémoires de la Société Préhistorique Française 19, Paris, 1988b, pp. 529-533.
115. A. Vincent, L'outillage osseux au Paléolithique moyen: une nouvelle approche, Doctoral thesis, University of Paris, 1983.
116. E.A. Voigt, Mapungubwe, An Archaeozoological Interpretation of an Iron Age Community, Transvaal Museum Monograph No. 1, Pretoria, 1983.
117. E.S. Vrba, A revision of the Bovini (Bovidae) and a preliminary revised checklist of Bovidae from Makapansgat, Palaeontologia Africana 26 (4) (1987) 33-46.
118. L. Wadley, Excavations at Rose Cottage Cave, South African Journal of Science 93 (1997) 439-444.
119. S.J. Walker, Palaeolithic Bone Handaxes, Masters dissertation, University of Reading, 1999.
120. V. Watson, Composition of the Swartkrans bone accumulations in terms of skeletal parts and animals represented, in: C.K. Brain (Ed.), Swartkrans: a Cave's Chronicle of Early Man, C. T. P. Book Printers. Cape, 1993.
121. J.E. Yellen, A.S. Brooks, E. Cornelissen, M.J. Mehlman, K. Stewart, A Middle Stone Age worked bone industry from Katanda, Upper Semliki Valley, Zaïre, Science 268 (1995) 553-556.
122. J. Zilhao, F. d'Errico, Reply to Straus, Mellars and Otte, Current Anthropology 40 (3) (1999a) 355-364.
123. J. Zilhao, F. d'Errico, The chronology and taphonomy of the earliest Aurignacian and its implications for the understanding of Neandertal extinction, Journal of Word Prehistory 13 (1) (1999b) 1-68.