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To better understand ancient hunter gatherer people this research magnifies the archaeological visibility of ancient stone chipping strategies and techniques within a behaviorally based model of analysis. Methodological studies in this research combine and leverage a study of the complex Andice dart point technology of the Southern Plains of North America (Early Middle Holocene) with an experimental study into five other North American complex dart point technologies (of the Holocene and Upper Paleolithic). The above 2 studies and related research literature furnish the required behavioral data and concepts to construct a comprehensive system of analyses. This system or architecture of thought and method constitute an applicable model capable of delving deeper into the primary behavioral modes and tasks within complex dart point industries. This constructed model of analysis is applied towards three unrelated and independent case studies: two dart point cache assemblages of the Early-Middle Holocene of the Southern Plains of North America, and one mixed assemblage from deeply buried deposits that predate the Clovis Paleoindian interval (Upper Paleolithic of North America) from the Gault site, Texas (41BL323). The two caches encapsulate separate, single manufacturing events at different periods of the early-middle Holocene, affording unique behavioral analysis of the ancient individual knappers behind these unique caches. The Upper Paleolithic mixed assemblage from the Gault site is analyzed for its complexity, size, composition of different chipped stone strategies and techniques, and its unique value toward current archaeological questions regarding the earliest human occupations in the Americas and what chipped stone behavioral patterns they exercised. This model and the surrounding research in this thesis demonstrate the potential in high resolution behavioral interpretations of prehistoric dart point assemblages through experimentally supported chipped stone analyses.

What was it that made Homo sapiens such a successful species and the sole remaining hominin on the landscape? What enabled us to colonize the entire world and survive in novel or extreme environments? Some researchers argue the development of a new technology, called “microliths,” was a key adaptive strategy in our success and global spread. Benefits of these small tools are argued to include more efficient conversion of raw materials into usable stone tools and the creation of innovative and diverse tools that have been linked with the use of composite tools. Composite tools combine multiple components and are often linked to the spread of mechanically assisted projectile technology and hunting weapons. The appearance and spread of microliths is suggested to be part of a global trend of technological reorganization during the late Pleistocene (~126,000-11,700 years ago). However, these associations, and even definitions of “microliths,” are problematic. Definitions tend to be contextual and oscillate between broad considerations of any intentionally produced small flake and specific manifestations of small tools, such as backed geometric pieces and segments, small bladelets, or retouched blanks. This has complicated our understanding of the development, spread, and potential benefits of what is considered a pivotal technological innovation of our species. Rather than focusing on a typological definition of microliths, we must systematically address how small tools were made. By focusing on the technological system used to produce small tools in different contexts, we can understand how each system varied and whether technological systems for small tool production were convergent solutions that were reinvented or cultural knowledge transmitted within and between groups. Here, I employ technological analysis of stone tool assemblages to understand how systems of raw material provisioning and transport influence technological organization and individual systems of small tool production during the late Pleistocene and how these change from the Middle Stone Age (MSA; ~315,000-30,000 years ago) to the Later Stone Age (LSA; ~42,000-2,000 years ago) in southern Africa. I examine decisions related to systems of provisioning, transport, and the use of composite tools and projectile technology to understand how these affected the form and systems of production of small tool technologies.In Chapter 1, I introduce the questions addressed by this research: What is a “microlith”? In what ways do lithic assemblages show intentional production of small tools? And how did people’s movement around the landscape affect lithic toolkit composition and transport? In this project, I examine two “microlithic” technocomplexes: the Howiesons Poort (HP; ~65,000-58,000 years ago) and the Robberg (~26,000-12,000 years ago). In southern Africa, Howiesons Poort is one of the earliest technocomplexes where small blades and bladelets are systematically produced and retouched into formal tools. Although these are often interpreted as some of the earliest evidence for mechanically assisted projectiles, there is still much to be understood about their production. Robberg technology, included in the “late Pleistocene microlithic” spread across southern Africa just after the Last Glacial Maximum. Focused on the production of small bladelets from distinctive cores, Robberg technology is also associated with the production of composite tools and hunting weapons. I discuss the importance of identifying deliberate choices guided by tool design compared to the end point of a reduction continuum as cores near exhaustion in small tool production and discuss challenges resulting from context-specific definitions of the term “microlith.”Chapter 2 presents data from the site of Montagu Cave, South Africa. Through technological analysis of the lithic assemblage from Horizon 6/7 of Keller’s excavations of Montagu Cave, South Africa and reconstructions of chaine operatoires, or reduction sequences, I show that Howiesons Poort core reduction methods were used on the largest and smallest cores, including on cores on flakes found within the assemblage. Our results show that small blanks were produced intentionally and not as the result of a reduction continuum or extended reduction because of transport. Small blanks at Montagu Cave were produced independently of large blanks and selection for small blanks began with raw material acquisition. Large quartzite nodules were quickly reduced in size through the use of cores on flakes and finer grained raw materials started small with the selection of small raw material nodules.Chapter 3 examines the site of Nelson Bay Cave, located on the southern coast of South Africa. I provide technological descriptions of production methods used in the Level 6, the oldest unmixed Howiesons Poort layer from Klein’s excavations of Nelson Bay Cave. The Howiesons Poort technocomplex has been central to discussions of the cultural and cognitive capabilities of modern humans and the behavioral evolution of our species during the late Pleistocene. The results provide descriptions of the reduction sequences and demonstrate three notable features. First, the lithic assemblage shows branching modes of blade production beginning with core blank selection. Second, features present in the lithic assemblage suggests large blades were intentionally fragmented to produce characteristic Howiesons Poort backed artifacts. Finally, the data suggest a focus on place provisioning and use as a residential site. When these results are considered, we establish that raw material constraints do not explain the production of small blanks and tools within the assemblage and that the observed characteristics likely reflect intentional selection for small blanks and other aspects of technological decision making.Chapter 4 examines small tool production in the Robberg technocomplex. In this study, I describe the stone artifacts from a discrete cluster of stone artifacts assigned to the Robberg technocomplex at the open-air locality of Uitspankraal 9, which is located near two major sources of toolstone in the Doring River catchment of Western Cape, South Africa. Comparison of near-source artifact reduction at Uitspankraal 9 with data from three rock shelter assemblages within the Doring watershed – Putslaagte 8, Klipfonteinrand Rock Shelter, and Mertenhof Rock Shelter – suggests that “gearing-up” with cores and blanks occurred along the river in anticipation of transport into the wider catchment area. The results reveal an integrated system of technological supply in which raw materials from different sources were acquired, reduced, and transported in different ways throughout the Doring River region.In Chapter 5, I present the first descriptions of lithic assemblages assigned to the Robberg technocomplex from the site of Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1 (KEH-1), located on the modern-day southern coast of South Africa. During the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 years ago), the landscape off the southern coast was a different world than it is today. At its most extreme, the modern-day coastline was up to 75 km from its present position. Technological organization at KEH-1 differs in key ways from other published Robberg assemblages, showing lower reduction intensity, infrequent use of bipolar percussion, and low emphasis on lithic miniaturization. Our results suggest that site dynamics at KEH-1 differ from other sites and may represent a logistical resource extraction camp targeted at lithic raw material acquisition. Data from KEH-1 highlights the importance of understanding how resource distribution and site dynamics influence lithic technological organization.Chapter 6 provides concluding remarks and directions for future research.

The craft of producing stone tools by percussion (knapping) is widely regarded to be an activity that can cause injuries. New knappers are encouraged to wear safety equipment to mitigate these risks. However, how dangerous is knapping exactly? We conducted an anonymous survey of 174 modern knappers (IRB approved), and asked them to describe the frequency and severity of their injuring while knapping. I report the result of this research, and discuss its implications for experimental archaeology and the evolution of flaked stone technology.

Between 45,000 and 25,000 years ago, the prepared cores and formally retouched tools of the southern African Middle Stone Age were replaced by idiosyncratic, informal, and miniaturized lithic assemblages. This murky period of prehistory, loosely named the “Middle to Later Stone Age Transition” (MSA/LSA transition), terminated with the appearance of southern Africa’s first true Later Stone Age (LSA) industry, the Robberg, and the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The LGM profoundly impacted southern Africa’s human occupants by altering the livability of certain environments and the distribution of bioavailable resources. Despite this, the relationships between the MSA/LSA transition, the beginning of the Robberg, and the onset of the LGM are relatively misunderstood. Previous studies have emphasized the differences between final Middle Stone Age (MSA), transitional, and Robberg industries, attributing the slow spread of the poorly defined “Early Later Stone Age” (ELSA) technocomplex to diffusion or migration from other parts of the subcontinent and denying the roots of Robberg technology in the MSA (C. B. Bousman & Brink, 2018; Goodwin & Van Riet Lowe, 1929). This dissertation tests three hypotheses on the MSA/LSA transition through the analysis of lithic assemblages from Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho: that the transition was precipitated by population replacement, that it was a consequence of changes in mobility and resource distribution due to LGM conditions, and/or that it was prompted by demographic shifts unrelated to large-scale migration. Melikane, a large sandstone rockshelter in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of highland Lesotho, preserves an 80,000-year-old archaeological sequence including two layers (4 and 5) dated to the onset of the LGM (~24,000 years ago) and previously assigned to the MSA/LSA transition. For this dissertation, I analyzed > 17,000 lithic artifacts from layers 4 and 5 to understand how the MSA/LSA transition at Melikane was related to either external or local mechanisms of change. Although there are some similarities between the lithics at Melikane and other penecontemporary sites, I conclude that there is no evidence to support the hypothesis that the MSA/LSA transition was a population replacement or migration event. In contrast, layer 5’s heavily reduced microlithic assemblage suggests that Melikane’s early LGM foragers were isolated from lowland and interior populations. The microlithic roots of Robberg technology were already established in layer 5 and became entrenched as new challenges to mobility and resource scheduling favored the use of standardized bladelet technologies. However, the introduction of a new core reduction sequence in layer 4 insinuates that some, but not all, Robberg technologies were introduced from outside the highlands. This implies that population connectivity was reestablished in southern Africa following an earlier period of isolation, potentially as changing environmental conditions provided an impetus for movement. This cycle of isolation and connectivity would encourage the development of regionally adapted technological systems while simultaneously allowing for the spread of new elements, potentially leading to the Robberg’s fluorescence following the LGM. Overall, my findings support an indirect role for environmental change in the MSA/LSA transition. Microlithic LSA technologies were rooted in the Middle Stone Age, fully adopted only when the right environmental and demographic conditions were met.

Learning is a fundamental aspect of the human condition. It allows us to interact within a world of socially constructed meanings and to create individual and group identities (Jarvis 2012; Lave and Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998). My research investigates knowledge transmission during the Epipalaeolithic Period at the hunter-gatherer site of Kharaneh IV (≈20,000 BP) (Maher and MacDonald 2013) and argues that stone tool production (flintknapping) can be viewed as a practice that reflects normative rules guiding the interactions of flintknapping communities in the ancient past. Evidence of the practice can shed light on an ancient habitus related to learning and participating within a community of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991; Cole 1996; Weisner 2002; Rogoff 2003; Maynard and Greenfield 2006; Joyce 2008; Wallaert 2012; Takakura 2013). The study of education in archaeology primarily focuses on ceramics as it is an additive process where each step is identifiable through microscopic analyses. While these studies have proven useful for understanding how novices learned practices in the past, in most regions ceramics only extend back to about 8,000 years BP and studies on apprenticeship and learning rarely extend past the Bronze Age (Hasaki 2012). To examine a reductive technology like flintknapping one must take a different approach than previously established ceramics studies on apprenticeship (Gosselain 2000; Wallart 2012; Hasaki 2012). The waste products, debitage, are the basis for analysis rather than the final tool form as each removal of flint during the production process preserves prior removal scars and indicates how an individual piece was removed. The knowledge of where to find raw materials, how to ‘correctly’ reduce a blade core, and what constitutes a tool is circumscribed by the community (Ortner 2001; Joyce 2008; Pea and Cole 2019). Therefore, lithic artifacts may represent normative practices of flintknapping during the Epipalaeolithic. New materials or techniques can reflect changing dynamics within a community as the establishment and continuity of traditions are reliant upon ongoing apprentice/master relationships (Lancy 1980; Lave and Wenger 1991; Wallaert-Pêtre 2001; Greenfield et al. 2003; Milne 2012; Takakura 2013). By studying how unskilled flintknapping events are spatially related to skilled flintknapping events we can begin to reveal the habitus of a community of practice. Applying Lave and Wenger’s (1991) legitimate peripheral participation to lithic artifacts and flintknapping education during the Epipalaeolithic, I pose a fundamental question: Can learning and evidence of a sociotechnological practice be used to understand the habitus constructed around flintknapping at the Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherer site of Kharaneh IV?

Neanderthals are one of our closest evolutionary relatives. Molecular anthropology has shown that our species intermixed genetically, but the extent to which we interacted socially and exchanged technological information is still hotly debated, especially in the period approximately 40,000 years ago in Western Europe just prior to the Neanderthals’ extinction. This dissertation addresses elements of this question through a mixture of methodologies. This work is presented in the form of three papers. Paper 1 presents an inexpensive photography rig designed to create 3D artifact models using photogrammetry, also known as structure from motion. The second paper uses 3D models of cores generated with the system described in Paper 1 to compare Châtelperronian and Protoaurignacian lithic technology, which are associated with Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans respectively. The final paper presents an attribute-based analysis of artifacts from five assemblages from four sites linked to three technocomplexes spanning the so-called Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. This analysis applies the middle range theory of the Behavioral Approach to Cultural Transmission to both test the hypothesis that there was cultural transmission between Neanderthal and anatomically modern human groups and infer the degree of social intimacy that is most likely to have existed between them.

From the late Late Woodland period (AD 700-1000) to the Early Fort Ancient period (AD 1000 - 1300) multiple social and economic changes occurred. Small seasonally mobile groups focused on hunting and gathering and low-level domesticate plant usage transitioned to sedentary village life focused on maize agriculture. Accompanying these life style changes is a prominent shift in lithic technology, which is evident in the morphology of projectile points as well as raw material usage. Late Woodland projectile points are generally manufactured from high quality exotic raw materials and are formally shaped. In comparison Fort Ancient projectile points are expediently produced from low quality local materials. It is hypothesized that the difference in lithic technology is a result of a shift in the manufacturing process from free-hand reduction to bipolar reduction. Learning strategies, specifically guided variation and indirect bias, are thought to influence production and morphology of stone tools and may have differed between two cultural periods. This research investigates the variability in lithic assemblages between the late Late Woodland and Early Fort Ancient periods using two sites from the Middle Ohio River Valley, Clark (33WA124), a late Late Woodland site, and Guard (12D29), an Early Fort Ancient site. The analytical methods conducted are used to identify the presence of high quality raw materials, bipolar reduction, and variability in projectile point morphology. My conclusion is that there are prominent differences in projectile point manufacture and morphological variability between Clark and Guard which indicate a major shift in learning strategy and techniques from the Late Woodland to Fort Ancient periods which relate to changes in settlement structure, mobility, and subsistence.

Lapa do Picareiro, a cave located in Portuguese Estremadura, contains continuous deposits dated to the Late Pleistocene. As one of the highest elevation Upper Paleolithic sites currently known in Portugal, questions are raised about the function of the site during this time. This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the lithic assemblage recovered from the Late Magdalenian layer of F/G (13,442 to 14,011 cal BP). The data generated from this study, when looked at in conjunction with the previously analyzed faunal assemblage, helps to provide a broader understanding of the site’s function during the Late Magdalenian. The analysis focuses on raw material preference and use, representation of reduction phases, and typologies present in the assemblage. These data are then compared with other contemporaneous sites in the region to see what, if any, inferences can be drawn about location and site function. This is important because this work ultimately contextualizes the observed patterns found in the lithic assemblage in the broader context of the Late Magdalenian in southern Iberia.

In the 1930s, archaeologist Dr. F. H. H. Roberts proposed that proximal-lateral edge grinding was executed on Paleoindian projectile points to limit damage to the lashings that attached them to their shafts. This assumption is logical and widely accepted, but remains empirically untested. Here, we present an experiment that examines the role of proximal-lateral edge grinding in replica Clovis projectile points made of Texas chert. We compare via controlled ballistics experiments large samples of points with lateral edge grinding versus those with sharp lateral edges, but otherwise similar in every other morphometric aspect. By analyzing and comparing the hafting performance of the ground-edged specimens and the sharp-edged specimens, we hope to better understand the function of lateral basal grinding from technological and ecological perspectives.

This hybrid dissertation explores how hunter-gatherer groups who lived during the Initial and Lower Magdalenian archaeological periods (c.17-14,000 uncal. BP) adapted their lithic technological organization to environmental complexity in the Vasco-Cantabrian region of north coastal Spain. Four manuscripts that examine aspects of Last Glacial hunter-gatherer adaptations are presented in this dissertation. The first three have been published or are in press in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science, and Quaternary International. The last is a completed manuscript that is under review by the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. The first paper focuses on how archaeologists examine prehistoric transitions using a case study from Urtiaga cave, Giup\xfazcoa. This case demonstrates that lithic maintenance was a significant factor in Initial Magdalenian landscape-level adaptations. The second paper summarizes the lithic and osseous industries (the latter studied by L. Straus), recovered from the El Mirón cave and demonstrates the sites importance as a Lower Magdalenian residential site in central Cantabria. The third manuscript explores hunter-gatherer lithic conveyance patterns based on four sites in central Cantabria (Altamira, El Juyo, El Rascaño, and El Mirón) and proposes that the Lower Magdalenian groups who occupied these sites shared an economic territory that expanded from Cantabria into western Navarra. Local raw material conveyance shows that shifting environmental zones was an important factor in how groups mover through the diverse Cantabrian landscape. The fourth manuscript investigates how Lower Magdalenian groups procured raw materials using a mathematical model that predicts toolstone production efficiency. Using samples from the same four central Cantabrian contexts, the paper explores the relationships among toolstone efficiency, lithic procurement, and Last Glacial mobility. Each case study presented as part of this dissertation contributes to archaeological understanding of how human groups adapted--particularly through technological management and movement--to the complex environments of north coastal Spain during the early Magdalenian period.

Stone tools are one of the most common and lasting classes of artifacts in the archaeological record. Through the application of appropriate theoretical frameworks to the study of lithic assemblages, we may seek invaluable insights into the nature of human behavior in the past. In this study, I present a detailed analysis of the chipped stone tool assemblage from Dust Cave (1LU496), a stratified rockshelter site in northwestern Alabama. This site has preserved a record of nearly 7,000 years of human occupation, spanning the Pleistocene- Holocene transition, a period of great climatic and cultural change in North America. Through the application of the Technological Organization framework, I address changes in the lithic artifact assemblage that reflect shifting behavioral strategies in the context of a dynamic natural and social environment. This approach views technology as a set of behaviors that facilitate the interaction of people with their environments, allowing tool users to meet challenges and to take advantage of opportunities presented by the natural and social worlds. With its emphasis on efficiency and decision-making, I argue that Technological Organization articulates well with approaches within Behavioral Ecology. I therefore root my analysis of the lithic materials within the Behavioral Ecology-informed studies of subsistence behavior at Dust Cave presented by Hollenbach (2005) and Carmody (2009). Together, these subsistence and lithic studies provide insight into the decisions being made by foragers in the context of a changing natural and social environment. My technological and functional analyses reveal continuity in the range of activities represented in the toolkit, but profound changes in the position that Dust Cave occupied in the cultural system. My analysis of tool production strategies, toolkit diversity, and patterns of tool use and discard reveals a shift from a logistically provisioned central place within an overall more residentially mobile system in the earliest periods of occupation, to a logistical station in the Middle Archaic. The richness of the environment, even in the Late Pleistocene, and the ease of raw material availability in the region had profound effects on the nature of forager decision-making at Dust Cave.

This dissertation provides a detailed analysis of the lithic materials from the presumed pre Clovis deposits at the Topper Site (38AL23), a Paleoindian quarry and stone tool manufacture site in Allendale County South Carolina, U.S.A. Prior research at Topper identified flakes and possible chipped stone tools from Pleistocene-aged sediments that predate Clovis, traditionally considered the earliest culture complex in the region. The goal of this study is to document the nature of the pre Clovis assemblage at Topper, and to explore possible ways it may have formed. Did human or natural processes play a role in the production of a bend break assemblage, and does the occurrence of flakes from the lower deposits reflect a legitimate pre Clovis occupation, or the product of displacement from the overlying sediments? Lithic items from a sample of mapped and screened materials were examined for this study. Technological and experimental analyses were conducted to differentiate between the attributes of human and natural agency. The Clovis and pre Clovis assemblages are composed of different frequencies of debitage and tool categories and reflect dissimilar reductive technologies. Technological attributes consistent with human agency were identified on bend breaks. This evidence supports the proposition that bend breaks were used as expedient tools and therefore served a functional role for pre Clovis occupants at Topper. The experimental analyses demonstrate that chert is susceptible to fracture when exposed to prolonged episodes of weathering. Natural processes can result in the formation of detachments that resemble the morphological properties of flakes and bend breaks but lack the technological attributes that are characteristic of human lithic manufacture. A spatial analysis found that postdepositional processes have had minimal influence on the stratigraphic integrity of the pre Clovis deposits and the occurrence of flake tools from these contexts is not the product of downward migration of artifacts from the Clovis deposits. The results of this study present a unique record of the behaviors of Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers of the American Southeast. Support for the presence of human cultures that predate Clovis in North America should consider the inclusion of a broad range of reductive technologies.

This study examines bifacial technology change at the Knob Creek site (12HR484) in Harrison County, Indiana, from the Late Archaic to Early Woodland periods. Through a statistical and attribute analysis of 2,620 lithic flakes it was possible to detect changes in the lithic reduction process over time. The analysis demonstrates that soft-hammer percussion becomes more prevalent during the Early Woodland component of the site. This is a significant change from the hard-hammer percussion industry of the Lower Late Archaic. The Terminal Archaic Riverton component in this study offers one of the few detailed flake-by-flake analyses for this poorly understood lithic tradition originally identified by Winters (1969) in the Wabash River Valley.

Abstract: The research presented in this thesis examines a lithic assemblage from the multi-component habitation site Gorelyi Les in the Belaia river valley, Cis-Baikal region, Siberia. The distinctive traits of this collection are the relatively small size of the lithic assemblage and the large proportion of debitage. The chosen methodological framework for this research concentrates on obtaining maximum information from the available materials through application of typological, technological, use-wear, and spatial analyses. The results suggest that there were differences in the organization of the technological process of lithic tool manufacture during the Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic. During the Early Neolithic, lithic tool manufacture and use were rather intensive and diversified, while during the Late Neolithic, tool manufacture and use were limited to a narrower range of technological operations and functions.

This thesis undertakes detailed analysis of a sample of 229 small chert tools from a single locus at the Maya site of Caracol, Belize. Emphasis is placed on determining the function of these tools and on the nature of their use in the broader Caracol economic system. Analysis sought to determine whether they were used for day-to-day household tasks or for specialized craft activity within the specified household locus and/or if they were prepared for broader distribution at Caracol. By focusing detailed analysis on artifacts from a single locus, greater insight is provided into the impact of household production on the overall Caracol economy. The thesis draws on traditional techniques of lithic analysis, while assessing tool morphology and chert reduction techniques; however, it is different from previous analyses in the Maya area in that it develops and applies specific quantifiable statistical methods (e.g., Chi-square and Coefficient of Variable) for particular tool type(s) used in the production and modification of crafts. Application of quantifiable methods and a detailed level of analysis helps to differentiate and determine chert tool variation or standardization, thus establishing ideal tool types within a craft production locus. The determination of the presence of standardization and ideal tool types elucidates that craft production was indeed taking place just outside the epicenter at Caracol and therefore suggests that not only were elites controlling the distribution of crafts via markets located at and along causeway and termini, but may have controlled the production of crafts as well. Future research aims to reanalyze tools from previously excavated craft production areas and also plans to test for the presence of additional crafting areas at or near the site's epicenter. A detailed analysis of a craft production locus and small chert flake tools reveals insight into the nature of the ancient Maya economy and into models of control over resources.