TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring variability in lithic armature discard in the archaeological record
AU - Gravel-Miguel, Claudine
AU - Murray, John K.
AU - Schoville, Benjamin J.
AU - Wren, Colin D.
AU - Marean, Curtis W.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - The invention of projectile technology had important ramifications for hominin evolution. However, the number of stone points that could have been used as projectiles fluctuates in archaeological assemblages, making it difficult to define when projectile technology was first widely adopted and how its usage changed over time. Here we use an agent-based model to simulate a hunter-gatherer foraging system where armatures are dropped according to their usage. We explore the impact of interactions between human behaviors and the environmental constraints of a data-informed landscape on the distribution and number of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. We ran 2400 simulations modeling different population sizes, rates of hunting with projectiles, and tool curation levels. For each simulation, we recorded the location of dropped armatures and calculated the number and percentage of used armatures that were discarded at habitation camps vs. lost during hunting. We used linear regression to identify the demographic, behavioral, and environmental factor(s) that best explained changes in these numbers and percentages. The model results show that in a well-controlled environment, most armatures used as projectile weapons are lost or discarded at hunting sites; only ∼4.5% of used armatures (or ∼2 armatures per year of simulation) are discarded in habitation camps where they would likely be excavated. These findings suggest that even rare hafted armatures found in the Early and Middle Stone Age could indicate a well-established use of such tools. Our model shows that interactions between reoccupation of archaeological sites, population size, rate of hunting with projectile weapons, and tool curation levels strongly influence the count of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. Therefore, we argue that fluctuations in the counts of armatures documented at archaeological sites should be evaluated within their demographic and environmental contexts to better understand if they reflect spatiotemporal changes in hunting behavior.
AB - The invention of projectile technology had important ramifications for hominin evolution. However, the number of stone points that could have been used as projectiles fluctuates in archaeological assemblages, making it difficult to define when projectile technology was first widely adopted and how its usage changed over time. Here we use an agent-based model to simulate a hunter-gatherer foraging system where armatures are dropped according to their usage. We explore the impact of interactions between human behaviors and the environmental constraints of a data-informed landscape on the distribution and number of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. We ran 2400 simulations modeling different population sizes, rates of hunting with projectiles, and tool curation levels. For each simulation, we recorded the location of dropped armatures and calculated the number and percentage of used armatures that were discarded at habitation camps vs. lost during hunting. We used linear regression to identify the demographic, behavioral, and environmental factor(s) that best explained changes in these numbers and percentages. The model results show that in a well-controlled environment, most armatures used as projectile weapons are lost or discarded at hunting sites; only ∼4.5% of used armatures (or ∼2 armatures per year of simulation) are discarded in habitation camps where they would likely be excavated. These findings suggest that even rare hafted armatures found in the Early and Middle Stone Age could indicate a well-established use of such tools. Our model shows that interactions between reoccupation of archaeological sites, population size, rate of hunting with projectile weapons, and tool curation levels strongly influence the count of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. Therefore, we argue that fluctuations in the counts of armatures documented at archaeological sites should be evaluated within their demographic and environmental contexts to better understand if they reflect spatiotemporal changes in hunting behavior.
KW - Agent-based model
KW - Hunter-gatherers
KW - Middle Stone Age
KW - Paleoscape model
KW - Projectile armatures
KW - South Africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103934813&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85103934813&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102981
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102981
M3 - Article
C2 - 33848696
AN - SCOPUS:85103934813
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 155
JO - Journal of human evolution
JF - Journal of human evolution
M1 - 102981
ER -