Beyond Tools and Function: The Selection of Materials and the Ontology of Hunter-Gatherers. Ethnographic Evidences and Implications for Palaeolithic Archaeology

Ella Assaf,Francesca Romagnoli

doi:10.1017/s0959774320000359

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the universal selection of exceptional materials for tool making in prehistory. The interpretation suggested in the literature for these non-standard materials is usually limited to a general statement, considering possible aesthetic values or a general, mostly unexplained, symbolic meaning. We discuss the implications of viewing these materials as active agents and living vital beings in Palaeolithic archaeology as attested in indigenous hunter-gatherer communities all around the world. We suggest that the use of specific materials in the Palaeolithic was meaningful, and beyond its possible ‘symbolic’ meaning, it reflects deep familiarity and complex relations of early humans with the world surrounding them—humans and other-than-human persons (animals, plants, water and stones)—on which they were dependent. We discuss the perception of tools and the materials from which they are made as reflecting relationships, respectful behaviour and functionality from an ontological point of view. In this spirit, we suggest re-viewing materials as reflecting social, cosmological and ontological world-views of Palaeolithic humans, and looking beyond their economic, functional aspects, as did, perhaps, our ancestors themselves.

Highlights

The earliest production and use of stone tools more than three million years ago was, no doubt, a turning point in the history of humankind, considered by some scholars to be one of the defining characteristics of the genus Homo, setting humans apart (e.g. Man the Toolmaker, Oakley 1944; Holloway 1969; Premack 2010, this approach is less acceptable nowadays)
Rather than being a dividing element between humans and other elements of the world, tools are perceived as a bridge, connecting all of them
Can we speculate that similar perceptions were shared by humans in the distant past?. This introductory paper is part of a special section addressing the universal phenomenon of human selection of exceptional materials for tool making and its possible socio-cultural, cosmological implications

Summary

Introduction

The earliest production and use of stone tools more than three million years ago was, no doubt, a turning point in the history of humankind, considered by some scholars to be one of the defining characteristics of the genus Homo, setting humans apart (e.g. Man the Toolmaker, Oakley 1944; Holloway 1969; Premack 2010, this approach is less acceptable nowadays). The capacity to differentiate these from the huge amount of other materials makes them more identifiable in the archaeological record (even if it is possible that more common materials have had meanings other than functional, as briefly noted in this paper) These exceptional materials, for the most part, are not overlooked, the interpretation suggested for their presence is usually limited to a general statement, considering possible aesthetic values or a general, mostly unexplained, symbolic meaning. Notwithstanding any of these explanations, there might have been other factors which influenced choices of materials, and exceptional materials relating to the socio-cultural world of early humans and their ontological-cosmological worldviews.

Beyond Tools and Function

Objects as living vital beings

Author biographies