Did the use of bone flakes precede the use of knapped stone flakes in hominin meat processing and could this be detectable archaeologically?

Abstract

The means by which hominins invented lithic cutting technology is currently unknown. However, the origin of stone knapping is frequently associated with nut-cracking, whereupon hominins are assumed to have accidentally produced flakes and/or transferred a percussive motion to stone cobbles. Here, we consider whether bone flakes produced during marrow acquisition might have inadvertently produced the first ever cutting tools, and whether such a hypothesis is archaeologically testable. Bone and stone flakes were compared during an experimental butchery activity and an examination of resulting cut marks was undertaken. Use of bone flakes leaves visible cut marks, which are quantitatively and qualitatively distinct from those produced by stone flakes. Accordingly, hominins could have used the expediently manufactured bone flakes during butchery, possibly even utilizing bone flakes prior to the invention of stone flakes. Indeed, this scenario is more parsimonious compared with more commonly considered alternatives. Moreover, our results indicate this scenario is archaeologically testable.