Abstract
The notion that the evolution of core reduction strategies involved increasing efficiency in cutting edge production is prevalent in narratives of hominin technological evolution. Yet a number of studies comparing two different knapping technologies have found no significant differences in edge production. Using digital analysis methods we present an investigation of raw material efficiency in eight core technologies broadly representative of the long-term evolution of lithic technology. These are bipolar, multiplatform, discoidal, biface, Levallois, prismatic blade, punch blade and pressure blade production. Raw material efficiency is assessed by the ratio of cutting edge length to original core mass. We also examine which flake attributes contribute to maximising raw material efficiency, as well as compare the difference between expert and intermediate knappers in terms of cutting edge produced per gram of core. We identify a gradual increase in raw material efficiency over the broad sweep of lithic technological evolution. The results indicate that the most significant transition in efficiency likely took place with the introduction of small foliate biface, Levallois and prismatic blade knapping, all introduced in the Middle Stone Age / Middle Palaeolithic among early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. This suggests that no difference in raw material efficiency existed between these species. With prismatic blade technology securely dated to the Middle Palaeolithic, by including the more recent punch and pressure blade technology our results dispel the notion that the transition to the Upper Palaeolithic was accompanied by an increase in efficiency. However, further increases in cutting edge efficiency are evident, with pressure blades possessing the highest efficiency in this study, indicating that late/epi-Palaeolithic and Neolithic blade technologies further increased efficiency.
Highlights
Technological efficiency is a key aspect of palaeoanthropological debates surrounding such topics as cognition, skill, intentionality, modernity, technological organisation and technological diversity [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
As these previous studies found raw material efficiency to be equivalent among bifaces and prismatic blade cores [62, 64], bifaces and multiplatform cores [63], and prismatic blades and discoidal cores [61], we seek to test the null hypothesis that no significant differences in cutting edge per gram occur among the eight different reduction strategies under investigation
Significant differences occur among these three grouped samples (H = 17.13; df = 2, 41; p < 0.001), with a Mann-Whitney pairwise test with Bonferroni corrected p-values revealing that the Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic reduction sequences produced a significantly greater length of cutting edge per gram of original core compared with the Oldowan technologies (U = 64; p = 0.0025 and U = 6; p = 0.0055 respectively)
Summary
Technological efficiency is a key aspect of palaeoanthropological debates surrounding such topics as cognition, skill, intentionality, modernity, technological organisation and technological diversity [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. These technological changes are often viewed as existing in a feedback loop with biological evolution that drove dexterity, cognition, and syntactic language [9, 23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33] Within this narrative, blade and microblade technologies are often depicted as the pinnacle of evolution in core technology and a key component of the ‘Upper Palaeolithic Revolution’, involving highly standardised blank production and careful preparation and maintenance of core volume and efficiency [3, 34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41]. Those who are not convinced of the gains in efficiency offered by blade production cite the raw-material wastage involved in selecting high-quality stone required for successful blade manufacture, the higher risk of critical breakages owing to the thinness of blades, and the fewer opportunities for retouch events due to the narrowness of blades [49,50,51]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
