PROBOSCIDEAN RESOURCES AND THE ENGINEERING OF ACHEULEAN LITHIC TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

A proposed model of Structured Placement of bifaces is presented as the use of tools designed to randomly wound an animal that can later be tracked and processed. The targeting of the cushioned feet of proboscideans is examined and the design of these tools is discussed from the point of view of size, shape, material, geological setting (grounding) and scale of production. A tool that fits these engineering specifications is the Achuelean biface and the archaeological record is examined to test this hypothesis. It is noted that there is a close parallel, both geographical and in time-line, between the spread of Acheulean lithic technology, the dispersal of the Paleoloxodon faunal assemblage and elephas butchery sites. The model is shown to lead to a behavior of structured placement that is reflected in the archaeological record in terms of abundance, apparent discard, geological setting and biface-rich and biface-poor strata and sites.