The evolution and stability of stone tools: The effects of different mobility scenarios in tool reduction and shape features

Abstract

This work attempts to link two primary areas of focus in lithic technology studies today: shape and reduction analyses. We set out to determine whether a correlation could be found between tool shape and reduction stage in order to look for differences between different mobility scenarios and to test the strength of classical typological classifications based on the shape of the retouched segments of tools. Our study was conducted using materials from two culturally different sites, one dating to the Late Upper Paleolithic and the other to the Early Neolithic and our focus was on a single common tool class, endscrapers. Both sites are located in the same region, meaning that the hominins that inhabited them had the same opportunities for procuring locally abundant lithic raw materials. Geometric morphometrics and 3D-based reduction analyses were performed on the tools, and shape and reduction variables were cross-referenced in the search for any existing correlation between the two. Nomadic Late Upper Paleolithic groups exhibit a highly expedient tool management strategy, without shape maintenance, and considerable correlation was found between tool shape and reduction stage. Meanwhile, Early Neolithic groups left behind a curated assemblage, exhibiting shape maintenance and great reduction intensity. In this case, shape was found to be independent of reduction. Finally, we link these behaviors to different mobility strategies and raw-material transport costs, and consider the validity of exclusively typological approaches.