Experimental programmes with retouchers: where do we stand and where do we go now?

"Retouching the Palaeolithic: Becoming Human and the Origins of Bone Tool Technology" Conference at Schloss Herrenhausen in Hannover, Germany, 21- 23 October 2015This paper presents a critical review of the experimental works with bone retouchers that have been pub­lished since the beginning of research about this type of tool. The aim of this review is not the recollection of references per se, but a critical evaluation of different studies. This critical synthesis will show where we are today from a theoretical and methodological point of view. A number of ideas on how to improve and expand the scientific research about retouchers will be proposed together with a range of open archaeological and experimental issues, which can be addressed by the research community in the years ahead.Peer reviewe