Methods for determining differential behaviors in stone tool production and application to the Oldowan of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania and Koobi Fora, Kenya

Traditional lithic artifact analyses have provided information regarding hominin ranging behaviors, raw material preferences, and the potential for functionality. However, there is currently no standard method for determining how hominins produced lithic artifacts. This dissertation research provides the first quantitative measure of flake production techniques and applies these measures to the Oldowan of Koobi Fora, Kenya and Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Four Oldowan production behaviors are identified and are used to define what has been called the “least effort approach” to flake production in the Oldowan. Behaviorally informative measurements are taken on whole flakes and size standardized using their geometric mean. In order to attribute each archaeological flake to a production behavior, large experimental assemblages are created using native raw materials from Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge (n = 3,651 flakes and 443 cores). Each experimentally produced flake has empirically known production behaviors associated with it. A multivariate classification algorithm is constructed to determine a classification tree of best fit for the experimental flakes such that each flake is assigned a particular production behavior. Archaeological flakes are assessed via this classification algorithm and then compared to the experimental expectations for distribution of production behaviors. The application of Oldowan archaeological assemblages to this process demonstrates that the null hypothesis that a least effort manufacturing strategy was employed at Koobi Fora cannot be rejected, but this null hypothesis can be rejected for subsets of quartzite and basalt flakes at Olduvai Gorge. Hominins at both localities demonstrate an understanding of raw material economics, but at Olduvai Gorge these hominins demonstrate a consistent ability to produce flakes in a more efficient way than a least effort approach predicts. Hominins at Olduvai Gorge consistently transport quartzite flakes to the site locations, while they consistently transport basalt cores to the sites. Koobi Fora hominins also demonstrate the ability to transport raw materials, but do not produce flakes outside of least effort expectations. Due to these differences in stone tool production strategies and lithic transport behaviors, this research argues that distinct cultural differences between hominin populations are quantifiably evident as early as the Oldowan.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Joseph S. Ret