The skill spectrum: methods for identifying variable skill-levels amongst handaxe-making hominins in the Middle Pleistocene

Thesis

Handaxes are bifacial stone cutting tools that were made by hominins between circa 1.75 and 0.2 million years ago. They represent a significant advancement in stone-tool technology and a pivotal development in hominin cognition and behaviour. Experimental research suggests learning to make handaxes demands considerable repeated practice over time and social support mechanisms that encourage skill development. Considerable debate exists regarding whether guidance for learners in the Acheulean included verbal and/or gestural instruction, or neophytes learned solely through imitation/emulation. Whatever the mode of transmission, consistency in intra-assemblage biface morphology and manufacturing techniques implies normative standards for acceptable performance were maintained, even with resharpening, at sites like Gouzeaucourt (the focus of this thesis). Assemblages like this, where knappers shared common goals, permit the identification of the varying ability of individuals to adhere to such objectives. Additionally, because mastery of handaxe manufacture requires extensive training, it follows that a spectrum of skill should be visible in the archaeological record through analysing the bifaces that remain. Nonetheless, few studies have applied experimental outcomes directly to interpreting archaeological bifaces and the differences in skill-level they exhibit. It is this lacuna in Acheulean research that is addressed here. My results show that the quantitative and qualitative methodology I employ allows accurate differentiation between skilled and unskilled experimental knappers and, as such, helps to categorise archaeological bifaces according to the perceived skill-level of their maker. I have thus presented an original approach to collecting data from bifaces regarding previously unknown aspects of the hominins that made them. This information can be used to calculate the proportion of skill-levels contributing to an assemblage, thus providing more inventive ways of interpreting Palaeolithic sites. Consequently, I thereby anticipate that this thesis represents a prospective starting point for further experimental investigations into differentiating between skill-levels in the Acheulean.

Authors: Hutchence, L

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-6q25eevnx
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: handaxe; Middle Pleistocene; flint knapping; Palaeolithic; Hominin; skill
• Subjects: Archaeology