Announcing a New Book Series

Published by the Stone Age Institute Press

We have recently initiated a new monograph series published by the Stone Age Institute Press. Our first volume, The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age, will be available in February or March of 2007.

A brief description of The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age:

"The earliest traces of proto-human technology emerged over 2.5 million years ago on the African continent. Called the Oldowan after the famous site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, these technologies herald a major evolutionary shift in the human lineage. The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age provides a critical look at early archaeological sites and their evidence. This volume also shows how a range of probing, multidisciplinary, experimental investigations -- including experimental tool-making, comparative studies of ape technologies, biomechanical analysis, and PET studies of brain activity -- help us evaluate this tantalizing prehistoric evidence and appreciate its relevance to human evolution."

(For a pdf of the table of contents and preface of The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age, click this link).

Our second volume, Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of C.K. (Bob) Brain, will be available later in the spring of 2007. We will provide links here for the purchase of these volumes in the near future.

To see the posters for these volumes, please click on the following links:

 The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age (Stone Age Institute Publication Series Number 1, 2006) (pdf of poster)

Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of C.K. (Bob) Brain (Stone Age Institute Publication Series Number 2, 2007) (pdf of poster)


Featured Publications of Institute Research

Selected Publications by Researcher


Featured Publications of Institute Research

DeGusta, David., Melanie Everett, and Katherine Milton (2003). Natural selection on molar size in a wild population of howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Biology Letters 270(S1):S15-S17.

Egeland, C.P. (2003) Processing intensity and cutmark creation: an experimental approach. Plains Anthropologist 48: 39-51.

Harlacker, L. (in press) “Knowledge and know-how in the Oldowan: and experimental approach.” In Skilled Production and Social Reproduction: Aspects of Traditional Stone-Tool Technologies. Symposium volume.

Hunt, K.D. (2004) “The special demands of Great Ape locomotion and posture.” In: Evolutionary Origin of Great Ape Intelligence, edited by A.E. Russon and D. Begun. Cambridge University Press, pp. 629-699.

Hunt, K.D. (2003) The single species hypothesis: truly dead and pushing up bushes, or still twitching and ripe for a resuscitation? Human Biology 75(4): 485-502.

Hunt, K.D. and McGrew, W.C. (2002) “Chimpanzees in dry habitats at Mount Assirik , Senegal and at the Semliki-Toro Wildlife Reserve, Uganda .” In Behavioral Diversity of Chimpanzees and Bonobos. Edited by C. Boesch, G. Hohmann and L.F. Marchant. Cambridge University Press, pp. 35-51.

Pickering , T. R., Dominguez-Rodrigo, M., Egeland, C.P. & Brain, C.K. (2004) Beyond leopards: Tooth marks and the relative contribution of multiple carnivore taxa to the accumulation of the Swartkrans Member 3 fossil assemblage. Journal of Human Evolution 46, 595-604

Pickering , T.R., Clarke, R.J. & Heaton, J.L. (2004) The context of Stw 573, an early hominid skull and skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Taphonomy and paleoenvironment. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 577-583.

Pickering , T.R., Marean, C.W. & Dominguez-Rodrigo, M. (2003) Importance of limb bone shafts in zooarchaeology: a response to “On in situ attrition and vertebrate body part profiles,” by M. Stiner. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1469-1482.

Pickering, T. R. (2002). Reconsideration of Criteria for Differentiating Faunal Assemblages Accumulated by Hyenas and Hominids. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology12, 127-141.

Sahnouni, M., Hadjouis, D., van der Made, J., Derradji, A., Canals, A., Medig, M. & Belahrech, H. (2002). Further Research at the Oldowan Site of Ain Hanech, North-eastern Algeria . Journal of Human Evolution 43, 925-937.

Sahnouni, M. & de Heinzelin, J. (1998). The Site of Ain Hanech Revisited: New Investigations at this Lower Pleistocene Site in Northern Algeria . Journal of Archaeological Science 25, 1083-1101.

 

Sahnouni, M., Schick, K. & Toth, N. (1997). An Experimental Investigation into the Nature of Faceted Limestone "Spheroids" in the Early Palaeolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science 24, 1-13.

Schick, K. & Toth, N. (2001). Paleoanthropology at the Millennium. In (Feinman & Price, Eds) Archaeology at the Millennium, pp. 39-108. New York : Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Schick, K. D. and Toth, N. (1993) Making Silent Stones Speak. Simon & Schuster , New York .

Schick, K. D., Toth, N., Garufi, G. S.-R. E. S., Rumbaugh, D. & Sevcik, R. (1999). Continuing Investigations into the Stone Tool-Making and Tool-Using Capabilities of a Bonobo (Pan paniscus). Journal of Archaeological Science 26, 821-832.

Semaw, S., Renne, P., Harris, J. W. K., Feibel, C. S., Bernor, R. L., Fesseha, N. & Mowbray, K. (1997). 2.5-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools from Gona , Ethiopia . Nature 385( January 23 1997 ), 333-336.

Semaw, S. (2000). The world's oldest stone artefacts from Gona , Ethiopia : Their implications for understanding stone technology and patterns of human evolution between 2.6-1.5 million years ago. Journal of Achaeological Science 27, 1197-1214.

Semaw, S., Roger, M. J., Quade, J., Renne, P. R., Butler , R. F., Dominguex-Rodrigo, M., Stout, D., Hart, W. S., Pickering, T. & Simpson, S. W. (2003). 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia . Journal of Human Evolution 45, 169-177.

Stout, D. (2001) Constraint and adaptation in primate brain evolution. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24(2):295-296.

Stout, D. (2002). Skill and cognition in stone tool production: An ethnographic case study from Irian Jaya. Current Anthropology 45(3), 693-722.

Stout, D., Toth, N., Schick, K., Stout, J., and Hutchins, G. 2000 Stone Tool-Making and Brain Activation: Position Emission Tomography (PET) Studies. Journal of Archaeological Science 27:1215-1223.

Toth, N. and Schick, K. (2004) “African Origins” in The Human Past. Edited by Christoher Scarre. London : Thames and Hudson .

Toth, Nicholas and Kathy Schick, editors (2004). The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Bloomington , Indiana : Stone Age Institute Press.

Toth, Nicholas, Kathy Schick, and Sileshi Semaw (2004). A Comparative Study of the Stone Tool-making Abilities of Pan, Australopithecus, and Homo sapiens. In: The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age, N. Toth and K. Schick, editors. Bloomington , Indiana : Stone Age Institute Press.

 

Selected Publications by Researcher


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Kathy Schick

Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Stone Age Institute, Ph.D. UC Berkeley 1984

Books:

1993 Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology. New York : Simon and Schuster. By K. D. Schick and N. Toth .

1986 Stone Age Sites in the Making: Experiments in the Formation and Transformation of Archaeological Occurrences. Oxford : BAR International Series, 319. By K.D. Schick.

2000 The Acheulean and the Plio-Pleistocene Deposits of the Middle Awash Valley , Ethiopia. Jean de Heinzelin, J. Desmond Clark, Kathy Schick, and W. Henry Gilbert, Eds. Tervuren , Belgium : Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale, Annales – Sciences Géologiques. Volume 104.

Selected Articles:

2003 “Biface Technological Development and Variability in the Acheulean Industrial Complex in the Middle Awash Region of the Afar Rift , Ethiopia . In: "From Prehistoric Bifaces to Human Behavior: Multiple Approaches to the study of Bifacial Technologies," edited by M. Soressi and H. Dibble. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Museum Press. Pp. 1-30. By Kathy Schick and J. Desmond Clark.

2003 “The Origins of the Genie: Human Technology in an Evolutionary Context.” By Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth. In Living with the Genie: Essays on Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery.”. Edited by Alan Lightman, Daniel Sarewitz and Chris Desser. Washington : Island Press. Pp. 23-34.

2001 “Paleoanthropology at the Millenium.” In Archaeology at the Millenium, edited by T. Douglas Price and Gary Feinman. New York : Kluewer Academic/Plenum Publishers. By Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth. Pp. 39-108.

1999 Continuing Investigations into the Stone Tool-Making Capabilities of a Bonobo (Pan paniscus). Journal of Archaeological Science 26:821-832. By Kathy Schick, Nicholas Toth, Gary Garufi, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Rose Sevcik, and Duane Rumbaugh.

1994 African Homo erectus: Old Radiometric Ages and Young Oldowan Assemblages in the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia. By J.D. Clark, J. de Heinzelin, K.D. Schick, W.K. Hart, T.D. White, G. Woldegabriel, R.C. Walter, G. Suwa, B. Asfaw, E. Vrba, and Y. H.-Selassie. Science 264:1904-1910.

1994 The Movius Line Reconsidered: Perspectives on the Earlier Palaeolithic of Eastern Asia . In R. Corruccini and R. Ciochon (eds.): Integrative Paths to the Past: Palaeoanthropological Advances in Honor of F. Clark Howell. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey : Prentice-Hall. Pp. 569-596. By K. Schick.

1993 The Early Palaeolithic of China and Eastern Asia . Journal of Evolutionary Anthropology 2:22-35. By K. Schick and Z. Dong.


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Nicholas Toth

Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Stone Age Institute, Ph.D. UC Berkeley 1982

Books:

2004 The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Edited by Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick. Bloomington, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press.

1993 Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology. New York: Simon and Schuster. By K. D. Schick and N. Toth . 350 pp.

Selected Articles:

In press “African Origins.” By Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick. In The Human Past. Edited by Christopher Scarre. London: Thames and Hudson. 50 pp. manuscript.

2004 “Chapter 3: A Comparative Study of the Stone Tool-Making Abilities of Pan, Australopithecus, and Homo sapiens. By Nicholas Toth, Kathy Schick, and Sileshi Semaw. In The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Edited by Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick. Bloomington, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press.

2001 “Palaeoanthropology at the Millenium.” By K. Schick and N. Toth . In Archaeology at the Millenium, eds. T. Douglas Price and Gary Feinman. New York: Plenum. Pp. 39-108.

1999 “Continuing investigations into the stone tool-making and tool-using capabilities of a bonobo (Pan paniscus).” By K. Schick, N. Toth, G. Garufi, E.S. Savage-Rumbaugh, D. Rumbaugh, and R. Sevcik. Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 821-832.

1997 “Chapter Seven: Experimental Studies.” By N. Toth. In Koobi Fora Volume 5. Ed. B. Isaac and D. Roe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

1994 Early Stone Age Archaeology in Africa: A Review and a Case Study into the Nature and Function of Spheroids and Subspheroids. In R. Corruchini and R. Ciochon, eds. Integrative Paths to the Past: Palaeoanthropological Advances in Honor of F. Clark Howell. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. By K. Schick and N. Toth . Pp. 429-449.

1993 Pan the Tool-Maker: Investigations into the Stone Tool-Making and Tool-Using Capabilities of a Bonobo (Pan paniscus). Journal of Archaeological Science 20:81-91. (By N. Toth , K. D. Schick, E.S. Savage-Rumbaugh, R.A. Sevcik, and D.M. Rumbaugh.)

1985 The Oldowan reassessed: a close look at early stone artifacts. By N. Toth. Journal of Archaeological Science 12:101-120.


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Kevin Hunt

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1989

2004 K.D. Hunt. The special demands of Great Ape locomotion and posture. In: Evolutionary Origin of Great Ape Intelligence, A.E. Russon and D. Begun (eds.). Cambridge University Press, pp. 629-699.

2003 K.D. Hunt. The single species hypothesis: truly dead and pushing up bushes, or still twitching and ripe for resuscitation? Human Biology. 75 (4): 485-502.

2003 Toshisada Nishida, Nadia Corp, Miya Hamai, Toshikazu Hasegawa, Mariko Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, Kazuhiko Hosaka, Kevin D. Hunt, Noriko Itoh, Kenji Kawanaka, Akiko Matsumoto-Oda, John C. Mitani, Michio Nakamura, Koshi Norikoshi, Tetsuya Sakamaki, Linda Turner, Shigeo Uehara and Koichiro Zamma . Demography, female life history and reproductive profiles among the chimpanzees of Mahale. American Journal of Primatology. 59 (3): 99-121.

2002 K.D. Hunt and W. C. McGrew. Chimpanzees in dry habitats at Mount Assirik, Senegal and at the Semliki-Toro Wildlife Reserve, Uganda. In: Behavioural Diversity in Chimpanzees and Bonobos, C. Boesch, G. Hohmann and L.F. Marchant (eds.) Cambridge University Press, pp. 35-51.

1998 D.C. Cook and K.D. Hunt. Sex differences in trace elements: status or self-selection? In: Gender in Palaeopathological Perspective, A. Grauer & P.L. Stuart (eds.) Cambridge University Press, pp. 64-78.

1998 R.W. Wrangham, N.L. Conklin-Brittain and K.D. Hunt. Dietary response of chimpanzees and cercopithecines to seasonal variation in fruit abundance. I. Antifeedants. International Journal of Primatology. 19: 949-970.

1998 N.L. Conklin-Brittain, R.W. Wrangham, and K.D. Hunt. Dietary response of chimpanzees and cercopithecines to seasonal variation in fruit abundance. II. Macronutrients. International Journal of Primatology. 19: 971-998.


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Travis Pickering

Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, 1999

Pickering , T.R., Domínguez-Rodrigo, Egeland, C.P. & Brain, C.K. (2004). Beyond leopards: Tooth marks and the relative contribution of multiple carnivore taxa to the accumulation of the Swartkrans Member 3 fossil assemblage. Journal of Human Evolution 46, 595-604.

> Pickering , T.R., Clarke, R.J. & Heaton, J.L. (2004). The context of Stw 573, an early hominid skull and skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Taphonomy and paleoenvironment. Journal of Human Evolution 46, 277-295.

Carlson, K.J. & Pickering, T.R. (2004). Shape adjusted bone mineral density measurements in baboons: Other factors explain primate skeletal element representation at Swartkrans. Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 577-583.

Pickering, T.R. , Marean, C.W. & Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. (2003). Importance of limb bone shafts in zooarchaeology: A response to “On in situ attrition and vertebrate body part profiles” (2002), by M.C. Stiner. Journal of Archaeological Science 30, 1469-1482.

Domínguez-Rodrigo, M & Pickering, T.R. (2003). Early hominid hunting and scavenging: A zooarchaeological review. Evolutionary Anthropology12, 275-282.

Pickering, T.R. (2002). Reconsideration of criteria for differentiating faunal assemblages created by hyenas and hominids. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 12, 127-141.

Pickering, T.R. & Carlson, K.J. (2002). Baboon bone mineral densities: implications for the taphonomy of primate skeletons in South African cave sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 29, 883-896.


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Mohamed Sahnouni

Research Associate, Ph.D. Indiana University 1995

2003: Meier, R.J., M. Sahnouni, M. Medig and A. Derradji. Human Skull from the Taza Locality, Jijel, Algeria. Anthropologisher Anzeiger, 61(2): 129-140.

2002: Sahnouni M., D. Hadjouis, A.Derradji, A. Canals, J. Ver der Made, M. Medig, H. Belahrach, Z. Harichane, & M. Rabhi. Further Research at the Oldowan site of Ain Hanech, northeatern Algeria. Journal of Human Evolution, 43: 925-937.

2001: Carbonell E., Mosquera M., Ollé A., Rodriguez X.P., Sahnouni M., Sala R., & Vergès J.M. Structure morphotechnique de l’industrie lithique du Pléistocène inférieur et moyen d’Atapuerca (Burgos, Espagne). L’Anthropologie 105 : 259-280.

1999: Carbonell E., G. A. MaDolores, Mallol C., Mosquera M., Ollé A., Rodríguez X.P., Sahnouni M., Sala R. & J.M. Vergès. The TD6 level lithic industry from Gran Dolina, Atapuerca ( Burgos , Spain ): production and use. Journal of Human Evolution 37 (3): 653-693.

1998: Sahnouni M. and J. de Heinzelin. The site of Ain Hanech revisited: New investigations at this Lower Pleistocene archaeological site in northeastern Algeria . Journal of Archaeological Science, 25 (11): 1083-1101.

1997: Sahnouni M., K. Schick and N. Toth. An experimental investigation into the nature of faceted limestone “spheroids” in the Early Palaeolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science 24 (8): 701-713.

1996: Medig M., R. Meier, M. Sahnouni and A. Derradji. Discovery of a human skull from the Iberomaurusian levels of Taza cave I, Jijel , Algeria . Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences, Paris 323, Série IIa: 825-931.


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Sileshi Semaw

Research Associate, Ph.D. Rutgers University 1997

Levin, N.E., Quade, J., Simpson, S.W., Semaw, S. & Rogers, M. Isotopic evidence for Plio-Pleistocene environmental change at Gona , Ethiopia (2004). Earth and Planetray Science Letters, 219:93-100. 

Semaw, S., Rogers , M.J., Quade, J., Renne, P.R., Butler , R.F., Stout, D., Dominguez- Rodrigo, Hart, W., Pickering , T. & Simpson, S.W. 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia (2003). Journal of Human Evolution, 45, 169-177.

Semaw, S. The World’s oldest stone artifacts from Gona , Ethiopia : Their implications for understanding stone technology and patterns of human evolution between 2.6-2.5 million years ago (2000). Journal of Archaeological Science, 27:1197-1214.

Semaw, S., Renne, P., Harris, J.W.K., Feibel, C., Bernor, R., Fesseha, N. & Mowbray, K. (1997). 2. 5 million-year-old Stone tools from Gona , Ethiopia . Nature,385:333-338.

Asfaw, B., Beyene, Y., Semaw, S., Suwa, G., White, T., & WoldeGabriel, G. Tephra from Fejej , Ethiopia . A reply (1993). Journal of Human Evolution, 25:519-521.

Wolde-Gabriel, G., White, T., Suwa, G., Semaw, S., Beyene, Y., Asfaw, B. & Walter, R. KeseM Kebena: a newly discovered palaeoanthropological research area in Ethiopia (1992).Journal of Field Archaeology ,19:371-391.

Asfaw, B, Beyene, Y.,Semaw, S., Suwa, G., White, T. & WoldeGabriel, G. (1991). Fejej: a new paleoanthropological research area in Ethiopia . Journal of Human Evolution, 21:137-143.


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Dietrich Stout

Visiting Assistant Professor, George Washington University

Stone Age Institute Research Associate, Ph.D. Indiana University 2003

Stout, D. (2004) Comment on “The invention of technology” by S. de Beaune. Current Anthropology 45 (2): 155.

Semaw, S., Rogers, M., Quade, J., Renne, P., Butler, R., Dominguez-Rodrigo, M., Stout, D., Hart, W., Pickering, T., Simpson, S. (2003) 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 45 (2): 169-177.

Stout, D. (2002) Thinking and doing in Cognitive Archaeology: Giving skill its due. Comment in Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25 (3): 421-422.

Stout, D. (2002) Skill and cognition in stone tool production: An ethnographic case study from Irian Jaya.Current Anthropology 45 (3): 693-722.

Semaw, S., K. Schick, N. Toth, S. Simpson, J. Quade, M. Rogers, P. Renne, D. Stout, and M. Dominquez-Rodrigo. ( 2002 ) Recent Discoveries from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution (Abstract) 42(3):A33.

Stout, D. (2001) Constraint and adaptation in primate brain evolution. Comment in Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (2): 295-296.

Stout, D., Toth, N., Schick, K., Stout, J.C., Hutchins, G. (2000) Stone tool-making and brain activation: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) studies. Journal of Archaeological Science 27: 1215-1223


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Charles Egeland

Graduate Researcher, B.S. Colorado State University 2003

Egeland, C.P. (2003) Processing intensity and cutmark creation: an experimental approach. Plains Anthropologist 48, 39-51.

Pickering , T.R., Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Egeland, C.P. & C.K. Brain (2004). Beyond leopards: tooth marks and the contribution of multiple carnivore taxa to the Swartkrans Member 3 fossil assemblage. Journal of Human Evolution 46, 595-604.


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Melanie Everett

Graduate Researcher, Ph.D. candidate Indiana University 2003

DeGusta, David., Melanie Everett, and Katherine Milton (2003). Natural selection on molar size in a wild population of howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Biology Letters 270(S1):S15-S17.


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Leslie Harlacker

Graduate Researcher, Ph.D. Candidate Indiana University 2002

Harlacker, L. In press. “Knowledge and Know-How in the Oldowan: An Experimental Approach.” In Skilled Production and Social Reproduction: Aspects on Traditional Stone-Tool Technologies symposium volume.


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Jason Heaton

Graduate Researcher, Ph.D. Candidate Indiana University 2003

Pickering , T.R., Clarke, R.J. and J.L. Heaton (2004) The context of Stw 573, an early hominid skull and skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: taphonomy and paleoenvironment. Journal of Human Evolution 46:277-295.