Stone Age Institute Press | Featured Publications of Institute Research
A Book Series Published by the Stone Age Institute Press
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.
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Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of
C.K. (Bob) Brain
Taphonomy, the study of the processes leading to the fossilization of organic remains, is one of the most important avenues of inquiry in human origins research. Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of C.K. (Bob) Brain is a major contribution to taphonomic studies in paleoanthropology and natural history. This book emanates from a Stone Age Institute conference celebrating the life and career of naturalist Bob Brain, a pioneer in bringing taphonomic perspectives to human evolutionary studies. Contributions by leading researchers provide a state-of-the-art look at the maturing field of taphonomy and the unique perspectives it provides to research into human origins. This important volume reveals approaches taken to the study of bone accumulations at prehistoric sites in Africa, Eurasia, and America, and provides fascinating insights into patterns produced by carnivores, by hunter-gatherers, and by our early human ancestors.
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The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the
Archaeology of Human Origins
This book focuses on innovative new approaches to the archaeological evidence for protohuman behavior found in the Early Stone Age, based on a recent international conference held at the Stone Age Institute. Major researchers in the field present important new findings from a range of well-preserved archaeological sites and critical experimental archaeological investigations. Topics include: early stone artifact assemblage variability at Gona, Ethiopia and at Koobi Fora, Kenya; early human presence in North Africa; technological strategies and patterns at Peninj, Tanzania; the Oldowan industries from Sterkfontein Cave, South Africa; flaking accidents and knapping skills at Hadar, Ethiopia; hominin transport of stone at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania; a critical examination of the early occupation of India; new methods for quantifying stone tool cutting efficiency in the Oldowan and Acheulean; evidence for early occupation Eurasia, with particular attention to early sites in Spain, as well as early hominin presence in China in the Nihewan Basin; a comparative experimental study of Oldowan artifacts made by novices and by expert toolmakers; and experimental zooarchaeology with regard to the anatomical patterning of butchery marks.
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The Human Brain Evolving:
Papers in Honor of Ralph L. Holloway
Stone Age Institute Press | Featured Publications of Institute Research
Featured Publications of Institute Research
In press Sahnouni M. and Made van der J. The Oldowan in North Africa within a biochronological framework. In (K. Schick and N.Toth, Eds.), The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the Archaeology of Human Origins. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press.
In press Sahnouni, Mohamed, Jan van der Made, and Melanie Everett. “Early North Africa: Chronology, Ecology, and Hominin Behavior: Insights from Ain Hanech and El-Kherba, northeastern Algeria.” Quaternary International.
In press Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick. “The Importance of Actualistic Studies in Stone Age Research. In (K. Schick and N. Toth, Eds.), The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the Archaeology of Human Origins. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press.
In press Semaw, Sileshi, Michael Rogers, and Dietrich Stout. “Insights into Late Pliocene Lithic Assemblage Variability: The East Gona and Ounda Gona South Oldowan Archaeology (2.6 Million Years Ago), Afar, Ethiopia. In (K. Schick and N. Toth, Eds.), The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the Archaeology of Human Origins. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press.
2009 Stout, Dietrich, Nicholas Toth, Kathy Schick, and Thierry Chaminade. “Neural Correlates of Early Stone Age Toolmaking: Technology, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution.” In (C. Renfrew, C. Frith, and L Malafouris, Eds.): The Sapient Mind: Archaeology Meets Neuroscience. Pp. 1-19.
2009 Toth, Nicholas and Kathy Schick. “The Oldowan: The Tool Making of Early Hominins and Chimpanzees Compared.” Annual Review of Anthropology 38:289-305.
2009 Whiten, Andrew, Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth. “The evolution and cultural transmission of percussive technology: Integrating evidence from palaeoanthropology and primatology.” Journal of Human Evolution, 16 pp.
2008 Kleinsasser, L., Quade, J., Levin, N., Simpson, N., McIntosh, W.C. and Semaw, S. Geochronology of the Adu-Asa Formation, Gona, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Special Volume 446:33-65.
2008 Quade, J., Levin, N., Simpson, S.W., Butler, R., McIntosh, W., Semaw, S., Kleinsasser, L., Dupont-Nivet, G., Renne, P. and Dunbar, N.. The Geology of Gona, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Special Paper 446:1-31.
2008 Simpson, Scott, Jay Quade, Naomi Levin, Robert Butler, Guillaume Dupont-Nivet, Melanie Everett, Sileshi Semaw. Science 322:1089-1092.
2007 Sahnouni, Mohamed and Abdelkader Derradji. “The Lower Palaeolithic of the Maghreb: Current State of Knowledge.” Adumatu: A Semi-Annual Archaeological Refereed Journal on the Arab World 15:7-44.
2007 Schick, Kathy, Nicholas Toth, Thomas Gehling, and Travis Pickering. “A Taphonomic Analysis of an Excavated Striped Hyena Den from the Eastern Desert of Jordan.” In (Travis Pickering, Kathy Schick, and Nicholas Toth, Eds.): Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of C.K. “Bob” Brain. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press. Pp. 75-106.
2007 White, Tim and Nicholas Toth. “Carnivora and Carnivory: Assessing Hominid Toothmarks in Zooarchaeology.” In (Travis Pickering, Kathy Schick, and Nicholas Toth, Eds.): Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of C.K. “Bob” Brain. Pp. 281-296. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press.
2006 Hadjoius, Djillali and Mohamed Sahnouni. “Pelorovis howelli nov. sp. (Mammalia, Artiodactyla): a new bovine from the Lower Pleistocene site of Ain Hanech (El-Kherba locus), Northeastern Algeria.” Geobios 234:1-6.
2006 Sahnouni, Mohamed. “Les plus vieilles traces d'occupation humaine en Afrique du Nord. Perspective de l'Ain Hanech, Algérie.” Comptes Rendus Palevol, 5 (1-2): 243-254.
2006 Sahnouni, Mohamed. “The North African Early Stone Age and the Sites at Ain Hanech, Algeria.” In In (Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick, Eds.): The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press. Pp. 77-111.
2006 Schick, Kathy and Nicholas Toth. “An Overview of the Oldowan Industrial Complex: The Sites and the Nature of Their Evidence.” In (Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick, Eds.): The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press. Pp. 3-42.
2006 Semaw, Sileshi. “The Oldest Stone Artifacts from Gona (2.6-2.5 Ma), Afar, Ethiopia: Implications for Understanding the Earliest Stages of Stone Knapping.” In (Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick, Eds.): The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press. Pp. 43-75.
2006 Stout, Dietrich, Nicholas Toth, and Kathy Schick. “Comparing the Neural Foundations of Oldowan and Acheulean Toolmaking: A Pilot Study Using Positron Emission Tomography (PET).” In (Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick, Eds.), The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press. Pp. 321-331.
2006 Toth, Nicholas, Kathy Schick, and Sileshi Semaw. 2006. “A Comparative Study of the Stone Tool-Making Skills of Pan, Australopithecus, and Homo sapiens. In (Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick, Eds.): The Oldowan: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age. Gosport, Indiana: Stone Age Institute Press. Pp. 155-222.
2005 Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Pickering, T.R., Semaw, S. and Rogers, M. Cutmarked bones from archaeological sites at Gona, Afar, Etiopía: Implications for the function of the world’s oldest sotne tools. Journal of Human Evolution, 48:109-121.
2005 Sahnouni, Mohamed, Editor. Le Paléolithique en Afrique: L’Histoire la Plus Longue. Paris: Éditions Artcom’.
2005 Sahnouni, Mohamed. Point des connaissances du Paléolithique ancient d’Afrique du Nord et la question de la première occupation humaine au Maghreb. In (M. Sahnouni, Ed.): Le Paléolithique en Afrique: L’Histoire la Plus Longue. Paris: Éditions Artcom’. Pp. 99-128.
2005 Semaw, Sileshi. Les plus anciens artefacts lithiques (2.6-2.5 millions d’années) des site archéologiques du Pliocène Final de EG-10 et EG-12 à Gona Est, Afar, Ethiopie. In (M. Sahnouni, Ed.): Le Paléolithique en Afrique: L’Histoire la Plus Longue. Paris: Éditions Artcom’. Pp. 13-52.
2005 Stout, D., Quade, J., Semaw, S. and Rogers, M. Raw material selectivity of the earliest tool makers at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution, 48:365-380.
2005 Semaw, Sileshi, Scott Simpson, Jay Quade, Paul Renne, Robert Butler, William McIntosh, Naomi Levin, Manuel Dominguez-Rodrigo, and Michael Rogers. “Early Pliocene Hominids from Gona, Ethiopia.” Nature 433:301-304.
Stone Age Institute Press | Featured Publications of Institute Research
