Limestone percussion tools from the late Early Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain).
In recent years, there is growing interest in the study of percussion scars and breakage patterns on hammerstones, cores and tools from Oldowan African and Eurasian lithic assemblages. Oldowan stone toolkits generally contain abundant small-sized flakes and their corresponding cores, and are characterized by their structural dichotomy of heavy- and light-duty tools. This paper explores the significance of the lesser known heavy-duty tool component, providing data from the late Lower Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Spain), dated 1.4-1.2 Myr. Using quantitative and qualitative data from the large-sized limestone industries from these two major sites, we present a new methodology highlighting their morpho-technological features. In the light of the results, we discuss the shortfalls of extant classificatory methods for interpreting the role of percussive technology in early toolkits. This work is rooted in an experimental program designed to reproduce the wide range of percussion marks observed on the limestone artefacts from these two sites. A visual and descriptive reference is provided as an interpretative aid for future comparative research. Further experiments using a variety of materials and gestures are still needed before the elusive traces yield the secrets of the kinds of percussive activities carried out by hominins at these, and other, Oldowan sites.
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain dbarsky@iphes.cat.
Deborah
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4921-0389
D
Barsky
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
Josep-María
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1807-7463
JM
Vergès
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
Robert
R
Sala
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, c/Marcelli Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
Leticia
L
Menéndez
Museo Arqueológico de Granada, Carrera del Darro 41-43, 18010 Granada, Spain.
Isidro
I
Toro-Moyano
D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002119:Calcium Carbonate; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D013030:Spain; D053001:Tool Use Behavior
D002119:Calcium Carbonate
Oldowan; Orce; heavy-duty tool; late Lower Pleistocene; percussive technology; stone toolkits