Thursday, September 29, 2011

Stone tool experiments and reduction methods at the Acheulean site of Isampur Quarry, India.

Stone tool experiments and reduction methods at the Acheulean site of Isampur Quarry, India. Introduction Stone tool technology has been used to make inferences aboutvarious aspects of hominin cognition cognitionAct or process of knowing. Cognition includes every mental process that may be described as an experience of knowing (including perceiving, recognizing, conceiving, and reasoning), as distinguished from an experience of feeling or of willing. , ranging from symbolism (e.g.Carbonell et al. 2003) to spatial awareness (e.g. Wynn 2002). Stone toolreduction experiments are an important methodology in archaeology asthey allow us to infer aspects of behaviour which would be difficult toascertain from the artefactual adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.2. made by human actions.Adj. 1. artefactual - of or relating to artifactsartifactual data alone. Lithic lith��ic?1?adj.Consisting of or relating to stone or rock.Adj. 1. lithic - of or containing lithium2. lithic - relating to or composed of stone; "lithic sandstone" manufacturingexperiments have been used to reconstruct specific reduction strategiesemployed at individual sites (Jones 1994; Madsen & Goren-Inbar2004), and to compare the cognitive and skill demands of differentknapping techniques (Edwards 2001; Stout et al. 2006). Stone toolexperiments are therefore an important methodology for understandinghominin behaviour, and are here applied at the Acheulean site at IsampurQuarry. Isampur Quarry is located in the Hunsgi-Baichbal Valley in thecentre of peninsula India (see Figure 1). Over 15 000 artefacts havebeen recovered from the site, including limestone cores and debitage The term debitage refers to the totality of waste material produced during lithic reduction and the production of chipped stone tools. This assemblage includes, but is not limited to, different kinds of lithic flakes, shatter, and production errors and rejects. anda variety of hammerstones. It is apparent that the entire bifacemanufacturing sequence was carried out there, from extraction of thebedrock to the creation of finished handaxes and cleavers (Petraglia etal. 1999; Paddayya et al. 2006). Isampur Quarry occurs on a siliceous siliceousrelating to or made of silica or a silicate. limestone pediment pediment,in architecture, the triangular gable end on a building of classic type or a similar form used decoratively. It consists of the tympanum, or triangular wall surface, enclosed below by the horizontal cornice and above by the raking cornice, which follows the on the western edge of a 2-3m deep palaeo-drainagechannel that has silted up since the hominin occupation (Paddayya et al.2002). The limestone bedrock weathers in a predictable way leavingjoint-bounded slabs of thicknesses varying from 20 to 200mm. Theweathered form of the limestone makes it easy to procure and its highlysiliceous nature (up to 18 per cent silica evenly distributed throughoutthe stone) gives it excellent Hertzian flaking properties, so it is anideal material for lithic manufacture (Petraglia et al. 1999). Thelimestone, overlying overlyingsuffocation of piglets by the sow. The piglets may be weak from illness or malnutrition, the sow may be clumsy or ill, the pen may be inadequate in size or poorly designed so that piglets cannot escape. an up-thrown fault block running near the site, hasbeen chemically weathered to leave a residuum That which remains after any process of separation or deduction; a balance; that which remains of a decedent's estate after debts have been paid and gifts deducted. of chert chert:see flint. cobbles cob��ble?1?n.1. A cobblestone.2. Geology A rock fragment between 64 and 256 millimeters in diameter, especially one that has been naturally rounded.3. cobbles See cob coal.tr. , making agood supply of hammerstones. Other chert, basalt basalt(bəsôlt`, băs`ôlt), fine-grained rock of volcanic origin, dark gray, dark green, brown, reddish, or black in color. Basalt is an igneous rock, i.e., one that has congealed from a molten state. and quartzite quartzite,usually metamorphic rock composed of firmly cemented quartz grains. Most often it is white, light gray, yellowish, or light brown, but is sometimes colored blue, green, purple, or black by included minerals. hammerstones were also introduced to the site from 1-2km away. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Our observations indicate that handaxes were predominandy made byreducing slabs of bedrock to leave the desired shape, while cleaverswere mostly made from large flakes struck off slabs (Petraglia et al.1999, 2005). Analysis of slab thickness showed that most of the thinnestslabs were not used by hominins, those from 30 to 80mm in thickness werereduced into handaxes, while those from 50 to 160mm were used as cores(Petraglia et al. 2005; Shipton 2007). Experiments were conducted tofurther explore these two reduction strategies. The experimental design Stone tool manufacturing experiments were conducted on naturallimestone slabs at Isampur Quarry. Two analysts were involved in thisresearch, Michael Noll, who performed the lithic experiments, andMichael Petraglia, who recorded relevant information. Based onobservations and measurements of the chipped stone In archaeology, chipped stone refers to a method of manufacturing stone tools through lithic reduction, wherein lithic flakes are struck off a mass of tool stone with a percussor. artefacts andhammerstones at Isampur Quarry, the analysts attempted to reproducehominin reduction sequences. Two biface reduction methods werehypothesised at Isampur Quarry (Petraglia et al. 1999, 2005) thereduction of thinner limestone slabs to leave the biface form, and thestriking of large flakes off thick core slabs to be used as bifaceblanks. Throughout this paper we refer to the former method as faconnageas it involves the shaping of a substrate by the removal of smallpieces, and the latter method as debitage as it focuses on the removalof a single large piece of predetermined pre��de��ter��mine?v. pre��de��ter��mined, pre��de��ter��min��ing, pre��de��ter��minesv.tr.1. To determine, decide, or establish in advance: form. Once the biface blank hasbeen created in the debitage technique final trimming and shaping isachieved through faconnage, however this process is not the mainemphasis of the technique. Thirty-seven reduction experiments werecarried out over a period of five days, producing 25 bifaces (see Table1). Twenty-one of these experiments used the faconnage method and 16experiments used the debitage method. Worked slabs at Isampur Quarry range in thickness from 20 to 165mm,while for the experiments 41 slabs were selected, ranging in thicknessfrom 27 to 160mm (see Table 2). Chert, basalt and quartzite hammerstoneswere procured for the experiments, with basalt and quartzite provingeasier to find so these dominated the sample, whereas mostarchaeological hammers were chert. The archaeological hammerstonesranged from 125 to 4000g (median weight = 260g). The experimentalhammers were selected to cover a similar range of weights (see Table 3),although due to the size of the basalt and quartzite clasts theexperimental hammers tended to be heavier than the archaeological ones. For comparative purposes, archaeological data was collected onbifaces and large flakes from Isampur Quarry. The percentage of cortexremaining on bifaces was estimated and the number of bifaces with thebedding cortex remaining on both surfaces counted. Due to the beddednature of the limestone it was also possible to note the main planesurfaces of the bifaces in relation to the original horizontalorientation of the bedrock. The following variables were taken on arandom sample of over 100 large flakes from Isampur trenches 1 and 5:maximum length, width and thickness, platform size, distal width of theflake and percent of cortex on the dorsal dorsal/dor��sal/ (dor��s'l)1. pertaining to the back or to any dorsum.2. denoting a position more toward the back surface than some other object of reference; a synonym of posterior surface. In addition, thebedding plane of the limestone was used to determine the direction inwhich flakes were struck off the core. The faconnage experiments The experimental production of handaxes proceeded with theexperimenters bifacially reducing slabs less than 70mm thick (see Tables1 and 2). Using the thinner slabs (nos. 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 14, 17 and 21 to26) it was relatively easy to arrive at a bifacial edge (see Figure 2).Slabs were then reduced in plan to leave the handaxe shape. Fourteenhandaxes were successfully produced using this method. During bifacial reduction it was realised that one of the majorobstacles in handaxe production was unintended breakage, which occurredin nine experiments (nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14 and 18) and led tothe abandonment of the experiment in four cases (nos. 3, 6, 9 and 14).Breakage also appears to have been a problem for the archaeologicaltool-makers, as several broken handaxes were found at Isampur Quarry,which we discuss below. The experimental breaks were eitherperpendicular to the bedding plane, as a result of shock, or occurredalong banded flaws running parallel to the bedding plane, resulting insplit slabs and shatter. Over-use of force and inadequate slab selectionwere responsible for these breakages. As a result of this learningexperience, slabs were tested for flaws and smaller hammers were used inthe middle and later stages of flaking. It was determined that theoptimal thickness of slabs was around 50mm as these are thin enough tocontain relatively few flaws, but thick enough so they are not too proneto shock breakages. A further strategy was developed whereby largerslabs were split into two or more pieces prior to biracial bi��ra��cial?adj.1. Of, for, or consisting of members of two races.2. Having parents of two different races.bi��ra working, inorder to reduce the amount of work needed to produce the handaxe shapeand to reduce the chance of encountering flaws. The splitting of slabsalso created steep, flat surfaces, which provided better platforms forinitiating flaking than the more rounded natural joint surfaces. Largerslabs were broken by placing a large hammer underneath the slab as ananvil anvilIron block on which metal is placed for shaping, originally by hand with a hammer. The blacksmith's anvil is usually of wrought iron (sometimes of cast iron), with a smooth working surface of hardened steel. and then striking the slab using another large hammer. As theexperimenters found that the slabs tended to break above the anvil, theyfound they were able to control the point where the breakage occurred.This strategy proved successful with 14 bifaces produced from 15experiments using smaller slabs (less than 0.1 [m.sup.2]). Although several different hammers were tested, a distinctpreference was developed during the experiments for certain hammers atcertain stages of reduction. Hammers 10 and 2, both of quartzite,weighing 2680 and 980g respectively and with maximum lengths of 170 and120mm, were used for breaking up larger slabs, with hammer 10 used forthe thicker slabs and hammer 2 for the smaller, thinner slabs. Thebasalt hammer 12, 95mm long and weighing 780g, was extensively used forroughing out. Smaller hammers were not heavy enough for detachingadequate flakes and larger hammers were liable to break the biface.Finishing was generally achieved with the small basalt hammer number 4,95mm long and weighing 640g, as hammer 12 was found to be too heavy dutyfor this task. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The experimental findings allow us to produce the followingidealised Adj. 1. idealised - exalted to an ideal perfection or excellenceidealizedperfect - being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish; "a perfect circle"; "a perfect reproduction"; "perfect happiness"; "perfect manners"; "a perfect specimen"; "a model of the handaxe reduction sequence at Isampur Quarry: 1. Extraction of a bedrock slab. 2. Selection of slab c. 50ram in thickness with minimal flaws. 3. Breaking larger slab into more manageable pieces using largehammerstones heavier than 900g (see Figure 3a). 4. Roughing out with medium-sized hammerstones c. 800g (see Figures2, 3b and 3c). 6. Finishing handaxe with small hammerstones less than700g (see Figure 3d). The dehitage experiments From archaeological evidence it was apparent that cleavers wereoften made from large, thin flakes, struck sub-parallel to the beddingplane (Petraglia et al 1999), which we term sectioning flakes. In orderto replicate these flakes, the first experiments attempted to strikeinto the side of thick cores, when they were propped tip on the oppositelateral edge. However, this technique produced small flakes that tendedto shatter and crush under the hammer, as the platform angle was toosteep. It was realised that in order to set tip a good platform angle itwas necessary to first strike off" thick flakes from slab cornersand other irregular projections at right angles so as to form a right angle or right angles, as when one line crosses another perpendicularly.See also: Right to the bedding plane,thereby creating an overhang OverhangCalculated as stock options granted, plus the remaining options to still be granted, and then divided by the total shares outstanding.Notes:A high percentage for the overhang is usually a bad thing. (see Figure 4). These flakes struck atright angles to the bedding plane off the core perimeters were termedperimeter flakes. The overhang created by the perimeter flake scar wasused as a platform to strike flakes sub-parallel to the bedding planesuitable for cleaver blanks. The alternate striking of flakes orthogonaland sub-parallel to the bedding plane creates a biracial edge which canbe maintained and used to strike large thin flakes by flipping the coreand alternately flaking (see Figures 5 and 6). During the experiments itwas found that turning and positioning large slabs was most easilyachieved with two people working together. [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] The bit of the cleaver may be formed where the lateral edge of theflake reaches the edge of the core or the neighbouring flake scar, or bythe feather termination of the flake at the core surface (see Figures 5and 6). Striking the core sub-parallel to the bedding plane ensures thatthe flake will be wedged shaped in profile with the distal and lateralmargins tapering to a thin end if the termination is feathered feath��ered?adj.1. Covered, provided, or adorned with feathers.2. Having feathering, as an animal's coat.3. Moving swiftly: feathered feet.4. . In order to successfully drive off large flakes the core was firstpropped up at an angle using either a limestone wedge or soil, and inmany cases a second person was used to stabilise the core. The core wasthen hit by holding the hammer in Verb 1. hammer in - teach by drills and repetitionbeat in, drill in, ram downdrill - teach by repetition two hands and striking between thelegs in a swinging motion. Two hammers tested in this heavy duty workbroke (the basalt hammer number 19 and the quartzite hammer number 23).The large hammer number 10, used in the handaxe experiments for breakingup slabs, was found to be the most successful at driving off largeflakes (see Figures 4 and 5). The most successful strategy developedalso used hammer number 2 to prepare the platform by removing smalldressing flakes prior to the heavy drive with hammer 10. Once a numberof blanks had been obtained using the above strategy, the small hammersnumbers 13 (weight = 540g) and 17 (weight = 520g) were used for thefinal trimming and shaping of the cleavers (see Figure 6). [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] [FIGURE 5 OMITTED] From the experiments it was possible to delineate an idealisedcleaver reduction sequence for Isampur Quarry: 1. Extraction of bedrock. 2. Procurement of thick slab--thicker than 80ram. 3. Large hammerstone ham��mer��stone?n. ArchaeologyA stone or cobble used as a pounding or pecking tool.hammerstone?A hand-held stone or cobble used by hominids perhaps as early as 2. , heavier than 900g, used to flake perimeter ofslab, removing corners and joint cortex and setting up overhang (seeFigures 4, 7a and 7c). 4. Platform preparation for large flake production using mediumsized hammerstone c. 800g. 5. Sectioning flakes struck using large hammerstone (heavier than900g), producing biracial edge (see Figures 4, 7b and 7d). 6. Further side-struck and end-struck sectioning style flakesdriven off biracial edge for use as cleaver blanks. 7. Marginal trimming of cleaver blanks using small hammerstone,less than 700g (see Figure 7d). [FIGURE 6 OMITTED] The archaeological evidence for biface manufacture A fundamental issue is whether the two reduction sequences laid outabove were indeed intended to produce two different tool types. Table 4is a breakdown of the Isampur bifaces by blank type. A contingencychi-square test was conducted to determine if the proportions ofhandaxes and cleavers made on slabs and flakes are outside theexpectation of no significant difference. A chi-square value of 47.742was produced, which, with 1[degrees] of freedom for a 2 x 2 table, issignificant at the P = 0.01 level. This indicates that the faconnagemethod usually produced handaxes, while the debitage strategy producedcleavers. Without exception the bedding plane of the limestone was parallelto the main plane surface of the 40 Isampur handaxes, and 68 per cent ofhandaxes retained bedding cortex on both their surfaces. This confirmsthat handaxes were made by bifacially reducing slabs to leave thehandaxe form in plan view (see Figure 8). Hominins usually selectedslabs in the 40-80mm thickness range for handaxe manufacture (Shipton2003; Petraglia et al. 2005). As noted in our experiments, some slabs atIsampur appear to have been tested and rejected if they containedinternal flaws. Out of a random sample of 37 worked slabs at the Quarry,29 had been split into smaller pieces. Breakage due to end-shock appearsto have been a problem for the Acheulean hominins at Isampur Quarry, as8 handaxes whose tips had broken off during manufacture and 2 handaxetips were recovered (these were not refits). A similar error has beenreported from the Acheulean workshop site of Ziarat Pir Shaban in Sindh,where a handaxe found at the site was broken in two due to amis-directed blow, and/or the over-use of force (Biagi et al. 1996). Theproblem appears to have been more acute at Isampur Quarry however, asthe broken handaxe from Ziarat Pir Shabdan was an isolated occurrence,while 23 per cent of the handaxes from Isampur Quarry were broken. Thismay explain why the thinnest slabs were left untouched at Isampur Quarryas they would be most vulnerable to end-shock breaks. [FIGURE 7 OMITTED] [FIGURE 8 OMITTED] In contrast to most handaxes, most cleavers were made on largeflake blanks (see Table 4 and Figure 9). From the bedding plane of thelimestone and the location of the cortex it was possible todifferentiate two types of large flakes at Isampur Quarry: those struckorthogonaUy to the bedding place (perimeter flakes) and those strucksub-parallel to the bedding plane (sectioning flakes). Perimeter flakesare often characterised by bedding cortex on the platform and the distalend and joint cortex on the dorsal surface. On perimeter flakes the edgeangle between the bedding plane and the ventral ventral/ven��tral/ (ven��tral)1. pertaining to the abdomen or to any venter.2. directed toward or situated on the belly surface; opposite of dorsal.ven��traladj. surface usually exceeds45[degrees]. T-tests showed that perimeter flakes are shorter thansectioning flakes, but they are also thicker (P < 0.005) (see Table5). Unlike perimeter flakes, sectioning flakes were struck sub-parallelto the bedding plane, they only have cortex on their dorsal surface (seeFigure 9), and the angles between the bedding plane and the ventralsurface are no greater than 30[degrees]. Sectioning flakes are longer,and thinner in comparison to perimeter flakes (see Table 5). Faceting onthe platforms of the sectioning flakes suggests hominins were preparingthe platform before striking these flakes. Being large and thin, withshallow edge angles, these sectioning flakes were suitable for cleaverblanks. Of the 36 Isampur cleavers whose manufacturing method wasidentifiable, 25 (71 per ceno were made on flakes struck sub-parallel orobliquely to the bedding plane, 6 were made on flakes struck at rightangles and 5 were made on slabs. A chi-square test of the nullhypothesis null hypothesis,n theoretical assumption that a given therapy will have results not statistically different from another treatment.null hypothesis,n that there is no significant difference in the proportion ofdeavers made on sectioning flakes and those made using other strategies,produced a value of 5.444. With 10 of freedom this value was significantat the 0.05 level, indicating significantly more deavers are produced onsectioning flakes than by other methods. [FIGURE 9 OMITTED] [FIGURE 10 OMITTED] [FIGURE 11 OMITTED] [FIGURE 12 OMITTED] The cores from Isampur confirm the differentiation of perimeter andsectioning flakes. The cores exhibit both scars which run at rightangles to the bedding plane, indicating where perimeter flakes wereremoved (see Figures 10 and 11), and scars which run subparallel to thebedding plane, indicating where sectioning flakes were removed (seeFigures 11 and 12). Conclusions The manufacturing experiments at Isampur Quarry have enabledreconstructions of hominin behaviour at the site. The experiments alsoallow us to make inferences about the cognition which underpinnedreduction behaviour and here we highlight dexterity and imitation. One of the major problems encountered by hominins at Isampur Quarrywas breakage due to end-shock, the probable cause Apparent facts discovered through logical inquiry that would lead a reasonably intelligent and prudent person to believe that an accused person has committed a crime, thereby warranting his or her prosecution, or that a Cause of Action has accrued, justifying a civil lawsuit. of abandonment in overhalf of the cases in which the biface was dearly discarded. Homininsappear to have developed two strategies to counter this problem inhandaxe manufacture. Firstly, slabs were selected which were thickenough to withstand the force of flaking, but thin enough not to containmany flaws. Secondly, slabs were split prior to the initiation ofbifacial flaking, in order to limit the amount of reduction required toobtain the handaxe shape, thereby reducing the risk of encounteringflaws of over-hitting the piece. Both the breakages and these strategiessuggest that hominins at Isampur Quarry were constrained in theirdexterity. Although thin slabs (between 20 and 40mm thick) existed atIsampur, from which handaxes could have been made, these were largelyleft untouched by hominins (Petraglia et al. 2005). The Isampur homininsmay have been leaving the thinner slabs because they were unable tocontrol their percussive per��cus��sive?adj.Of, relating to, or characterized by percussion.per��cussive��ly adv. force adequately enough to avoid end-shockbreakages. The manufacturing experiments were able to delineate detailedreduction sequences for handaxes and cleavers at Isampur Quarry. Thearchaeological evidence presented here confirms that the faconnagestrategy at Isampur produced handaxes, while the large core and flakestrategy produced cleavers. As a range of slab thicknesses was availableat the site and in the surrounding area it seems likely that homininsdeliberately selected a slab of certain thickness in order to employ aparticular reduction sequence and arrive at a particular tool type,rather than the manufacturing method and tool outcome being a passiveresponse to the initial slab thickness. Here we are in agreement withother experimenters who note that Acheulean knappers must begin by"making a master decision about their shaping objective, then chosea raw material blank calculated to provide the best possible chance ofreaching that objective" (Bradley & Sampson 1986: 29). Ofparticular note is the conceptual contrast between the two trajectories:handaxe manufacture involves the faconnage reduction of thinner slabs ofbedrock, while cleaver manufacture involves the striking of large flakesoff thick core-slabs. The cleaver manufacturing method is particularlywell suited to the production of a bit, as the sub-parallel flakes willproduce a thin, wedge-shaped profile if a feather termination isachieved. This technique may then have been deliberately designed forthe challenging task of producing a cleaver bit. A parallel may be drawnwith the Victoria West technique of South Africa South Africa,Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. , or the industry atChirki-Nevasa in central India, where complex prepared core technologieswere used to produce large side-struck flakes with 'natural'bits that could be used as cleaver blanks (Corvinus 1983; Gonen &Beaumont 2006). That the bedding plane occurs parallel to the main plane surface ofthe tools and cortex is retained on both surfaces, strongly suggeststhat nearly all Isampur handaxes were manufactured by the faconnagereduction of slabs. Cleavers were produced using a more diverse array oftechniques, although a significant majority were made from sectioningflakes. Given the complexity of cleaver manufacture it is perhapsunsurprising that hominins would use alternative methods when theopportunity presented itself. The Isampur Quarry evidence indicates that Acheulean hominins hadcanalised behaviour patterns, where both the means and the goal areconsistently reproduced, as in true imitation (Meltzoff 1995). Therewere two contrasting strategies for the production of handaxes andcleavers, which differed from the outset when slabs of bedrock werebeing selected. In at least two thirds of cases handaxes and deaverswere produced by methods approximating the idealised reduction sequencesshown above. Unless we propose that all the Isampur bifaces weremanufactured by a single individual then these canalised manufacturingtrajectories must have been transmitted between hominins. This suggeststhat true imitation was part of the behavioural repertoire of Acheuleanhominins, and further that these hominins were able to reproduce longsequences of hierarchically organised actions, which in the case ofcleaver production included seven distinct stages. The Isampur hominins were capable of applying two distinct, butclosely related sets of knowledge in parallel, to achieve two differentgoals. This segregation of knowledge was presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. extended to theuse-life of these tools, such that they were intended for differentfunctions that required different skill sets. The application of twodifferent strategies on to a single substrate to achieve differentgoals, indicates a flexible behavioural repertoire, capable ofintentionally manipulating the environment to carve out to make or get by cutting, or as if by cutting; to cut out.- Shak.See also: Carve a niche. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Michael Noll for conducting themanufacturing experiments, The authors also wish to thank theArchaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency in the Department of Culture that is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of cultural monuments. for permission to carry out this work andthe American Institute for Indian Studies for logistical assistance.This research was generously funded by the Leakey Foundation, theSmithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution,research and education center, at Washington, D.C.; founded 1846 under terms of the will of James Smithson of London, who in 1829 bequeathed his fortune to the United States to create an establishment for the "increase and diffusion of and the Deccan College. We thank Martin Carver Martin Oswald Hugh Carver FSA BSc (London), Dip.Archaeol. 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Comparing the neuralfoundations of Oldowan and Acheulean toolmaking: a pilot study usingpositron emission tomography positron emission tomography:see PET scan. positron emission tomography (PET)Imaging technique used in diagnosis and biomedical research. (PET), in N. Toth & K. Schick (ed.) TheOldowan: case studies into the earliest Stone Age (Stone Age Institutepublication series 1): 321-32. Gosport Gosport(gŏs`pôrt), city (1991 pop. 69,664) and district, Hampshire, S England. The city is a major port and shares its harbor with Portsmouth. There are ship- and yacht-building facilities and various light industries. : Stone Age Institute. WYNN, T. 2002. Archaeology and cognitive evolution. Behavioural andBrain Sciences 25: 4. C.B.K. Shipton (1) *, M.D. Petraglia (1) & K. Paddayya (2) * Author for correspondence (Email: ceri.shipton@cantab.net) (1) Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, HenryWellcome Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (born August 21 1853 in Wisconsin, died July 25, 1936 in London) was an American-British pharmaceutical entrepreneur.He was born in a frontier log cabin to Rev. S. C. Building, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, UK (2) Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Yerwada,Pune, Maharashtra, IndiaTable 1. Summary of the manufacturing experiments.Experi- Slabment no. Method no. Hammerstones used Biface no. 1 faconnage 26 12 1 2 faconnage 22 12 2 3 faconnage 21 12 abandoned 4 faconnage 8 6 and 4 abandoned 5 faconnage 1 7, 6 and 12 3 6 faconnage 17 10 and 4 abandoned 7 faconnage 22 12 and 4 4 8 faconnage 17 12, 6, 7, and 4 5 9 faconnage 4 10, 2, and 4 abandoned10 faconnage 23 13 1911 faconnage 14 2 and 13 612 faconnage 14 2 and 13 713 faconnage 14 2, 4 and 12 814 faconnage 14 2 and 13 abandoned15 faconnage 11 10, 12 and 4 1016 faconnage 11 10, 2, 12, 16 and 13 1117 faconnage 9 2, 12 and 13 1218 faconnage 24 15 1319 faconnage 25 15 1420 faconnage 26 15 1521 debitage 27 19, 10, 18 and 17 23 and 2422 debitage 28 10, 2 and 17 abandoned23 debitage 29 10 abandoned24 debitage 30 10, 9, 2 and 12 2825 debitage 31 10, 23, 1, 2, 21, 13 and 17 16 and 1726 debitage 32 10, 2 and 17 abandoned27 debitage 33 10 and 2 abandoned28 debitage 34 10, 2 and 13 1829 debitage 35 10, 2 and 17 2030 debitage 36 10 abandoned31 debitage 37 10 and 2 abandoned32 debitage 38 10 and 2 abandoned33 debitage 39 10 abandoned34 debitage 40 10 and 17 2235 debitage 41 10 and 17 2136 debitage 29 10 and 17 25, 26 and 2737 faconnage 11 10, 2 and 13 9Table 2. Dimensions of natural slabs used in the manufacturingexperiments.Slab Length Width Thicknessno. (mm) (mm) (mm) 1 250 210 48 2 340 335 89 3 348 282 70 4 405 300 59 5 345 245 72 6 280 182 54 7 330 250 78 8 200 180 64 9 300 250 5910 235 210 8011 400 290 6012 500 370 6713 535 290 6014 460 340 4515 437 203 7016 454 270 6517 585 310 5018 430 300 6319 330 295 5520 340 200 6021 384 240 5122 200 190 4123 320 150 5024 170 145 2825 173 127 2726 176 154 4427 390 350 13028 280 280 12229 509 501 16030 440 290 13631 410 310 14032 513 372 11933 429 377 13534 468 323 14035 447 292 13036 475 307 13037 482 309 14438 492 285 11539 360 230 13340 240 220 11041 452 359 109Table 3. Hammerstones used in the manufacturing experiments.Hammerstone Raw Weight Length Circumferenceno. material (g) (mm) (mm) 1 quartzite 1040 110 370 2 quartzite 980 120 325 3 basalt 1100 100 310 4 basalt 640 95 280 5 basalt 740 95 295 6 quartzite 720 100 310 7 quartzite 480 85 250 8 quartzite 580 105 270 9 basalt 1540 125 35510 quartzite 2680 170 43511 basalt 1900 140 39512 basalt 780 95 29513 basalt 540 104 28014 basalt 400 85 24015 basalt 400 86 24316 basalt 620 95 29517 basalt 520 83 25518 basalt 2480 142 41119 basalt 3880 179 50120 quartzite 1200 120 36021 quartzite 1280 120 33522 quartzite 560 70 24523 quartzite 1520 125 340Table 4. Breakdown of biface types by blank types for Isampur Quarry.This table includes broken and damaged bifaces. Handaxe Cleaver Biface TotalSlab 29 5 8 42Flake 0 31 1 32Unknown 13 1 3 17Total 42 37 12 91Table 5. Mean length, width and thickness in millimetres (and standarddeviations) of large flakes from Isampur Quarry.Flake type N Length (SD) Width (SD) Thickness (SD)Perimeter 33 137.06 (35.8) 221.03 (54.5) 105.91 (30.6)Sectioning 49 156.98 (44.7) 199.86 (47) 59.94 (21.4)

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