Lecture 11

Question 1

Function of hand axes

Answer 1

• Chopper
• Butchery knife
• Flake dispenser (core)
• Scraper
• Throwing weapon
• Digging tool

Question 2

‘Soft’ hammers of antler uses

Answer 2

• Gives more control over the trimming process
• Allows creation of thinner pieces
• Extra step of cognitive processing
  *~0.5mya

Question 3

Non-lithic technology: wood Schöningen

Answer 3

*~400ka
Wooden artefacts:
* 9 spears (8 spruce, 1 pine)
* 1 ‘lance’
* 1 double-pointed stick:
throwing stick?
* 1 burnt worked wooden stick
* Other worked wood of unidentified function
* Min 35 heavily butchered horses

Question 4

Wooden hunting spears

Answer 4

*Clacton-upon-sea, UK
*400,000 bp
*Spears 1.84 to 2.53m long
*Resembled modern javelins in size, weight and construction
*Whole trunks of trees used
*Debarked and had knots cut off
*Soear tips off centre to avoid weaker central pith
*Could penetrate 25cm into flesh

Question 5

Dispersal into high latitudes: the challenges and positives

Answer 5

• New environments/seasonality
• Lack of plant food: necessitates reliance on meat and hunting
• More hunting = bigger ranges: tougher to navigate and remember
• Bigger ranges = lower population density. More complex social lives!
• Also some positives:
• Increased nutritional opportunities
• Fewer parasites and other diseases?

Question 6

The need for fire

Answer 6

*Fire is needed at above 60 degree latitude
8

Question 7

The need for fire

Answer 7

*Fire is needed at above 60 degree latitude
*The highest amount of lightening strikes occur on the equator where fire is needed to the least.

Question 8

Examples of fire in Africa

Answer 8

*Chesowanja- 1.5mya
*We can not tell if these fires were man made or natural

Question 9

Gesher Benot Ya’Aqov: 780,000BP

Answer 9

• Excellent preservation
• Seeds
• Wood and wooden
  artefacts
• Pitted stones
• Handaxes
• Cleavers

Evidence of fire:
* Burned seeds, wood and flints
* Highly localised
* Multiple signs in separate layers: control