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  • Book
  • © 2009

Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan

  • Provides a unique perspective on early stone tool manufacture and use
  • Describes the earliest known assemblages and their significance in understanding processes of cultural evolution and change

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology (VERT)

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction: Current Issues in Oldowan Research

    • David R. Braun, Erella Hovers
    Pages 1-14
  3. From Homogeneity to Multiplicity: A New Approach to the Study of Archaic Stone Tools

    • Eudald Carbonell, Robert Sala, Deborah Barsky, Vincenzo Celiberti
    Pages 25-37
  4. Homo floresiensis and the African Oldowan

    • Mark W. Moore, Adam Brumm
    Pages 61-69
  5. Oldowan Technology and Raw Material Variability at Kanjera South

    • David R. Braun, Thomas W. Plummer, Peter W. Ditchfield, Laura C. Bishop, Joseph V. Ferraro
    Pages 99-110
  6. Obsidian exploitation and utilization during the Oldowan at Melka Kunture (Ethiopia)

    • Marcello Piperno, Carmine Collina, Rosalia Gallotti, Jean-Paul Raynal, Guy Kieffer, Francois-Xavier le Bourdonnec et al.
    Pages 111-128
  7. The Environmental Context of Oldowan Hominin Activities at Kanjera South, Kenya

    • Thomas W. Plummer, Laura C. Bishop, Peter W. Ditchfield, Joseph V. Ferraro, John D. Kingston, Fritz Hertel et al.
    Pages 149-160
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 161-163

About this book

An understanding of the uniquely human behavior of stone tool making tackles questions about hominins’ ability to culturally transmit and expand their base of social and practical knowledge and their cognitive capacities for advanced planning. The appearance of stone tools has often been viewed as a threshold event, impacting directly and profoundly the later course of cultural and social evolution. Alternatively, it has been understood as a prelude to significant succeeding changes in behavioral, social and biological evolution of hominins. This book presents a series of recent enquiries into the technological and adaptive significance of Oldowan stone tools. While anchored in a long research tradition, these studies rely on recent discoveries and innovative analyses of the archaeological record of ca. 2.6–1.0 million years ago in Africa and Eurasia, dealing with the earliest lithic industries as manifestations of hominin adaptations and as expressions of hominin cognitive abilities.

Editors and Affiliations

  • The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Erella Hovers

  • Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa

    David R. Braun

About the editors

Erella Hovers focuses on Oldowan and Middle Stone Age archaeology in Africa and on the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant. She is the co-editor (with Steve Kuhn) of "Transitions Before the Tansition" (Springer 2006) and the author of "The Organization of Mousterian Lithic Technology in Qafzeh Cave, Israel" (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2009). She is a senior lecturer in the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jersualem.

David R. Braun’s research is centered on the relationship between around the earliest stone artifact behavior and the ecology of our earliest ancestors. His research is conducted in Kenya, South Africa and China. He is a lecturer in the department of archaeology in the University of Cape Town.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access