Documenting Differences between Early Stone Age Flake Production Systems: An Experimental Model and Archaeological...

Area of Science:

• Paleoanthropology
• Archaeological Science
• Lithic Technology Analysis

Background:

• Distinguishing between core and flake technologies and bifacial shaping strategies is crucial for understanding early hominin behavior.
• Morphological flake attributes are often used to infer stone tool production methods, but their diagnostic power requires rigorous testing.
• The Elandsfontein archaeological site in South Africa provides a rich context for studying Middle Pleistocene lithic assemblages.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate systematic morphological differences between flakes produced by core and flake technologies versus bifacial shaping strategies.
• To develop and apply an experimental model to classify archaeological flakes from the Elandsfontein site.
• To determine which flake morphological variables and their interactions best distinguish between these two technological groups.

Main Methods:

• Experimental production of flake assemblages to establish a model for technological group separation.
• Analysis of independent variables including external platform angle, platform depth, thickness variance, and flake curvature.
• Application of Generalized Linear Models (GLM) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) for statistical modeling and classification.

Main Results:

• Selected independent variables, particularly thickness evenness and curvature, significantly differentiate core and flake from bifacial technologies.
• A significant interaction between thickness evenness and platform depth was identified, highlighting the complexity of flake attribute analysis.
• Discriminant function analysis indicated that most archaeological flakes at Elandsfontein were not associated with Large Cutting Tool production.

Conclusions:

• Morphological flake attributes, especially thickness evenness and curvature, are effective in distinguishing between core/flake and bifacial technologies.
• The interaction between thickness evenness and platform depth underscores the nuanced nature of inferring technological strategies from flake morphology.
• The Elandsfontein assemblage suggests a technological behavior not primarily focused on the production of Large Cutting Tools, aligning with prior interpretations.