Scholars from a variety of disciplines consider cases of convergence in lithic technology, when functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages.
Hominins began using stone tools at least 2.6 million years ago, perhaps even 3.4 million years ago. Given the nearly ubiquitous use of stone tools by humans and their ancestors, the study of lithic technology offers an important line of inquiry into questions of evolution and behavior. This book examines convergence in stone tool-making, cases in which functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages. Identifying examples of convergence, and distinguishing convergence from divergence, refutes hypotheses that suggest physical or cultural connection between far-flung prehistoric toolmakers. Employing phylogenetic analysis and stone-tool replication, the contributors show that similarity of tools can be caused by such common constraints as the fracture properties of stone or adaptive challenges rather than such unlikely phenomena as migration of toolmakers over an Arctic ice shelf.
Contributors
R. Alexander Bentley, Briggs Buchanan, Marcelo Cardillo, Mathieu Charbonneau, Judith Charlin, Chris Clarkson, Loren G. Davis, Metin I. Eren, Peter Hiscock, Thomas A. Jennings, Steven L. Kuhn, Daniel E. Lieberman, George R. McGhee, Alex Mackay, Michael J. O'Brien, Charlotte D. Pevny, Ceri Shipton, Ashley M. Smallwood, Heather Smith, Jayne Wilkins, Samuel C. Willis, Nicolas Zayns
**
About the Author
Michael J. O'Brien is Provost and Professor of History at Texas A&M University–San Antonio and the coauthor of I'll Have What She's Having: Mapping Social Behavior and The Acceleration of Cultural Change: From Ancestors to Algorithms (both published by the MIT Press).
Holocene
social learning
Paleolithic
evolution of technology
convergence
evolution of behavior
Archaeology
lithic
Paleontology
evolutionary convergence
hominin
paleoanthropology
Contents 7
Series Foreword 9
Preface and Acknowledgments 11
I INTRODUCTION 13
1 Issues in Archaeological Studies of Convergence 15
Convergence in Archaeology: Getting Past a Stalemate 15
Across Atlantic Ice? 25
Conclusion 28
References 29
II RECOGNIZING CONVERGENCE AND CONSTRAINTS 33
2 Limits on the Possible Forms of Stone Tools: A Perspective from Convergent Biological Evolution 35
The Phenomenon of Convergent Biological Evolution 36
Convergence in Stone-Tool Evolution? 38
Limits in Biological Evolution: Theoretical Possibilities 40
Analyzing Limits in Biological Evolution 45
Discussion: Analyzing Limits and Optimization in Stone-Tool Evolution 50
Acknowledgments 56
References 56
3 The Transparency of Imitation versus Emulation in the Middle Paleolithic 59
Example: The Châtelperronian 64
Implications for Convergent and Other Evolution 66
Conclusion 68
References 68
4 Why Convergence Should Be a Potential Hypothesis for the Emergence and Occurrence of Stone-Tool Form and Production Processes: An Illustration Using Replication 73
Methods and Materials 74
Results 79
Conclusion 81
References 82
5 Technical Constraints on the Convergent Evolution of Technologies 85
Morphocentric Models of Technological Evolution 86
Novel Forms, Intermediate Forms, and Impossible Forms 88
Theoretical Technospace 91
Convergence in Technospace and Beyond 96
Conclusion 98
Acknowledgments 99
References 99
6 Being a Carnivorous Hominin in the Lower Paleolithic: A Biological Perspective on Convergence and Stasis 103
The Challenges of Being an Upright, Bipedal, Carnivorous Ape 105
Endurance Running, Scavenging, and Persistence Hunting 107
Throwing 110
Chewing 112
Implications 113
Acknowledgments 114
References 114
III EVIDENCE AND OTHER ISSUES 119
7 Reduction Constraints and Shape Convergence along Tool Ontogenetic Trajectories: An Example from Late Holocene Projectile Points of Southern Patagonia 121
Shape and Evolution 122
Reduction as a Constraint 123
Geometric-Morphometric Methods 124
Case Study: Southern Patagonia Projectile Points 125
Materials and Methods 127
Results 130
Discussion 135
Conclusion 136
References 137
8 Convergence and Continuity in the Initial Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia
143
Why Convergence? (And Why Not?) 144
What, When, and Where Is the Initial Upper Paleolithic? 147
How Do We Solve the “IUP Problem”? 151
Acknowledgments 156
References 160
9 The Point Is the Point: Emulative Social Learning and Weapon Manufacture in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa 165
Background
166
Case Study: Learning Mechanisms at Kathu Pan 1 170
Discussion 173
Conclusion 180
Acknowledgments 181
References 181
10 Small, Sharp, and Standardized: Global Convergence in Backed-Microlith Technology 187
Deconstructing the “Microlithic Package” 188
Advantages of Microlithic Technology: Concepts and Experimental Tests 191
The Case for Convergence in Microlithic Industries in Five Regions 199
Conclusion 206
References 206
IV PATTERNS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD 213
11 The Convergent Evolution of Serrated Points on the Southern Plains–Woodland Border of Central North America 215
Background 215
Materials 219
Methods I: Cladistic Analysis 221
Methods II: Geometric Morphometric Analyses 223
Results
225
Discussion 226
Conclusions 235
References 235
12 Clovis and Toyah: Convergent Blade Technologies on the Southern Plains Periphery of North America 241
Background 242
Methods 246
Results 249
Discussion 251
Summary 257
Conclusion 257
Acknowledgments 258
References 258
13 The “Levallois-like” Technological System of the Western Stemmed Tradition: A Case of Convergent Evolution in Early North American Prehistory? 265
The Levallois-like Technological Pattern at Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho 267
Origins of the Levallois-like Technological Pattern 271
Conclusion 279
References 281
14 Assessing the Likelihood of Convergence among North American Projectile-Point Types 287
Methods 289
Results 293
Discussion 296
References 296
Contributors 301
Index 303

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O'Brien, Michael J., Briggs Buchanan, Metin I. Eren, R. Alexander Bentley

O'Brien, Michael J.,Buchanan, Briggs,Eren, Metin I.

Michael J O'Brien; Briggs Buchanan; Merin I Eren

AAAI Press

Vienna series in theoretical biology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2018

Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology Ser, Cambridge, 2018

United States, United States of America

Apr 20, 2018

producers:
Adobe PDF Library 10.0.1

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Source title: Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology (Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology)

Scholars from a variety of disciplines consider cases of convergence in lithic technology, when functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages.0Hominins began using stone tools at least 2.6 million years ago, perhaps even 3.4 million years ago. Given the nearly ubiquitous use of stone tools by humans and their ancestors, the study of lithic technology offers an important line of inquiry into questions of evolution and behavior. This book examines convergence in stone tool-making, cases in which functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages. Identifying examples of convergence, and distinguishing convergence from divergence, refutes hypotheses that suggest physical or cultural connection between far-flung prehistoric toolmakers. Employing phylogenetic analysis and stone-tool replication, the contributors show that similarity of tools can be caused by such common constraints as the fracture properties of stone or adaptive challenges rather than such unlikely phenomena as migration of toolmakers over an Arctic ice shelf

"Hominins began using stone tools at least 2.6 million years ago, perhaps even 3.4 million years ago. Given the nearly ubiquitous use of stone tools by humans and their ancestors, the study of lithic technology offers an important line of inquiry into questions of evolution and behavior. This book examines convergence in stone tool-making, cases in which functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages. Identifying examples of convergence, and distinguishing convergence from divergence, refutes hypotheses that suggest physical or cultural connection between far-flung prehistoric toolmakers. Employing phylogenetic analysis and stone-tool replication, the contributors show that similarity of tools can be caused by such common constraints as the fracture properties of stone or adaptive challenges rather than such unlikely phenomena as migration of toolmakers over an Arctic ice shelf."--Quatrième de couverture

2025-10-27