Chopper with a Simple edge.

Cleaver flake.

Chopping-tool.

Unretouched biface.

Oldowan (earlier spelled Olduwan or sometimes Oldawan) is an anthropological designation for an industry of stone tools used by prehistoric homininans of the Lower Paleolithic. The Oldowan is the very first stone tool assemblage in prehistory. In the current archaeological technical chronology the oldowan technology is mode one preceding mode two or acheulean technology. Image File history File links Chopper_of_Dmanisi. ... Image File history File links Chopper_of_Dmanisi. ... Image File history File links Hendidor. ... Image File history File links Hendidor. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1212x675, 37 KB) Sumario es: Canto tallado bifacial, procede de un yaciminento superficial de la provincia de Valladolid (España), en el valle del Duero en: Chopping tool that proceeds from a superficial site in the Valladolid province (Spain), in the... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1212x675, 37 KB) Sumario es: Canto tallado bifacial, procede de un yaciminento superficial de la provincia de Valladolid (España), en el valle del Duero en: Chopping tool that proceeds from a superficial site in the Valladolid province (Spain), in the... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2010x1478, 81 KB) es: Bifaz sobre lasca de cuarcita procedente de las terrazas fluviales del valle del río Trabancos (Valladolid, España), se data en el Achelense Medio (Paleolítico Inferior) en: Handaxe knapped on a flake of quartzite, its... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2010x1478, 81 KB) es: Bifaz sobre lasca de cuarcita procedente de las terrazas fluviales del valle del río Trabancos (Valladolid, España), se data en el Achelense Medio (Paleolítico Inferior) en: Handaxe knapped on a flake of quartzite, its... Anthropology is the study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ... Ancient stone tools A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made of stone. ... Prehistory (Greek words προ = before and ιστορία = history) is the period of human history prior to the advent of writing (which marks the beginning of recorded history). ... Hominina is a subtribe that inludes Homo sapiens, Australopithecus, as well as prehistoric humans. ... The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. ... Acheulean hand-axes from Kent. ...

Sometimes they are called "core tools", "pebble tools", "bifaces" or "choppers." These terms have generally been abandoned because they are not accurate or apply to more than one tradition. Oldowan tools are not necessarily cores, pebbles, or bifaces, and comprise more than hand-axes; moreover, those terms could apply equally to Acheulean tools, whereas "Oldowan" is more specific. Acheulean hand-axes from Kent. ...

Oldowan tool use is estimated to have begun about 2.5 million years ago (mya), lasting to as late as 1.5 mya. Spanning a period of 800,000 to 1,000,000, it is suggested that its users comprised a number of species of hominina ranging from Australopithecus to early Homo, and passing its loosely-categorized tool tradition between more than one genus.^[1] In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... Hominina is a subtribe that inludes Homo sapiens, Australopithecus, as well as prehistoric humans. ... Species †A. afarensis (Lucy) †A. africanus †A. anamensis †A. bahrelghazali †A. garhi Formerly Australopithecus, now Paranthropus † † † For the song Australopithecus by Modest Mouse, see Sad Sappy Sucker. ... Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ... For other uses of the word, please see Genus (disambiguation). ...

"Oldowan" therefore does not properly refer to a culture, as it is believed to have included many cultures. However, they were all similar or the same and changed very slowly. Some writers do refer to "the Oldowan culture" as a common name. One should also remember that a neo-Oldowan has been created in educational circles of a far different culture than the originals. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ...

Sites and archaeologists

A complete catalog of Oldowan tool sites would be too extensive for listing here. Hominid populations were probably never very dense, but the span of time is immense. Moreover, the tools continue to be manufactured for purposes of education or fraud.

The tools are found in many geologic contexts of habitable sites: terraces or banks of rivers and lakes or pools, caves, or just lying around in large quantities on open ground. A curious folk aetiology came to be associated with them. They were called "thunderstones", the supposed results of lightning strikes, or "elfshot", missiles that the elves projected at livestock.

Some of the better known sites are as follows.

East Africa

The type site

The Oldowan industry is named after discoveries made in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania in east Africa by the Leakey family: primarily Mary, wife of Louis, but also Louis and their son, Richard. This is not the first location where these tools have been found. They had already been turning up in Europe and Asia for some time, under the names of Chellean and Abbevillian. Olduvai Gorge, February 2006 Olduvai Gorge from space Topography of Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge is commonly referred to as The Cradle of Mankind. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Mary Leakey (February 6, 1913 – December 9, 1996) was a British archaeologist, who, along with others, discovered the first skull of a fossil ape on Rusinga Island. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... In 1977, Leaky sat next to the rare Half Monkey Half Man, who took a bite out of him, and made Leaky cry. ... Abbevillian is the term given by archaeologists to the earliest stone tool industries of Europe and Africa. ...

The region of the oldest tool sites is unquestionably the East African Rift system, on the sediments of ancient streams and lakes. This location is consistent with what we know of the evolution of man. Genetic studies tell us that the human line diverged from the chimpanzee line, and the native territory of the latter is the forests of Central Africa nearby. Fossil chimpanzees have been found in Kenya. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Type species Simia troglodytes Blumenbach, 1775 distribution of Species Pan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzee, often shortened to chimp, is the common name for the two extant species in the genus Pan. ...

The forests of central and west Africa are a stable environment containing food in abundance. The chimpanzees must have reached an ecological balance with it. There was no need for them to evolve further. East Africa is a land of often harsh and unstable environments, where food cannot just be plucked off the bough. Any animal living there would require and use sufficient variability to evolve into more successful forms. A facility for tool using would be just the right one to vary.

Omo River basin

The eldest Oldowan comes from the Shungura formation of the Omo River basin. This formation documents the sediments of the Plio-Pleistocene and provides a record of the hominins that lived there. Oldowan begins in levels E and F at 2.4–2.3 MYA. Omo River empties into Lake Turkana, August 1995 The Omo is an important river of southern Ethiopia. ... The Plio-Pleistocene is an archaeological term that is coming into increasing use to describe a long and continuous run of dated sedimentary layers in East Africa. ... Genera Gorilla Pan (chimpanzees) Homo (humans) Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, including Homo sapiens and some extinct relatives, as well as the gorillas and the chimpanzees. ...

The tools are never found in direct association with the hominins, but it is assumed a priori that they would be the strongest candidates for tool manufacture. There are no hominins in those layers, but the same layers elsewhere in the Omo valley contain Paranthropus and early Homo fossils. Paranthropus occurs in the preceding layers. In the last layer at 1.4 MYA is only Homo erectus. Species †Paranthropus aethiopicus †Paranthropus boisei †Paranthropus robustus The robust australopithecines, members of the extinct hominin genus Paranthropus, were bipedal hominins that probably descended from the gracile australopithecine hominins (Australopithecus). ... Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ... Binomial name †Homo erectus (Dubois, 1892) Synonyms † Pithecanthropus erectus † Sinanthropus pekinensis † Javanthropus soloensis † Meganthropus paleojavanicus Homo erectus (Latin: upright man) is an extinct species of the genus Homo. ...

Afar Triangle

Sites in the Gona river system in the Hadar region of the Afar triangle, excavated by Helene Roche, J. W. Harris and Sileshi Semaw, yielded the oldest known Oldowan assemblages, dating to about 2.6 MYA. Recent excavations have even yielded tools in association with cut-marked bones, showing that from the beginning of the production of Oldowan tools they were used in meat processing/acquiring activities. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

East Turkana

Main article: Koobi Fora

The numerous Koobi Fora sites on the east side of Lake Turkana are now part of Sibiloi National Park. Many scientists of various disciplines have participated in research there, but the initial sites were excavated by Richard Leakey and his wife, Meave, Jack Harris, Glynn Isaac and a few others. Currently the artifacts are classified as Oldowan or KBS Oldowan, dated from 1.9–1.7 MYA, Karari (or advanced Oldowan), dated to 1.6–1.4 MYA, and some early Acheulean at the end of the Karari. Over 200 hominins have been found, including Australopithecus and Homo. Koobi Fora is an archeological site on the east side of Lake Turkana in Eastern Africa. ... View over Lake Turkana Lake Turkana, formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya (although the far northern end of the lake crosses into Ethiopia), which covers a surface area of 6405 km² (2473 mi²), making it the worlds largest permanent desert... Sibiloi National Park lies on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. ... In 1977, Leaky sat next to the rare Half Monkey Half Man, who took a bite out of him, and made Leaky cry. ... Meave (Epps) Leakey (born 1942 in London, England) is together with her husband Richard Leakey one of the most renowned British paleontologists. ... Glynn Llywelyn Isaac (1937-1985) was a South African archaeologist who specialised in the very early prehistory of Africa. ... Acheulean hand-axes from Kent. ... [[{{{diversity_link}}}|Diversity]] {{{diversity}}} Binomial name {{{binomial}}} Trinomial name {{{trinomial}}} Type Species {{{type_species}}} Genera Pan (chimpanzees) Homo(humans) Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Orrorin (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) [[Image:{{{range_map}}}|{{{range_map_width}}}|]] Synonyms {{{synonyms}}} Hominini is the tribe of Homininae that only includes humans (Homo), chimpanzees (Pan), and their extinct... Species †A. afarensis (Lucy) †A. africanus †A. anamensis †A. bahrelghazali †A. garhi Formerly Australopithecus, now Paranthropus † † † For the song Australopithecus by Modest Mouse, see Sad Sappy Sucker. ... Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ...

West TurkanaSmall Text

Olduvai Gorge

Even though it is the type site, Oldowan from here is not the oldest. It occurs in Beds I–IV. Bed I, dated 1.85 MYA to 1.7 MYA, contains Oldowan and fossils of Paranthropus boisei as well as Homo habilis, as does Bed II, 1.7–1.2 MYA. H. habilis gives way to Homo erectus at about 1.6 MYA but P. boisei goes on. Oldowan continues to Bed IV at 800,000 to 600,000 BP. Binomial name Paranthropus boisei (Mary Leakey, 1959) Paranthropus boisei had a skull highly specialized for heavy chewing. ... Binomial name †Homo habilis Leakey et al, 1964 Homo habilis (IPA ) (handy man, skillful person) is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2. ... Binomial name †Homo erectus (Dubois, 1892) Synonyms † Pithecanthropus erectus † Sinanthropus pekinensis † Javanthropus soloensis † Meganthropus paleojavanicus Homo erectus (Latin: upright man) is an extinct species of the genus Homo. ...

South Africa

Swartkrans

The Swartkrans site is a cave filled with layered fossil-bearing limestone deposits. Oldowan is found in Members (layers) I–III, 1.8–.5 MYA, in association with Paranthropus robustus and Homo habilis. The Member I assemblage also includes a shaft of pointed bone polished at the pointed end. Swartkrans is a location in South Africa, around 20 miles from Johannesburg. ... Binomial name Paranthropus robustus Broom, 1938 Paranthropus robustus was originally discovered in Southern Africa in 1938. ... Binomial name †Homo habilis Leakey et al, 1964 Homo habilis (IPA ) (handy man, skillful person) is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2. ...

Noticing that Member I contained a high percentage of primate remains compared to other animal remains, which is something of a paradox if you are hypothesizing that H. habilis or P. robustus lived in the cave, C. K. Brain conducted a more detailed study and discovered the cave had been the abode of leopards, who preyed on the hominins.^[2] Families 15, See classification A primate (L. primus, first) is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ...

Sterkfontein

Another site of limestone caves is Sterkfontein, not far from Swartkrans. Member (layer) 5 there, dating from 2 MYA to 1.5 MYA, contains fossils of Homo habilis as well as Oldowan tools. Archaeologists in a structure above the entrance to Sterkfontein. ...

The East

Oldowan tools have been found at sites in south west Asia.

Riwat, Pakistan

Tools from 2 MY BP.

WIGGI D WAS HERE

Europe

Italy

Former Czechoslovakia

Tools in ancient lake deposits at Przeletice and a cave site at Stranska Skala, dated no later than .5 MYA.

Hungary

Tools at a spring site at Vertesszllos, .5 MYA.

Germany

Tools in river gravels, Karlich, .5 MYA.

France

Abbeville, 1–.5 MYA. Vallonet cave, Riviera. Soleihac, open-air site in Massif Central. Collégiale St Vulfran Beffroi Abbeville is a city in the Picardie région, in the north of France. ... Riviera is usually used in reference to a coastal area. ... France, viewed from the NASA Shuttle Topography Radar Mission. ...

Dates and ranges

Clearly identified Oldowan tools should not be regarded as evidence of the first use of tools in any way. Many animals use tools, including many of the primates. Because of this, it would be very hard indeed to establish a date for "first tool use." Families 15, See classification A primate (L. primus, first) is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ...

Moreover, the manufacture of stone tools implies a stage in which unmodified stones were used. These also would be difficult to identify; nevertheless, a quasi-tradition of "Eoliths" ("dawn stones") exists for stones thought to have been in this category.

The first clearly manufactured Oldowan tools are dated to as early as 2.6 million years ago in East Africa. Layers from that age can only be dated very roughly; consequently, the 2.6 should be regarded as a rough guideline. The start could have been later, or more probably earlier, nor, unless new techniques of dating are found, is a precise date ever likely to be established.

There is a floruit of Oldowan tools in East Africa, spreading to South Africa, between 2.4 and 1.7 MY. At 1.7 MYA the evidence becomes paradoxical to the previous world view of Stone Age archaeology. The first Acheulean appears at about then. Moreover, it continues on in parallel to Oldowan, sometimes in sites near each other. Acheulian had been supposed to follow Abbevillan. African Acheulean precedes European Abbevillian and there is certainly no sequence of replacement. Acheulean hand-axes from Kent. ...

A number of solutions are possible and have been offered as explanation. Perhaps different hominins used the two traditions, or the same hominins for different purposes, or the same hominins with access to different stone.

The problem has not been resolved, but it shouldn't concern us too greatly. There are parallel circumstances in the transition to metal, when some people in mining regions used almost all metal implements, while their neighbors in poor regions continued on in the stone age. Tool use is not as simple as a progression of replacements.

At about that time, 1.7 MYA, Homo erectus left Africa and spread to Asia. There is no evidence that such a coincidence indicates the superiority of the hominin or that it was the special bearer of rationality. By that time the other hominins had nearly disappeared, but others were to follow, who would take up both the Oldowan and Acheulian traditions.

At between 1 MYA and .5 MYA Homo erectus entered Europe with Oldowan tools. By .5 MYA, the tradition had been fairly well distributed over the eastern hemisphere. When it stopped being used is unclear. Discounting neo-Oldowan, it is probably safe to say it was mainly gone by .25 MYA.

The tools

Manufacture of the tools

To obtain an Oldowan tool, a roughly spherical hammerstone is struck on the edge, or striking platform, of a suitable core rock to produce a conchoidal fracture with sharp edges useful for various purposes. The process is often called lithic reduction. The chip removed by the blow is the flake. Below the point of impact on the core is a characteristic bulb with fine fissures on the fracture surface. The flake evidences ripple marks. In archaeology, a hammerstone is a hard cobble used to strike lithic flakes off a lump of tool stone during the process of lithic reduction. ... In lithic reduction, the striking platform is the point on the proximal portion of a lithic flake on which the detachment blow fell; this may be natural or prepared. ... In archaeology, a lithic core is a distinctive artifact that results from the practice of lithic reduction. ... Conchoidal fracture describes the way that brittle materials break when they do not follow any natural planes of separation. ... Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer percussor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator made of wood, bone or antler, or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core. ... In archaeology, a lithic flake is a thin, sharp fragment of stone that results from the process of lithic reduction. ...

The materials of the tools were for the most part quartz, quartzite, basalt, or obsidian, and later flint and chert. Any rock that can hold an edge will do. The main source of these rocks is river cobbles, which provide both hammer stones and striking platforms. The earliest tools were simply split cobbles. It is not always clear which is the flake. Later tool-makers clearly identified and reworked flakes. Complaints that artifacts could not be distinguished from naturally fractured stone helped spark a careful study of the technique. It has been duplicated many times by moderns, making misidentification less likely. Unfortunately clandestine studies had already been undertaken by persons intent on fraud, such as the British swindler, Edward Simpson, or "Flint Jack." Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earths continental crust. ... Quartzite Quartzite is a hard, metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. ... Basalt Basalt (IPA: ) is a common gray to black volcanic rock. ... Obsidian from Lake County, Oregon Counterclockwise from top: obsidian, pumice and rhyolite (light color) Obsidian is a rock which is a type of naturally occurring glass, produced by volcanoes (igneous origin) when a felsic lava cools rapidly and freezes without sufficient time for crystal growth (see glass transition temperature). ... A flint nodule from the Onondaga limestone layer, Buffalo, New York. ... Chert Chert (IPA: ) is a fine-grained silica-rich cryptocrystalline sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. ...

Use of the point is also known from Swartkrans, as a bone shaft with a polished point was discovered there in Member (layer) I, dated 1.8–1.5 MYA. The Osteodontokeratic industry hypothesized by Raymond Dart is less certain. The Osteodontokeratic industry is a theoretical construct of the anthropologist, Raymond Dart. ... Raymond Dart, holding the Taung Child skull Raymond Dart (February 4, 1893–22 November 1988) was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist best known for his discovery in 1924 of a fossil of Australopithecus at Taung in Northwestern South Africa. ...

As to whether these tools can be called "rude" or "crude" is a matter of the archaeologist's value system. Archaeologists of the 19th and early 20th century tended to interpret with some prejudice, as is evidenced by their language. For example, one might have chosen the words "elegant" or "natural" with equal validity. The words "simple" or "complex" can be used with more objectivity, as there is a gradual but clear tendency toward increasing complexity. At the end of the Stone Age, the supposedly primitive stone tools were so fine that they were imitated in metal. Stone Age fishing hook. ...

Shapes and uses of the tools

Mary Leakey classified the Oldowan tools as Heavy Duty, Light Duty, Utilized Pieces and Debitage, or waste.^[3] Heavy-duty tools are mainly cores. A chopper has an edge on one side. It is unifacial if the edge was created by flaking on one face of the core, or bifacial if on two. Discoid tools are roughly circular with a peripheral edge. Polyhedral tools are edged in the shape of a polyhedron. In addition are spheroidal hammer stones. Archaeologists define a chopper as a pebble tool with an irregular cutting edge formed through the removal of flakes from one side of a stone. ...

Light-duty tools are mainly flakes. There are scrapers, awls (with points for boring) and burins (with points for engraving). Some of these functions belong also to heavy-duty tools. For example, there are heavy-duty scrapers. In archeology, scrapers are unifacial tools that were used either for hideworking or woodworking purposes. ... An awl is a woodworking tool used to mark a piece of wood. ... In lithic reduction, a burin is a special type of lithic flake with a chisel-like edge which prehistoric humans may have used for engraving or for carving wood or bone. ...

Utilized pieces are tools that began with one purpose in mind but were utilized opportunistically.

Oldowan tools were probably used for many purposes, which have been discovered from observation of modern apes and hunter-gatherers. Nuts and bones are cracked by hitting them with hammer stones on a stone used as an anvil. Battered and pitted stones testify to this possible use.

Heavy-duty tools could be used for wood-working, in the function of an axe. Both choppers and large flakes were probably used for this purpose. Once a branch was separated, it could be scraped clean with a scraper, or hollowed with the pointed tools. Such uses are attested by characteristic microscopic alterations of edges used to scrape wood.

If stone tools were valuable for working wood, they were invaluable for preparing hide. The hide must be cut by slicing, pierced and scraped clean of residues. Hides could be used for clothing, shelters or containers. The rest of the animal also had to be butchered, for ease of consuming, and probably the convenience in carrying and perhaps distributing the meat. Flakes are most suitable for the purpose.

In addition, pointed bones or sticks were probably used for digging for roots and tubers. Wood branches were probably used for missiles and clubs. Branches were woven into shelters or sleeping nests.

Hypotheses on Oldowan tool use have gone past the point of mere guess-work. Lawrence Keeley, following in the footsteps of Sergei Semenov, conducted microscopic studies (with a high-powered optical microscope) on the edges of tools manufactured de novo and used for the originally speculative purposes described above. He found that the marks were characteristic of the use and matched marks on prehistoric tools. Studies of the cut marks on bones using an electron microscope produce a similar result.

The Acheulian equivocation

Unreworked edge of a shape found in both Oldowan and Acheulian. This tool is Oldowan.

The French anthropologists who initiated the study of prehistoric tools defined the Abbevillian stage to precede the Acheulian. Tools were vaguely defined by type, such as "handaxe". With the discovery of an increasing variety of primitive tools, a certain difficulty in defining them appeared. What was the difference between Abbevillian and Acheulian? Scientists were not sure any more. The reader may find considerable verbal backtracking and hunting about in the literature. Anthropologists of the times tended to use date to label an artifact. Early Paleolithic implied Oldowan; middle, Acheulian. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (980x762, 57 KB) es: Bifaz extremadamente arcaico de las terrazas cuaternarias del río Duero (Valladolid, España), se data en el Achelense Inferior/Abbevillense (Paleolítico Inferior) en: Handaxe extremely archaic from the Quaternary fluvial terraces of Duero river (Valladolid... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (980x762, 57 KB) es: Bifaz extremadamente arcaico de las terrazas cuaternarias del río Duero (Valladolid, España), se data en el Achelense Inferior/Abbevillense (Paleolítico Inferior) en: Handaxe extremely archaic from the Quaternary fluvial terraces of Duero river (Valladolid... Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian) is the name of an industry of stone tools used by prehistoric hominids. ...

In the late 20th century, discovery of the discrepancies in date caused a crisis of definition. If Abbevillian did not necessarily precede Acheulian and both traditions had flakes and bifaces, how was the difference to be defined? It was in this spirit that many artifacts formerly considered Abbevillian were labeled Acheulian. In consideration of the difficulty, some preferred to name both phases Acheulian. When the topic of Abbevillian came up, it was simply put down as a phase of Acheulian. Whatever was from Africa was Oldowan, and whatever from Europe, Acheulian.

Roughly reworked edge, producing a scalloped effect. This tool is Acheulian.

The solution to the definition problem is stated in the article on Acheulian. The difference is to be defined on complexity. Simply struck tools are Oldowan. Retouched, or reworked tools are Acheulian. Retouching is a second working of the artifact. The manufacturer first creates an Oldowan tool. Then he reworks or retouches the edges by removing very small chips so as to straighten and sharpen the edge. Typically but not necessarily the reworking is accomplished by pressure flaking. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1673x1350, 124 KB) Sumario es: Bifaz achelense típico, con forma amigdaloide, procede de un yaciminento superficial de la provincia de Zamora (España), en el valle del Duero en: Tipycal Acheulean Handhaxe, it has tear form and proceeds from a... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1673x1350, 124 KB) Sumario es: Bifaz achelense típico, con forma amigdaloide, procede de un yaciminento superficial de la provincia de Zamora (España), en el valle del Duero en: Tipycal Acheulean Handhaxe, it has tear form and proceeds from a... Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian) is the name of an industry of stone tools used by prehistoric hominids. ...

The pictures in the introduction to this article are mainly labeled Acheulian, but this is the now false Acheulian, which also includes Abbevillian. The artifacts shown are clearly in the Oldowan tradition. One or two of the more complex bifaces may have edges made straighter by a large percussion or two, but there is no sign of pressure flaking as depicted. The pictures included with this subsection show the difference.

The tool users

Chimpanzee typing.

Current anthropological thinking is that Oldowan tools were made by both Australopithecus and Homo; in other words, all the hominins of the times. In that case, tool manufacture cannot be a genotype tied to a single species. Rather, it reflects some sort of general ability. All the hominins shared in whatever technology was available to them. The concept of general technological advance, in this view, has applications that predate modern man. Chimpanzee typing - public domain Note: a chimpanzee should not be regarded as a monkey but as an ape File links The following pages link to this file: Infinite monkey theorem Wikipedia:Todays featured article/October 2004 Wikipedia:Todays featured article/October 31, 2004 User:Brim User:Eloquence/Tour... Chimpanzee typing - public domain Note: a chimpanzee should not be regarded as a monkey but as an ape File links The following pages link to this file: Infinite monkey theorem Wikipedia:Todays featured article/October 2004 Wikipedia:Todays featured article/October 31, 2004 User:Brim User:Eloquence/Tour... Species †A. afarensis (Lucy) †A. africanus †A. anamensis †A. bahrelghazali †A. garhi Formerly Australopithecus, now Paranthropus † † † For the song Australopithecus by Modest Mouse, see Sad Sappy Sucker. ... Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ... Genera Gorilla Pan (chimpanzees) Homo (humans) Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, including Homo sapiens and some extinct relatives, as well as the gorillas and the chimpanzees. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Before sufficient evidence existed to reach the above conclusion, anthropologists tended to seek one, culture-bearing species as the sole innovater of tools. The main candidate was Homo habilis, an early species of Homo, who was named "skillful" for the facility. The guiding theory of this time was that the fossils which seemed to be closer to modern humans in more traits were probable human ancestors, and that they should have some selective advantage that would lead to their descendants surviving while other lineages of bipedal primate became extinct. Thus "tool use" seemed to be a very likely candidate. Binomial name †Homo habilis Leakey et al, 1964 Homo habilis (IPA ) (handy man, skillful person) is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2. ... Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ...

Currently the evidence has gone beyond a narrow application of the select species interpretation. First, it is not clear that only direct human ancestors used early stone tools. Second, there is less of a clear "sequence" of gradually improving tools. Finally, the proliferation of labelled species seems to indicate that there were many more branches. When the prevailing view was that a more gracile set of forms looking more like modern humans competed with more "robust" forms with larger jaws, it seemed more reasonable to assume that smaller jaws created a greater role for tool making, which allowed more human-like adaptation, and thus more need for tool use; however, with many different groups, such a simple feedback loop no longer seems to explain all of the available observations. Biologists such as Stephen Jay Gould argued that even looking for exact deterministic reasons for evolutionary winners and losers was a false occupation, since events too small to be observed could have determined which groups survived and which groups did not. It has been suggested that Darwinian Fundamentalism be merged into this article or section. ...

According to Gould's view, during the Plio-Pleistocene, there would have been no way to single out a specific hominin as "advanced" or predict that one day his descendants would be us.^[4] Events might have turned out some other way. There is no scientific necessity for us to be here, and our being here does not require some special hominin. The influence of early ideas on race, which spilled over into species (the ancients did not distinguish), also required the presence of a special ancestor. In the former "race" concept, a given type was endowed with inalienable characteristics that were diagnostic of the type. You could therefore identify the type from a single instance.^[5] If man is to be defined as a rational animal (and the only rational animal), and culture, including tools, is an aspect of rationality, then there must have been a single type ancestor of rationality. Whatever was not man was not rational. The Plio-Pleistocene is an archaeological term that is coming into increasing use to describe a long and continuous run of dated sedimentary layers in East Africa. ... This article concerns the term race as used in reference to human beings. ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... Michelangelos David is widely considered to be one of the finest artistic portrayals of a man. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The search for a clear linear descent of human beings with predestined survival was associated in the 20th century the search for "the missing link", which Homo habilis was thought to be. Such a view excluded any other animal from culture and tools. It did leave the scientists open to legitimate criticism from the opponents of evolution: if the other primates and the supposed ancestor of man were not human, they were not rational and could not have been the source of rationality. Look up missing link in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... Families 15, See classification A primate (L. primus, first) is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ...

There have been some recent controversial experiments to teach chimpanzees and gorillas, such as the celebrated Koko, to sign in American Sign Language. The results are contested. If the apes are really communicating in sign language and are not just gesturing, then they evidence conscious personality and some ability to reason. If they are not signing, there is still the question of their social behavior, which indicates consciousness and reason. Other animals, such as dolphins and elephants, have given similar indications. Koko (born July 4, 1971, in San Francisco, California) is the name of a captive, acculturated gorilla trained by Dr. Francine Penny Patterson and other scientists at Stanford University to allegedly communicate with more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and understand approximately 2,000 words of... American Sign Language (ASL; less commonly Ameslan) is the dominant sign language of the Deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. ...

There is presently no evidence to show that Oldowan tools were the sole property of the Homo line or that the ability to produce them was the special characteristic of only our ancestors. There is reason to think that the ancestor of chimpanzees and men had a facility for tool making: an experimental subject, Kanzi was taught the art of making Oldowan tools. Kanzi (born October 23, 1980), a bonobo, is one of the most most famous and accomplished linguistic apes, in research led by E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. ...

Oldowan Culture

Band of Baboons.

Animals who live in open terrain can be more easily seen by predators and are more subject to predation. Social animals have grouping together as their main defensive strategy. Grouped animals can watch each others' backs, sound the alarm, fight together, cause confusion together, forage together and huddle together against the cold. For example, at the first sign of danger, zebras may run off, or they may stand and fight in a cluster with some facing backward. Nearly all the Primates live and fight in bands. It would be highly unusual if the early hominins did not. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 310 pixelsFull resolution (2533 × 981 pixel, file size: 538 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Mantelpaviane Zoo in Cologne Feb 2005 Picture taken by User BS Thurner Hof File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 310 pixelsFull resolution (2533 × 981 pixel, file size: 538 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Mantelpaviane Zoo in Cologne Feb 2005 Picture taken by User BS Thurner Hof File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file...

Band of Chimpanzees.

Human societies differ from those of the other primates in being consciously elaborate; that is, in possessing social structures with recognized degrees of consanguinity and affinity. How far did Oldowan hominins go in this direction? Reconstruction over such a distance is difficult, and is the subject of a great deal of debate. The basis of all mammalian grouping is the kin-selected group. The hominins almost certainly would have lived and hunted with their kin and mates, as do chimpanzees. Chimpanzees do not recognize their kin as such. Image File history File linksMetadata Chimps. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Chimps. ...

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One of the centers of argument about what kind of society the Oldowan period tool makers had centers on their strategies for foraging and sleeping. In the early 1970s Glynn Isaac touched off a debate by proposing that hominins of this period had a "home base" and they foraged outward from it, returning with high value food to share to be processed. Over the course of the last 30 years, a variety of competing theories about how foraging occurred have been proposed, each one implying certain kinds of social strategies. The available evidence from the distribution of tools and remains is not enough to decide which ones are the most likely. However, three main groups of theories predominate. Isaac's model became the "central foraging point", as he responded to criticisms that he had imputed too much modern behavior into the early hominins, with relatively free form searches outward. A second group of models took modern chimpanzee behavior as a starting point, having the hominins use relatively fixed routes of foraging, and leaving tools where it was best to do so on a constant track. A third group of theories had relatively loose bands scouring the range, taking care to move carcasses from dangerous death sites and leaving tools more or less at random. Each implies different grouping and social strategies, from the relative altruism of central base models to the relatively disjointed search models. (See also central foraging theory, scavenging station model, Lewis Binford) Glynn Llywelyn Isaac (1937-1985) was a South African archaeologist who specialised in the very early prehistory of Africa. ... Lewis Roberts Binford (born 1930) is an American archaeologist, known as the leader of the New Archaeology movement of the 1950s/60s. ...

The makers of Oldowan tools were mainly right-handed. "Handedness" (lateralization) had already evolved, though it is not clear how related to modern lateralization it was, since other animals show handedness as well.

Most models rely on social and communication networks to hold the band together. These social networks range form requiring no more communication than modern primates, to requiring more sophisticated sharing and teaching. At present, there has been no evidence that sharply divides these theories.

Hominins probably lived in social groups that had contact with others. This conclusion is supported the large number of bones at many sites, too large to be the work of one individual, and all of the scatter patterns implying many different individuals. Since modern primates in Africa have fluid boundaries between groups, as individuals enter, become the focus of bands, and others leave, it is also probable that the tools we find are the result of many overlapping groups working the same territories, and perhaps competing over them. Because of the huge range of time and species associated with possible Oldowan tools, it is difficult to be more precise than this, since it is almost certain that different social groupings were used at different times and different places.

As the Oldowan period moves forward, it is probable that the home base form became more prevalent and eventually dominant. Heat-blackened artifacts and baked clay at the 20 east site of Koobi Fora, and fire-blackened bones at Swartkrans, both from 1.5 MYA, indicate the possible presence of the camp fire, though it is still not clear how developed pyroculture was at this time. A circle of stones at site DK in Bed I at Olduvai indicates a possible shelter. By 750K, patches of fire use are found outside of Africa. Fire creates a more powerful center of gravity, as does the continuous inhabitation of caves and other forms of natural shelter.

There is also the question of what mix of hunting, gathering and scavenging the tool users employed. Early models focused on the tool users as hunters. The animals butchered by the tools include waterbuck, hartebeest, Springbok, pig and zebra. However, the disposition of the bones allows some question about hominin methods of obtaining meat. That they were omnivores is unquestioned, as the digging implement and the probable use of hammer stones to smash nuts indicate. Lewis Binford first noticed that the bones at Olduvai contained a disproportionately high incidence of extremities, which are low in food substance. He concluded other predators had taken the best meat, and the hominins had only scavenged. The counter view is that while hunting many large animals would be beyond the reach of an individual human, that groups could bring down larger game, as pack hunting animals are capable of doing. Moreover, since many animals both hunt and scavenge, it is possible that hominis hunted smaller animals, but were not above driving carnivores from larger kills, as they probably were driven from kills themselves from time to time. Binomial name Kobus ellipsiprymnus (Ogilby, 1833) The Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is an antelope found in Western, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. ... Binomial name Alcelaphus buselaphus Pallas, 1766 The Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) is a grassland antelope found in West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. ... Binomial name Antidorcas marsupialis (Zimmermann, 1780) For other meanings of Springbok, see Springbok The Springbok (Afrikaans: spring = jump; bok = antelope, deer, or goat) (Antidorcas marsupialis) is a small brown and white gazelle that stands about 75 cm high. ... This article is about the pig genus. ... Species Equus zebra Equus hartmannae Equus quagga Equus grevyi The Zebra is a part of the horse family, Equidae, native to central and southern Africa. ...

Notes

1. ^ [1].
2. ^ Ironically, many scientists had drawn the erroneous conclusion that Homo habilis was the predator, using Oldowan tools. The higher percentage of primate bones was interpreted as a kind of cannibalism, feeding the imagination of Raymond Dart. Brain discovered that the source of the stripping and chewing of the bones was the leopard. Evidently, the architects of the Oldowan industry were not yet a match for prehistoric predators.
3. ^ There is a good online summary of Mary's classification on Effland's site for Anthropology ASB22 at Mesa Community College in Arizona, apparently written by Effland.
4. ^ Richard Leakey points out the difference between the "old simplistic view of human evolution" and the "modern, biologically realistic view", quoting from Gould, in The Making of Mankind, Page 71 of the Dutton 1981 hardcopy.
5. ^ Ashley Montagu published a philosophic review of the concept of race, especially as it appears in biological science of the last 500 years, in two articles (Chapters 1 & 2) of The Concept of Race, Copyright 1964, Collier-MacMillan Limited. In them he opposes the survival of the Aristotelian concept of species in such concepts as Cuvier's "Unity of Type" and "Fixity of Species."

Raymond Dart, holding the Taung Child skull Raymond Dart (February 4, 1893–22 November 1988) was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist best known for his discovery in 1924 of a fossil of Australopithecus at Taung in Northwestern South Africa. ... Binomial name Panthera pardus Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Felis pardus Linnaeus, 1758 The Leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the four big cats of the genus Panthera. ... Ashley Montagu (June 28, 1905, London, England - November 26, 1999, Princeton, New Jersey), was an English anthropologist and humanist who popularized issues such as race and gender and their relation to politics and development. ... Georges Cuvier Baron Georges Leopold Chretien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier (August 23, 1769 - May 13, 1832) was a French naturalist, He was born at Montbéliard (then Mömpelgard in Württemberg) under the name of Johann Leopold Nicolaus Friedrich Kuefer, and was the son of a retired officer...

Sources

• Braidwood, Robert J., Prehistoric Men, many editions.
• Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., T. R. Pickering, S. Semaw, and M. J. Rogers. 2005. Cutmarked bones from Pliocene archaeological sites at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia: Implications for the function of the world's oldest stone tools. Journal of Human Evolution 48:109–121.
• Edey, Maitland A., The Missing Link, Time-Life Books, 1972.
• Schick, Kathy D.; Toth, Nicholas, Making Silent Stones Speak', Simon & Schuster, 1993, ISBN 0-671-69371-9
• Semaw, Sileshi, 2000: The worlds oldest stone artefacts from Gona Ethiopia: Their implications for understanding stone technology and patterns of human evolution between 2.6–1.5 million years ago, Journal of Archaeological Science, 27: 1197-1214.
• Isaac, Glynn and Harris, JWK The Scatter between the Patches 1975
• Isaac, Glynn The Food Sharing Behavior of Protohuman Hominids Scientific American 238(4):90–108. 1978
• Binford, Lewis Searching for Camps and Missing the Evidence: Another Look at the Lower Paleolithic 1987
• Toth, Nicholas The Oldowan reassessed: a close look at early stone artifacts Journal of Archaeological Science 1985

External links

• Oldowan Pebble Handaxes of Europe
• Oldowan Flake Tool
• Stone Age Hand-axes
• Early Palaeolithic
• STONE AGE REFERENCE COLLECTION
• Microwear polishes on early stone tools from Koobi Fora, Kenya, article in Nature 293, 464–465 (08 October 1981). The summary and the references are displayed at no charge at the Nature site.
• AN APE'S VIEW OF THE OLDOWAN, T. Wynn and W.C. McGrew, Man 24:383–398; 1989.
• Flaked Stones and Old Bones: Biological and Cultural Evolution at the Dawn of Technology, Thomas Plummer, YEARBOOK OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 47:118–164 (2004).