Neanderthals as engineers? Investigating the link between tool design, functionality and use

• Applicant: Lisa Schunk
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 505363578

Stone tool artefacts (lithics) represent the only continuous material record from early hominins across a period of three million years. Lithics provide information about early human technological adaptations and innovations, and in turn, understanding these technologies allows insights into early human behaviour. Such assessment is based on the fact that lithic artefacts reflect (un-)conscious decision-making. Tool design, for instance, is characterised by the selection of the raw material and choices about overall tool morphology, edge retouch, and other factors. These choices can be seen as behaviour-related attributes. This poses an interesting question: why did Palaeolithic individuals chose specific designs for different tools, and what are the implications for hominin behaviour? Such considerations can be investigated form diverse perspectives, but one of the few where hypotheses can be directly tested concerns stone tool functionality. A perfect case study for investigating tool design, functionality and use are Late Middle Palaeolithic Keilmesser. Keilmesser are a highly standardised tool type with only one active edge. Long reduction sequences including phases of resharpening are characteristic for Keilmesser, indicating well maintained tools. The active edge is often bipartite due to varying retouch, creating a multifunctional tool edge. The proposed project will investigate why Neanderthals manufactured Keilmesser in such a specific way over a period of at least 40 000 years. It does this by testing the hypothesis that Neanderthals produced functionally and mechanically optimised tools by making conscious decisions concerning tool design. To test this hypothesis, a multi-scale functional analysis composed of techno-typological and use-wear analysis combined with sequential experiments will be conducted. The experimental design represents a comprehensive methodology, consisting of three complementing elements: highly controlled (mechanical device) experiments, controlled experiments with human-like features (robotic arm) and manual, monitored experiments performed by humans. This tri-part experiment is unique in Palaeolithic archaeology. The experiments will be accompanied by qualitative and quantitative use-wear analyses, which will provide new insights into the formation processes of use-wear traces and raw material fracture mechanics. In this way, the project will not only include methodological approaches from archaeology and traceology, but also from engineering as well as tribology. The project illustrates a rare opportunity to combine different disciplines by using state-of-the-art equipment. Further, it will contribute to the implementation of a quantitative perspective on archaeological research. A more holistic understanding for Neanderthal lithic technology will be provided by bridging tool design, functionality and use and thus will help to understand behavioural and cognitive changes throughout the Middle Palaeolithic.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Alastair Key, Ph.D.