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  3. Stone Tools in Human Evolution
  • Cited by 41
      • John J. Shea, Stony Brook University, State University of New York
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      27 October 2016
      07 November 2016
      ISBN:
      9781316389355
      9781107123090
      9781107554931
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316389355
      Dimensions:
      (253 x 177 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.71kg, 258 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (253 x 177 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.54kg, 306 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Prehistory, Physical Anthropology, Archaeology, Anthropology
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    Subjects:
    Prehistory, Physical Anthropology, Archaeology, Anthropology
    Information

    Book description

    In Stone Tools in Human Evolution, John J. Shea argues that over the last three million years hominins' technological strategies shifted from occasional tool use, much like that seen among living non-human primates, to a uniquely human pattern of obligatory tool use. Examining how the lithic archaeological record changed over the course of human evolution, he compares tool use by living humans and non-human primates and predicts how the archaeological stone tool evidence should have changed as distinctively human behaviors evolved. Those behaviors include using cutting tools, logistical mobility (carrying things), language and symbolic artifacts, geographic dispersal and diaspora, and residential sedentism (living in the same place for prolonged periods). Shea then tests those predictions by analyzing the archaeological lithic record from 6,500 years ago to 3.5 million years ago.

    Reviews

    'A useful counterbalance to hidebound Paleolithic systematics, Stone Tools in Human Evolution implements a better-grounded descriptive approach. It shows a way forward and therefore deserves close study.'

    Source: Current Anthropology

    'Designed for a readership of upper-division college and first-year archaeology graduate students (with ‘boxes', plenty of line drawings, and a glossary of terms), but with a distinct message for all those who think about and research human evolution - biological and cultural - this interesting book has a valuable message. It is full of thought-provoking and sometimes provocative ideas.'

    Source: Journal of Anthropological Research

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    Contents

    Contents
    • Chapter 2 - How We Know What We Think We Know about Stone Tools
      pp 10-19
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