Know-how, or How Knapping Experience Can Affect a Prehistoric Lithic Workshop

ABSTRACT

In situ archaeological assemblages are scarce. Most artefacts are affected by post-depositional processes, which complicate the identification of human factors involved in the formation of lithic workshops, such as hand laterality, knapping positions, and knapping expertise. In this regard, experimental archaeology can reproduce past processes to test present hypotheses. In this study, experimental knapping processes were carried out to examine how techniques and methods learned by experience can affect waste flake assemblages. Our results show that, in addition to knapping position, experience affects both flake measurements and spatial distribution. The techniques applied, the knappers’ skill and the control of the application of force all affect spatial flake distribution. However, flakes do not exhibit any preferential orientation, contrary to those affected by some post-depositional factors. The experimental design and results could contribute to the ability to discern Palaeolithic in situ assemblages as well as some human factors that affect their formations.

KEYWORDS:

• Knapper
• experience
• flake
• spatial
• dispersion

Acknowledgements

The authors are sincerely grateful to all the volunteers who participated in this experimental study. The research was performed at the Centro de I + D+I / CIBA, Universidad de Burgos. We acknowledge to Dr. Carlos Díez Fernández-Lomana for helping and supporting this study. We also acknowledge to Dr. Rebeca García González for the helpful comments in the statistics. Zorrilla-Revilla benefited from a predoctoral research grant EDU/602/2016 from Junta de Castilla y León funded with the Social European Fund, Operative Program of Junta de Castilla y León, through the Consejería de Educación. Terradillos-Bernal fieldwork and research are funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University (MICINN-FEDER PGC2018-093925-B-C32 and PGC2018-093925-B-C31).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University under the projects [grant numbers MICINN-FEDER PGC2018-093925-B-C32 and PGC2018-093925-B-C31].

Notes on contributors

Guillermo Zorrilla-Revilla

Guillermo Zorrilla-Revilla completed an undergraduate and MA degrees at University of Burgos, training in Humanities and Human Evolution. Currently, he holds a PhD fellowship in the National Research Centre on Human Evolution (CENIEH) focusing on children and adolescents’ bioenergetics.

Marco Vidal-Cordasco

Marco Vidal-Cordasco completed an undergraduate and MA degrees at University of Santiago de Compostela and University of Burgos, training in History and Human Evolution. He has delivered his Ph.D. at the University of Burgos in 2020, specialized in the influence of body proportions on past hominins ecology.

Olalla Prado-Nóvoa

Olalla Prado-Nóvoa completed an undergraduate and MA degrees at University of Santiago de Compostela and University of Burgos, training in History and Human Evolution. She has delivered her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Burgos in 2020, specialized in locomotion activities and its relevance to Human Behavioral Ecology.

Marcos Terradillos-Bernal

Marcos Terradillos-Bernal is professor and researcher at the International University Isabel I de Castilla. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Burgos in 2010, with a specialization in Lower Pleistocene lithic assemblages of the Iberian Peninsula. He has conducted multidisciplinary research in experimental archaeology.