THE ROLE OF VERBAL INTERACTION DURING EXPERIMENTAL BIFACIAL STONE TOOL MANUFACTURE

Abstract

Many researchers have hypothesized an analogous, and possibly evolutionary, relationship between Paleolithic stone tool manufacture and language. This study uses a unique design to investigate how spoken language may affect the transmission of learning to make stone tools and comes to surprising results that may have important implications for our views of this relationship. We conducted an experiment to test the effect of verbal communication on large core biface manufacture during the earliest stages of learning. Previously untrained flintknappers were assigned to two different communication conditions, one with and one without spoken language, and were instructed to replicate the bifaces produced by the same instructor. The attempted bifaces (total = 334) from the two groups were compared using an Elliptical Fourier analysis, the Flip Test, and a rating scale by an independent lithicist. We found no significant difference in the overall shape, symmetry, or other measures of skill among the two groups, using all three of these methods. Analysis of the 18,149 debitage elements from the experiment, however, revealed that the two groups set up their striking platforms in fundamentally different ways. The nonverbal group produced more efficient flakes than the verbal group, as evidenced by the significantly higher ratios of platform width to platform thickness and size to mass of the nonverbal subjects’ flakes. These results indicate that verbal interaction is not a necessary component of the transmission of the overall shape, form, and symmetry of a biface in modern human novice subjects, and it can hinder the progress of verbal learners because of their tendency to over-imitate actions of the instructor that exceed their current skill set.

Keywords:

• experimental archaeology
• skill transmission
• flintknapping
• emulation vs. imitation
• language

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants for the time they devoted to the study. We are grateful to J. Whittaker for his expertise and efforts in ranking the end products. We thank R. Ciochon for facilitating the production of Figures 2 and 3. We thank E. Thompson, N. O'Shea, C. Beeler, S. Burnette, and K. Looney for their assistance in the lab. We are grateful to R. Hunt for providing the raw material. Additionally, T. Marks, S. Athreya, and C. Nicholas provided helpful comments on early drafts, and we are grateful to the editor, and our anonymous reviewers for their many helpful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the final paper. This research was funded by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Iowa.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shelby S. Putt

Shelby S. Putt is a doctoral candidate in Anthropology at the University of Iowa. She has an A.A. in International Language & Culture Studies and a B.A. in Anthropology and English & Linguistics from Indiana University-Fort Wayne and a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on the integration of lithic technology and functional neuroimaging to explore questions related to the evolution of human language and cognition. Correspondence to: Shelby S. Putt, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, 114 Macbride Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. Email: [email protected]

Alexander D. Woods

Alexander D. Woods earned his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Iowa in 2011. His research focuses on lithic raw material quality, lithic reduction strategies, and the Early Upper Paleolithic. He is currently managing the Tomah, Wisconsin Archaeology Laboratory for Colorado State University's Center For The Environmental Management of Military Lands. Center for the Environmental Management of Military Lands, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

Robert G. Franciscus

Dr. Robert Franciscus earned a Ph.D. degree in Anthropology in 1995 from the University of New Mexico. He has held academic positions at Stanford University, and at the University of Iowa where he is currently Professor of Anthropology. His research interests have primarily focused on Neanderthal and early modern human anatomy and behavior. Department of Anthropology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA