DETERMINING HOMINID HANDEDNESS IN LITHIC DEBITAGE: A REVIEW OF CURRENT METHODOLOGIES

Abstract

Handedness is inextricably linked to brain lateralization and language in humans, and identifying handedness in the paleo-archaeological record is important for understanding hominid cognitive evolution. This study reports on experiments for identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage using three previously established methods: , and . A blind study was conducted on lithic debitage (n = 631) from Acheulean handaxes (n = 10) created by right- and left-handed subjects. Blinded handedness predictions for flakes were compared to their true handedness in order to assess each method's reliability. In order to test replicability, multiple observers classified a sample of flakes and inter-observer agreement was assessed. None of the methods were better than chance in predictive accuracy, and there were significant issues with inter-observer agreement. This study suggests that identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage is extremely difficult, but also that some existing methodological issues may have simple solutions; suggestions for future research on this topic are provided.

Keywords:

• Hominid handedness
• Right shift
• Lithic analysis
• Experimental archaeology
• Hominid cognitive evolution

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lana Ruck

Lana Ruck earned her M.A. in Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University, and will be a doctoral student in Cognitive Science and Anthropology and Indiana University—Bloomington starting in the Fall of 2015.

Correspondence to: Lana Ruck, 500 N. Congress Ave., Apt. D-102, Delray Beach, FL 33445, USA. Email: [email protected]

Douglas C. Broadfield

Douglas C. Broadfield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Miami—Miller School of Medicine. His current research includes human plaeoneurology, primate comparative neurology, and language evolution. His most recent book is The Human Brain Evolving.

Clifford T. Brown

Clifford T. Brown is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University. He studied archaeology at Yale and anthropology at Tulane. In between bouts of field work in Mexico and Nicaragua, he conducts research on quantitative methods in archaeology.