To grip or not to grip: An experimental approach for understanding the use of prehensile areas in mousterian tools

The existence of a more or less complex handling technology with the lithic tools during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic is an interesting topic for understanding aspects of the human behavior during these periods. In this work we present a preliminary experimental evaluation of the possible functi...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Baena Preysler, Javier, Torres Navas, Concepción, Pérez Díaz, Sara, Bustos-Pérez, Guillermo, Romagnoli, Francesca
Format: article
Publication Date:2016
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repository:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/676748
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/676748
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Mousterian
Griping
Hafting
3D
Experimental archaeology
Lithic tools
Arqueología
Description
Summary:The existence of a more or less complex handling technology with the lithic tools during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic is an interesting topic for understanding aspects of the human behavior during these periods. In this work we present a preliminary experimental evaluation of the possible functionality of prehensile area in some of the most representative lithic types of the Mousterian assemblages (dorsal elements and levallois chapeau de gendarme proximal area), in which the morphological comparative analysis of imprints and prehensile tool areas, is compared by 3D analysis procedures. Preliminary results indicate that there is a close relationship between the digital grasp morphologie and the prehensile area of some Mousterian techno-types. We also discussed the relevance and significance of these provisional conclusions in the context of hunter gather communities