From Tools to Symbols: From Early Hominids to Modern Humans

506 Pages·84.958 MB·English

by  Francesco D'Errico, Phillip V. Tobias, Lucinda Backwell

From Tools to Symbols
From Early Hominids to
Modern Humans
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From Tools to Symbols
From Early Hominids to
Modern Humans
edited by
Francesco d’Errico and Lucinda Backwell
In honour of
Professor Phillip V. Tobias
Witwatersrand University Press
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Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg
2001
South Africa
http://witspress.wits.ac.za
Selection, compelation and introduction © 2005 by Francesco D’Errico
and Lucinda Backwell
Individual articles © 2005 by the authors
First published in South Africa 2005
ISBN 1-86814-411-9 (soft cover)
ISBN 1-86814-434-8 (hard cover)
ISBN 978-1-86814-637-6 (ePDF)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express permission, in writing, of
both the author and the publishers.
Designed & produced by Riaan de Villiers & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa
Printed and bound by Creda Communications, Cape Town, South Africa
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Profile of Professor Tobias xi
List of participants xv
Foreword xxiii
Justice Edwin Cameron
Address xxvii
Bernard Malauzat
Keynote address xxxi
Phillip V. Tobias
Searching for common ground in palaeoanthropology, archaeology and genetics 1
Francesco d’Errico and Lucinda R. Backwell
The history of a special relationship: prehistoric terminology and lithic technology 9
between the French and South African research traditions
Nathan Schlanger
Essential attributes of any technologically competent animal 38
Charles K. Brain
Significant tools and signifying monkeys: the question of body techniques 52
and elementary actions on matter among apes and early hominids
Frédéric Joulian
v
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Contents
Tools and brains: which came first? 82
Phillip V. Tobias
Environmental changes and hominid evolution: what the vegetation tells us 103
Marion K. Bamford
Implications of the presence of African ape-like teeth in the Miocene of Kenya 121
Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut
Dawn of hominids: understanding the ape-hominid dichotomy 134
Brigitte Senut
The impact of new excavations from the Cradle of Humankind on our 152
understanding of the evolution of hominins and their cultures
Lee R. Berger
Stone Age signatures in northernmost South Africa: early archaeology in the 163
Mapungubwe National Park and vicinity
Kathleen Kuman, Ryan Gibbon, Helen Kempson, Geeske Langejans,
Joel Le Baron, Luca Pollarolo and Morris Sutton
Vertebral column, bipedalism and freedom of the hands 183
Dominique Gommery
Characterising early Homo: cladistic, morphological and metrical analyses of 198
the original Plio-Pleistocene specimens
Sandrine Prat
Early Homo, ‘robust’ australopithecines and stone tools at Kromdraai, South Africa 229
Francis Thackeray and José Braga
The origin of bone tool technology and the identification of early hominid 238
cultural traditions
Lucinda Backwell and Francesco d’Errico
vi
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Contents
Contribution of genetics to the study of human origins 276
Himla Soodyall and Trefor Jenkins
An overview of the patterns of behavioural change in Africa and Eurasia during 294
the Middle and Late Pleistocene
Nicholas J. Conard
From the tropics to the colder climates: contrasting faunal exploitation adaptations 333
of modern humans and Neanderthals
Curtis W. Marean
New neighbours: interaction and image-making during the West European 372
Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition
David Lewis-Williams
Late Mousterian lithic technology: its implications for the pace of the emergence 389
of behavioural modernity and the relationship between behavioural modernity
and biological modernity
Marie Soressi
Exploring and quantifying technological differences between the MSA I, MSA II 418
and Howieson’s Poort at Klasies River
Sarah Wurz
Stratigraphic integrity of the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave 441
Christopher Henshilwood
Testing and demonstrating the stratigraphic integrity of artefacts from MSA 459
deposits at Blombos Cave, South Africa
Zenobia Jacobs
From tool to symbol: the behavioural context of intentionally marked ostrich 475
eggshell from Diepkloof, Western Cape
John Parkington, Cedric Poggenpoel, Jean-Philippe Rigaud and
Pierre-Jean Texier
vii
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Contents
Chronology of the Howieson’s Poort and Still Bay techno-complexes: assessment 493
and new data from luminescence
Chantal Tribolo, Norbert Mercier and Hélène Valladas
Subsistence strategies in the Middle Stone Age at Sibudu Cave: the microscopic 512
evidence from stone tool residues
Bonny S. Williamson
Speaking with beads: the evolutionary significance of personal ornaments 525
Marian Vanhaeren
Personal names index 555
Subject index 563
viii
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Acknowledgements
This book is the tangible outcome of a conference entitled From Tools to Symbols:
From Early Hominids to Modern Humans, held at the University of the Witwatersrand,
16–18 March 2003. This event was organised in honour of Professor Phillip Tobias by the
editors of this volume, in recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions to the
field of palaeoanthropology, his crucial role as mentor, the assistance he has constantly
and generously offered to colleagues and students from around the word, his insights
into the nature and history of humanity, and the effort he has made to disseminate this
knowledge and craft it into an integral aspect of human consciousness.
We thank him for contributing a keynote address and stimulating inspiring debate
during the meeting.
This conference and the publication of the proceedings would not have taken
place without the encouragement, assistance and support of numerous individuals
and institutions. First and foremost, we thank Bernard Malauzat, Counsellor for
Science, Culture and Development at the Embassy of France in South Africa, who
was instrumental in developing this initiative. The Trustees of the Palaeoanthropology
Scientific Trust (PAST) encouraged this endeavour and their Operations Manager,
Andrea Leenen, together with Christine Read, were particularly helpful in final
preparations. Jennifer Oppenheimer kindly secured Jan Smuts House, an ideal venue
for the conference. Justice Edwin Cameron, Chairperson of Council, University of
the Witwatersrand, generously accepted our invitation to give the opening address
on behalf of the University, and travelled some distance to do so. Khotso Mokhele,
President of the National Research Foundation, kindly agreed to speak on the
significance of scientific research in general and palaeoanthropology in particular in
the context of the new South Africa. Jean-Marie Hombert, Director of the Department
of Humanities, French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), strove
to encourage the success of the conference and spoke on the importance of South
African/ French scientific collaboration.
We thank Loyiso Nongxa and Richard Pienaar, Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-
Chancellor, Paul Dirks, Head of the School of Geosciences, and Bruce Rubidge, Head of
the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand, Patrick
Buat-Menard, Vice-Chancellor, and Gerard Blanc, Dean of the Faculty of Geology,
ix
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Acknowledgements
University of Bordeaux, and Monique Rivière, Scientific Attaché at the Embassy of
France in South Africa, for their encouragement and support.
Many friends, colleagues and members of the Wits community actively collaborated
in the organisation of the event. Most notably Chrisandra Chetty and Iain Burns, who
graciously oversaw the financial aspects of the conference. Lee Berger invited delegates
to the Palaeoanthropology Unit for Research and Exploration for a welcome luncheon,
provided the vehicles to transport the delegates and allowed students from the Unit to
help with the organisation of the conference. In this regard we greatly appreciate the
help of Rodrigo Lacruz, Christine Steininger, Barend van Rensburg, Headman Zondo,
and Pedro Boshoff.
The Rock Art Research Unit and the Department of Archaeology willingly agreed
to open their doors and give tours to delegates on their arrival at Wits. The members
of these institutions are sincerely thanked for their time and kindness. Our thanks also
go to Matt Kitching and the Audiovisual Unit team at Wits for their competence in
ensuring that things ran smoothly during the conference.
Bob Brain and Kathy Kuman kindly led unforgettable post-conference excursions
to Swartkrans and Sterkfontein. We are also grateful to Cathy Snow for creating and
maintaining the conference website, and John Gurche for graciously permitting the
use of his artwork as the conference logo.
The conference was generously sponsored by the Embassy of France in South
Africa, the Palaeoanthropology Scientific Trust, the Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, the University Bordeaux 1, the Johannesburg branch of the Alliance
Française, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the Eurocore programme ‘Origin
of Man, Language and Languages’. The preparation of this volume was funded by
the Embassy of France in South Africa and the Palaeoanthropology Scientific Trust.
We gratefully acknowledge the invaluable help provided by Mike Raath in editorially
revising some of the manuscripts and Françoise Lagarde for formatting the figures of
the manuscripts.
In particular we thank the conference participants for the lively exchange of ideas
that took place during these memorable days, and for contributing papers to this
book.
x
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