From Tools to Symbols

Zenobia Jacobs, Trefor Jenkins, Sarah Wurz, Sandrine Prat, Ryan Gibbon, Pierre-Jean Texier, Phillip V. Tobias, Norbert Mercier, Conard Nicholas J., Nathan Schlanger, Morris Sutton, Brigitte Sénut, Martin Pickford, Marion K. Bamford, Marie Soressi, Marian Vanhaeren, Luca Pollarolo, Lee R. Berger, Kathleen Kuman, Edwin Cameron, José Braga, John Parkington, Joel Le Baron, Jean-Philippe Rigaud, Himla Soodyall, Hélène Valladas, Helen Kempson, Geeske Langejans, Frédéric Joulian, Francis Thackeray, Dominique Gommery, David Lewis-Williams, Curtis W. Marean, Christopher Henshilwood, Charles K. Brain, Chantal Tribolo, Cedric Poggenpoel, Bonny S. Williamson, Bernard Malauzat, Lucinda Backwell, Francesco D’Errico

Description

A number of researchers have tried to characterise the anatomy and behavioural systems of early hominid and early modern human populations in an attempt to understand how we became what we are. Can archaeology, palaeo-anthropology and genetics tell us how and when human cultures developed the traits that make our societies different from those of our closest living relatives? In which cases are these differences substantial, and when do they simply reflect our definitions of culture, species, the image we have of their evolution or of ourselves? From Tools to Symbols, a collection of twenty-seven selected papers from a South African-French conference organised in honour of the well-known palaeo-anthropologist Phillip Tobias, provides a multidisciplinary overview of this field of study. It is based on collaborative research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa by South African, French, American and German scholars in the last twenty years, and represents an excellent synthesis of the palaeontological and archaeological evidence of the last five million years of human evolution.
Acknowledgements
Profile of Professor Tobias
List of participants
Foreword
Justice Edwin Cameron
Address
Bernard Malauzat
Keynote address
Phillip V. Tobias
Searching for common ground in palaeoanthropology, archaeology and genetics
Francesco d’Errico and Lucinda R. Backwell
The history of a special relationship: prehistoric terminology and lithic technology between the French and South African research traditions
Nathan Schlanger
Essential attributes of any technologically competent animal
Charles K. Brain
Significant tools and signifying monkeys: the question of body techniques and elementary actions on matter among apes and early hominids
Frédéric Joulian
Tools and brains: which came first?
Phillip V. Tobias
Environmental changes and hominid evolution: what the vegetation tells us
Marion K. Bamford
Implications of the presence of African ape-like teeth in the Miocene of Kenya
Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut
Dawn of hominids: understanding the ape-hominid dichotomy
Brigitte Senut
The impact of new excavations from the Cradle of Humankind on our understanding of the evolution of hominins and their cultures
Lee R. Berger
Stone Age signatures in northernmost South Africa: early archaeology in the 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
Dominique Gommery
Characterising early Homo: cladistic, morphological and metrical analyses of the original Plio-Pleistocene specimens
Sandrine Prat
Early Homo, ‘robust’ australopithecines and stone tools at Kromdraai, South Africa
Francis Thackeray and José Braga
The origin of bone tool technology and the identification of early hominid cultural traditions
Lucinda Backwell and Francesco d’Errico
Contribution of genetics to the study of human origins
Himla Soodyall and Trefor Jenkins
An overview of the patterns of behavioural change in Africa and Eurasia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene
Nicholas J. Conard
From the tropics to the colder climates: contrasting faunal exploitation adaptations of modern humans and Neanderthals
Curtis W. Marean
New neighbours: interaction and image-making during the West European Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition
David Lewis-Williams
Late Mousterian lithic technology: its implications for the pace of the emergence 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 and Howieson’s Poort at Klasies River
Sarah Wurz
Stratigraphic integrity of the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave
Christopher Henshilwood
Testing and demonstrating the stratigraphic integrity of artefacts from MSA deposits at Blombos Cave, South Africa
Zenobia Jacobs
From tool to symbol: the behavioural context of intentionally marked ostrich eggshell from Diepkloof, Western Cape
John Parkington, Cedric Poggenpoel, Jean-Philippe Rigaud and Pierre-Jean Texier
Chronology of the Howieson’s Poort and Still Bay techno-complexes: assessment and new data from luminescence
Chantal Tribolo, Norbert Mercier and Hélène Valladas
Subsistence strategies in the Middle Stone Age at Sibudu Cave: the microscopic evidence from stone tool residues
Bonny S. Williamson
Speaking with beads: the evolutionary significance of personal ornaments
Marian Vanhaeren
Personal names index
Subject index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Archaeology
• General officer
• Anthropology
• General

Informations

• Publié par: WITS University Press
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776142293
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

From Tools to Symbols
From Early Hominids to Modern Humans
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
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)
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
Contents
Acknowledgements
Profile of Professor Tobias
List of participants
Foreword
Justice Edwin Cameron
Address
Bernard Malauzat
Keynote address
Phillip V. Tobias
Searching for common ground in palaeoanthropology, archaeology and genetics
Francesco d’Errico and Lucinda R. Backwell
The history of a special relationship: prehistoric terminology and lithic technology between the French and South African research traditions
Nathan Schlanger
Essential attributes of any technologically competent animal
Charles K. Brain
Significant tools and signifying monkeys: the question of body techniques and elementary actions on matter among apes and early hominids
Frédéric Joulian
Tools and brains: which came first?
Phillip V. Tobias
Environmental changes and hominid evolution: what the vegetation tells us
Marion K. Bamford
Implications of the presence of African ape-like teeth in the Miocene of Kenya
Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut
Dawn of hominids: understanding the ape-hominid dichotomy
Brigitte Senut
The impact of new excavations from the Cradle of Humankind on our understanding of the evolution of hominins and their cultures
Lee R. Berger
Stone Age signatures in northernmost South Africa: early archaeology in the 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
Dominique Gommery
Characterising early Homo: cladistic, morphological and metrical analyses of the original Plio-Pleistocene specimens
Sandrine Prat
Early Homo , ‘robust’ australopithecines and stone tools at Kromdraai, South Africa
Francis Thackeray and José Braga
The origin of bone tool technology and the identification of early hominid cultural traditions
Lucinda Backwell and Francesco d’Errico
Contribution of genetics to the study of human origins
Himla Soodyall and Trefor Jenkins
An overview of the patterns of behavioural change in Africa and Eurasia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene
Nicholas J. Conard
From the tropics to the colder climates: contrasting faunal exploitation adaptations of modern humans and Neanderthals
Curtis W. Marean
New neighbours: interaction and image-making during the West European Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition
David Lewis-Williams
Late Mousterian lithic technology: its implications for the pace of the emergence 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 and Howieson’s Poort at Klasies River
Sarah Wurz
Stratigraphic integrity of the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave
Christopher Henshilwood
Testing and demonstrating the stratigraphic integrity of artefacts from MSA deposits at Blombos Cave, South Africa
Zenobia Jacobs
From tool to symbol: the behavioural context of intentionally marked ostrich eggshell from Diepkloof, Western Cape
John Parkington, Cedric Poggenpoel, Jean-Philippe Rigaud and Pierre-Jean Texier
Chronology of the Howieson’s Poort and Still Bay techno-complexes: assessment and new data from luminescence
Chantal Tribolo, Norbert Mercier and Hélène Valladas
Subsistence strategies in the Middle Stone Age at Sibudu Cave: the microscopic evidence from stone tool residues
Bonny S. Williamson
Speaking with beads: the evolutionary significance of personal ornaments
Marian Vanhaeren
Personal names index
Subject index
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, 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.
Profile of Phillip Vallentine Tobias
Phillip Tobias is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School. He holds the positions of Honorary Professor of Palaeoanthropology, Honorary Professorial Research Associate, and Director of the Sterkfontein Research Unit. He is the Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
He was born in Durban, Natal, in October 1925. At Wits University he obtained five degrees, including a medical degree, PhD in genetics and DSc in Palaeoanthropology. He served Wits University f