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Remarks on the Current Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of Early Technological Strategies in Eastern Africa

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Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

This paper explores the theoretical and methodological backgrounds that sustain the current knowledge of early East African technologies. The typological approach dominated lithic studies along the 1960s and 1970s and was later on replaced by processual tendencies, whose paradigms still prevail nowadays. Nonetheless, the present scene in Plio-Pleistocene archaeology is not monolithic, and the theoretical-methodological background of the academic school to which each researcher belongs, has influenced our understanding and interpretations of the technological abilities by early humans. In this article similarities and differences between schools of thought are discussed, and the collections from Olduvai are used as a case study for reflecting on the variety of theoretical and methodological approaches and their relevance for reconstructing early African technologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H-0PY, United Kingdom

    Ignacio la de Torre

  2. Facultad de Letras, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Barcelona Spain

    Rafael Mora (CEPAP-UAB)

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  1. Ignacio la de Torre
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  1. The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel

    Erella Hovers

  2. Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, 7701, Rondebosch, South Africa

    David R. Braun

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de Torre, I.l., Mora, R. (2009). Remarks on the Current Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of Early Technological Strategies in Eastern Africa. In: Hovers, E., Braun, D.R. (eds) Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9060-8_2

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