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Osseous Projectile Weaponry from Early to Late Middle Stone Age Africa

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Osseous Projectile Weaponry

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

Abstract

Discussion about early projectile technology typically includes criteria used to distinguish artefacts used as hafted points from those employed for other purposes, associated faunal and lithic assemblages, palaeoenvironment, age of the material, associated hominins and their cognitive capacities, criteria used to identify complex technology and cognition, and how innovative technologies might have developed and spread. Here we summarize what is known about osseous weaponry in the African Middle Stone Age, and discuss the implications of these items for the origin(s) of modern cognitive complexity. Results indicate the use of bone spear points in the Aterian and Still Bay, and bone-tipped arrowheads in the Howiesons Poort and the Early Later Stone Age. The appearance and disappearance of projectile technology suggests that it likely emerged more than once, as an adaptation to local environments, rather than being the outcome of a process in which technology advanced in step with developing cognition.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Michelle Langley for inviting us to contribute a chapter to this monograph. We also thank A. Aomar, M. El Hajraoui, E. Campmas, R. Nespulet and B. Leprêtre (photographer) for granting permission to use photographs presented in Fig. 2.3. This research was supported by grants from: European Research Council (FP7/2007/2013, TRACSYMBOLS 249587); Origin of Man, Language and Languages Program of the European Science Foundation; Project Origines II, Aquitaine Region; South Africa/France Scientific Cooperation Agreement; Institut Français d’Afrique du Sud; Evolutionary Studies Institute and DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand; Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.

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  1. Evolutionary Studies Institute and DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences and School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Lucinda Backwell & Francesco d’Errico

  2. CNRS UMR 5199, PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, Pessac Cedex, France

    Francesco d’Errico

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  1. Lucinda Backwell
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Correspondence to Lucinda Backwell .

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  1. Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Australia

    Michelle C. Langley

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Backwell, L., d’Errico, F. (2016). Osseous Projectile Weaponry from Early to Late Middle Stone Age Africa. In: Langley, M. (eds) Osseous Projectile Weaponry. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0899-7_2

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