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Questioning the Link Between Stone Tool Standardization and Behavioral Modernity

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Abstract

For more than 20 years, it has been claimed that standardization is a ­feature of Upper Paleolithic retouched stone tools, as compared to Middle Paleolithic ones, and reflects the stricter application of mental templates to stone tool-making (e.g., Mellars, Curr Anthropol 30:349–385, 1989a). More recently, this claim has been modified to include stone tool standardization as a feature of modern human behavior (e.g., Klein, J World Prehistory 9:167–198, 1995). It has been argued elsewhere (Chase 1991, Monnier, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 17:341–350, 2007) that standardization and apparent imposition of form in retouched tools reflect factors other than adherence to mental templates. This study tests the notion that standardization is a feature of behavioral modernity by comparing artifact standardization among Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, and Neolithic assemblages from western Switzerland. It uses a 2D geometric morphometric approach to quantify variance in shape within selected tool types. The results show that the most highly standardized types occur in the Upper Paleolithic assemblage. Neolithic types are significantly less standardized than Upper Paleolithic types, and are not more standardized than Middle Paleolithic ones. This suggests that degree of standardization does not correlate strongly with behavioral modernity; rather, the occurrence of highly standardized tools in many Upper Paleolithic assemblages is a feature unique to the Upper Paleolithic, and the reasons for it most likely do not directly reflect mental templates or any other cognitive factors.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Stephen Lycett and Parth Chauhan for having invited us to ­contribute this paper to the symposium’s proceedings, and two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments. Additionally, G.F.M. would like to thank Béat Arnold, Archéologue cantonal de Neuchâtel; Marc-Antoine Kaiser, Director, Laténium; Matthieu Honegger, Professor, Université de Neuchâtel; and François Shifferdecker, Archéologue cantonal du Jura, for generously providing access to the archaeological materials as well as the Laténium’s library during the winter of 2007–2008. G.F.M. also thanks Marie-Isabelle Cattin, Denise Leesch, Laurence-Isaline Stahl Gretsch, Jean Detrey, and Gil Tostevin for many fruitful discussions; and Marlise and Robert Hatt for their generous logistical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, 395 Hubert H. Humphrey Center, 301 19th Ave S, 55455, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Gilliane F. Monnier

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  1. Gilliane F. Monnier
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  2. Kieran P. McNulty
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Correspondence to Gilliane F. Monnier .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Archaeology, Classics &, Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Street, London, L693BX, United Kingdom

    Stephen Lycett

  2. CRAFT Stone Age Institute, Indiana University, W. Dittemore Road 1392, Gosport, 47433-9531, USA

    Parth Chauhan

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Monnier, G.F., McNulty, K.P. (2010). Questioning the Link Between Stone Tool Standardization and Behavioral Modernity. In: Lycett, S., Chauhan, P. (eds) New Perspectives on Old Stones. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6861-6_4

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