The Evolution of Cumulative Culture
The timing and tempo of the evolution of cumulative culture in the hominin lineage is not well understood. To address this, I measured the complexity of 1,983 lithic assemblages spanning the evolution of the genus homo, and compared those patterns to degrees of complexity of assemblages produced by randomized flaking, and the technologies of Chimpanzees. Data collection for this project was funded by the Leakey Foundation. (preprint here) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2319175121 Click for a poster presentation on this project presented at the Association of American Biological Anthropology meetings in 2022. |
The Information Content of Lithic Assemblages
As systematic comparisons of many archaeological assemblages are becoming more feasible, there is greater opportunity to assess how much information we can glean from excavating and reporting on new assemblages. Borrowing concepts from information theory, we measured the information content of the technological mode system developed by John Shea. Data collection for this project was funded by the Leakey Foundation. doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2022.2113699 |
Technological Change Across the Austronesian Expansion
Evolutionary models explaining the success of modern humans often cite their technological flexibility. Despite this, the rate at which humans change their stone tool technologies to adapt to new circumstances is not clear. In collaboration with researchers at University of Hawaii, and l'institut archéologie de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et du Pacifique, I study lithic in Near and Remote Oceania relating to the expansion of Austronesian speakers. The goal here is to begin to develop a systematic comparative study measuring the rates at which different human populations have modified their technologies in different environmental circumstances. Initial research in this project was funded by the Leakey Foundation. |
The Paleolithic Social Transmission Network
Culture evolutionary models describe the evolution of cooperation, cumulative culture, and other derived aspects of our species behavior. However, it is unclear how variability in lithic technology does, or does not relate to those models. Can we use archaeological data to distinguish between competing models of hominin behavioral evolution? The Paleolithic Social Transmission Network developed to try to answer these questions through collaboration between research teams and sharing information and resources between stone tool labs. doi.org/10.1002/evan.21823 |