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Anthropology 267, Lithic Technology
Spring 2008

Stone tools were essential equipment for all human and pre-human societies for 2.5 million years, until the introduction of metallurgy in relatively recent times. While artifacts made of perishable materials may precede tools made of stone, the earliest evidence we have for hominid manipulation of the physical world comes in the form of lithic artifacts, and they provide much of the evidence we have about early hominid cognitive capabilities and subsistence activities. In later prehistory, more complex stone tools give insight into the economic patters of prehistoric peoples, and particular artifact classes show variation across space that probably mirrors the distribution of ethnic groups.

This class is organized into two parts. In the first part of the semester we will examine the physical evidence of stone tool manufacture and survey major developments in lithic technology through time. In the second half of the semester we will be examining some of the interpretations that can be made regarding behavior from the study of lithic technology including such topics as hominin cognition & ranging patterns, artifact function, site structure etc.

Office Location: Beach Hall, 448
Office Hours for Spring 2008
Monday 2-4:00 pm

Course materials avaiable online at:
HuskyCT