2026/04/30 by Vincent Niochet, Morgan Roussel, Krist Vaesen +2 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Language and cultural evolution #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
paper · doi:10.31235/osf.io/qgzpr_v1
Identifying evidence of cultural transmission from archaeological artefacts is essential for reconstructing the dynamics of social interactions during prehistory. Although technological similarities among overlapping archaeological cultures are often interpreted as indicators of direct contact, the degree to which social interaction is necessary for the diffusion of knapping technologies remains debated. Transmission of technologies might, in some cases, result from the reverse-engineering of discarded stone artefacts. Here, we experimentally tested the library of stones hypothesis, which posits that even an unfamiliar knapping technique can be identified solely through observation of its resulting artefacts. To evaluate this, 34 experienced knappers participated in an experiment in which they were asked to identify the knapping technique used to produce three experimental sets of stone artefacts, each made with a distinct technique. Participants generally failed to reverse-engineer techniques with which they were unfamiliar. Successful reverse-engineering was primarily driven by prior practical experience of the technique and diversity of technological repertoire. These results suggest that the cultural transmission of technological innovations likely required direct social learning mechanisms to occur between groups. Experimental approaches of this kind offer valuable insights into the processes underlying cultural transmission and provide a promising framework for reconstructing inter-group interaction during prehistory.