ArticleRoyal Society open science2024
Bone tools, carnivore chewing and heavy percussion: assessing conflicting interpretations of Lower and Upper Palaeolithic bone assemblages.
Article in Royal Society open science, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- The earliest elephant-bone tool from Europe: An unexpected raw material for precision knapping of Acheulean handaxes.Science advances · 2026Article
- Earliest evidence of making fire.Nature · 2026Article
- Anthropogenic modification of a giant ground sloth tooth from Brazil supported by a multi-disciplinary approach.Scientific reports · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The use of bone tools by early humans has provided valuable insights into their technology, behaviour and cognitive abilities. However, identifying minimally modified or unshaped Palaeolithic osseous tools can be challenging, particularly when they are mixed with bones altered by natural taphonomic processes. This has hampered the study of key technical innovations, such as the use of bones, antlers and teeth as hammers or pressure-flakers to work (knap) stone tools. Bones chewed by carnivores can resemble osseous knapping tools and have sometimes been mistaken for them. In this paper, we review recent advances in the study of osseous knapping tools with a focus on two Palaeolithic sites in the UK, the Acheulean Horse Butchery Site at Boxgrove and the Magdalenian site of Gough's Cave, where knapping tools were mis-attributed to carnivore chewing. These osseous knapping tools are investigated using microscopy, high-resolution imaging and comparisons with experimental knapping tools. This allows for new insights into human behaviour at these sites and opens fresh avenues for future research.
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