TEC154 2010S, Class 05: Stone Tools (2) Overview: * Questions on last reading * Washburn * Sharp * The extinction of a technology Admin: * There is no reading for Friday. However, you may want to get started on Petroski, which we will be discussing next week. * We'll start today's class with questions for Prof. Whittaker on the subjects of last class. * Please be on time to class on Friday. Questions on last reading: * What was pressure flaking used to make, other than arrowheads? * Lots of things, as long as you understand the limitations of * Were stone tools used for warfare (attacking other members of the same species)? * Response: What evidence would you look to? * Yes, there's plenty of evidence Washburn * What is his thesis? * Rather than being a byproduct of evolution, stone tools are an evolutionary dynamo * Bipedalism permits you to use stone tools, stone tools give you an advantage, which then selects for more/better bipedalism * This is an article from 1960. * Lots of new finds. * Dating has been revised significantly * Leakey finds in Olduvai gorge * Note: Austrolopithicus robustus means "southern ape" + "big strong critter" * We now have lots of Austrolopiticines (which Sam can't spell) * Whoops! We see that bipedalism predates stone tools. * There's a two-million year gap between between bipedalism and stone tools * Can we preserve the Washburn thesis in light of this? * Revised claim: Tools (not necc. stone tools) are the driving force * And the tools could have been wooden, which means that we wouldn't see remnants * It seems clear that there should be a feedback loop * You can still see this happening * Quite a number of us have had our wisdom teeth removed * Our mouths are getting smaller, but our teeth aren't * Linked to tool use - Tools mean that we don't need to do as much with our mouths * Around 2 million years ago, there are at least three hominids living contemporarily. * A. robustus. Teeth suggest that he seems to be eating a lot of vegetables and grains, as does the saggital crest, which reflects a massive chewing apparatus. * A. africanus. Related, but more _ creature. Seems to be a generalist, like a chimp. Also eats softer things, like fruit * Homo habilis, also found in Olduvai gorge. Leakey thought it was an ancestor of humans ("homo") that was a toolmaker ("habilis") * Leakey revised thesis about the robustus he found: No longer tool maker, but victim of the toolmaker. * We're not really going to be able to know which made the tools. * Important issue: When you have three species, one of two things happens * They compete, and one ends up winning out over the others * They find independent domains and don't compete. * We think the latter: A. robustus * Would stone tools really help you gather meats? * Lots of fauna were *big* then. * Killer apes theory was around for a long time. * But it doesn't really make sense. * But stone tools are great for scavanging. * Quickly stealing a piece of meat * Bashing open a bone to get at the marrow * Hyenas can get to marrow, but most other animals don't * A high-value resource that others don't have access to * A special niche Sam's distracting question: How do you recognize this as a tool? * Whittaker's side notes: Leakey has claimed some American finds are tools, but American Anthroplogists may not necessarily agree. * Context - What is it found with * There's a pattern to the form * Casual forms are unlikely to look the same Sam's next distracting question: Do we credit Louis Leakey or Mary Leakey for the skull find. * Both were active archaeologists * But Mary did find it Sam's next distracting question (from student): Is discovery of only small fauna in site a real indication that these creatures only ate On to Sharp: Yir Yorant article * Thesis: The introduction of steel axes had a significant effect on the culture of the Yir Yorant community * Where does a stone axe come from to get to the Yir Yorant * Acquired by trade * Why is the acquisition by trade important? * Forms social relationships * Helps maintain peace * Provides a rationale for festivals * Helps maintain power relationships * Note: Spear heads and axes are the most important things in the trade, although other things are important * Why are stone axes useful? * Can be used for lots of things. * A symbol of status * In the Yir Yorant world, things are expected to be the same * The Steel Axes shake that entire belief system * Important: Technologies are laden with meaning * A man using an axe: He is important enough to have an axe * A woman or young man using an axe: Is a part of a kin structure * Everything has a meaning * Computers are important: What does it mean to use a computer? * Economic status: You can afford a computer * Knowledge: You are in touch with technological information * You can communicate with other people online and have access to other resources * Not using computers is also a symbolic gesture * An excuse: "My computer ate my paper" * How does the College use computers symbolically * Potentially as a way of advertising the College - we have lots of resources The Survival of Technology * We've looked at the beginning of stone tools, now let's consider the end * In our lifetimes, the actual use of stone tools is likely to disappear * It's stunning that they have lasted so long * Two relatively recent examples * Flint and steel as fire starter * Flintlock gun - used all over the world for a few hundred years * Flintlock gun: * Millions of guns, millions of flints * Flints are disposable * [Sam handles Powerpoint duties, and is therefore not able to record things. Whittaker narrates the story of the flintlock industry in a town in G.B.] * [Everything after this is a post-class attempt to summarize.] * Important questions: * What causes a technology to survive? * What gives a technonology competitive advantages? * What leads a technology to die out? * Example: Given that metal is superior for sickle blades, why were stone sickle blades still made in the bronze age? * Some competitive advantages * Technological: Does the job better (e.g., metal sickle over stone sickle) * Economic: Cheaper or easier to obtain (e.g., stone sickle over metal sickle) * Symbolic (e.g., why people still want flints)