79. The Earliest Stone Tombs

Uncovering the behavior and cognition of the earliest stone tool makers.

Reconstructing Ancient Egyptian Tombs

From the pyramids of Giza to the tombs of Thebes (modern Luxor), ancient Egypt’s glorious history has produced remarkable architecture. Sadly, the nearly four million yearly tourists have taken a heavy toll on many of these ancient structures. Of particular concern are many of the tombs located opposite to Luxor on the western bank of the Nile. Digital reconstruction of these tombs has the pote...

Earliest Stone-Tipped Projectiles from the Ethiopian Rift Date to >279,000 Years Ago

Projectile weapons (i.e. those delivered from a distance) enhanced prehistoric hunting efficiency by enabling higher impact delivery and hunting of a broader range of animals while reducing confrontations with dangerous prey species. Projectiles therefore provided a significant advantage over thrusting spears. Composite projectile technologies are considered indicative of complex behavior and p...

Correction: Earliest Stone-Tipped Projectiles from the Ethiopian Rift Date to >279,000 Years Ago

In the Materials and Methods section, there is an error in the TCSA equation. "max. width" is incorrectly repeated in the formula for TCSA, and should be "max. thickness" the second time. Please view the complete, correction equation here: Copyright: © 2015 Sahle et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestri...

Raw material selectivity of the earliest stone toolmakers at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia.

Published evidence of Oldowan stone exploitation generally supports the conclusion that patterns of raw material use were determined by local availability. This is contradicted by the results of systematic studies of raw material availability and use among the earliest known archaeological sites from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Artifact assemblages from six Pliocene archaeological sites were compared...