The Pleistocene Stone Artifact Record of Africa: Technologies, Typologies, and Analytic Approaches

Flaked stone (lithic) artifacts are a ubiquitous cultural material at Pleistocene sites and first appear in the archaeological record 3.3 million years ago (Ma) in East Africa. The African stone artifact record thus covers the longest time span of human prehistory compared to other regions. Lithic artifacts preserve well, and they are often the only cultural materials remaining at a site. Archaeologists have therefore dedicated considerable effort to describing stone artifacts and to developing theory to interpret them in light of hominin behavioral and biological evolution. In this contribution, we briefly describe the major lithic technologies that appeared in Africa during the Pleistocene. Additionally, this reviews the common analytical approaches that researchers employ when studying lithic assemblages from diverse contexts. We then discuss how archaeologists have used lithic artifacts to interpret other aspects of hominin evolution and the issues that confound these interpretations.