Modeling a primate technological niche

Abstract The ability to modify the environment through the transport of tools has been instrumental in shaping the evolutionary success of humans. Understanding the cause-and-effect relationships between hominin behavior and the environment ultimately requires understanding of how the archaeological...

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Autores principales:	Jonathan S. Reeves, Tomos Proffitt, Lydia V. Luncz
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a9ea5fd9d7c7460690bc84d423fa43ab
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a9ea5fd9d7c7460690bc84d423fa43ab2021-12-05T12:11:37ZModeling a primate technological niche10.1038/s41598-021-01849-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/a9ea5fd9d7c7460690bc84d423fa43ab2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01849-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The ability to modify the environment through the transport of tools has been instrumental in shaping the evolutionary success of humans. Understanding the cause-and-effect relationships between hominin behavior and the environment ultimately requires understanding of how the archaeological record forms. Observations of living primates can shed light on these interactions by investigating how tool-use behaviors produce a material record within specific environmental contexts. However, this requires reconciling data derived from primate behavioral observations with the time-averaged nature of the Plio-Pleistocene archaeological record. Here, we use an agent-based model to investigate how repeated short-distance transport events, characteristic for primate tool use, can result in significant landscape-scale patterning of material culture over time. Our results illustrate the conditions under which accumulated short-distance transport bouts can displace stone tools over long distances. We show that this widespread redistribution of tools can also increase access to tool require resources over time. As such, these results elucidate the niche construction processes associated with this pattern of tool transport. Finally, the structure of the subsequent material record largely depends on the interaction between tool transport and environmental conditions over time. Though these results have implications for inferring hominin tool transports from hominin archaeological assemblages. Furthermore, they highlight the difficulties with connecting specific behavioral processes with the patterning in the archaeological record.Jonathan S. ReevesTomos ProffittLydia V. LunczNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Jonathan S. Reeves Tomos Proffitt Lydia V. Luncz Modeling a primate technological niche
description	Abstract The ability to modify the environment through the transport of tools has been instrumental in shaping the evolutionary success of humans. Understanding the cause-and-effect relationships between hominin behavior and the environment ultimately requires understanding of how the archaeological record forms. Observations of living primates can shed light on these interactions by investigating how tool-use behaviors produce a material record within specific environmental contexts. However, this requires reconciling data derived from primate behavioral observations with the time-averaged nature of the Plio-Pleistocene archaeological record. Here, we use an agent-based model to investigate how repeated short-distance transport events, characteristic for primate tool use, can result in significant landscape-scale patterning of material culture over time. Our results illustrate the conditions under which accumulated short-distance transport bouts can displace stone tools over long distances. We show that this widespread redistribution of tools can also increase access to tool require resources over time. As such, these results elucidate the niche construction processes associated with this pattern of tool transport. Finally, the structure of the subsequent material record largely depends on the interaction between tool transport and environmental conditions over time. Though these results have implications for inferring hominin tool transports from hominin archaeological assemblages. Furthermore, they highlight the difficulties with connecting specific behavioral processes with the patterning in the archaeological record.
format	article
author	Jonathan S. Reeves Tomos Proffitt Lydia V. Luncz
author_facet	Jonathan S. Reeves Tomos Proffitt Lydia V. Luncz
author_sort	Jonathan S. Reeves
title	Modeling a primate technological niche
title_short	Modeling a primate technological niche
title_full	Modeling a primate technological niche
title_fullStr	Modeling a primate technological niche
title_full_unstemmed	Modeling a primate technological niche
title_sort	modeling a primate technological niche
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a9ea5fd9d7c7460690bc84d423fa43ab
work_keys_str_mv	AT jonathansreeves modelingaprimatetechnologicalniche AT tomosproffitt modelingaprimatetechnologicalniche AT lydiavluncz modelingaprimatetechnologicalniche
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Modeling a primate technological niche

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