Kathleen Holen, who did her MA in Archaeology at Exeter
University in Devon, UK, will
explore how early hominins in Africa learned how to break large animal limb
bones with hammerstones to extract marrow at least 2.5 million years ago.
Early hominins also learned to flake bone into expedient and
patterned bone tools by 1.2 million years ago. Video of experimental breakage
of elephant and cow limb bones shows how breakage patterns found on animal limb
bones from archaeological sites were produced. Patterned bone breakage and
flaking of limb bones at numerous late Pleistocene mammoth sites in the Americas
provide evidence of human technology and behavior at
least 30,000 years ago.
Dr. Steven Holen, the former Curator of Archaeology at the Denver
Museum of Nature and Science, will address a controversial topic that we have
explored with several of our visiting AIA lecturers—the peopling of the
Americas. He will open his talk with a history of debate and then offer new
evidence and ideas about the date when humans first entered the Americas and by
what routes and methods.
Tuesday, Jan. 21
Kathleen HolenTuesday, Jan. 21
When People Broke Bones:
Early Human Technology and Experimental Archaeology
12:45 PM
Wilson Hall 168
Tuesday, Jan. 21
Center for American Paleolithic Research
Early Humans in the
Americas: When, Where and Why
7:30 PM
Wilson Hall Theatre
All events are free and open to the public. Please come and bring a friend!
