Rebound Hardness Results For Raw Material Located Near Pinnacle Point, South Africa And The Implications Thereof

Abstract

The focus of this study is to test our ability to glean ancient human behavioral ecology data through a specific form of raw material mechanical properties testing. Through the quantitative analysis of raw material in regards to knapping quality (hereafter referred to as knappability), collection processes and choice patterns of a study group can be inferred. More precisely, this study serves to test the viability of the use of the Schmidt hammer as a means of determining knappability, with the area in and around Pinnacle Point (Western Cape, South Africa) as the focus area and silcrete and quartzite as the focus lithologies. In the course of this study, it was found that the use of the Schmidt hammer as a testing device and Young's modulus of elasticity as a quantitative measure of knappability should be discounted from future knappability studies. Finally, this study also demonstrates that the massive silcrete located in the vicinity of Pinnacle Point occurs in more than one form, which could have had implications for ancient raw material selection and affects the future use of silcrete source locations as a variable in agent based modeling and behavioral ecology studies in general.