Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Broadfield, Douglas C.

Abstract

Human handedness is likely related to brain lateralization and major cognitive innovations in human evolution. Identifying handedness in the archaeological record is, therefore, an important step in understanding our cognitive evolution. This thesis reports on experiments in identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage. I conducted a blind study on flakes (n=631) from Acheulean handaxes replicated by right- and left-handed flintknappers. Several flake characteristics significantly indicated handedness, with a binary logistic regression correctly predicting handedness for 71.7% of the flakes. However, other characteristics were not associated with handedness. This is a result of personal knapping styles, as additional analyses show that individual knappers associate with some attributes better than handedness does. Continued work on these methodologies will enable analysis of Paleolithic assemblages in the future, with the ultimate goal of tracking population-level hominid handedness rates through time and using them as a proxy for cognitive evolution and language acquisition.

Extent

146 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00004325

Format

pdf

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