Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Stone Age Weaponry (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology) - Softcover

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Dr. Radu Iovita is a paleoanthropologist and paleolithic archaeologist, currently working at the MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum in Neuwied, Germany. His research focuses on experimental approaches to technological evolution and in human migration and adaptation to environmental change in the Eurasian loess steppe. 
Dr. Katsuhiro Sano is an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo. His research interests revolve around temporal advances in technology and function of prehistoric stone tools, especially prehistoric hunting technology. 

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The objective of this volume is to showcase the contemporarystate of research on recognizing and evaluating the performance of stone ageweapons from a variety of viewpoints, including investigating their cognitiveand evolutionary significance. 

New archaeological finds and experimental studies  have helped to bring this subject back to theforefront of human origins research. In the last few years, investigations haveexpanded beyond  examining the toolsthemselves to include studies of damage caused by projectile weapons on animaland hominin bones and skeletal asymmetries in ancient hominin populations. Onlyrecently has there been a growing interest in controlled and replicativeexperiments. Through this book readers will be updated in the state ofknowledge through a multidisciplinary scientific reconstruction of prehistoricweapon use and its implications.

Contributions from expertauthors are organized into three themed parts: recognizing weapon use(experimental and archaeological studies of impact traces), performance ofweapon systems (factors influencing penetration depth etc.), and behavioral andevolutionary ramifications (cognitive and ecological effects of using differentweapons).