Use-wear and residue analysis of pounding tools used by wild capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) from Serra da Capivara (Piaui, Brazil)

Author(s)

Arroyo, Adrian ^{[1, 2]} ; Falotico, Tiago ^[3] ; Burguet-Coca, Aitor ^{[1, 2]} ; Exposito, Isabel ^{[1, 2]} ; Quinn, Patrick ^[4] ; Proffitt, Tomos ^[5]

Affiliation

^[1] Inst Catal Paleoecol Humana & Evolucio Social IPH, Zona Educ 4, Campus Sescelades URV, Edifici W3, Tarragona 43007 - Spain

^[2] Univ Rovira & Virgili, Dept Hist & Hist Art, Avinguda Catalunya 35, Tarragona 43002 - Spain

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Arts Sci & Humanities, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] UCL, Inst Archaeol, 31-34 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0PY - England

^[5] Max Planck Inst Evolutionary Anthropol, Technol Primates Res Grp, Deutsch Pl 6, D-04103 Leipzig - Germany

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE-REPORTS; v. 35, FEB 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) from Serra da Capivara National Park (Brazil), perform the widest range of activities using stone tools of all the non-human tool-using primates. The behaviours behind this range of tool-use have been closely documented, but little is known about the characteristics of the tools themselves. Here we redress this imbalance and adopt an archaeological perspective to the analysis of capuchin pounding tools. We apply, for the first time, systematic microscopic techniques to the analysis of capuchin stone tools used for digging, cracking cashew nuts and seed processing to characterise their damage patterns combined with residue spatial distribution and micro-remains analysis. This work presents a standardized methodology for future primate archaeological use-wear studies as well as forming a reference collection which can be used to identify different activities within the primate archaeological record. Furthermore, understanding the archaeologically visible traces of primate percussive behaviours represents an initial step in developing a methodology to investigate if similar activities were practiced by early hominins and to help identify these activities in the Plio-Pleistocene archaeological record. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/05219-0 - Tool use by capuchin monkeys: learning and tradition
• Grantee: Tiago Falótico
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 18/01292-9 - Cultural variation in robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.)
• Grantee: Tiago Falótico
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants