Projectile Technologies: From Efficient Hunting to Socially Valued Sports

For the fifth Tipping Points Seminar, the GPR "Human Past" invited: - Steven E. Churchill, Marlize Lombard, and Michael P. Lombardo to discuss on Projectile Technologies: From Efficient Hunting to Socially Valued Sports. The seminar was held on October 10, 2023.

The emergence of projectile technology in our lineage has been argued to constitute a crucial innovation affording greater accuracy and striking power in prey procurement.

· What were the long-term developmental trends in the evolution of this technology?

· What were the consequences of its introduction on biological variation?

· How did the use of projectile technologies influence social dynamics such as status acquisition or socially defined gender differentiation?

The 5th Tipping Point Seminar organized by the GPR Human Past aims to initiate a discussion on the origin and development of projectile technology, and reflect on its social, biological, and environmental implications from the Pleistocene to today with the aim to address these challenging questions.

Speakers

Steven E. Churchill - Projectile weapons and the evolution of human ecology and social behaviour

Professor of evolutionary anthropology, Duke University, USA. He is interested in the palaeoanthropological study of morphological and behavioural adaptations within our evolutionary lineage, particularly with regard to comparative morpho-functional studies in the fossil record.

Marlize Lombard - The evolution of hunting technologies in the Old World and its implications

Professor of Archaeology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She is interested in the evolutionary trajectories in the development of material culture during the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa.

Michael P. Lombardo - Sticks and stones: the role of projectile weapons in shaping human evolution

Professor Emeritus of Biology, Grand Valley State University, USA. He is interested in the differences between biological sex and the social implications, particularly in terms of status, associated with activities involving the use of projectiles.

The seminar was organised by Luc Doyon, Solange Rigaud, and Christopher Knüsel with the support of Melina Abdou.

Contact: melina.abdou@u-bordeaux.fr

Download the seminar poster

Dernière mise à jour : le 15/09/2023

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