Nolan Ferar
@nolanferar.bsky.social
Archaeologist | PhD candidate
Middle Paleolithic lithic technology
ICArEHB, Universidade do Algarve
Cultural evolution | Experimental archaeology | Cognitive archaeology
Middle Paleolithic lithic technology
ICArEHB, Universidade do Algarve
Cultural evolution | Experimental archaeology | Cognitive archaeology
Thank you to all involved and all who helped (e.g. @ctennie.bsky.social, @sahelanthrope.bsky.social)
Find all the details here, and be sure to check our FAQ section (e.g. regarding late Acheulean handaxe shapes) in the supplemental info: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440326000154
Find all the details here, and be sure to check our FAQ section (e.g. regarding late Acheulean handaxe shapes) in the supplemental info: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440326000154
Stone tool shaping without direct cultural transmission
While environment and biology play important roles, the complexity and variability of human life today depends in many ways on special cultural proces…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Thank you to all involved and all who helped (e.g. @ctennie.bsky.social, @sahelanthrope.bsky.social)
Find all the details here, and be sure to check our FAQ section (e.g. regarding late Acheulean handaxe shapes) in the supplemental info: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440326000154
Find all the details here, and be sure to check our FAQ section (e.g. regarding late Acheulean handaxe shapes) in the supplemental info: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440326000154
Besides handaxe shapes, even novel arbitrary shapes were replicated via the puppet method.
February 4, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Besides handaxe shapes, even novel arbitrary shapes were replicated via the puppet method.
This validates the puppet method as a new tool in experimental archaeology *and* shows that handaxe shaping per se is not a secure indicator of know-how copying.
February 4, 2026 at 11:26 AM
This validates the puppet method as a new tool in experimental archaeology *and* shows that handaxe shaping per se is not a secure indicator of know-how copying.
Knapping-naïve puppeteers successfully imposed Acheulean handaxe (and also other) shapes by directing the expert knapper. See picture.
February 4, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Knapping-naïve puppeteers successfully imposed Acheulean handaxe (and also other) shapes by directing the expert knapper. See picture.
The puppet method disentangles knapping know-how from shaping know-how:
Knapping-naïve "puppeteers" aim to reproduce target shapes by directing the flake removals of an expert "puppet" knapper—without any access to *shaping* know-how models.
Knapping-naïve "puppeteers" aim to reproduce target shapes by directing the flake removals of an expert "puppet" knapper—without any access to *shaping* know-how models.
February 4, 2026 at 11:26 AM
The puppet method disentangles knapping know-how from shaping know-how:
Knapping-naïve "puppeteers" aim to reproduce target shapes by directing the flake removals of an expert "puppet" knapper—without any access to *shaping* know-how models.
Knapping-naïve "puppeteers" aim to reproduce target shapes by directing the flake removals of an expert "puppet" knapper—without any access to *shaping* know-how models.
We tested whether handaxe shaping requires know-how models using a novel experimental design, previously described only in theory by Mark W. Moore (2019): the puppet method.
February 4, 2026 at 11:26 AM
We tested whether handaxe shaping requires know-how models using a novel experimental design, previously described only in theory by Mark W. Moore (2019): the puppet method.
