Reading between the stones. An experimental test of the "library of stones" hypothesis

Reading between the stones An experimental test of the “library of stones” hypothesis Vincent Niochet, Morgan Roussel, Krist Vaesen, Alexander Verpoorte, Marie Soressi Human Origins research group, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University 7th International CONgress of EXPerimental Archaeology Liège, 21-25 October 2025 Roche de Solutré (and Vergisson behind), France Source: Yelkrokoyade, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Introduction Hunter-gatherers’ mobility is tied to persistent places (Binford, 1980; Maher, 2019) “Library of stones” hypothesis (Hiscock, 2014) Manufacturing procedures may have been transmitted via indirect cultural transmission (reverse-engineering) Research question Were prehistoric knappers able to reverse-engineer unfamiliar knapping techniques? Method Set 1: Direct percussion with hard hammerstone Set 2: Direct percussion with organic hammer Set 3: Rested percussion (hard hammerstone & soft stone support) Experimental sets (blades & their cores) Experimental protocol Examples of setting Manipulation Summary Drawing Experimental datasets Summary Drawing Coding phase & coders Result Task 1 Many thanks to participants & coders And to: And thank you! Preregistration available on Open Science Framework (osf.io)