An interdisciplinary approach to percussive technology – International conference, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, September 18th ‐ 19th, 2014

I n the last decade, percussive technology has been widely discussed due to its importance in understanding Early Stone Age hominin behavior. From the archaeological perspective, a number of sites have yielded artifacts that may have been involved in percussive activities. To understand these tools, archaeologists often use as an analogy stone tools utilized by wild chimpanzees as well as modern primate behavioral patterns. In this regard, the so called ‘primate archaeology’ has developed a discipline in which archaeological and primatological methods are combined in order to better understand diachronic hominin and nonhuman primate tool use. To foster a discussion and collaborative approaches to future research on percussive technology, the Institute of Archaeology (University College London) hosted an international and interdisciplinary conference between the 18 and 19 of September 2014. It focused on various aspects of percussive technology, from primatological studies to archaeological and ethnographical investigations. This conference, sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust International Network Program and organized by Ignacio de la Torre (UCL), brought together a group of highly experienced primatologists and archaeologists, all experts in the study of percussive technology.