An IPHES-CERCA project focused on the study of spherical stone tools has been selected for a series of scientific videos and will feature as a documentary for the German program Terra X
International research led by Deborah Barsky investigates the origin and function of the first spherical shapes made by hominins more than a million years ago
This project, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, has been selected to produce a series of videos for its communication venues. It has also been chosen to be showcased in a documentary for a series produced by the German public television ZDF, in the program Terra X, dedicated to great mysteries of history, nature, archeology and science. The Lower Paleolithic Spheroids Project (LPSP) is directed by IPHES-CERCA researcher Deborah Barsky, a specialist in early human cultural evolution.
The LPSP research focuses on the study of enigmatic spheroids (spherical stone tools) found in sites such as the1.4 million-year-old sites of ‘Ubeidiya (in the Levant) and Barranco León (in Orce, Andalusia), as well as in other Early Pleistocene archeological sites in Africa and Eurasia. The aim is to determine whether these spherical shapes were intentionally manufactured by hominins or whether they are the result of accidental processes or recycling during tool making.
The project began in 2020 in collaboration with the Computational Archeology Laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Hai University (Israel), and combines cutting-edge technologies such as 3D analysis, diacritical studies and experimental archeology. The study also incorporates functional analyses to find out whether these tools were used to process plants, disarticulate animal carcasses or break bones to obtain marrow.
An interdisciplinary approach to solving an ancient enigma
The IPHES-CERCA research team, with the participation of Josep Maria Vergès, Robert Sala, Stefania Titton, Isabel Cáceres, Andreu Ollé, Amèlia Bargalló and Julia Cabanes, collaborates closely with international specialists like Leore Grosman (HUJI), Gonen Sharon (THU) and Antoine Muller (University of Bergen, Norway). This multidisciplinary approach allows the question to be addressed from technological, cognitive and symbolic perspectives.
Among the most innovative lines of research are the refitting of experimental lithic sets to understand the mental processes of early humans, and experimental archeozoology, which analyzes marks left by spheroids on animal bones, in order to infer their functional uses.
Filming in Tarragona and Orce
During their stay in Tarragona, the filming team, including journalist Stephan Zengerle, cameraman Maximilian Schecker and producer Peter Prestel (Prestel Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG), recorded several scenes in the IPHES-CERCA laboratory, including demonstrations of stone tool knapping, morphotechnological analyses, experimental plant processing and butchery experiments.
The documentary will be completed this July with recording taking place during the archeological excavations in Orce (Granada), in the framework of a General Research Project underway in the Orce basin, coordinated by Professor Juan Manuel Jiménez Arenas (University of Granada) and funded by the Junta de Andalucía. The filming of the excavations will be carried out at the Oldowan sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3, dated to 1.4 and 1.2 million years old, respectively.
In addition to opening new lines of interpretation about the technological and cognitive capacity of early hominins, the project raises fascinating questions about the possible symbolic significance of the spherical shape, considered one of the first manifestations of intentional material culture in human evolutionary history.