Stephen J. Lycett

Edited Books/ Books

Keyser, J.D., Kaiser, D.A., and Lycett, S.J. (2023). “War is Their Sole Delight”: Blackfoot Petroglyphs at DgOw-32, Verdigris Coulee, Alberta. Oregon Archaeological Society Press Publication 28, Portland.

Keyser, J. D., Davis, C.M., Kaiser, D.A., Willis, M., & Lycett, S.J. (2021). No Bear: Visions Through Time. Oregon Archaeological Society Press, Publication 27, Portland.

Ellen, R.F. Lycett, S.J., & Johns, S.E. (Eds.) (2013). Understanding Cultural Transmission in Anthropology: A Critical Synthesis. Berghahn: New York/Oxford. 

Lycett, S.J. & Chauhan, P.R. (Eds.) (2010). New Perspectives on Old Stones: Analytical Approaches to Palaeolithic Technologies. Springer: New York. 

Journal Articles & Book Chapters

Gala, N., Lycett, S.J., Bebber, M.R. & Eren, M.I. (2023). The injury costs of knapping. American Antiquity 88 (93): 283–301.Link

Keyser, J.D., Lycett, S.J., & Kaiser, D.A. (2023). From spirit power to firepower: evolution and chronology of petroglyphs at DgOw-32, Verdigris Coulee, Alberta. Archaeology in Montana 64 (1): 37–70. 

Gürbüz, R.E.B. and Lycett, S.J. (2023). Could woodworking have influenced variation in the form of Acheulean handaxes?  Archaeometry 65 (5): 1090–1107.  Link

Key, A.J.K. & Lycett, S.J. (2023). The ergonomics of stone tool use and production. In: Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology, edited by Karenleigh Overmann, Tom Wynn, & Fred Coolidge. New York: Oxford University Press. Link

Eren, M.I., Bebber, M., Buchanan, B., Grunow, A., Key, A., Lycett, S.J., Maletic, E., Riley, T. (2023). Antarctica as a 'natural laboratory' for critical assessment of the validity of early stone tool sites in world archaeology. Antiquity 97 (392): 472–482. Link

Roberts, D.L., Jarić, I.I., Lycett, S.J., Flicker, D., Key, A. (2023). Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis are not temporally exceptional relative to Homo erectus. Journal of Quaternary Science 38 (4): 463–470. Link

Keyser, J. D., Kaiser, D.A., & Lycett, S.J. (2022). Keeping score – A Crow war tally. American Indian Rock Art, Volume 48: 1–17.

Lycett, S.J. (2022). Dispersion and diversity: Parfleche variation on the Great Plains vs. the Columbia Plateau. In: Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology, edited by Metin I. Eren & Briggs Buchanan, pp.26–42. Oxford: Berghahn Press. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Keyser, J.D. (2021). Changing patterns of stylistic diversity in Blackfoot biographic art across the nineteenth century. Plains Anthropologist 66 (259): 242–266. Link

Gürbüz, R.E.B. and Lycett, S.J. (2021). Did the use of bone flakes precede the use of knapped stone flakes in hominin meat processing and could this be detectable archaeologically?  Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 62 (101305): 1–13. Link

Eren, M.I., Bebber, M.R., Mika, A. Flood, K., Maguire, L., Norris, D., Perrone, A., Muller, D.A., Centea, S., Centea, C., Christy, B., Daud., R., Jackson, J., Patten, R.J., Redmond., B.G., Buchanan, B., Haythorn, R., Miller, L., Conaway, M.A., Biermann Gürbüz, R.E., Lycett, S.J., Kilby, D., Andrews, B., MacDonald, B., Boulanger, M., Meltzer., D.J. (2021). Evidence for and implications of a Clovis cache from north-central Ohio, U.S.A. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 37 (2021): 102972. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Keyser, J. (2021). White Swan: on possible further additions to the oeuvre of a Crow warrior-artist. Ethnohistory 68 (1): 1–27. Link

Gürbüz, R.E.B. and Lycett, S.J. (2021). Could woodworking have driven lithic tool selection? Journal of Human Evolution 156 (102999): 1–11. Link

Keyser, J.D. & Lycett, S.J. (2021). Stylistic change and emic cultural continuity in Archaic-period anthropomorphs at No Bear, Montana. Journal of Field Archaeology 46 (2): 108–118.  Link

Key, A.J.K. & Lycett, S.J. (2020). Torque creation and force variation along the cutting edges of Acheulean handaxes: implications for tip thinning, resharpening, and tranchet flake removals. Journal of Archaeological Science 120 (105189): 1–10.  Link

Eren, M.I., Lycett, S.J., & Tomonaga, M. (2020). Underestimating Kanzi? Exploring Kanzi-Oldowan comparisons in the light of recent human stone tool replication experiments. Evolutionary Anthropology 29 (6): 310–316.  Link

Gürbüz, R.E.B. & Lycett, S.J. (2020). Asymmetrical Paleolithic wooden spear tips: Expediency or design? Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 30 (102209): 1–10.  Link

Lycett, S.J. (2020). Spatially mediated cultural transmission and the distribution of horse blanket styles among post-contact and reservation-period tribes of western North America. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12 (1): 1–9.  Link

Kenyon-Flatt, B., Conaway, M.A., Lycett, S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2020). The relative efficacy of the cranium and os coxa for taxonomic assessment in macaques. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 173 (2): 350–367. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Keyser, J. (2019). Dating Crow rock art through multivariate statistical comparison with biographic artworks. American Antiquity 84 (4): 632–650. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Keyser, J. (2019). Time’s arrow: Toward a social history of Crow biographic art using seriation and multivariate statistics. American Anthropologist 121 (2): 363–375. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2019). Confirmation of the role of geographic isolation by distance in among-tribe variations in beadwork designs and manufacture on the High Plains. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11 (6): 2837-2847. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2019). Cultural transmission in the post-contact Plateau region and beyond: insights from funerary practices, fishing practices, clothing, and languages. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 54 (2): 207–217. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Eren, M.I. (2019). Built-in misdirection: on the difficulties of learning to knap. Lithic Technology 44 (1): 8–21. Link

Keyser, J.D. & Lycett, S.J. (2019). Blackfoot artists on the Kevin Rim, Montana. American Indian Rock Art 45: 21–38.

Schillinger, K. & Lycett, S.J. (2019). The flow of culture: Assessing the role of rivers in the inter-community transmission of material traditions in the Upper Amazon. Journal of Archaeological Method & Theory 26 (1): 135–154. Link

Key, A.J.M. and Lycett, S.J. (2019). Biometric variables predict stone tool functional performance more effectively than tool-form attributes: a case study in handaxe loading capabilities. Archaeometry 6 (3): 539–555. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2019). Cultural transmission from the last common ancestor to the Levallois reducers: what can we infer? In: Squeezing Minds from Stones: Cognitive Archaeology and the Evolution of the Human Mind, Edited by Karenleigh A. Overmann and Frederick Coolidge, pp.251–277. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Shennan, S.J. (2018). David Clarke’s Analytical Archaeology at 50. World Archaeology 50 (2): 210–220. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Keyser, J.D. (2018). Beyond oral history: a 19th century Blackfoot warriors’ biographic robe in comparative and chronological context. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 22 (4): 771–799. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2018) Cultural evolution. In: Callan, H. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1470  PDF

von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Lycett, S.J. (2018). Assessing the relative impact of historical divergence and inter-group transmission on cultural patterns: a method from evolutionary ecology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 373: 20170054. Link

Key, A.J.M. and Lycett, S.J. (2018). Investigating interrelationships between Lower Palaeolithic stone tool effectiveness and tool-user biometric variation: implications for technological and evolutionary changes. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 10 (5): 989–1006. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2017). Cultural patterns within and outside of the post-contact Great Plains as revealed by parfleche characteristics: implications for areal arrangements in artifactual data. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 48 (1): 87–101. Link

Key, A.J.M. & Lycett, S.J. (2017). Form and function in the Lower Palaeolithic: history, progress, and continued relevance. Journal of Anthropological Sciences 95: 67–108. Link

Bebber, M.R., Lycett, S.J. & Eren, M.I. (2017). Developing a stable point: evaluating the temporal and geographic consistency of Late Prehistoric unnotched triangular point functional design in Midwestern North America. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 47 (1): 72–82. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Keyser, J.D. (2017). Assessing the chronology of post-contact rock art on the northern Plains via multivariate statistical comparison with Blackfoot biographic art. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 45 (1): 69–80. Link

Key, A.J.M. & Lycett, S.J. (2017). Reassessing the production of handaxes versus flakes from a functional perspective. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 9 (5): 737–753. Link

Schillinger, K., Mesoudi, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2017). Differences in manufacturing traditions and assemblage-level patterns: the origins of cultural differences in archaeological data. Journal of Archaeological Method & Theory 24 (2): 640–658. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2017). A multivariate and phylogenetic analysis of Blackfoot biographic art: Another look at the Deadmond robe. Plains Anthropologist 62 (243): 201–218. Link

Key, A.J.M. & Lycett, S.J. (2017). Influence of handaxe size and shape on cutting efficiency: a large-scale experiment and morphometric analysis. Journal of Archaeological Method & Theory 24 (2): 514–541. Link

Key, A.J.M., Proffitt, T., Stefani, E., & Lycett, S.J. (2016). Looking at handaxes from another angle: assessing the ergonomic and functional importance of edge form in Acheulean bifaces. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 44 (4): 43–55. Link

Lycett, S.J. & von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2016). Transmission of biology and culture among post-contact Native Americans on the western Great Plains. Scientific Reports 6: 25695. Link

Eren, M.I., Lycett, S.J., Patten, R.J., Buchanan, B., Pargeter, J., O’Brien, M.J. (2016). Test, model, and method validation: the role of experimental stone tool replication in hypothesis-driven archaeology. Ethnoarchaeology 8 (2): 103–136. Link

Lycett, S.J., Schillinger, K., Eren, M.I., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., & Mesoudi, M. (2016). Factors affecting Acheulean handaxe variation: experimental insights, microevolutionary processes, and macroevolutionary outcomes. Quaternary International 411: 386–401. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2016). The importance of a “quantitative genetic” approach to the evolution of artifact morphological traits. In Cultural Phylogenetics: Concepts and Applications in Archaeology, edited by L. Mendoza-Straffon, pp.73–93. New York: Springer Press. Link

Schillinger, K., Mesoudi, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2016). Copying error, evolution, and phylogenetic signal in artifactual traditions: an experimental approach using “model artifacts.” Journal of Archaeological Science 70: 23-34. Link

Eren, M.I. & Lycett, S.J. (2016). A statistical examination of flake edge angles produced during experimental lineal Levallois reductions and consideration of their functional implications. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 23 (1): 379–398. Link

Lycett, S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Eren, M.I. (2016). Levallois: potential implications for learning and cultural transmission capacities. Lithic Technology 41 (1): 19–38. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2015). Differing patterns of material culture intergroup variation on the Great Plains: a quantitative analysis of parfleche characteristics vs. moccasin decoration. American Antiquity 80 (4): 714–731. Link

Schillinger, K., Mesoudi, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2015). The impact of imitative versus emulative learning mechanisms on artifactual variation: implications for the evolution of material culture. Evolution and Human Behavior 36 (6): 446–455. Link

Betti, L., Lycett, S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Pearson, O. (2015). Are human hands and feet affected by climate? A test of Allen’s Rule. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 158 (1): 132–140. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2015). Cultural evolutionary approaches to artifact variation over time and space: basis, progress, and prospects. Journal of Archaeological Science 56: 21–31. Link

Key, A.J.M. & Lycett, S.J. (2015). Edge angle as a variably influential factor in flake cutting efficiency: An experimental investigation of its relationship with tool size and loading. Archaeometry 57 (5): 911–927. Link

Lycett, S.J., Schillinger, K., Kempe, M. & Mesoudi, A. (2015). Learning in the Acheulean: insights from experiments using handaxe form as a “model organism.” In: Learning Strategies and Cultural Evolution during the Paleolithic, edited by A. Mesoudi & K. Aoki, pp.155–166. New York: Springer. Link

Lycett, S.J. & von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2015). Toward a “quantitative genetic” approach to lithic variation. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 22 (2): 646–675. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2014). Dynamics of cultural transmission in Native Americans of the High Great Plains. PLoS One 9 (11 / e112244): 1–8. Link

von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Lycett, S.J. (2014). A comparison of catarrhine genetic distances with pelvic and cranial morphology: implications for determining hominin phylogeny. Journal of Human Evolution 77: 179–186. Link

Betti, L., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Manica, A., Lycett, S.J. (2014). The interaction of neutral evolutionary processes with climatically-driven adaptive changes in the 3D shape of the human os coxae. Journal of Human Evolution 73: 64–74. Link

Eren, M.I., Roos, C.I., Story, B.A., von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Lycett, S.J. (2014). The role of raw material differences in stone tool shape variation: an experimental assessment. Journal of Archaeological Science 49: 472–487. Link

Kempe, M., Lycett, S.J. & Mesoudi, A. (2014). Cultural differences and cumulative culture: parameterizing the differences between human and nonhuman culture. Journal of Theoretical Biology 359: 29–36. Link

Schillinger, K., Mesoudi, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2014). Considering the role of time budgets on copy-error rates in material culture traditions: an experimental assessment. PLoS One 9 (5) e97157: 1­­–10. Link

Schillinger, K., Mesoudi, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2014). Copying error and the cultural evolution of ‘additive’ versus ‘reductive’ material traditions: an experimental assessment. American Antiquity 79 (1): 128–143. Link

Key, A.J.M. & Lycett, S.J. (2014). Are bigger flakes always better? An experimental assessment of flake size variation on cutting efficiency and loading. Journal of Archaeological Science 41 (1): 140–146. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Eren, M.I. (2013). Levallois lessons: The challenge of integrating mathematical models, experiments and the archaeological record. World Archaeology 45 (4): 519–538. Link

Lycett, S.J. & von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2013). Understanding the comparative catarrhine context of human pelvic form: a 3D geometric morphometric analysis. Journal of Human Evolution 64 (4): 300–310. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Eren, M.I. (2013). Levallois economics: an examination of ‘waste’ production in experimentally produced Levallois reduction sequences. Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (5): 2384–2392. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2013). Cultural transmission theory and fossil hominin behaviour: A discussion of epistemological and methodological strengths. In: Ellen, R.F., Lycett, S.J. & Johns, S.E. (Eds.), pp.102-130. Understanding Cultural Transmission in Anthropology: A Critical Synthesis. Berghahn: New York/Oxford. 

Betti, L., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Manica, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2013). Global geometric morphometric analyses of the human pelvis reveal substantial neutral population history effects, even across sexes. PLoS One 8 (2)/e55909: 1–10. Link

Lycett, S.J. & von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2013). A 3D morphometric analysis of surface geometry in Levallois cores: Patterns of stability and variability across regions and their implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (3): 1508–1517. Link

Kempe, M., Lycett, S.J. & Mesoudi, A. (2012). An experimental test of the accumulated copying error model of cultural mutation for Acheulean handaxe size. PLoS One 7 (11)/e48333: 1–7. Link

Eriksson, A., Betti, L., Friend, A.D., Lycett, S.J., Singarayer, J.S., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Valdes, P.J., Balloux, F., Manica, A. (2012). Late Pleistocene climate change and the global expansion of anatomically modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 109 (40): 16089–16094. Link

Betti, L., von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Lycett, S.J. (2012). Human pelvis and long bones reveal differential preservation of ancient population history and migration out of Africa. Human Biology 84 (2): 139–152. Link

Wang, W., Lycett, S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Jin, J.J.H., Bae, C.J. (2012). Comparison of handaxes from Bose Basin (China) and the western Acheulean indicates convergence of form, not cognitive differences. PLoS One 7 (4)/e35804: 1–7. Link

Eren, M.I. & Lycett, S.J. (2012). Why Levallois? A morphometric comparison of experimental ‘preferential’ Levallois flakes versus debitage flakes. PLoS One 7 (1)/e29273: 1–10. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2011). “Most beautiful and most wonderful”: those endless stone tool forms. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 9 (2): 143–171. Link

Lycett, S.J., Collard, M. & McGrew, W.C. (2011). Correlations between genetic and behavioural dissimilarities in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) do not undermine the case for culture.  Proceedings of the Royal Society B 278 (1715): 2091–2093. Link

Eren, M.I., Lycett, S.J., Roos, C.I. & Sampson, C.G. (2011). Toolstone constraints on knapping skill: Levallois reduction with two different rock types. Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (10): 2731–2739. Link

Key, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2011). Technology based evolution? A biometric test of the effects of handsize versus tool form on efficiency in an experimental cutting task. Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (7): 1663–1670. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Bae, C.J. (2010). The Movius Line controversy: The state of the debate. World Archaeology 42 (4): 521–544. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2010). The importance of history in definitions of ‘culture’: implications from phylogenetic approaches to the study of social learning in chimpanzees. Learning & Behavior  38 (3): 252–264. Link

Lycett, S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Gowlett, J.A.J. (2010). A comparative 3D geometric morphometric analysis of Victoria West cores: implications for the origins of Levallois technology. Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (5): 1110–1117. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Norton, C.J. (2010). A demographic model for Palaeolithic technological evolution: the case of East Asia and the Movius Line. Quaternary International  211 (1): 55–65. Link

Lycett, S.J., Collard, M. & McGrew, W.C. (2010). Are behavioral differences among wild chimpanzee communities genetic or cultural? An assessment using tool-use data and phylogenetic methods. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142 (3): 461–467. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2010). Cultural transmission, genetic models, and lithic variability: integrative analytical approaches. In, New Perspectives on Old Stones: Analytical Approaches to Palaeolithic Technologies (Edited by Stephen J. Lycett & Parth R. Chauhan), pp.207–234. Springer: New York. 

Lycett, S.J. & Chauhan, P.R. (2010). Analytical approaches to Palaeolithic technologies: An introduction. In, New Perspectives on Old Stones: Analytical Approaches to Palaeolithic Technologies (Edited by Stephen J. Lycett & Parth R. Chauhan) pp.1–22. Springer: New York. 

Lycett, S.J. (2009). Understanding ancient hominin dispersals using artefactual data: a phylogeographic analysis of Acheulean handaxes. PLoS One  4 (10)/e7404: 1–6. Link

Lycett, S.J., Collard, M. & McGrew, W.C. (2009). Cladistic analyses of behavioural variation in wild Pan troglodytes: exploring the chimpanzee culture hypothesis. Journal of Human Evolution 57 (4): 337–349. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2009). Are Victoria West cores ‘proto-Levallois’? A phylogenetic assessment. Journal of Human Evolution 56 (2): 175–191. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2009). Quantifying transitions: morphometric approaches to Palaeolithic variability and technological change.  In, Sourcebook of Palaeolithic Transitions: Methods, Theories, and Interpretations (Edited by Marta Camps & Parth R. Chauhan), pp.79–92. New York: Springer. Link

Collard, M. & Lycett, S.J. (2009). An assessment of the likely impact of strain-related phenotypic plasticity on hominin fossil species identification. South African Journal of Science 105 (7/8): 312–316. Link

Mesoudi, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2009). Random copying, frequency-dependent copying and culture change. Evolution and Human Behaviour 30 (1): 41–48. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2008). Acheulean variation and selection: does handaxe symmetry fit neutral expectations? Journal of Archaeological Science 25 (9): 2640–2648. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Gowlett, J.A.J. (2008). On questions surrounding the Acheulean ‘tradition’. World Archaeology 40 (3): 295–315. Link

Lycett, S.J. & von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2008). Acheulean variability and hominin dispersals: a model-bound approach. Journal of Archaeological Science 35 (3): 553–562. Link

von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Lycett, S.J. (2008). Human cranial variation fits iterative founder effect model with African origin. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 136 (1): 108–113. Link

Collard, M. & Lycett, S.J. (2008). Does phenotypic plasticity confound attempts to identify hominin fossil species? An assessment using Old World Monkey craniodental data. Folia Primatologica 79 (3): 111–122. Link

Lycett, S.J., Collard, M. & McGrew, W.C. (2007). Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104 (45): 17588–17592. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2007). Why is there a lack of Mode 3 Levallois technologies in East Asia? A phylogenetic test of the Movius-Schick hypothesis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26 (4): 541–575. Link

Lycett, S.J. (2007). Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment. Journal of Archaeological Science 34 (9): 1434–1440. Link

Lycett, S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Foley, R.A. (2006). A crossbeam co-ordinate caliper for the morphometric analysis of lithic nuclei: a description, test and empirical examples of application. Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (6): 847–861. Link

Lycett, S.J. & Collard, M. (2005). Do homoiologies impede phylogenetic analyses of the fossil hominids? An assessment based on extant papionin craniodental morphology.  Journal of Human Evolution 49 (5): 618–642.  Link