The Hypothesized Osteodontokeratic Culture of the Australopithecinae: A Look at the Evidence and the Opinions

The australopithecine bone accumulations are here discussed in terms of Dart's osteodontokeratic hypothesis. The evidence presented by Dart does seem to justify the hypothesis that the australopithecines used tools of bone, tooth, and horn. Objections to the hypothesis appear to depend more upon their authors' preconceptions than upon convincing counterevidence. Recent studies of differential bone accumulation in modern contexts and of an osteodontokeratic assemblage from the Mousterian in England suggest ways in which the hypothesis can be further evaluated, provided that the australopithecine context as we now understand it remains the frame of reference for comparative studies.