About

The Ukophula ('to crack' in isiXhosa) Field Project (UFP) uses primate archaeology to research tool-assisted percussive behaviors in capuchin monkeys. Primate archaeology is a relatively new field that aims to understand extant primate tool-use behavior in tandem with their material culture, combining archaeological and primatological methods. This field can help answer questions about the mechanisms behind human evolutionary events by connecting fossil and archaeological records with possible behaviors that might have created them. In a nutshell, the UFP argues that understanding present and past technology requires a three-dimensional approach that connects the social, material, and spatial contexts in which tool use and making take place.

Despite its potential, the capuchin populations of Monkeyland and The Hidden Forest have never been systematically studied (see Field sites). This posed a challenge, since most questions about primate tool use cannot be answered without basic information about the study population. Thus, we had to start the research program from the ground up by individually identifying each capuchin, recording their social interactions, determining their group structures, and reconstructing their dominance hierarchies. It was in this context, Adela Cebeiro launched the Ukophula Field Project (UFP), the first primate archaeology research program in South Africa.