One of the greatest difficulties with evolutionary approaches in the study of stone tools (lithics) has been finding a mechanism for tying culture and biology in a way that preserves human agency and operates at scales that are visible in the archaeological record. The concept of niche construction, whereby organisms actively construct their environments and change the conditions for selection, could provide a solution to this problem. In this review, we evaluate the utility of niche construction theory (NCT) for stone tool archaeology. We apply NCT to lithics both as part of the “extended phenotype” and as residuals or precipitates of other niche‐constructing activities, suggesting ways in which archaeologists can employ niche construction feedbacks to generate testable hypotheses about stone tool use. Finally, we conclude that, as far as its applicability to lithic archaeology, NCT compares favorably to other prominent evolutionary approaches, such as human behavioral ecology and dual‐inheritance theory.

中文翻译：

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用石材工具操作利基建设理论

在石器工具（石器）研究中，进化方法的最大困难之一是找到一种机制，以保护人类的行为并以考古记录中可见的规模运作，从而将文化和生物学联系在一起。生态位建设的概念可以使生物体积极地构建环境并改变选择条件，从而为这一问题提供解决方案。在这篇综述中，我们评估了利基构建理论（NCT）在石材工具考古学中的效用。我们将NCT作为“扩展表型”的一部分，以及作为其他利基建筑活动的残留物或沉淀物，运用于石器时代，提出了考古学家可以利用利基构造反馈来生成有关石材工具使用的可检验假说的方法。最后，我们得出结论，