Primate archaeology
Primate archaeology is a field of research established in 2008 that combines research interests and foci from primatology and archaeology. The main aim of primate archaeology is to study behavior of extant and extinct primates and the associated material records. The discipline attempts to move beyond archaeology's anthropocentric perspective by placing the focus on both past and present primate tool use.Primate archaeology is characterized by the combination of archaeological and primatological methods, and researchers consider both non-human primate tools and their behaviour in tandem. Primate archaeology has the unique opportunity to observe the tool-use behaviors of extant non-human primates and the formation of the material record that emerges from that behavior. It is this ability to observe behavior and the subsequent material deposition resulting in a material record recoverable using standard archaeological field methods that gives this new field of research the possibility of reconstructing, predicting, and interpreting extant primates' tool use spatial patterns.