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Pushing the envelope : experimental directions in the archaeology of stone tools / Grant S. McCall, editor.
- Format:
- Book
- Series:
- Focus on civilizations and cultures.
- Focus on civilizations and cultures
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Tools, Prehistoric.
- Stone implements.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (195 p.)
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Nova Science Publishers, Inc., c2011.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Stone tools are the most ubiquitous and oldest variety of archaeological artefacts. Humans have made stone tools for the last 2.6 million years on every continent of the inhabited world. As such, they constitute the most important source of information about both past patterns of human behaviour and evolution. In spite of these facts and after more than two centuries of systematic study, the analysis of stone tools remains a relatively under-developed science. This book presents a series of research projects designed to "push the envelope" in terms of the limits of our methodological knowledge concerning stone tools. It presents a series of experimental studies designed to approach the analysis of stone tools, the construction of inferences about the human past, and the building of novel theory to explain it.
- Contents:
- Intro
- PUSHING THE ENVELOPE: EXPERIMENTAL DIRECTIONS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF STONE TOOLS
- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
- CONTENTS
- INTRODUCTION
- THE ORIGINS OF "PUSHING THE ENVELOPE"
- THE GHOST OF LITHIC ANALYSIS PAST
- THE GHOST OF LITHIC ANALYSIS PRESENT
- THE GHOST OF LITHIC ANALYSIS FUTURE
- CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
- REFERENCES
- Chapter 1 EXPERIMENTAL INSIGHTS INTO THE EVALUATION OF KNAPPING SKILL IN PLIOCENE HOMINIDS
- MATERIALS AND METHODS
- Samples
- Experimental Materials
- Experimental Procedures
- Quantitative Analyses
- Cores
- Flakes
- Qualitative (Refit) Analyses
- RESULTS
- DISCUSSION
- CONCLUSIONS
- Chapter 2 SEARCHING FOR SKILL IDENTIFIERS THROUGH EXPERIMENTAL FLINTKNAPPING AND A NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSEMBLAGE
- ABSTRACT
- THE EXPERIMENTAL COLLECTION
- THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSEMBLAGE
- COMPARING THE TWO COLLECTIONS
- Faceting and Platform Size
- Flake Size
- PROBLEMATIC ISSUES IN DETERMINING SKILL
- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Chapter 3 SEARCHING FOR MENTAL TEMPLATES AND MISSING THE EVIDENCE: A HANDAXE ESSAY IN HONOR OF JELINEK AND BINFORD
- HANDAXES AND MENTAL TEMPLATES: A HIGH-STAKES GAME
- EXPLORING THE CLACTON/OLORGESAILIE PROBLEM WITH ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA
- DISCUSSION: SYNTHETIC PERSPECTIVES ON THE CLACTON/OLORGESAILIE PROBLEM
- DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ON HANDAXES
- CONCLUSION
- Chapter 4 PROBLEMS INHERENT IN STUDYING THE ORIGINS OF EUROPEAN BLADE TECHNOLOGIES
- HISTORICAL PARADIGMS
- BLADES AND BLADE INDUSTRIES
- LEVALLOIS BLADES IN EUROPE.
- LEVALLOIS BLADES IN THE LEVANT
- ELONGATED BLANKS?
- EARLY UPPER PALEOLITHIC BLADES
- ADOPTING BLADES
- ORGANIZATIONAL SHIFTS
- THE MIDDLE TO UPPER PALEOLITHIC TRANSITION?
- WHY BLADES CAUSE INTERPRETIVE PROBLEMS
- SOLUTIONS
- Chapter 5 MIND OVER MATTER: EXAMINING STYLISTIC VARIABILITY IN LITHIC MANUFACTURE
- STYLISTIC VARIATION RESULTING FROM IDIOSYNCRATIC STYLES
- VARIATION RESULTING FROM CONSCIOUS PROCESSES: INTENTIONAL STYLES
- THE INTERSECTION OF MOTOR PERFORMANCE AND INTERNAL MODELS OF LITHIC TYPES
- THE IMPORTANCE OF EARNEST INTERPRETATION: ARCHAEOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND LITHIC VARIATION
- PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT? SKILL AND LITHIC VARIATION
- TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL: LEARNING AND LITHIC VARIATION
- CONCLUSIONS: SOCIAL CONTEXTS FOR LEARNING AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
- Chapter 6 THE ICEMAN KNAPPETH: LEARNING ABOUT KNAPPING SOFT STONES FROM AN EXPERIMENT KNAPPING ICE
- ICE AS TOOL STONE
- LEARNING FROM KNAPPING ICE AS AN EXTREMELY SOFT MATERIAL
- Chapter 7 THE TROUBLE WITH LITHIC SCATTERS: ADJUSTING THE FOCUS OF PREDICTIVE MODELING
- DATASETS
- TYPE AND TYPOLOGY
- LITHIC SCATTERS
- GEOGRAPHIC SETTING
- CHERT OUTCROPS
- SITE DESCRIPTION
- PREDICTIVE MODELING
- EXISTING MODELS
- DISTANCE TO CHERT AND SITE TYPE
- LITHIC SCATTER PATTERNING
- RESTRUCTURING PREDICTIVE MODELS
- Chapter 8 A COMPARISON OF BIFACE REDUCTION AND CURATION INDICES
- THE INDICES
- Biface Stages
- Edge Angle
- Thinning Index
- Retouch Invasiveness Index
- Ridge Count Retouch Index
- Edge offset Index
- RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
- Stage Assignments
- Continuous Indices
- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
- REFERENCES.
- Chapter 9 INITIAL OBSERVATIONS AND PATTERNS OF EXPEDIENT FLAKE USE IN A WILTON INDUSTRY ASSEMBLAGE FROM NORTHEASTERN NAMIBIA
- ARCHAEOLOGY IN NAMIBIA
- METHODS
- Chapter 10 BUILDING THEORY FROM STONE TOOLS, OR, FOR THOSE ABOUT TO STUDY ROCKS, WE SALUTE YOU!
- WHAT IS THEORY?
- WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
- WHAT ARE STONE TOOLS?
- IS ALL HOPE LOST?
- A DISCLAIMER, AND WHAT NOT TO DO…
- ABOUT THE EDITOR
- INDEX.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.
- ISBN:
- 1-61761-516-1
- OCLC:
- 923662439
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