Beyond the point: projectile manufacture and behavioral inference

Sellet, Frédéric

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2004.03.016

Cited by 66 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Where a rock was collected, how it had been brought to the site, what activities had been performed in situ, and what part of it had been taken away are the four main questions of the study. This follows the principles of a techno‐economic approach …”

Section: A Techno‐economic Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Hunter‐gatherer mobility and embedded raw‐material procurement strategies in the mediterranean upper paleolithic

Tomasso¹,

Porraz²

2016

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Since the early 1980s, the sourcing of lithic raw materials has become central to studies of the territorial range and mobility strategies of Pleistocene foraging societies. Results have been fruitful but somehow repetitive. We will discuss the embedded procurement strategy, which presumes that raw material acquisition was part of other subsistence activities rather than an autonomous technological task. We argue that this theoretical assumption, when taken as dogma, restricts the role of technology in human history and also underestimates the way some lithic resources may have affected the organization of past hunter-gatherers. We base our discussion on the Upper Paleolithic (UP) from the Liguro-Provençal arc, with examples from the Proto-Aurignacian and the Epigravettian. Our regional record shows that in this context the movement of rocks over distances greater than 100 km was the norm rather than the exception. We argue that these long-distance procurements mirror technical needs that were oriented toward the selection of high-quality flints. We support the hypothesis that indirect procurement was an important component of regional socio-economic networks.

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Section: A Techno‐economic Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Hunter‐gatherer mobility and embedded raw‐material procurement strategies in the mediterranean upper paleolithic

Tomasso¹,

Porraz²

2016

Evolutionary Anthropology

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“…Immediately prior to fluting, the base is beveled and a prominent striking platform is created. Similar to Folsom (Sellet 2004), the distal ends of some Cumberland preforms are blunted suggesting the use of an anvil or brace during fluting. If the removal of the first flute is successful, then the second face is prepared for fluting following the same process.…”

Section: Cumberland Biface Reduction Sequencementioning

confidence: 92%

“…As such, Cumberland bifaces were likely specialized piercing tools used by task groups on hunting forays. Similar to Folsom, Cumberland groups likely made and maintained bifaces as part of a gearing-up strategy during periods of downtime (Sellet 2004(Sellet , 2013. The low ratio of complete to broken Cumberland bifaces indicates that transverse breaks were catastrophic.…”

Section: The Organization Of Technology and Settlement Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing Cumberland fluted biface morphology and technological organization

Tune

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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“…81, No. 4, 2016] 1978; Sellet 2004). Pressure flaking occurs later in Australia with the introduction of Kimberley points around 1,400 years ago (Clarkson 2006;Moore 2014;Tindale 1985).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On Identifying Stone Tool Production Techniques: An Experimental and Statistical Assessment of Pressure Versus Soft Hammer Percussion Flake Form

2016

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Identifying stone tool production techniques in the archaeological record can inform on prehistoric economy, time budgets, shared cultural practices, and the spatiotemporal occurrence of technological innovations and adaptations. The pressure flaking technique is one such innovation that appears on every continent Homo sapiens colonized. Pressure flaking has long been associated with the ability of flintknappers to produce small, regularly shaped flakes that were used to maintain particular edge shapes and resharpen dull tool edges with minimal loss of raw material. Despite the importance of pressure flaking, a method for supporting the identification of pressure flakes in the archaeological record is lacking. Here, we present a stone tool replication experiment that statistically compares flakes derived from bifacial pressure flaking and soft hammer percussion flaking. Our analyses show that pressure flakes are on average lighter, shorter, narrower, and thicker than soft hammer percussion flakes. Discriminant analyses indicate that pressure flakes can be correctly classified at a rate of 70 percent in a mixed sample. Furthermore, our findings validate the assumption that pressure flakes are less variable in form compared to soft hammer percussion flakes. Based on our results, we suggest quantitatively reevaluating the presence of pressure flaking in the global archaeological record.

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Beyond the point: projectile manufacture and behavioral inference

Cited by 66 publications

References 28 publications

Hunter‐gatherer mobility and embedded raw‐material procurement strategies in the mediterranean upper paleolithic

Hunter‐gatherer mobility and embedded raw‐material procurement strategies in the mediterranean upper paleolithic

Characterizing Cumberland fluted biface morphology and technological organization

On Identifying Stone Tool Production Techniques: An Experimental and Statistical Assessment of Pressure Versus Soft Hammer Percussion Flake Form

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