Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T13:26:26.810Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Assessment and Archaeological Application of Cortex Measurement in Lithic Assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Matthew J. Douglass ,
Simon J. Holdaway ,
Patricia C. Fanning  and
Justin I. Shiner
Matthew J. Douglass
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, PB 92109 Auckland, New Zealand
Simon J. Holdaway
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, PB 92109 Auckland, New Zealand
Patricia C. Fanning
Affiliation:
Graduate School of the Environment, Macquarie University Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Justin I. Shiner
Affiliation:
Heritage, Rio Tinto Aluminium, P.O. Weipa, North Queensland 4874, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We describe an experimental test and archaeological application of the solid geometry method for the interpretation of cortical surface area in lithic assemblages proposed by Dibble et al. (2005). Experimental results support the method's accuracy while archaeological application to assemblages from western New South Wales, Australia suggests a repeated pattern of the selective removal of artifacts away from their location of manufacture. These findings shed light on the role curation and mobility play in the use and eventual discard of those artifact classes for which conventional measures of curation are not applicable. The results raise new questions about Aboriginal technological organization and land use, while simultaneously highlighting the complex relationship between past human behavior and archaeological assemblage content.

Résumé

Résumé

Describimos una prueba experimental y la consiguiente aplicación arqueológica del método geométrico sólido para interpretar así, la capa lítica externa de las colecciones propuestas por Dibble et al. (2005). Los resultados experimentales apoyan la precisión del método, mientras que su aplicación arqueológica a colecciones pertenecientes al oeste de Nueva Gales del Sur en Australia, sugiere un patrón repetitivo en cuanto a la remoción selectiva de artefactos fuera de su lugar de fabricación. Estos resultados arrojan luz sobre el rol que tanto la conservación como el movimiento juegan en el uso y eventual descarte de esta clase de artefactos para los cuales medidas convencionales de conservación no son aplicables. Los resultados generan nuevas preguntas en relación a la organización tecnológica de los Aborígenes y uso de la tierra, destacando de manera simultánea, la compleja relación entre comportamiento humano y el contenido arqueológico de las colecciones.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 513 - 526
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Allen, Harry 1972 Where the Crow Flies Backwards: Man and Land in the Darling Basin. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Prehistory, Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Amick, Daniel. S. 1996 Regional Patterns of Folsom Mobility and Land Use in the American Southwest. World Archaeology 27:411–426.Google Scholar
Andrefsky, William Jr. 2006 Experimental and Archaeological Verification of an Index of Reduction Retouch for Hafted Bifaces. American Antiquity 71:743–758.Google Scholar
Banks, William E. 2006 Artifacts as Landscapes: A Use-Wear Case Study of Upper Paleolithic Assemblages at the Solutre Kill Site, France. In Confronting Scale in Archaeology: Issues of Theory and Practice, edited by Gary Lock and Brian L. Molyneaux, pp. 89–111. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Barton, C. Michael, Bernabeu, Joan, Emili Aura, J., Garcia, Oreto, and Roca, Neus La 2002 Dynamic Landscapes, Artifact Taphonomy, and Landuse Modeling in the Western Mediterranean. Geoarchaeology: an International Journal 17(2): 155–190.Google Scholar
Baumler, Mark 1988 Core Reduction, Flake Production, and the Middle Paleolithic Industry of Zobiste (Yugoslavia). In Upper Pleistocene Prehistory of Western Eurasia, edited by Harold L. Dibble and A. Montet-White, pp. 255–274. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Berman, Harry 1939 A Torsion Microbalance for the Determination of Specific Gravities of Minerals. American Mineralogist 24:434–440.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1973 Interassemblage Variability: The Mousterian and the ‘Functional’ Argument. In The Explanation of Culture Change: Models in Prehistory, edited by Colin Renfrew, pp. 227–254. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1977 Forty-Seven Trips: a Case Study in the Character of Archaeological Formation Processes. In Stone Tools as Cultural Markers, edited by Richard V.S. Wright, pp. 24–36. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1979 Organization and Formation Processes: Looking at Curated Technologies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35:255–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blades, Brooke S. 2003 End Scraper Reduction and Hunter-Gatherer Mobility. American Antiquity 68:141–156.Google Scholar
Bradbury, Andrew P., and Carr, Philip J. 1999 Examining Stage and Continuum Models of Flake Debris Analysis: An Experimental Approach. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:105–116.Google Scholar
Clarkson, Chris 2002 An Index of Invasiveness for the Measurement of Unifacial and Bifacial Retouch: A Theoretical, Experimental and Archaeological Verification. Journal of Archaeological Science 29:65–75.Google Scholar
Close, Angela E. 2000 Reconstructing Movement in Prehistory. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 7:49–77.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L. 1988 Typological Aspects of Reduction and Intensity of Utilization of Lithic Resources in the French Mousterian. In Upper Pleistocene Prehistory of Western Eurasia, edited by Harold Dibble and Anta Montet-White. University Museum Monograph 54. University Museum Symposium Series, Vol. 1, Philadelphia, pp. 181–197.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L. 1995 Biache-Saint-Vaast, Level IIa: A Comparison of Approaches. In The Definition and Interpretation of Levallois Variability, edited by Harold L. Dibble and Ofer Bar-Yosef pp. 93–116. Prehistory Press, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L. 1997 Platform Variability and Flake Morphology: A Comparison of Experimental and Archaeological Data and Implications for Interpreting Prehistoric Lithic Technological Strategies. Lithic Technology 22:150–170.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L., and Holdaway, Simon J. 1993 The Middle Paleolithic of Warwasi Rockshelter. In The Paleolithic Prehistory of the Zagros, edited by Deborah Olszewski and Harold L. Dibble, pp. 75–99. University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L., Roth, Barbara, and Lenior, Michel 1995 The Use of Raw Materials at Combe-Capelle Bas. In The Middle Paleolithic Site of Combe-Capelle Bas (France), edited by Harold Dibble and Michel Lenior. pp. 259–287. University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L., Schurmans, Utsav A., Iovita, Radu P., and McLaughlin, Michael V. 2005 The Measurement and Interpretation of Cortex in Lithic Assemblages. American Antiquity 70:545–560.Google Scholar
Doelman, Trudy, Webb, John, and Domanski, Marian 2001 Source to Discard: Patterns of Lithic Raw Material Procurement and Use in Sturt National Park, Northwestern New South Wales. Archaeology in Oceania 36:15–33.Google Scholar
Elston, Robert G. 1990 A Cost-Benefit Model of Lithic Assemblage Variability. In The Archaeology of James Creek Shelter, edited by Robert G. Elston and Elisabeth E. Bundy, pp. 153–164. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 115, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Fanning, Patricia C. 1999 Recent Landscape History in Arid Western New South Wales, Australia: A Model for Regional Change. Geomorphology 29:191–209.Google Scholar
Fanning, Patricia C. 2002 Beyond the Divide: A New Geoarchaeology of Aboriginal Stone Artefact Scatters in Western New South Wales, Australia. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Graduate School of the Environment, Macquarie University, Sydney.Google Scholar
Fanning, Patricia C., and Holdaway, Simon J. 2001 Temporal Limits to the Archaeological Record in Arid Western NSW, Australia: Lessons from OSL and Radiocarbon Dating of Hearths and Sediments, In Australasian Connections and New Directions, Proceedings of the 7th Australasian Archaeometry Conference, edited by Martin Jones and Peter Sheppard, pp. 85–105. Research in Anthropology and Linguistics 5. The University of Auckland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Fanning, Patricia C., and Holdaway, Simon J. 2002 Using Geospatial Technologies to Understand Prehistoric Human/Landscape Interaction in Arid Australia, Arid Lands Newsletter No. 51, Office of Arid Lands Studies, the University of Arizona, Tuscon.Google Scholar
Fanning, Patricia C., and Holdaway, Simon J. 2004 Artifact Visibility at Open Sites in Western New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Field Archaeology 29: 255–271.Google Scholar
Fanning, Patricia C., Holdaway, Simon J., and Rhodes, Ed 2008 A New Geoarchaeology of Aboriginal Stone Artefact Scatters in Arid Western NSW, Australia: Establishing Spatial and Temporal Geomorphic Controls on the Surface Archaeological Record. Geomorphology, in press.Google Scholar
Flenniken, Jeffrey J. and Peter White, J. 1985 Australian Flaked Stone Tools: A Technological Perspective. Records of the Australian Museum 36:131–151 Google Scholar
Gnaden, Denis, and Holdaway, Simon 2000 Understanding Observer Variation when Recording Stone Artifacts. American Antiquity 65:739–747 Google Scholar
Holdaway, Simon J. and Fanning, Patricia C. 2003 Time, Period, Place and Preservation: Analysis of Aboriginal Heat Retainer Hearths from Fowlers Gap, western NSW. Report to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Copies available from Department of Environment and Climate Change, Sydney.Google Scholar
Holdaway, Simon J., Fanning, Patricia C., Jones, Martin, Shiner, Justin, Witter, Dan C., and Nicholls, Geoff 2002 Variability in the Chronology of Late Holocene Aboriginal Occupation on the Arid Margin of Southeastern Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 29:351–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdaway, Simon, Fanning, Patricia, and Shiner, Justin 2005 Absence of Evidence or Evidence of Absence? Understanding the Chronology of Indigenous Occupation of Western New South Wales, Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 40:33–49.Google Scholar
Holdaway, Simon, Fanning, Patricia, and Shiner, Justin 2006 Geoarchaeological Investigation of Aboriginal Landscape Occupation in Paroo-Darling National Park, Western NSW, Australia, University of Auckland, Auckland, RAL-e No. 1,82pp. Electronic document, http://researchspace.itss.auckland.ac.nz/bitstream/2292/325/l/rale_no01.pdf, accessed February 2,2007.Google Scholar
Holdaway, Simon J., Fanning, Patricia C., and Witter, Dan C. 2000 Prehistoric Aboriginal Occupation of the Rangelands: Interpreting the Surface Archaeological Record of Far Western New South Wales. The Rangeland Journal 22:44–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdaway, Simon, Shiner, Justin, and Fanning, Patricia 2004 Hunter-Gatherers and the Archaeology of the Long Term: AnAnalysis of Surface, Stone Artefact Scatters from Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Asian Perspectives 43:34–72.Google Scholar
Holdaway, Simon, and Stern, Nicola 2004 A Record in Stone: The Study of Australia's Flaked Stone Artefacts. Aboriginal Studies Press, Melbourne. Museum Victoria Melbourne and Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.Google Scholar
Jansen, John D., 2001 Bedrock Channel Morphodynamics and Landscape Evolution in an Arid Zone Gorge: Sandy Creek Gorge, Northern Barrier Range, South-Eastern Central Australia. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, School of Earth Sciences. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.Google Scholar
Keeley, Lawrence H. 1980 Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Steven L. 1994 A Formal Approach to the Design and Assembly of Mobile Toolkits. American Antiquity 59:426–442.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Steven L. 1995 Mousterian Lithic Technology. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Steven L. 1996 The Trouble with Ham Steaks: A Reply to Morrow. American Antiquity 61:591–596.Google Scholar
Larson, Mary Lou, and Finley, Judson B. 2004 Seeing the Trees but Missing the Forest: Production Sequences and Multiple Linear Regression. In Aggregate Analysis in Chipped Stone, edited by Christoper T. Hall and Mary Lou Larson, pp.95–111. University of Utah, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Montet-White, Anta and Holen, Steve 1991 Raw Material Economies among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers. University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology 19, University of Kansas, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Nash, Steven E. 1996 Is Curation a Useful Heuristic? In Stone Tools: Theoretical Insights into Human Prehistory, vol. 22, Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology, edited by George H. Odell, pp. 51–80. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Nelson, Margaret C. 1991 The Study of Technological Organization. InArchaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 3, edited by Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 57–100. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Odell, George H. 1996 Economizing Behavior and the Concept of “Curation” In Stone Tools: Theoretical Insights into Human Prehistory. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology, vol. 22, edited by George H. Odell, pp. 51–80. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Rhodes, Ed., Fanning, Patricia, Holdaway, Simon, and Bolton, Cynthia 2008 Archaeological surfaces in western NSW: stratigraphic contexts and preliminary OSL dating of hearths. In Archaeometry: New Directions, edited by Andrew Fairbairn and Sue O’Connor, Terra Australis 27, Centre for Archaeological Research, Australian National University, in press.Google Scholar
Rolland, Nicolas 1981 The Interpretation of Middle Paleolithic Variability. Man 16:15–42.Google Scholar
Roth, Barbara J., and Dibble, Harold L. 1998 Production and Transport of Blanks and Tools at the French Middle Paleolithic Site of Combe-Capelle Bas. American Antiquity 63:47–62.Google Scholar
Shiner, Justin I. 2004 Place as Occupational Histories: Towards an Understanding of Deflated Surface Artefact Distributions in the West Darling, New South Wales, Australia. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, The University of Auckland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Shiner, Justin I. 2006 Artefact Discard and Accumulated Patterns in Stone Artefact Assemblage Composition in Surface Archaeological Deposits from Pine Point and Langwell Stations, Western New South Wales. The Rangeland Journal 28(2):183–196.Google Scholar
Shiner, Justin, Holdaway, Simon, Allen, Harry, and Fanning, Patricia 2007 Burkes Cave and Flaked Stone Assemblage Variability in Western New South Wales, Australia. Australian Archaeology 64:35–45.Google Scholar
Shiner, Justin, Holdaway, Simon J., Allen, Harry A., and Fanning, Patricia C. 2005 Understanding Stone Artefact Assemblage Variability in Late Holocene Contexts in Western New South Wales, Australia: Burkes Cave, Stud Creek and Fowlers Gap. In Lithics Down Under: Australian Perspectives on Lithic Reduction, Use and Classification, edited by Chris Clarkson and Lara Lamb, pp. 67–80. BAR International Series 1408. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Shott, Michael J. 1996 An Exegesis of the Curation Concept. Journal of Anthropological Research 52:259–280.Google Scholar
Singer, Clay A. 1984 The 63-Kilometer Fit. In Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production, edited by Jonathon E. Ericson and Barbara A. Purdy, pp. 35–48. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Thomsen, Knud 2004 Numericana. Web page, http://www.home.att.net/-numericana/answer/ellipsoid.htm, accessed May 8,2006.Google Scholar
Webb, Cathie 1993 The Lithification of a Sandy Environment. Archaeology in Oceania 28:105–111.Google Scholar
Wells, Lisa E. 2001 A Geomorphological Approach to Reconstructing Archaeological Settlement Patterns Based on Surficial Artefact Distribution. In Earth Sciences and Archaeology, edited by Paul Goldberg, Vance T Holliday and C. Reid Ferring pp. 107–141. Kluwer, New York.Google Scholar