Michael Shott

Technological Organization and Settlement Mobility: An Ethnographic Examination

Functional requirements of activities do not alone explain variability in the technologies of forager groups. Rather, they are one among a larger set of factors that determine how technologies are organized within cultural systems. Failure to consider these other factors can impair interpretations of behavior based on analysis of artifact assemblages. One promising avenue of research is the relationship between technology and settlement mobility. Ethnographic evidence shows that elements of technology are related to the settlement mobility of forager societies. The implications of this relationship for archaeology are far-reaching, and they deserve careful consideration.

On Tool-Class Use Lives and the Formation of Archaeological Assemblages

The importance of tool-class use lives in the formation of archaeological assemblages is established both in theory and empirically, and accurate inference from the material record requires that use lives be measured or estimated with confidence. Unfortunately, no method of measuring use lives directly from archaeological remains has been developed. However, this important quantity may be related to elementary properties of tool classes such as size and weight, properties which are themselves directly measurable. Ethnographic data on ceramic vessels, in which use life is related to such properties, is described and analyzed. Using!Kung San and Ingalik data, a similar analysis is performed for a variety of nonceramic tools and objects, although few of the stone-tool classes common to archaeological assemblages are included. There, use life is related most strongly to manufacturing cost and curation rate, an archaeological measure of which is proposed. Neither is an elementary property, but they can be estimated accurately for many tool classes. These results are noteworthy but not definitive, and they underscore the continued value of museum ethnographic collections and ethnoarchaeological research.

Size and Form in the Analysis of Flake Debris: Review and Recent Approaches

Flake debris — the by-product of lithic reduction — is abundant, not subject to uncontrolled collection, and sometimes culturally diagnostic. Its greatest virtue, however, is in registering the kinds and amounts of toolmaking and tool-using behavior that curated tools themselves may not. Most debris studies emphasize formal dimensions, yet even the best approaches assume rather than demonstrate a relationship between behavior and formal variation. Moreover, the diversity of formal typologies hinders interassemblage comparison. Progress in debris analysis has two prerequisites: (1) a minimum attribute set for individual flakes and (2) the combination of formal and continuous approaches to variation. Preliminary study suggests that Ahlers mass-analysis model and log skew Laplace functions hold particular promise for behavioral interpretation from debris assemblages.

Stones and Shafts Redux: The Metric Discrimination of Chipped-Stone Dart and Arrow Points

Many of the chipped-stone bifaces so common in the archaeological record functioned as the hafted points of darts or arrows. For archaeologists, these artifacts possess two salient properties: (I) they formed only part of a larger apparatus; but, (2) because perishables decompose, they ordinarily are the only part preserved. Consequently, the identity of that apparatus- i.e., whether dart or arrow-is not readily apparent. For various reasons, we may wish to know ifstone bifaces functioned as dart or arrow points. Often we rely on reasonable assumptions, but Thomass (1978) discriminant analysis is a more reliable way to distinguish the possibilities. This study extends Thomass approach by increasing the dart sample and the rate of successful classification. Shoulder width is the most important discriminating variable. An independent test on a set of arrows also strengthens confidence in the results.

Reduction Sequence and Chaine Operatoire

AbstractNational traditions of archaeological thought are a popular subject today. This essay concerns art apparent difference between interpretative concepts in two traditions of lithic analysis: the French chaine operatoire and the American reduction sequence. To speak of French or American traditions of thought reifies the characteristic to the categorical, done to simplify not because the characterizations are accurate to the last detail. The American reduction sequence concept arose in the 1890s and matured around 1970. The French chaine operatoire originated in the 1960s and came into common use in the 1990s. The intellectual and historical contexts of the concepts differ. Yet the two are substantially the same thing despite the efforts especially of chaine operatoires advocates to claim originality.Abstract National traditions of archaeological thought are a popular subject today. This essay concerns art apparent difference between interpretative concepts in two traditions of lithic analysis: the French chaîne opératoire and the American reduction sequence. To speak of French or American traditions of thought reifies the characteristic to the categorical, done to simplify not because the characterizations are accurate to the last detail. The American reduction sequence concept arose in the 1890s and matured around 1970. The French chaîne opératoire originated in the 1960s and came into common use in the 1990s. The intellectual and historical contexts of the concepts differ. Yet the two are substantially the same thing despite the efforts especially of chaîne opératoires advocates to claim originality.

Spears, Darts, and Arrows: Late Woodland Hunting Techniques in the Upper Ohio Valley

The belief that the bow and arrow replaced the spear and/or dart as hunting weapons in eastern North America between 1500 and 1200 B.P. is tested using a classification function that identifies bifaces as either spear/dart or arrow points. Results and their alternative interpretations bear important implications for the timing and nature of the technological transition. Moreover, the economic consequences of the transition are at once subtler and less profound than often supposed. Ethnographic data do not support simple notions of a uniform increase in acquisition efficiency across target species with the adoption of the bow and arrow.

Design and Evaluation of Shovel-Test Sampling in Regional Archaeological Survey

AbstractShovel-test sampling, the excavation of small test units at regular intervals along survey transects, is a widely used technique for archaeological survey in heavily vegetated areas. In order to achieve efficiently the archaeological goals of a survey employing the technique, the survey should be designed with consideration of the statistical properties of shovel-test sampling. In this paper we examine the effects that test–unit size, spacing, and patterning have on the discovery of archaeological sites of varying size and artifact density. This examination presents some simple procedures both for the efficient design of surveys and the evaluation of existing survey results.

Radiocarbon Dating as a Probabilistic Technique: The Childers Site and Late Woodland Occupation in the Ohio Valley

Like any scientific technique, radiocarbon dating has limitations, and its results cannot be interpreted uncritically. The archaeological record of Childers, a Late Woodland site in eastern North America, and inferences concerning its occupational history are evaluated here against radiocarbon dates from the site. The record suggests a single, relatively brief, occupation, but radiocarbon-dating results suggest either a much longer continuous occupation or a long series of shorter ones. The apparent conflict between the archaeological record and radiocarbon results is resolved by considering context and integrity of radiocarbon samples, as well as the probabilistic character of the radiocarbon method itself. Considerable dispersion in dating results can occur even in relatively brief occupations, casting doubt on the uncritical interpretation of raw radiocarbon results. Childerss occupational history and chronological placement have important implications for regional culture process during the early Late Woodland interval, and suggest a time lag in the acceptance of cultural innovations.

On Bipolar Reduction and Splintered Pieces

Objects variously called bipolar cores, pièces esquillées and other things are abundant in the record. Some interpret them as the exhausted remnants of bipolar reduction, others as wedges used with antler or bone. I propose that we call them “splintered pieces” to avoid functional connotations. Splintered pieces illustrate the problem of equifinality, different causes producing like consequences. A growing but uncertain consensus regards most splintered pieces as cores. Reviewing the latest expression of a different interpretation, I conclude that experimental, ethnographic, and archaeological data continue to support the view that most—not all—splintered pieces are cores. Nevertheless, the need remains urgent to search ethnographic accounts for support of the wedge view, to conduct further experiments, and to seek conclusive archaeological association of splintered pieces with wedging.

Modeling use-life distributions in archaeology using New Guinea Wola ethnographic data

Assemblages are composed of proportions of artifacts by category. Use life affects the formation and therefore the size and composition of assemblages. Use life is to assemblage formation as lifespan is to demography, and demographers know that a populations mean lifespan is no more important than the distribution of values around that mean. When considered at all, use life typically is expressed as a mean value. But use-lifes distribution—variation around the mean—affects assemblage composition independently of the mean. Distribution is neglected because its effects are not appreciated and seem difficult to measure. To improve understanding of assemblage formation, we study use-life distribution in New Guinea Wola ethnographic artifacts, using cumulative survivorship and the two-parameter Weibull model. Then we propose estimates of use-life distribution in Paleoindian stone tools. Knowing use-life distribution as well as mean, we know better how assemblages formed and improve our understanding of the archaeological record.