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Lithic Technology William Andrefsky, Jr Lithic Technology William Andrefsky, Jr. (ed.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008, 340 pp. (hardback), $76.00. ISBN-13: 978052188827. Reviewed by JOHN D. RISSETTO Department of Anthropology. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA; [email protected] Lithic Technology, edited by William Andrefsky, Jr., first use to discard by decrease in size and change in form examines the use of various analytical measures derived depending on extent and pattern of the resharpening that from life history and technological organization theory to they experience” (p. 27). The authors also reexamine the interpret retouched lithic tools originating from diverse idea of tool curation. The authors move away from the clas- cultural and temporal contexts. These measures, such as sic Binfordian overall definition and use Shott’s (1996: 267) lithic reduction sequencing, chaîne opératoire, tool curation, more operational definition which states that tool curation tool production effects, retouch measurements, and raw is “the degree of use or utility extracted, expressed as a re- material selection and use, are illustrated by experimental lationship between how much utility a tool starts with – its and/or archaeological data presented in this volume. The maximum utility – and how much that utility is realized be- authors use these methods to assess how lithic-based cul- fore discard.” This concept dovetails nicely with the reduc- tures organized their lithic technology and how these orga- tion thesis and study of lithic life history. Shott and Nelson nizational processes in turn help reconstruct the “life his- also provide a thorough interpretation and critical review tories” of discarded lithic tools. Throughout the volume, of each of succeeding chapter. the contributors demonstrate how lithic life history and Part II includes six chapters (Eren and Prendergast; Wil- technological organization can provide a solid theoretical son and Andrefsky; Hiscock and Clarkson; Blades; Quinn foundation for the interpretation of technologic, economic, et al.; Harper and Andrefsky), each of which provides a de- and social behaviors of lithic-based cultures. tailed example of how lithic reduction measures are used The various chapters cover a diverse geographic and to examine lithic tool production, reduction, and retouch. chronological range of retouched lithic tool production Eren and Prendergast compare three measures of retouch cultures. They include the French Paleolithic, Near East- intensity (index of reduction, index of invasiveness, and es- ern Neolithic, and the North American (USA and Canada) timated reduction percentage) to identify which measures Paleoindian through Historic, as well as the additional re- of tool mass loss work most effectively on unifacial stone search areas of Mongolia, Australia, and Italy. This range of scrapers tools from both an experimental and artifact as- geographic and temporal investigations demonstrates the semblage. The artifact assemblage is part of the Perigoridan broad application of lithic life histories and technological component from the La Colombiére rock shelter in France. organization studies. The volume contains 14 chapters di- Their analyses conclude that no single measure is more ef- vided into four parts: I) introduction, background, review; fective in measuring mass loss. This conclusion is based on II) production, reduction, and retouch; III) new perspec- the observation that each index measures a different aspect tives on lithic raw material and technology; and, IV) evolu- of retouch mass loss. Their research provides a step forward tionary approaches to lithic technologies. in mass loss measuring accuracy. Wilson and Andrefsky Part I consists of two chapters (Andrefsky; Shott and use a newly developed biface-specific retouch index to sep- Nelson) that present detailed introductions and back- arate retouch that occurred during biface production from grounds into the context, definition, and application of retouch that occurred during biface use and maintenance. lithic life history and technological organization theory as The index examines and compares the form, location, and they relate to the analysis of retouched lithic tools. In the quantity of retouch on an experimental biface assemblage. opening chapter, Andrefsky defines lithic tool life history They conclude that their measure is moderately successful as the study of lithic tools as they transform in shape, form, and that their results provide new empirical evidence for and function during their production to discard cycles. He differentiating production retouch from use retouch on bi- goes on to define technological organization as “a strate- face artifacts. Hiscock and Clarkson demonstrate that flake gy that deals with the way lithic technology (acquisition retouching on Middle Paleolithic scrapers in France is a through discard) is embedded within the daily lives and main determinant of a tool’s overall form and size. In ad- adaptive choices and decisions of tool markers and users” dition, the state to which the tool is ultimately reduced has (p.4). In Shott and Nelson’s chapter, they provide a similar direct implications for the tool’s functional interpretation. definition and interpretation of lithic technological organi- They conclude that the degree of reduction is determined zation, but use reduction thesis in concert with lithic life by various material- and knapper-based conditions. Blades history study. They define the reduction thesis as “the un- uses Old and New World examples to identify differences derstanding that retouched tools vary progressively from between the gross reduction patterns of entire assemblages PaleoAnthropology 2010: 212−214. © 2010 PaleoAnthropology Society. All rights reserved. ISSN 1545-0031 doi:10.4207/PA.2010.REV92 BOOK REVIEW • 213 (reduction) and the reductions of individual tools (retouch artifact stylistic and functional characteristics are directly intensity) within those assemblages. He uses flake-core associated with a human adaptive response to their social, ratios, the size of cores or blanks, the amount of cortical economic or environmental surroundings, they are also cover, and retouch tool characteristics to compare the stone subject to selection. Clarkson’s study combines lithic tool acquisition and utilization patterns between assemblages. retouch intensity with artifact recycling, raw material selec- Variations between assemblages are explored to identify tion, and provisioning tactics to demonstrate how hunter- similarities in subsistence-settlement systems. Quinn et al. gatherer cultures in northern Australia changed land use investigate the retouch intensity of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A patterns. He uses an excavated tool assemblage as a way to el-Khiam points to determine their functional history. The link changes in tool morphology to changes in social and authors use an analytical measure specifically designed for environmental conditions, such as symbolic engagement this research question to assess a point’s retouch and use and risk management. Goodale et al. link optimality theory pattern in order to determine its use life history as a drill or to lithic reduction analyses in order to examine the degree perforator. Their results recommend that retouch measures of diversity in hypothetical core reduction strategies. These be constructed around specific tool types and/or intra-as- hypothetical models are designed to predict when humans semblage research questions in order to most effectively would favor either more or less systematic core reduction reconstruct past cultural behavior. Harper and Andrefsky techniques by incorporating three factors that influence use various retouch measures to show that the life histories diversity—raw material availability, raw material quality, of Archaic period dart points in the American Southwest and the ratio of tool producers to tool users. Their conclu- included their reuse by later Puebloan cultures as cutting sions suggest that the diversity of core reduction techniques tools. This research demonstrates that measures of retouch in diverse temporal and cultural assemblages is primarily a pattern can expose changes in tool functionality within dif- reflection of these three factors. ferent temporal and cultural contexts. Part I of Lithic Technology presents a thorough expla- Part III contains three chapters (Andrefsky; MacDonald; nation of the natural synthesis between technological or- Bradbury et al.) that offer new perspectives in how lithic life ganization theory and life history studies. This linkage history and technological organization are affected by lithic provides a solid theoretical foundation from which to raw material selection and utilization. Andrefsky uses ob- build analytical measures of retouched lithic tools. How- sidian distance-to-source data from pithouse occupants in ever, both chapters also acknowledge many of the limita- Oregon and ethnographic threshold values to identify local tions associated with using technological organization as from nonlocal scales of acquisition. These scales are then a one-size-fits-all theoretical construct for deciphering past used to examine aspects of tool retouch, resharpening, and human behavioral intent and meaning through the myriad discard within the local/non-local circulation ranges of the of knapping processes. While many of the chapters in Part tool makers. He equates the clear pattern between source II demonstrate the depth and breadth of curation and tool distance
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