Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-j7khd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T13:49:58.341Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Measurement and Interpretation of Cortex in Lithic Assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Harold L. Dibble ,
Utsav A. Schurmans ,
Radu P. Iovita  and
Michael V. McLaughlin
Harold L. Dibble
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Utsav A. Schurmans
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Radu P. Iovita
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Michael V. McLaughlin
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cortex is often used as an indicator of core reduction and transport, but current measures to evaluate the observed amount of cortex in a lithic assemblage with what might be expected under particular conditions are still ambiguous. The purpose of the present study is to develop and evaluate an alternative method based on solid geometry. This method is evaluated with an experimentally produced assemblage, and implications of its application to archaeological assemblages are presented and discussed.

Résumé

Résumé

La corteza se utiliza a menudo como indicador de la reducción del núcleo y el transporte de lítica. Sin embargo, las medidas actuales para evaluar la cantidad de corteza en un conjunto lítico contra lo que se pudiera esperar bajo ciertas condiciones siguen siendo ambiguas. El propósito del presente estudio es desarrollar y evaluar un método alternativo basado en geometría sólida. Este método se evalúa con un ensamble producido experimentalmente. Las implicaciones de su uso en conjuntos arqueológicos se presentan y se discuten.

Information

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 70 , Issue 3 , July 2005 , pp. 545 - 560
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2005

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References Cited

Andrefsky, William Jr., 1998 Lithics : Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Ashton, Nick, and McNabb, John 1996 The Flint Industries from the Waechter Excavations. In Excavations at Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe, 1968-72, edited by Conway, Bernard, McNabb, John, and Ashton, Nick, pp. 201–236. Department of Prehistoric and RomanoBritish Antiquities. British Museum Occasional Paper 94, London.Google Scholar
Bamforth, Douglas B. 1986 Technological Efficiency and Tool Curation. American Antiquity 51 : 38–50.CrossRefGoogle 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 Dibble, Harold L. and Montet-White, Anta, pp. 255–274. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1979 Organization and Formation Processes : Looking at Curated Technologies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35 : 255–273.Google Scholar
Blades, Brooke S. 2001 Aurignacian Lithic Economy : Ecological Perspectives from Southwestern France. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York.Google Scholar
Bradbury, Andrew P., and Can-, Philip J. 1995 Flake Typologies and Alternative Approaches : An Experimental Assessment. Lithic Technology 20(2) : 100–115.Google Scholar
Cowan, Frank L. 1999 Making Sense of Flake Scatters : Lithic Technological Strategies and Mobility. American Antiquity 64 : 593–607.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L., and Lenoir, Michel (editors) 1995 The Middle Paleolithic Site of Combe-Capelle Bas (France). The University Museum Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L., Roth, Barbara J., and Lenoir, Michel 1995 The Use of Raw Materials at Combe-Capelle Bas. In The Middle Paleolithic Site of Combe-Capelle Bas (France), edited by Dibble, Harold L. and Lenoir, Michel, pp. 259–287. The University Museum Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Draper, John, and Lothson, Gordon 1990 Test Excavations at 10NP143 and 10NP292, Lower Clearwater River, West-Central Idaho. Project Report 12. Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Fish, Paul 1978 Consistency in Archaeological Measurement and Classification : A pilot study. American Antiquity 43 : 86–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gramly, R. Michael 1980 Raw Materials Source Areas and “Curated” Tool Assemblages. American Antiquity 45 : 823–833.Google Scholar
Hayden, Brian 1977 Stone Tool Functions in the Western Desert In Stone Tools as Cultural Markers, edited by S, R. V.. Wright, pp. 178–188. Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Hayden, Brian 1979 Paleolithic Reflections : Lithic Technology and Ethnographic Excavation Among the Australian Aborigines. Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Holdaway, Simon, and Stern, Nicola 2004 A Record in Stone. The Study of Australia's Flaked Stone Artefacts. Aboriginal Studies Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Holen, Steven 1991 Bison Hunting Territories and Lithic Acquisition Among the Pawnee : An Ethnohistoric and Archaeological Study. In Raw Material Economies Among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers, edited by Anta Montet-White and Steven Holen, pp. 399–411. University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology 19. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Holmes, William Henry 1919 Handbook of Aboriginal American Artifacts, Part 1. Bureau of American Ethonology, Bulletin 60. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Inizan, Marie-Louise, Reduron-Ballinger, Michèle, Roche, Hélène, and Tixier, Jacques 1995 Technologie de la pierre taillée. Préhistoire de la Pierre Taillée, Tome 4. CNRS, Paris.Google Scholar
Johnson, Jay K. 1989 The Utility of Production Trajectory Modeling as a Framework for Regional Analysis. In Alternative Approaches to Lithic Analysis, edited by Donald O. Henry and George Odell, pp. 119–138. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association No. 1. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Koldehoff, Brad 1987 Cahokia Flake Tool Industry : Socioeconomic Implications for Late Prehistory in the Central Mississippi Valley. In Organization of Core Technology, edited by Jay K. Johnson and Carol Morrow, pp. 157–185. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Steven L. 1994 A Formal Approach to the Design and Assembly of Mobile Toolkits. American Antiquity 59 : 426–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhn, Steven L. 1995 Mousterian Lithic Technology. Princeton University Press, Princeton.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 Hall, Christopher T. and Larson, Mary Lou, pp. 95–111. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Larson, Mary Lou, and Ingbar, Eric 1992 Perspectives on Refitting : Critique and a Complementary Approach. In Piecing Together the Past : Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology, edited by Hofman, Jack L. and Enloe, James G., pp. 151–162. BAR International Series 578. Tempus Reparatum, Oxford.Google Scholar
Lintz, Christopher, and Dockall, John 2002 The Spreen Cache : A Case Study of a Prehistoric Curated Collection of Broken Tools from 41RN108, Runnels County, Texas. Lithic Technology 27(1) : 13–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magne, Martin 1985 Lithics and Livelihood : Stone Tool Technologies of Central and Southern Interior British Columbia. Mercury Series No. 133. National Museum of Man, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Magne, Martin, and Pokotylo, David L. 1981 A Pilot Study in Bifacial Lithic Reduction Sequences. Lithic Technology 10 : 34–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, Anthony E. 1988 The Curation of Stone Tools during the Upper Pleistocene : A View from the Central Negev, Israel. In Upper Pleistocene Prehistory of Western Eurasia, edited by Harold L. Dibble and Anta Montet-White, pp. 275–286. Symposium Series, Vol. I. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Martin, Anfos 1907 De l’utilisation préhistorique de silex encore pourvus de leur cortex. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 4 : 518–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrow, Carol 1984 A Biface Production Model for Gravel-based Chipped Stone Industries. Lithic Technology 13 : 28–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newcomer, Mark 1971 Some Quantitative Experiments in Handaxe Manufacture. World Archaeology 3 : 85–94.Google Scholar
Odell, George H. 1989 Experiments in Lithic Reduction. In Experiments in Lithic Technology, edited by Amick, D. and Mauldin, R., pp. 163–198. BAR 528. Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
Odell, George H. 2000 Stone Tool Research at the End of the Millennium : Procurement and Technology. Journal of Archaeological Research 8(4) : 269–331.Google Scholar
Reher, Charles A. 1991 Large Scale Lithic Quarries and Regional Transport Systems on the High Plains of Eastern Wyoming. Spanish Diggings Revisited. In Raw Material Economies Among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers, edited by Anta Montet-White and Steven Holen, pp. 251–84. University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology 19. University of Kansas, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Romain, Georges 1908 Silex utilisés recouverts de leur cortex. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 5 : 135–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roth, Barbara J., and Dibble, Harold L. 1998 The Production And Transport of Blanks and Tools at the French Middle Paleolithic Site of Combe-Capelle Bas. American Antiquity 63 : 47–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shott, Michael J. 1989 On Tool-Class Use Lives and The Formation of Archaeological Assemblages. American Antiquity 54 : 9–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shott, Michael J. 1994 Size and Form in the Analysis of Flake Debris : Review and Recent Approaches. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 1(1) : 69–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shott, Michael J. 1996 An Exegesis of the Curation Concept. Journal of Anthropological Research 52(3) : 259–280.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Alan, and Rozen, Kenneth 1985 Debitage Analysis and Archaeological Interpretation. American Antiquity 50 : 755–779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tixier, Jacques (editor) 1984 Economie du débitage laminaire. CNRS, Paris.Google Scholar
Turq, Alain 1992 Raw Material and Technological Studies of the Quina Mousterian in Périgord. In The Middle Paleolithic : Adaptation, Behavior, and Variability, edited by Harold L. Dibble and Paul Mellars, pp. 75–86. Symposium Series Vol. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Van Peer, Philip 1992 The Levallois Reduction Strategy. Monographs in World Archaeology No. 13. Prehistory Press, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
White, Anta M. 1963 Analytic Description of the Chipped-stone Industry from the Snyders Site, Calhoun County, Illinois. In Miscellaneous Studies in Typology and classification, edited by White, Anta M., Binford, Lewis R., and Pap-worth, Mark L., pp. 1–70. Anthropological Papers Museum of Anthropology 19. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar