Continuity and Change in Lithic Technology: On the Construction of Formal Inference Patterns
This paper addresses the study of continuity and change in lithic technology as a way to improve understanding of the evolutionary dynamics in human societies. In this sense, lithic technology is a potentially valuable means by which to study long-term technological variation, since such technology is extensively documented in the archaeological record and has a high preservation potential. Moreover, due to the ubiquitous spatial distribution of lithic technology and the fact that it is shared among other members of the primate evolutionary lineage, such as chimpanzees (see, for example, Lycett et al. 2011), lithic technologies allow for extensive comparative studies. Nonetheless, it is clear that in our species there are many social, ecological (environmental), and demographic processes—individually or collaboratively—may constitute agents of technological change (Oswalt 1975, Collard et al., 2005, 2011). Such a number of dimensions (and their interrelationships) can be difficult, if not impossible, to model as a whole; hence, models such as those derived from Darwinian Theory pose different levels of reductionism (Smith 2000). A step subsequent to the definition of potential agents of change is the exploration of links between these and the observed variation in lithic technology. This allows for the production of patterns through which technological variability can be explained by the factors chosen. Finally, the identification of an operating mechanism can be explained on the basis of a theoretical model, employing various methods of inference.
The primary interest of this paper is to outline some of the possible analytical trajectories in the study of lithic artifacts, to define likely units of analysis, to select statistical tools appropriate to the research, and to interpret the resulting patterns in terms of processes. Focusing on methodological aspects, emphasis is placed on the Darwinian concept of diversity, its manifestation in distinct spatial and temporal scales, and statistical analysis. To this end descriptive, exploratory, and inferential techniques are applied to differing case studies from Argentinean Patagonia. Finally, the relevance—in evolutionary terms—of change in lithic technology among gatherer societies is discussed, in relation to spatial, temporal, and environmental variables.
