Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology

IVPP-IR > 古人类及旧石器研究室

	Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology
	Perreault, Charles 1; Brantingham, P. Jeffrey 2; Kuhn, Steven L.3; Wurz, Sarah 4; Gao, Xing 5
	2013-12-01
发表期刊	CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY
卷号	54 页码:S397-S406
文章类型	Article
摘要	Assessments of the complexity of lithic technologies coming from different time periods, regions, or hominid species are recurrent features of the literature on Paleolithic archaeology. Yet the notion of lithic complexity is often defined intuitively and qualitatively, which can easily lead to circular arguments and makes difficult the comparison of assemblages across different regions and time periods. Here we propose, in the spirit of Oswalt''s techno-units, that the complexity of lithic technology can be quantified by counting the procedural units involved in tool manufacture. We define procedural units as mutually exclusive manufacturing steps that make a distinct contribution to the finished form of a technology. As a proof of concept, we use the procedural-unit approach to measure the complexity of 13 Paleolithic assemblages. While preliminary, these results provide a quantitative benchmark confirming that lithic technological complexity increased throughout the Paleolithic period. The method to measure lithic complexity outlined here will allow us to revisit several claims made about change in technological complexity during human evolution.
WOS标题词	Science & Technology ; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
关键词[WOS]	MIDDLE STONE-AGE ; MODERN HUMAN-BEHAVIOR ; SAMPLE-SIZE ; HUMAN-EVOLUTION ; SOUTH-AFRICA ; TOOL ; CULTURE ; VARIABILITY ; PLEISTOCENE ; DEMOGRAPHY
收录类别	SSCI ; AHCI
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	Anthropology
WOS类目	Anthropology
WOS记录号	WOS:000330790400017
引用统计
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.205/handle/311034/7324
专题	古人类及旧石器研究室
作者单位	1.Univ Missouri, Dept Anthropol, Columbia, MO 65211 USA 2.Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Anthropol, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA 3.Univ Arizona, Sch Anthropol, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA 4.Univ Witwatersrand, Inst Human Evolut, ZA-2050 Johannesburg, South Africa 5.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Beijing 100044, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Perreault, Charles,Brantingham, P. Jeffrey,Kuhn, Steven L.,et al. Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology[J]. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY,2013,54:S397-S406.
APA	Perreault, Charles,Brantingham, P. Jeffrey,Kuhn, Steven L.,Wurz, Sarah,&Gao, Xing.(2013).Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology.CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY,54,S397-S406.
MLA	Perreault, Charles,et al."Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology".CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 54(2013):S397-S406.