Stone Technology & Lithic Analysis
Winter 2007
Instructor: Dr. John C. Erwin
Class: QC2013 Tues & Thurs 3:30-4:45pm
E-mail: jerwin@mun.ca
Office: QC4011 by appointment
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Anthropology 4196 Stone Technology & Lithic Analysis Winter 2007
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Course Description:
This course uses lectures, readings, discussions and practical
laboratory exercises to explore lithic analyses, including material
identification, morphology and function, temporal and cultural
typology, measurement, illustration, experimental manufacture, use wear
and breakage patterning, refitting, debitage analysis, and spatial
distribution.
The main objective of this course is to introduce students to stone tool analysis using the prehistoric material culture of Newfoundland and Labrador. Theoretically, students will learn how lithic techniques are applied to a variety of archaeological problems, such as style, culture history, site function, settlement patterning, mobility, sedentism, exchange and cultural contact.
Grading:
Grades are assigned as follows:
40% Laboratory Assignments
30% Mid Term Assignment
30% Final Project
Required Text:
2000 Kooyman, B.P.
Understanding Stone Tools and Archaeological Sites, University of
Calgary Press & University of New Mexico Press.
Additional readings will be provided by the instructor.
Lecture, Lab and Reading Schedule
January
9
Introduction
to Stone Tools and Lithic Analyses
A brief history of lithic
studies will be presented. What can we learn from stone tools? What is
flintknapping and how can it be used to provide greater understanding
of
archaeological specimens?
Required
See mid-term project and
presentation handout for instructions, grading and deadline.
Basic Manufacturing Techniques and Fracture
Mechanics
In order to interpret
meaning from lithic artifacts, it is necessary to understand the basic
principles behind their manufacture. What are the means to shaping
stone to
produce tools? Why are some raw materials better suited than others for
the
manufacture of stone tools? When and where were these techniques
developed?
Required
A live flintknapping
demonstration
by Tim Rast. Students will learn basic techniques of stone tool
production
through observation and practice.
Lithic
Types & Sourcing Techniques
A very brief introduction
to
rocks and minerals. What are silicates, and why are they important to
the
manufacture of stone tools? A simplified classification of igneous,
sedimentary
and metamorphic rocks is presented. What is lithic sourcing, why is it
important to archaeology and how is it done?
Required
This lab is intended to
explore basic fracture mechanics through observation, description and
illustration. See lab instruction handout for further details.
Lithic
Reduction Strategies and Techniques
How are stone tools
conceptualized, and what are the stages of their manufacture? What is a
reduction model and how can it be used to understand people's use of
stone
tools?
Required
Lithic
Reduction Techniques Lab Assignmnet 2
This lab is intended to
further explore fracture mechanics and introduce students to basic
lithic
reduction techniques through practical exercises in unifacial and
bifacial
reduction. See lab instruction handout for further details.
February
1 & 6
Lithic
Usewear and Residue Analysis
In assessing the function
of
stone tools, archaeologists have long relied upon ethnographic examples
to
infer use. Studies of usewear and residue analysis have attempted to
provide
objective means to test these assumptions. Types of usewear and residue
analyses
will be introduced and critiqued.
Required
This lab is intended to
introduce students to usewear experimentation techniques through
practical
exercises. See lab instruction handout for further details.
The
Variables of Lithic Production
The technology used to
produce stone tools can be reconstructed from the features remaining on
stone
tools and the waste materials that were produced via their production.
How do
we recognize these features and what do they mean?
Required
Flake
and Debitage Analysis Lab Assignment 4
This lab is intended to
introduce students to the nature, complexity and utility of flake and
debitage
analysis. Students will learn additional means to describe and measure
the
characteristics of flakes. Each student will be provided with a number
of
specimens from an actual archaeological assemblage and make an analysis
of this
material. See lab instruction handout for further details.
February
15 & 27
Form,
Function and Style of Stone Tools
The meaning of form and its
relationship to function will be addressed. How do archaeologists
perceive form
and how do they interpret it? How do
conscious decisions about style lead to unconscious changes over time?
Laboratory exercises will challenge students to assess the nature of
stylistic
attributes and develop and critique their own classification systems.
Required
Style,
Form and Function Tutorial
This tutorial is intended
as
an extension of the lecture and will further explore concepts of style
and
change over time through class discussion and practical exercises.
Students
will discuss the nature of form versus function through supplementary
readings
and a typology workshop.
Sackett, J.R.
1985 Style, Ethnicity, and
Stone Tools. In Status, Structure and
Stratification. Proceedings of the 16th Annual Chacmool
Conference, eds. M. Thompson, et. al.,
February 22
Mid
Term Project Workshop
No formal Class - Students
are encouraged to meet in their respective groups during class time to
work on
mid term presentations.
March
1 & 6
Artifact
Diversity and Site Function
How are artifact functions
used to make inferences about site function? What role does artifact
diversity
play in such analyses? How can we use models to help determine the
function of
archaeological sites?
Required
Artifact
Diversity and Site Function Tutorial
This tutorial is intended
as
an extension of the lecture and will further explore concepts and
models of
hunter-gatherer subsistence and settlement pattering through class
discussion.
Supplementary
required readings:
Binford, L.R.
1980
Chatters, J.C.
1987 Hunter-Gatherer
Adaptations and Assemblage Structure. Journal
of Anthropological Anthropology, 6:336-375.
March
8 & 13
Mid-Term
Project Presentations:
Student presentations will
be made on the stone tool technologies of some the Province's
prehistoric
cultures, such as: Maritime Archaic, Intermediate Indian, Pre-Dorset,
Groswater,
Lithic
Analysis Workshops
The final three weeks of
classes will be dedicated to the analysis of the various aspects of an
archaeological assemblage on loan from the Provincial Museum of
Newfoundland
and