Cultural Transmission and Lithic Technologies, a Case Study in the Late Prehistoric Tonto Basin

Summary

The past 5 years have seen new lithic studies inferring the degree of contact between and migrations of Pleistocene hominin populations (Tostevin 2013, Scerri et al. 2014). Their methodologies are grounded in a rigorously defined middle range theory, but independent tests of the approach have only recently begun. Bridging the gap between individual knapping events, and the trans-generational patterns we see in the archaeological record will likely require multiple approaches, including applying these methodologies to carefully selected archaeological cases.

Lithic data were collected from late prehistoric sites in the Tonto Basin of Arizona dating between A.D. 1250 and 1400. The contextual and chronological control at these sites allow for us to measure variability in lithic technology within and between generations at sites across the basin. Here, we are able to evaluate the match between those patterns and expectations based on existing theory and our prior knowledge of regional social networks. Well dated late prehistoric and protohistoric lithic assemblages from intensively studied regions hold great potential in bridging gaps in our understanding of cultural transmission of lithic technologies, and should be studied to compliment other experimental approaches.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

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