MODELING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPACE, MOVEMENT, AND LITHIC GEOMETRIC ATTRIBUTES

MODELING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPACE, MOVEMENT, AND LITHIC GEOMETRIC ATTRIBUTES

Evidence for changes in human mobility is fundamental to interpretations of transitions in human socioeconomic organization. Showing changes in mobility requires both archaeological proxies that are sensitive to movement and a clear understanding of how different mobility configurations influence th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American antiquity 2018-07, Vol.83 (3), p.444-461
Main Authors: Davies, Benjamin, Holdaway, Simon J., Fanning, Patricia C.
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Archaeology
Computer simulation
Computer software
Fieldwork
Geometry
Historic artifacts
Hunter-gatherers
Lithic
Mobility
Prehistoric era
Raw materials
Redundancy
Social sciences
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Summary:Evidence for changes in human mobility is fundamental to interpretations of transitions in human socioeconomic organization. Showing changes in mobility requires both archaeological proxies that are sensitive to movement and a clear understanding of how different mobility configurations influence their patterning. This study uses computer simulation to explore how different combinations of reduction, selection, transport, and discard of stone artifacts generate patterning in the “cortex ratio,” a geometric proxy used to demonstrate movement at the assemblage level. A case study from western New South Wales, Australia, shows how cortex ratios are used to make inferences about movement. Results of the exploratory simulation show that redundancy in movement between discards reduces variability in cortex ratios, while mean assemblage values can be attributed to the relative proportions of artifacts carried into and out of the assemblages. These results suggest that raw material availability is a potentially crucial factor in determining what kinds of mobility are visible in assemblages, whereby different access to raw material can shift the balance of import and export of stone in an otherwise undirected movement configuration. These findings are used to contextualize distributions of cortex ratios from the raw material–rich study area, prompting suggestions for further fieldwork. Las evidencias sobre cambios en la movilidad humana constituyen un dato fundamental para desarrollar interpretaciones sobre los procesos de transición en la organización socioeconómica de lo grupos humanos. La identificación de cambios en la movilidad requiere tanto de indicadores arqueológicos que reflejan el movimiento de grupos humanos como de un entendimiento claro de la influencia de diferentes configuraciones de movilidad sobre los patrones generados por las mismas. El presente estudio utiliza software de simulación computacional para explorar cómo diferentes combinaciones de reducción, selección, transporte y desecho de artefactos líticos generan distintos patrones en la proporción de córtex, medida geométrica utilizada como índice de movimiento a nivel del conjunto lítico. El presente estudio fue realizado con base en datos provenientes del oeste de la región de New South Wales en Australia, y muestra cómo se pueden utilizar las proporciones de córtex para generar inferencias sobre la movilidad. Los resultados de simulaciones exploratorias muestran que la redundancia en el mo
ISSN:0002-7316
2325-5064