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Blank Form and Reduction as Determinants of Mousterian Scraper Morphology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steven L. Kuhn
Steven L. Kuhn*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
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Abstract

Variation in the forms of Mousterian tools has been attributed to a number of factors, including style, function, and more recently, differential reduction. This study compares the influences of two factors, reduction and the shapes of tool blanks, on the forms of scrapers from a Mousterian site in Italy. In the subject assemblages, the shapes of the tool blanks had a much stronger influence on scraper forms than had reduction. To the extent that blank form affects typology in other cases, explanations of contrasts among Mousterian assemblages would need to account for the use of alternative techniques of flake production. Since typological variation is multicausal, it would also appear more profitable to focus directly on variables pertinent to current research issues, rather than on reinterpreting the typology.

Resumen

Resumen

La variación en la morfología de los instrumentos musterienses ha sido atribuida a un número de factores, incluyendo estilo, función y, recientemente, reducción diferencial. El presente estudio compara la influencia de dos factores—reducción y forma de la lascas sobre las que los utensilios fueron confeccionados—en la morfología de los raspadores de un sitio musteriense en Italia. En los conjuntos estudiados la forma de las lascas posee mayor influencia que la reducción en la morfología de los raspadores. Si la forma de las lascas afecta la tipología en otros casos, las explicaciones del contraste entre conjuntos musterienses tendrán que tener en cuenta el uso de técnicas alternativas de producción de lascas. Dado que la variación tipológica es multicausal, resulta más útil centrar la atención directamente en variables pertinentes a los temas de investigación en cuestión, en lugar de reinterpretar la tipología.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 115 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1992

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