This study is intended to furnish an explicability of hunter-gather's organizational model on the lithic technology. The fieldwork area is the Imjin-Hantan River Area (the IHRA) located at the midwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. The archaeological sites included in the fieldwork are Jangsanri (ca 0.2 Mya BP), Chongokni (ca 60 Kya BP), Juwolri, and Kawolri (younger than ca 50 Kya BP). In addition, a previously excavated Upper Palaeolithic assemblage of Janghungri (ca 23 Kya BP) is included in the quantitative analysis of lithic assemblages. / For the background of the research area, chapter II is devoted to demonstrating the general environment of East Asia and current Quaternary research of Korea. Chapter III furnishes the basic knowledge on the geomorphological environment of the IHRA and the research history in this area for the last three decades was elaborated. / Chapter IV is a description on the excavation fieldworks, introduction of the discovered lithic artifacts, and new age determination based on the K-Ar, IRSL, OSL, and AMS dating methods. Chapter V is the general characteristics on the IHRA lithic assemblage. Some descriptive details on the individual artifacts are presented and technological implications of lithic types are delineated. In addition, a general reduction sequence of the IHRA assemblage is proposed. / Chapter VI is a quantitative analysis based on the exploratory data analysis (EDA); some geometric variables of artifacts were operationally defined for the purpose of acquiring more implicative analytical units. As a result of the analysis, it is revealed that the distinct interassemblage variability of raw material composition and of the morphological features of small tools and blanks constrained by differential reduction intensity can be explained in the context of the long-term-based strategic changes executed by the IHRA hominins. / Chapter VII, based on the results from the fieldwork and lithic analysis, attempted to reconstruct the geological history of the IHRA in terms of hominid's land use patterns and relevant survival strategies. As a final remark, some unsolved issues were diagnosed and future research was expected for the continual research of the IHRA.

Carved and engraved bone pins from the Koster, Black Earth and Modoc Rockshelter sites have been used by Professor Richard Jefferies to investigate the development of regional-scale interaction between hunter-gatherer groups of the Midwest Middle Archaic. Using that same data, this pilot study suggests that these artifacts may also be representative material embodiments of inherent social contradictions within and between hunter-gatherer societies at an even earlier date. These contradictions and the conflicts that arose from them may rival in importance ecological and demographic paradigms as catalysts for sedentism and territoriality in the Middle Archaic Midwest.

Diagnostic flake analysis is based on the concept that distinct flintknapping techniques produce distinctive flakes. Seen in this light, the information potential of flakes is enormous. Unfortunately, this information is virtually lost in analyses based upon size-grading a flake assemblage or separating flakes statistically based on a few "key" attributes. The intent of this study is to provide and apply a well-integrated analytical approach based upon the diagnostic flake concept.In order to integrate the static lithic artifacts to the dynamic behavior that produced them, a generalized flow chart model of the knapping event is developed. The flow chart model emphasizes the debitage produced during knapping, rather than finished lithic tools. The flow chart model is described in detail, and the terms"technology", "strategy", and "techniques" are defined and contrasted.A total of 30 reduction experiments were conducted in the course of this study, producing an estimated 27,000 flakes and flake fragments. Based on this sample and previous work conducted by Flenniken (n. d. ) and others, nine diagnostic flake types and three significant flake attributes are defined.An ideal methodology for a lithic analysis is developed. This ideal methodology includes: 1) assessing the types of raw materials present on a site; 2) reconstructing the technology based on negative-flake scars on finished tools; 3) flake refitting; 4) classifying flakes into the diagnostic flake categories nonstatistically and polythetically, with special emphasis placed on recognizing previously unidentified diagnostic flake types; 5) developing a flow chart model of reconstructed prehistoric technology; and 6) summarizing the flow chart i n verbal form.The methodology is applied to the Middle and Late Woodland components of the stratified All Seasons site located in central Indiana. Analysis of the Middle Woodland assemblage results in the recognition and definition of conical core flake blanks.The methodology is applied to a blind test manufactured by Donald Cochran to assess bias that may have been introduced into the flake type definitions by using debitage produced only by the author. Cochran's behavior is accurately reconstructed.Finally, the results of the study are discussed, and the study's strengths and weaknesses are determined. Diagnostic flake analysis is found to be a powerful approach that derives an optimal amount of high-quality information from a chipped stone assemblage. / Department of Anthropology

This project has shown how a ceramic vessel can be used as a metaphor for human emotion and feeling. People are like ceramic vessels because they hold in emotion how vessels hold liquids or solids. Artists that are reviewed in the project are Peter Voulkos, David Leach and Bob Witt. The body of work is made up of a series of teapots that are built of a base, body, spout, lid and handle. Changing the position of any one of these parts can give the teapot a different feeling. / Department of Art

This thesis concerns late Palaeolithic settlement in the region of Puglia, south-east Italy, at the close of the Pleistocene. Puglia comprises three sub-regions which contain sites of this period: the Salento peninsula, the Murge, and the Gargano promontory. The late Palaeolithic occupation must be considered in relation to the former existence of an extensive coastal plain, and to the sea-level rise which submerged it. The late Palaeolithic assemblages of the region have been studied previously by Italian archaeologists from a rigid typological stance, with various schemes put forward suggesting evolution of the assemblages through different stages of an Epigravettian tradition. In this thesis, attribute analysis is used to re-examine the principal assemblages, using published data where adequate and supplemented by samples studied by the author in Italy. The results are analyzed to seek the social and economic factors which shaped the various industries, as well as diachronic change wherever it can be demonstrated. Factors such as difficulty in obtaining raw material were clearly crucial to assemblage composition. The existing typological schemes are shown to lack real bases and to mask rather than reveal sociocultural information. Chapter 1 states the aims of the thesis and critically discusses previous theoretical approaches to the late Palaeolithic of the region. Chapters 2 and 3 describe relevant aspects of the regional palaeoenvironment. The author's own methodological approach is explained in Chapter 4, and then used for a detailed study of the assemblages from Grotta delle Cipolliane in Chapter 5. This is followed in Chapter 6 by a broader study of the late Palaeolithic assemblages in Puglia, with discussions of their possible diachronic and synchronic relationships. Chapter 7 develops this latter theme into an attempt to understand the social and economic features of the late Palaeolithic settlement of Puglia, and suggestions are made concerning future work that might improve the quality of the archaeological evidence. Chapter 8 summarizes the main conclusions of the thesis.

This dissertation examines certain aspects of the Belgian archaeological record during the Lateglacial. It is geographically centred on the north-western Ardennes and has two main themes. The first is a re-evaluation of the known chronology and archaeology for this region during the Lateglacial. The main part of this is presented in chapter 2, and includes a discussion of recent radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system, including some obtained in the course of this research. The second theme is an examination of a series of supposedly Lateglacial faunal assemblages from 5 cave sites in the north-western Ardennes, namely the Trou de Chaleux, the Trou des Nutons at Furfooz, the Trou du Frontal at Furfooz, the Grotte du Coleoptere and the Grotte de Sy Verlaine. All of these sites have yielded late Magdalenian archaeological finds, and the prime objective of the study of the faunal assemblages is to identify direct evidence for the human modification of animal bone. The study reveals some good evidence for the latter, but also certain bars to the interpretation of these assemblages, which are discussed in detail within the relevant chapters. This dissertation concludes with an overview of the results and interpretations presented in the dissertation. The final pages of this dissertation include a tentative exploration of the notion of ethnicity, and how this concept may be relevant to the interpretation of butchery evidence.

Elsdon Best�s 1925 work Maori Agriculture has been influential in New Zealand archaeology impacting on the terminology and assumed functions applied to so called �horticultural� implements retrieved in excavations, as well as those in museums and private collections. This thesis critically examines Best�s horticultural tool classification and the decisions he made with regards to tool function. Ethnographic accounts are investigated in an effort to understand how and why Best selected the terms and functions that he did. The literature review reveals anomalies in the conclusions that Best drew and the morphology of the tools that he described, highlighting the lack of order and confusion surrounding horticultural tool function, terminology and morphology, and prompting a much needed reassessment of horticultural implements. A study of artefacts from New Zealand museums was undertaken with the aim of generating two typologies for so called �horticultural� tools. The artefacts are classified to specific types using specified attributes, and following the classification process, are investigated for metric and non-metric variables that are indicative of the tool�s function. Graphical and basic statistical analyses revealed largely unimodal distributions for the metric attributes recorded for each tool type. Non-metric qualities also displayed a uniformity to their occurrence within the individual types. The data for each type is discussed with regards to tool function, combining the results of the attribute analyses with comparable tool morphologies from other Pacific cultures. The distribution of tool types in prehistoric New Zealand is also investigated in an effort to elucidate tool function. This investigation highlights the artefacts as earth-working implements, disestablishing the restricted horticultural context which for so long has been associated with such tools.

The rhizome of the bracken fern was an important part of the subsistence base of the pre-contact Maori of Aotearoa. It provided an essential source of starch - especially to the southern Maori, who relied mainly upon wild resources for the vegetable component of their diet. The preparation of the rhizome (or fern-root) for consumption necessitated the beating of the cooked root upon a smooth stone anvil. The implement that was used to beat the fern-root is an important Maori tool which, until now, has had little detailed attention paid to it. Therefore, the aim of this research was to characterize the form of the fern-beater using morphological attributes. Through the combination of a comprehensive literature review of enthographic-historical accounts and more contemporary documentary research, along with a nationwide survey of implements labelled as "fern-root beaters" in museum collections, this thesis identifies a number of critical and common attributes that are inherent in a beating implement. It was found that wooden and stone beaters/pounders were dissimilar in size and proportions, with the majority of wooden implements displayed larger circumference dimensions, were shorter and considerably heavier, thus casting some doubt on their practicality as a beating implement. Four distinct morphological forms were identified for both the wooden and stone items surveyed, and it was found that metric variables were more significant in suggesting function than non-metric. Regional distribution analysis of the survey implements highlighted a northern North Island predominance, particularly in the Northland, Auckland, Taranaki and Waikato regions. A tenuous comparison with Simpson�s distribution of prehistoric dental attrition known as "fern-root plane" showed a loose regional correlation, however; the actual cause of this tooth wear is still a hotly contested issue.

This thesis examines a lithic assemblage from Cat�s Eye Point (J42/4), Kakanui, North Otago, New Zealand. This archaic site was excavated during 1996 and 1997 and the lithic assemblage was collected from 41m� excavated during these two seasons. Previous studies of lithic material from New Zealand and the Pacific are reviewed to indicate the range of information that can be gained from lithic analysis. Themes of research in the North Otago region are also examined to place Cat�s Eye Point into its regional context. This thesis had three main areas of investigation. The first involved a descriptive and technological analysis of the debitage using mass flake analysis (MFA) and individual flake analysis (IFA). Formal artefacts, such as hammerstones, blanks, and performs, were also examined. Secondly, spatial analysis was used to determine if the lithic assemblage could be used to infer intra-site activity areas. This was conducted by analysing macro- (flakes larger than 3mm) and microdebitage (flakes less than 3mm) by examining the range of material types. The third area of investigation examined debitage recovered from 6.4mm (1/4 inch) and 3.2mm (1/8 inch) sieves to determine if any significant technological information was gained by debitage from the 3.2mm sieve. The conclusions of this study indicate that there were two methods of basalt cobble reduction at Cat�s Eye Point for adze production. Adze production at Cat�s Eye Point was opportunistic and the non-local material curated. The results of the debitage analysis indicate that the entire sequence of adze manufacture did not occur in the excavated area of Cat�s Eye Point and the initial cobble reduction probably occurred on the adjacent beach where the cobbles are found today. Consequently, coastal rock outcrops, even without evidence of associated debitage, must be viewed as potential sources of rock for stone tool manufacture unless determined otherwise. The spatial analysis detected two activity areas and a disposal area at Cat�s Eye Point. The analysis of the 6.4mm and 3.2mm debitage found that no significant technological information was gained by examining the smaller flakes.

Thesis (MEng (MechEng))--University of South Australia, 1999