Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic record
The lithic record, together with archaeozoological remains, makes up the most abundant assemblages at European Palaeolithic sites. During many decades in the twentieth century, the classical typological analysis (the Bordesian paradigm) has been used to articulate the sequencing of the different cul...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Edinburgh
2014-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Lithic Studies |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1064 |
| _version_ | 1797735959159111680 |
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| author | Alvaro Arrizabalaga Joseba Rios-Garaizar José-Manuel Maíllo-Fernández María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso |
| author_facet | Alvaro Arrizabalaga Joseba Rios-Garaizar José-Manuel Maíllo-Fernández María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso |
| author_sort | Alvaro Arrizabalaga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The lithic record, together with archaeozoological remains, makes up the most abundant assemblages at European Palaeolithic sites. During many decades in the twentieth century, the classical typological analysis (the Bordesian paradigm) has been used to articulate the sequencing of the different cultural and chronostratigraphic units. At the same time, since the 1960s an alternative methodology known as Analytical Typology, proposed by Georges Laplace, has been available. The sophistication of the statistical procedures used by Analytical Typology is the reason given by many prehistorians for avoiding this approach, in the same way that the limitations in the quantification of the results ended up discrediting Bordes and Sonneville-Bordes’ method. As a first paradox, the same reasoning (in the opposite direction) rules out both methodologies. In addition, by ignoring the typological approach, we give new life to technological analysis, where qualitative information is provisionally prioritised over quantitative data. If we aim to describe the process of transition or change, then, as we have said on various occasions, the reading of the lithic record should be holistic, and cover typometrical features, the raw materials, technology, function and certainly typological traits. The alleged difficulties about the description of the different variables, their quantification and statistical analysis have been solved for some time in Laplace’s methodological proposal. Ignorance of this methodology cannot be given as an excuse, fifty years after it was first formulated. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:06:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b2dff95e215349079082745d3723e4cf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2055-0472 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:06:38Z |
| publishDate | 2014-09-01 |
| publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Lithic Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-b2dff95e215349079082745d3723e4cf2023-08-28T14:27:58ZengUniversity of EdinburghJournal of Lithic Studies2055-04722014-09-011215116610.2218/jls.v1i2.10641064Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic recordAlvaro Arrizabalaga0Joseba Rios-Garaizar1José-Manuel Maíllo-Fernández2María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso3University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU)Centro Nacional de Investigación de la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)IKERBASQUE- University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU)The lithic record, together with archaeozoological remains, makes up the most abundant assemblages at European Palaeolithic sites. During many decades in the twentieth century, the classical typological analysis (the Bordesian paradigm) has been used to articulate the sequencing of the different cultural and chronostratigraphic units. At the same time, since the 1960s an alternative methodology known as Analytical Typology, proposed by Georges Laplace, has been available. The sophistication of the statistical procedures used by Analytical Typology is the reason given by many prehistorians for avoiding this approach, in the same way that the limitations in the quantification of the results ended up discrediting Bordes and Sonneville-Bordes’ method. As a first paradox, the same reasoning (in the opposite direction) rules out both methodologies. In addition, by ignoring the typological approach, we give new life to technological analysis, where qualitative information is provisionally prioritised over quantitative data. If we aim to describe the process of transition or change, then, as we have said on various occasions, the reading of the lithic record should be holistic, and cover typometrical features, the raw materials, technology, function and certainly typological traits. The alleged difficulties about the description of the different variables, their quantification and statistical analysis have been solved for some time in Laplace’s methodological proposal. Ignorance of this methodology cannot be given as an excuse, fifty years after it was first formulated.http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1064lithic studieshistoriographypalaeolithicmousterianaurignacian |
| spellingShingle | Alvaro Arrizabalaga Joseba Rios-Garaizar José-Manuel Maíllo-Fernández María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic record Journal of Lithic Studies lithic studies historiography palaeolithic mousterian aurignacian |
| title | Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic record |
| title_full | Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic record |
| title_fullStr | Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic record |
| title_full_unstemmed | Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic record |
| title_short | Identifying the signs: The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in northern Iberia from the perspective of the lithic record |
| title_sort | identifying the signs the middle to upper palaeolithic transition in northern iberia from the perspective of the lithic record |
| topic | lithic studies historiography palaeolithic mousterian aurignacian |
| url | http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1064 |
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