The identification of style in lithic artefacts

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the identification of assemblages made by the same, or socially related, groups. It is believed that variability which can be shown, rather than assumed, to have been determined principally by stylistic factors provides the most reliable means of identifying social groups. A number of attributes of backed bladelets are selected, and various hypotheses proposed which might explain their variability. Tests are then performed to disprove one or more of the hypotheses, and the results suggest that the principal determinant of the variability in question was stylistic or traditional factors. The assemblages are then grouped in terms of these ‘stylistic’ attributes and the resultant pattern ‐ interpreted as reflecting the social relationships of the groups who manufactured them ‐ is compared with the conventional taxonomy. The primary concern of the paper is not, however, to reconstruct a ‘culture history’ but to develop a method by which social groupings might be recognized from the archaeological record, and possible applications of the method are discussed.