American Antiquity
AHCI-ISI SSCI-ISI SCOPUS (1935-2023)
0002-7316
2325-5064
Mỹ
Cơ quản chủ quản: Cambridge University Press , CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Lĩnh vực:
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)ArcheologyHistoryMuseology
Các bài báo tiêu biểu
Archaeology as AnthropologyAbstract It is argued that archaeology has made few contributions to the general field of anthropology with regard to explaining cultural similarities and differences. One major factor contributing to this lack is asserted to be the tendency to treat artifacts as equal and comparable traits which can be explained within a single model of culture change and modificat... ...
Tập 28 Số 2 - Trang 217-225 - 1962
Raw-Material Availability and the Organization of TechnologyEthnographic examples of stone-tool makers in Australia and archaeological examples from three different areas in the western United States indicate that the availability of lithic raw materials is an important variable conditioning stone-tool production technology. Attributes of availability such as abundance and quality of lithic raw materials condition the production of formal- vs. info... ...
Tập 59 Số 1 - Trang 21-34 - 1994
Technological Efficiency and Tool CurationArchaeologists frequently explain tool curation by its efficiency. Such explanations ignore the fact that curation is a complex activity and that its component parts are efficient in different ways. I argue that the nature and distribution of lithic resources critically affect technological efficiency and I discuss two aspects of curation, maintenance and recycling, asserting that they are... ...
Tập 51 Số 1 - Trang 38-50 - 1986
The Optimal Design of Hunting Weapons: Maintainability or ReliabilityDesign engineers share archaeologists' interest in material culture, but unlike archaeologists, engineers have developed concepts for determining the suitability of technical systems to perform specific tasks. Given the difficulty archaeologists face in developing theories of material culture, I suggest that guiding principles of engineering design offer potentially useful insights....
Tập 51 Số 4 - Trang 737-747 - 1986
Dimensional Analysis of Behavior and Site Structure: Learning from an Eskimo Hunting StandDetailed behavioral observations permitted the dimensional analysis of formation processes operative on the Mask site, a Nunamiut Eskimo hunting stand. Activity structure, technological organization, disposal mode, and spatial organization were all seen as behavioral dimensions that could each vary, altering the patterns of assemblage content and spatial disposition at an archaeological si... ...
Tập 43 Số 3 - Trang 330-361 - 1978
Stylistic Variation in Evolutionary Perspective: Inferences from Decorative Diversity and Interassemblage Distance in Illinois Woodland Ceramic AssemblagesCertain aspects of what archaeologists have traditionally called stylistic variation can be understood as the result of the introduction of selectively neutral variation into social-learning populations and the sampling error in the cultural transmission of that variation (drift). Simple mathematical models allow the deduction of expectations for the dynamics of these evolutionary mechanis... ...
Tập 60 Số 1 - Trang 7-36 - 1995
The Three Sides of a BifaceThree different sorts of bifacial tools-by-products of the shaping process, cores, and long use-life tools-are used to consider the role mobility plays in producing variability in hunter-gatherer lithic technologies. The relations among tool roles, raw-material distribution, and mobility as well as the archaeological consequences of the different roles are key factors. An examination of te... ...
Tập 53 Số 4 - Trang 717-734 - 1988
Style and Function: A Fundamental DichotomyOur understanding of the archaeological record has been developed under the culture history paradigm. Its fundamental structure is shown to be stylistic; this characteristic, coupled with historical factors, is seen as the major reason why evolutionary processes have not been extensively employed in explaining cultural change. Consideration of an evolutionary approach suggests that such pr... ...
Tập 43 Số 2 - Trang 192-202 - 1978
A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility IndicesThe animal body-part utility indices developed by Lewis Binford have been used to interpret faunal assemblages ranging from Plio-Pleistocene sites in East Africa to a late prehistoric bison kill in the High Plains of North America. Little attention, however, has been placed on refining or further developing these scales of economic utility. We examine Binford's derivation of the modified g... ...
Tập 53 Số 3 - Trang 486-504 - 1988
A Quantitative Diagnosis of Notches Made by Hammerstone Percussion and Carnivore Gnawing on Bovid Long BonesThe frequency and morphology of notches produced on bovid long bones by carnivore gnawing (tooth notches) and hammerstone-on-anvil breakage (percussion notches) are quantified. Notches are semicircular- to arcuate-shaped indentations on fracture edges with corresponding negative flake scars on medullary surfaces. We restrict our analysis to notches produced under controlled conditions by e... ...
Tập 59 Số 4 - Trang 724-748 - 1994