The organizational and structural dimensions of hunter-gatherer lithic technology : theoretical perspectives from ethnography and ethnoarchaeology applied to the Mesolithic of mainland Britain with a case study from northern England
The organizational (procurement, manufacture, maintenance/discard) and structural (composition, diversity, complexity) dimensions of contemporary hunter-gatherer technological strategies are discussed in terms of the selective advantages for limiting subsistence costs and/or risks. It is argued that where subsistence is primarily cost (energy) limited technological strategies differ from those employed where risk (time) is limiting. Anticipatory organizational strategies - embedded procurement and reduction, and curation - achieve their most significant role in time-stressed contexts where there are selective benefits in separating subsistence and technological schedules. Structural strategies-- function-specific tools, diverse tool-kits, complex tool design - offer selective benefits where the act of food procurement is time-stressed. If subsistence is time-stressed but cannot be effectively 'separated from technological schedules tools may be made both reliable (high component redundancy) and maintainable (readily repaired) - the latter being facilitated by limiting component design thereby enabling materials of varied quality to be employed. The implications of differing organizational and structural strategies
Myers, Andrew M.
Prehistoric tools
The organizational and structural dimensions of hunter-gatherer lithic technology : theoretical perspectives from ethnography and ethnoarchaeology applied to the Mesolithic of mainland Britain with a case study from northern England. The organizational (procurement, manufacture, maintenance/discard) and structural (composition, diversity, complexity) dimensions of contemporary hunter-gatherer technological strategies are discussed in terms of the selective advantages for limiting subsistence costs and/or risks. It is argued that where subsistence is primarily cost (energy) limited technological strategies differ from those employed where risk (time) is limiting. Anticipatory organizational strategies - embedded procurement and reduction, and curation - achieve their most significant role in time-stressed contexts where there are selective benefits in separating subsistence and technological schedules. Structural strategies-- function-specific tools, diverse tool-kits, complex tool design - offer selective benefits where the act of food procurement is time-stressed. If subsistence is time-stressed but cannot be effectively 'separated from technological schedules tools may be made both reliable (high component redundancy) and maintainable (readily repaired) - the latter being facilitated by limiting component design thereby enabling materials of varied quality to be employed. The implications of differing organizational and structural strategies
organizational structural dimension hunter_gatherer lithic_technology theoretical_perspective ethnography ethnoarchaeology apply mesolithic mainland britain case_study northern_england organizational procurement manufacture maintenance discard structural composition diversity complexity dimension contemporary hunter_gatherer technological strategy discuss_term selective advantage limit subsistence cost and risk argue subsistence primarily cost energy limit technological strategy differ employ risk time anticipatory organizational strategy embed procurement reduction curation achieve significant_role time stressed context selective benefit separate subsistence technological structural strategy function specific tool diverse tool complex tool design offer selective benefit act food procurement time stressed subsistence time stressed effectively separated technological tool may make reliable high component redundancy readily repair latter facilitate component design thereby enable material vary quality employ implication differ organizational structural strategy