Ontogenetic scaling in stone tools and its application to European Middle Paleolithic systematics

This dissertation has two goals. The first is to provide a theoretical framework for a dynamic, morphology-independent approach to stone tool assemblage systematics and to introduce a quantitative method for evaluating relationships between assemblages based on comparisons of reduction trajectories. The second goal is to use this method to assess the relevance of an oft-cited dichotomy in European Middle Paleolithic systematics, that between assemblages with a high bifacial component and those dominated by core-and-flake technologies, from the point of view of the proposed theoretical basis for classification. The data come from three major technocomplexes: the Micoquian (Germany: sites of Buhlen and Sesselfelsgrotte; Crimea, Ukraine: sites of Kabazi II, V, Starosele, Chokurcha I, Buran-Kaya III), the Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA, France: sites of Le Moustier and Pech de l\u27Azé I), and the Quina Mousterian (France: sites of Roc de Marsal and Jonzac). Reduction trajectories, expressed as allometric relationships between stone tool shape and size are viewed as ‘reversed’ ontogenies of stone tools, and are compared in the same way as biological ontogenetic trajectories. The methodology used in this study consists of converting shape data into elliptical Fourier (EFA) coefficients and tracking the latter\u27s variance with size. The mathematical expressions of the change in shape as a function of size (unique to each assemblage) are linear vectors, which can be compared trigonometrically to assess overall similarity of the assemblages. The results suggest that (1) morphological variability displayed by individual Middle Paleolithic tools is very low, rendering classical typological approaches ineffective; and (2) Micoquian bifacial tool reduction trajectories are more similar to those of Quina Mousterian unifacial scrapers than they are to those of MTA bifacial tools. The implications of the hypothesis testing is that, when examined through a dynamic, historical prism, which includes not only production method, but also maintenance practices, therefore incorporating the entire life history of the object, a much simpler picture of taxonomic complexity than has previously been proposed for the European Middle Paleolithic emerges