Understanding the role of production and craft specialization in ancient socio-economic systems : toward the integration of spatial analysis, 3D modeling and virtual reality in archaeology

Over the past several decades, technology has proven to be a key variable for measuring social change in the archaeological record. This thesis examines some of the models anthropologists use to parse out the organization of craft specialization in an effort link the dynamics of craft production with human behavior. After exploring some useful approaches to this problem, such as the chaîne opératoire (Leroi-Gourhan 1993) and 'behavior chains' (Schiffer 1976), a case study in craft specialization is presented for the Iron Age (ca. 1200 - 900 BCE) metal production site of Khirbat en-Nahas in southern Jordan. To identify the chaîne opératoire a series of traditional and innovative methods of spatial analysis will be carried ou