A relational approach to the analysis of lithic assemblages, following Font-Robert style projectile points

Abstract

Font-Robert style projectile points are documented in at least four technocomplexes, dated around 33,500 and 29,500 cal BP. These objects, typically interpreted as hunting weapons, testify to the relationship between different technocomplexes, the analysis of which necessitate an abandonment of essentialist beliefs that have persisted beyond the advent of technological studies. Indeed, historiography testifies to the transfer of these assumptions between typological and technological approaches, in varying form. Today this approach takes on the form of a mental image, supported by a homogeneous group identity. A methodological framework is thus proposed to distinguish between the different authors’ theories. Hence, the relationship between assemblages is examined at varying scales. At each level, a framework for comparison is produced to quantify the degree of similarity between assemblages. A theoretical framework is developed to explore these relationships within the context of the analysis of a network of exchange. This analysis validates the current taxonomy. More relationships exist between assemblages attributed to the same overarching technocomplex. The analysis also underscores several commonalities between the different technocomplexes, which are often discarded in favor of an average and less detailed representation. Based upon these findings, the notion of transfer is used in order to demonstrate that the circulation of technical innovation functioned as a nonlinear multipolar process and acknowledges that technical knowledge does not spread homogeneously throughout space. The question of transfer processes is tackled from several perspectives and according to their frequency of occurrence within an assemblage, their position within the “chaîne opératoire” (“operational sequence” in English, broadly understood as a methodological framework for the analysis of processes of production) and finally, according to their visibility. It is proposed that basic patterns of action help to stabilize technical systems and that the absence of transfer within a lithic assemblage could explain the absence of transfer between sites. This proposal seeks to reconnect with the materiality of observed phenomena and to account for the metastable nature of technical systems.