Everyone Made Stone Tools: Exploring Methodology in Lithic Analysis

Lithic artifact analysis is a traditional method of behavioral inference in archaeological science. Though lithic analysts face many similar analytical problems, methodological communication between archaeologists working in different time periods and geographic locations is acutely lacking. This is partly due to region-specific literature and typological discontinuities that make direct methodological and technological comparisons between archaeological assemblages difficult. Open dialogue between archaeologists studying widely different temporal and geographic topics encourages novel applications of analytical methods, interdisciplinary collaborative research, and comparative approaches to technology and behavior.

This conference emerged as part of a discussion carried out at the Northeast Graduate Archaeology Workshop (2010) at Brown University and includes the involvement of archaeologists from Brown University, Rutgers University and SUNY Albany.  This conference, hosted by the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University, will be held between the 14th-15th October of 2011 and will focus on creating a dialogue between archaeologists studying widely different temporal and geographic topics. The goal is to encourage novel applications of analytical methods, interdisciplinary collaborative research, and comparative approaches to technology and behavior. This will be a two-day conference at Brown University.  This conference is dedicated to discussing approaches to lithic analysis, concentrating on specific results that demonstrate how different techniques function as well as their potential for broader application in archaeological studies.

In general we are interested in dealing with the following aspects of lithic analysis and technology: 

·        Methodology of analysis

·        Experimental and replicative research

·        Extraction and acquisition of raw materials

·        Manufacture and production

·        Issues of technology and techniques

·        Gender and agency

·        Other lithic technology including ground stone, gunflints, etc.

·        Ethical concerns

More info here