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LITHIC TECHNOLOGY, volume 31, number 2, Fall, 2006:
The following are the latest contributions to the journal, including author's name, title, and abstract (if present):
CURRENT RESEARCH:
Ivan Briz i Godino
LITHIC ANALYSIS IN SPANISH ARCHAEOLOGY
Abstract: The attempt to present a detailed and contextualized idea of how the analysis of lithic industries in Spain are understood has generated much writing ... . I intend to give here only a general outline of how present-day teams go about their research on lithic remains. This means that much work and outstanding contributions cannot be included, but I prefer to offer a simplified (though not simplistic) explanation for those who do not know about the archaeology our groups are working on (especially for reasons of language).
ARTICLES:
Stance Hurst
AN ANALYSIS OF VARIATION IN CACHING BEHAVIOR
Abstract: Six Edwards chert caches are analyzed for investigating the range of caching behavior. Caches are compared in terms of transport cost, potential use, reduction strategies, and placement on the landscape. There was no correlation between caches and transport cost. All of the caches represent the storage of insurance gear for multiple unanticipated future activities. Variation among caches involved how insurance gear was provided in the cache. Relief and distance from water sources are highly predictable variables of cache location. Caches without diagnostic artifacts are important for discerning the range of caching behavior.
David R. Samson
STONES OF CONTENTION: THE ACHEULEAN HANDAXE LETHAL PROJECTILE CONTROVERSY
Abstract: The function of the Acheulean handaxe is controversial. Several competing usage theories are currently being debated amongst paleoanthropologists. One such hypothesis is the lethal projectile theory. Past experimentation has indicated that the handaxe could have been used as a lethal projectile thrown from a distance to hunt prey. This actualistic study augments such experimentation. The latest argument posed by Whittaker and McCall opposing the utility of the lethal projectile theory indicates vastly different results from O'Brien's experimentation, which was notable for finding that a majority of thrown handaxes landed point or edge first. Whittaker and McCall's study found that a significant proportion of impacts were flat-face landings.
This study increases the data set, using three separate handaxe replicas. It results in an edge/point landing percentage that is comparable to O'Brien's results and suggests that O'Brien's findings are representative of the past situation, although functional hypotheses that support the handaxe as a general utility tool are not discounted. While the evidence produced by this study is equivocal, it generally supports the efficacy of throwing as a function for the Acheulean handaxe.
REPORT:
Alain Rodrigue
NOTE ON SOME QUARTZITE BLADELETS OF ASSA (SOUTHERN MOROCCO)
BOOK REVIEWS:
Rough Quarries, Rocks and Hills: John Pull and Neolithic Flint Mines of Sussex, edited by Miles Russell. Reviewed by Matthew J. Root.
Homol'ovi: an Ancient Hopi Settlement Cluster, by E. Charles Adams. Reviewed by Michael E. Whalen.
Ground Stone Analysis: a Technological Approach, by Jenny K. Adams. Reviewed by Philip J. Wilke.
Shovel Bum: Comix of Archaeological Work, by Trent de Boer. Reviewed by Sean Bergin and Matt Senn.
Technical Systems of Lithic Production in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula: Technological Variability between North-eastern and Sierra de Atapuerca Sites, by Xose Pedro Rodriguez. Reviewed by Ivan Briz i Godino.
Prehistoric Flintwork, by Chris Butler. Reviewed by Andrew P. McLaren.
The Roots of Use-Wear Analysis: Selected Papers of S. A. Semenov, edited and compiled by Laura Longo and Natalia Skakun. Reviewed by George H. Odell.
Peoples of the Flute, a Study in Anthropological Forensics, by Bob Patten. Reviewed by Leland C. Bement.
Obsidian Craft Production in Ancient Central Mexico, by Kenneth G. Hirth. Reviewed by David Carballo.
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NEXT ISSUE (vol. 32, no. 1, spring, 2007):
SPECIAL EDITION COMPILED BY HARRY LERNER, McGill University
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SPECIAL PUBLICATION NUMBER 4:
John E. Clark and Michael B. Collins, editors, FOLSOM TECHNOLOGY AND LIFEWAYS. Lithic Technology, Special Publication No. 4 (2002). 456 pages.
This publication has just come out (3/03). It costs US $30.00 and can be ordered through your friendly folks at the Lithic Technology Help Desk. Contents are as follows:
1. J. Clark and M. Collins, "The Folsom Workshop Conferences"
2. B. Huckell and J. D. Kilby, "Folsom Point Production at the Rio Rancho Site, New Mexico"
3. P. LeTourneau and T. Baker, "The Role of Obsidian in Folsom Lithic Technology"
4. M. Kornfeld, "Folsom Technological Organization in the Middle Park of Colorado: a Case for Broad Spectrum Foraging"
5. S. Ahler, G. Frison, and M. McGonigal, "Folsom and Other Paleoindian Artifacts in the Missouri River Valley, North Dakota"
6. E. Gryba, "Evidence of the Fluted Point Tradition in Western Canada"
7. L. Bement, "Pickin' Up the Pieces: Folsom Projectile Point Re-sharpening Technology"
8. J. Morrow and T. Morrow, "Exploring the Clovis-Gainey-Folsom Continuum: Technological and Morphological Variation in Midwestern Fluted Points"
9. D. Amick, "Manufacturing Variation in Folsom Points and Fluted Preforms"
10. J. Clark, "Failure as Truth: an Autopsy of Crabtree's Folsom Experiments"
11. T. Baker, "Digital Crabtree: Computer Simulation of Folsom Fluting"
12. G. Titmus, "An Analysis of the Folsom Preform"
13. P. Geib and S. Ahler, "Considerations in Folsom Fluting and Evaluation of Hand Held Indirect Percussion"
14. K. Rozen, "A Quantitative Experiment Concerning Folsom Fluting Methods and Fluting 'Success'"
15. B. Patten, "Solving the Folsom Fluting Problem"
16. E. Gryba, "The Case for the Use of Heat Treated Lithics in the Production of Fluted Points by Folsom Knappers"
17. M. Root, "Heat Treatment and Knife River Flint Folsom Point Manufacture"
18. J. Gero, "Phenomenal Points of Folsom"
19. P. Wilke, "Bifacial Flake-Core Reduction Strategies and Related Aspects of Early Paleoindian Lithic Technology"
20. S. Ahler and P. Geib, "Why the Folsom Point Was Fluted: Implications from a Particular Technofunctional Explanation"
21. J. Janetski, "Modeling Folsom Mobility"
22. J. Hofman, "High Points in Folsom Archaeology"