A revision to Tostevin's method for studying cultural transmission in the Pleistocene

Abstract

The lithics are by far the most common class of material culture on the Paleolithic sites. Since the 19th century, researchers have developed different approaches for comprehending the variability of stone tools in time and space and generating insights about the past based on lithic remains. But, despite long research history and several approaches, large-scale assemblage comparisons remain largely subjective, descriptive, and vague. One approach that enables large-scale comparison is developed by G. Tostevin to study cultural transmission in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transitional period (Tostevin, 2012). This method is based on reduction sequences according to the behavior approach- the flintknapper’s behaviors and decisions made during the process. Two behavior sets are recognized: technological behavior- blanks production and the curated behavior- retouched tool kit production. Quantifying those behaviors through attribute analysis based on knapping experiments, Tostevin combined qualitative technological insights with different statistical tools to make a quantitative, more formal assessment of the similarity of pairs of assemblages. Even if Tostevin’s approach was an improvement over qualitative methods when many sites were analyzed, several issues could improve aspects of this method. This study suggests several modifications of method to improve validity, applicability/repeatability, and interpretability. By applying the modified version of Tostevin's approach, we show how it can be used as a general method for conducting large-scale technological comparisons.