Theme:
6. A Decade after the ‘Third Science Revolution in Archaeology’
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Advances in Geometric Morphometric Methods Applied to Lithic Studies [PaM]
Content:
Geometric morphometric methods (GMM) applied to the analysis of stone tools have gained sharply in popularity over the last decade. Many traditional lithic-based culture-historical sequences are fundamentally based on artefact shape changes. GMM offer the possibility of translating narrative or qualitative assessments of shape into precise and data-rich quantifications readily amenable to downstream statistical analyses. Often but by no means always embedded in a cultural evolutionary framework, GMM have shown to be effective, robust and replicable tools for elucidating processes of cultural change in prehistoric artefact classes, as well as for assessing re-use and re-sharpening dynamics in the context of curation. Morphological analysis of lithic artefacts by means of GMM do not stand alone. They may be considered complementary to, for instance, technological studies. This session welcomes papers focused on GMM analyses or analyses that couple morphometric evidence to other information, such as technological attributes or microwear studies; we also highly welcome papers that explore innovative further analyses of shape data (e.g. cultural phylogenetics). The session focuses on lithics, although other artefact classes will be considered. In surveying current approaches, we seek to also explore what theoretical, methodological and empirical developments are moving the field of artefact morphometrics forward.
Keywords:
Geometric Morphometrics, stone tools, cultural evolution
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
yes
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
PaM
Main organiser:
Renata Araujo (Brazil) 1
Co-organisers:
David Matzig (Denmark) 2
Mercedes Okumura (Brazil) 3
Astolfo Araujo (Brazil) 1
Felix Riede (Denmark) 2
Affiliations:
1. Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, University of São Paulo.
2. School of Culture and Society, Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University.
3. Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo.
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