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End Scraper Reduction and Hunter-Gatherer Mobility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Brooke S. Blades
Brooke S. Blades*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003
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Abstract

Various lithic measures have been invoked to argue that human foragers moved over greater or lesser distances, or moved with greater or lesser frequency when compared with other foraging groups. This paper examines one of those measures—the reduction of blade end scrapers from early Upper Paleolithic Aurignacian and Perigordian occupations in southwestern France. Evidence of end scraper reduction is compared with faunal diversity and lithic material provenience, the former a potential catalyst of and the latter a potential reflection of mobility. A relationship between less-intense end scraper reduction, somewhat elevated percentages of distant raw materials, and reindeer-dominated fauna is noted during cold and apparently open environmental conditions. Less consistency in the extent of end scraper reduction is observed among assemblages associated with more diverse and at times less-mobile fauna. These observations argue for the importance of a fine-grained comparison of lithic and other data, the complexity of procurement strategies, and the recognition that greater or lesser reduction does not translate directly into greater or lesser mobility.

Résumé

Résumé

Varias medidas líticas han sido invocadas al discutir que los recolectores humanos se movieron sobre distancias mayores o menores, o se movieron con más o menos frecuencia en comparación con otros grupos similares. Este ensayo examina una de esas medidas—la reducción de los filos en los raspadores de las ocupaciones del Paleolítico Superior en el sureste de Francia-. Se compara la evidencia de la reducción en los filos del raspador con la diversidad de fauna y la proveniencia del material; el primero, un catalizador potential y el segundo, una reflexión potential de movilidad. Se nota la relation entre la reducción de los filos de los raspadores, porcentajes elevados de materias primas distantes, y fauna dominada por los renos durante condiciones ambientales frías y, según parece, abiertas. Se observa menos consistencia en el grado de la reducción de filos de los raspadores entre ensamblajes asociados con fauna más diversa y a veces mas móvil. Estas observaciones argumentan a favor de la importancia de una comparación fina entre datos líticos y otros datos; la complejidad de estrategias de obtención, y el reconocimiento de que más o menos reducción del filo no implica directamente mayor o menor movilidad.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 141 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2003

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