Seriation of Quantitative Features in Late Pleistocene Stone Technology

Abstract

THE possibility that some or all lithic assemblages are structured in such a way that those which are closely related can be arranged in chronological order, as suggested by Mellars¹, is of great interest. If trends do exist in all the Mousterian assemblages of the two traditions considered by Mellars, it would be reasonable to expect that similar systematic trends would exist in other, and perhaps all, well-isolated assemblages of other periods and areas. The only prerequisite for examining this is a group of comparably analysed assemblages, close in space and time; these are notably present in the Aurignacian of the Vezere Valley (Table 1). The eight assemblages, considered in Table 1 exhibited very convincing trends. In addition, a level of frequency of other traits (not attained in non-Aurignacian assemblages) was maintained. From this it can reasonably be concluded that some social continuity must exist between the makers of the assemblages.