syrett@walrus.com
Feburary 1997
Dissertation Abstract
Explaining the Success of Microliths: A social explanation for Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene technological change.
A UCSB Department of Anthropology Dissertation
by Matthew D. Syrett
Archaeologists have not provided an adequate explanation for the worldwide distribution of microlithic technology during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Researchers have tried to explain the widespread use of these small stone implements by evoking models based on environmental or demographic causation, which I contend cannot alone explain this technology's wide usage.
I argue that microlithic technology developed and spread as the result of the genesis of non-egalitarian statuses among hunter-gatherers. Late Pleistocene and early Holocene hunters wishing to strive for greater status started using microlithic technology to improve their hunting efficiency. These hunters could then convert their improved success as hunters for improved status in society. Prior to the use of microlithic technology, social leveling within societies prevented striving and lessened the social gains possible through the use of technologies for the improvement of hunting efficiency.
I have explored the above theory by showing a relationship between the spread of microlithic technology and increases in social complexity, after rejecting the models based on environmental or demographic causation. This work has focused on data collected in Europe.
Expect Date of Completion - 1997
Committee Members
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Designed by Matthew Syrett syrett@walrus.com Feburary 1997 |