A Study of Style and Function in a Class of Tools

Abstract

In this paper the author develops, and then demonstrates, a method for differentiating stylistic and functional variability in the morphology of stone tools. Style and function are defined in evolutionary terms, then related to tool morphology and technology. Within that framework, predictions are made about the spatial and temporal patterning expected if morphology is functional and/or stylistic. These expectations are then tested through comparison, using discriminant function analysis, of stone tools from the Late Prehistoric in NW North America and the Late Pleistocene in northern Africa.The comparison reveals that the tools, endscrapers, vary only in terms of their amount of wear; their morphology is identical between the samples separated by 10,000 years in time and 5,000 miles in space. Based on the theoretical discussion and these observations, it is argued that endscraper morphology is entirely functional, and contains no stylistic component. Morphological variability in these tools indicates adaptation, not time.

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