Examining Lithic Technological Organization as a Dynamic Cultural Subsystem: The Advantages of an Explicitly Spatial Approach

Abstract

The organization of hunter—gatherer lithic technology is examined as a dynamic process, with reference to a case study from the Late Prehistoric period of the Texas central Gulf Coast. Several lithic data sets from sites of the Rockport phase (ca. A.D. 1200—1700) indicate that three modes of behavior operated to maintain technological efficiency, and that each was adopted in response to inefficiency thresholds associated with increasing, distance-related costs in the procurement and transport of lithic material. In combination with information on the settlement and subsistence patterns, it is apparent that the organization of lithic technology was adjusted to the more basic needs for biotic-resource procurement. As a result, lithic efficiency was not a constant, but fluctuated within a dynamic cultural subsystem that articulated with the scheduling demands of overall adaptive behavior.

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