Analysis of Style in Artifacts

Abstract

An immense amount of information on patterns of stylistic variation in prehistoric artifacts has been produced by studies done throughout the history of archaeological research. The construction of space-time frameworks for most regions on the basis of such patterns has produced detailed information on stylistic sequences through time and stylistic distributions across space. Much of that critical information is encoded in complex sets of artifact types which have been developed. When questions concerning stylistic variation move beyond general patterns of variation across space and through time, however, the available information decreases drastically despite the decades of research on stylistic variation. However, significant improvements have been made during the last 20 years. Beginning at least as early as the innovative ceramic sociology studies of the 1960s (11, 27, 41-43, 65), when initial attempts were made to examine the relationship between stylistic variation and aspects of social organization, many new questions about stylistic variation began to be addressed. Can spatial clusters of stylistic attributes smaller than the previously defined culture areas be isolated that might be the result of residence groups, lineages, marriage networks, or clusters of communities cooperating in economic activities? Can studies of stylistic variation lead to more accurate and precise estimates of site occupation dates? Why do rates of stylistic change and degrees of stylistic variation fluctuate so much through time or across space? As the questions about the causes and nature of stylistic variation have increased, so have the number and types of studies. Within the last five years, for example, at least a dozen doctoral dissertations have been written that have focused almost exclusively on issues concerning stylistic variation. In addition, an increasing number of ethnographic studies of patterns of stylistic variation