Typological Classification,Attribute Analysis,and Lithic Variability

Abstract

A typological research strategy can distort the analysis of Upper Paleolithic stone tools because it is ill-equipped to distinguish stylistic and functional similarity. This lack can make the significance of formal stone tool types in either culture-historical or behavioral analysis ambiguous. “Attribute analysis,” as it is being developed with French Upper Paleolithic materials, is introduced as an alternative strategy. The stylistic and functional analysis of burins in three Upper Paleolithic cultures, the Perigordian VI, the Proto-Magdalenian , and the Magdalenian II-III, is presented as an example indicating the advantages of one approach over the other.