Experimental artefacts in research on prehistoric and aboriginal technology: a standardised terminology and registry cod
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Experimental artefacts in research on prehistoric and aboriginal technology: a standardised terminology and registry code based on alpha-taxonomy and the chaîne opératoire Policarp Hortolà 1,2
Received: 9 April 2015 / Accepted: 23 March 2016 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
Abstract In research on prehistoric and aboriginal technology, terms such as ‘replica’, ‘reproduction’ or ‘imitation’ are still used as generic labels for (non-original) experimental objects, their intended meaning becoming potentially confusing. Because the implementation of a standard terminology is required in order to allow individuals involved in research on prehistoric and aboriginal technology to speak the same language, an experimental artefact terminology, based on alphataxonomy and the chaîne opératoire, is presented. In this terminology, alpha-taxonomy takes into account three stages of the operational scheme of the chaîne opératoire as couplets: (1) the raw material used, (2) the method employed for shaping a given object, and (3) its resulting final shape. Additionally, a registry code suitable for labelling experimental artefacts is also presented. Although the lexicon presented in this paper does not intend to solve all the problems related to experimental artefacts in prehistoric and aboriginal technology, it represents a user-friendly approach to experimental realities, by establishing a shared language—which, to date, has still not been implemented—for experimental items. While this terminology and code system are primarily addressed to prehistoric and aboriginal technologists concerned with experimental work, they are equally relevant to museum
* Policarp Hortolà [email protected]
1
Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35 (Campus Catalunya URV), ES-43002 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain
2
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Edifici W3 (Campus Sescelades URV), ES-43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain
curators and can also be of value to individuals involved in many other human endeavours, from the contemporary-art trade to the mechanics industry. Keywords Material culture . Use-wear analysis . Residue analysis . Conservation science . Prehistoric archaeology . Aboriginal anthropology
Introduction Alpha-taxonomy (from the Greek τάξις, taxis, arrangement, and νόμος, nomos, law) deals with the identification, description, and naming of entities (living things, objects, languages, etc.). Although it is primarily the part of biosystematics preceding phylogenetics (beta-taxonomy), it has been introduced to non-biological fields such as research on prehistoric technology (e.g. Conard et al. 2004). Furthermore, the theoretical bases of prehistoric systematics have been widely treated in R. C. Dunnell’s influential work Systematics in Prehistory (1971). The basic methodological tool of alpha-taxonomy is a pathway, single-access key using step-by-step choices. The purpose of such a conceptual key is to assist in differentiating one typ
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