Hello Everyone,
This is a first call for papers for a proposed session on standardization of use-wear methodology being organized for the 2011 SAA meetings in Sacramento, CA. With recent advancements in analytical technology and the concomitant proliferation of new analytical techniques in lithic use-wear research the question of the reliability, reproducibility and objectivity of results warrants careful re-evaluation. Greater analytical rigor through increased standardization is the best way of promoting the evolution of use-wear analysis and maximizing its potential as an interpretive tool. Below is the proposed session abstract:
"Standardization in Lithic Use-wear Analysis: How Do We Get There From Here?"
Forensic evidence of tool use has long captured the interest of archaeologists. The last four decades in particular have witnessed a remarkable proliferation of approaches and techniques for studying these microscopic attributes of stone tools. Despite this progress the discipline has established only minimal methodological standards in the context of use-wear analysis. Standardization in use-wear research is a prerequisite for gaining greater insight into and understanding of lithic technologies and their cultural contexts. This session is meant as a forum for discussion and debate regarding how best to foster greater analytical standardization within this field of study. While the detailed examination of individual tools is important, it is the reconstruction of techno-behavioural relationships between tools, and between assemblages, that is of greatest interest to lithic analysts and archaeology as a whole. Thus, particular attention will be paid to quantification of use-wear evidence and maximization of intra- and inter-assemblage comparability. Geography and time period are open as we are aiming for as broad a cross-section of papers as possible to further the aim of methodological standardization.
Organizers: James Stemp, Adrian Evans, Danielle MacDonald, Harry Lerner
Please submit abstracts to [log in to unmask] no later than August August 25, 2010.
Thank-you and apologies for cross-posting.
Best regards,
Harry Lerner
Dr. Harry Lerner
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Faculté des Lettres
Centre Interuniversitaire d'Études sur les Lettres,
les Arts et les Traditions (CELAT)
Université Laval, Quebéc (Quebéc)
Canada
G1V 0A6
Tel: (519) 709-7909
|