Investigating Restricted Knowledge in Lithic Craft Traditions among the Pre-contact Coast Salish of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

Understanding the impacts of the emergence of hereditary social inequality in human societies is one of the fundamental questions in archaeology. This book is one case study examining the transitions in craft apprenticeship of formed lithic tools among the precontact Coast Salish of the Pacific Northwest Coast as hereditary social inequality emerged. According to cultural transmission theory, the emergence of large plank house villages and hereditary social inequality would result in the restriction of craft knowledge, and was predicted to reduce the stylistic and fine scale metric variation of formed lithic tools. High resolution metric and stylistic analyses were performed, controlling for material quality, tool retouch, and sample size effects. Stylistic variation in lithics and assemblage heterogeneity suggests that lithic craft knowledge became increasingly restricted through time, with the emergence of large sedentary populations.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables List of Figures List of Equations Abstract 1 Introduction Characterizing Learning among the Precontact Coast Salish Hypotheses for Restricted Formed Lithic Tool Learning in the Salish Sea Chapter Organization 2 Evidence for the Emergence of Hereditary Social Inequality and Restricted Learning in the Salish Sea Archaeological Data for Social Inequality in the Salish Sea Charles Period (5500-3500 BP) Locarno Beach (3500-2400 BP) Marpole (2400-1000 BP) Late Period (1000 BP-Contact) Ethnographic Discussions of Knowledge Restriction and Embedded Craft Specialization Knowledge Restriction and Coast Salish Lithic Tool Traditions 3 Hafted Chipped and Ground Stone Technologies on the Northwest Coast Hafted Stone Tool Technologies on the Northwest Coast Chronology of Hafted Chipped and Ground Stone Tools in the Salish Sea Introduction of Bifacial Technologies on the Northwest Coast of North America (13,000-5000 BP) Chronological Trends in Hafted Stone Tool Form in the Salish Sea (5000 BP-Contact) Toolstone Quality Reduction Sequence for Coast Salish Hafted Lithics Hafted Chipped Stone Reduction Sequence Hafted Ground Stone Reduction Sequence Impacts of Retouch on Hafted Chipped and Ground Stone Tool Morphology Interpreting Hafted Chipped and Ground Stone Tool Function 4 Cultural Transmission and the Material Record Cultural Transmission Theory Modes and Mechanisms of Cultural Transmission Transmission Bias Effective Population Size and Cultural Transmission Artefact Style and Function from an Evolutionary Perspective Style and Function as a Dichotomy Style and Function as a Continuum Adding Skill as a Factor: Artefact Attribute Functional and Communicative Potential Employed Archaeological Measures of Cultural Transmission Measuring Discrete Styles Measuring Metric Variation Transmission and Equifinality in the Archaeological Record Previous Cultural Transmission Studies in the Salish Sea 5 Chapter 5. Hypotheses and Expectations Additional Variables and Alternative Hypotheses 6 Methodology and Sample Coast Salish Hafted Lithic Tool Typology Metric Attribute Landmarks Measures of Stylistic Variation Changes in Stylistic Diversity by Site Component Monte Carlo Simulations of Sample Size Effects on Richness and Evenness Measuring Metric Variation within Discrete Styles and Reduction Method by Site Component Hypothesized Patterns from Restricted Knowledge in Measures of Stylistic and Metric Variation Additional Variables Examined Toolstone Quality Artefact Curation Tool Function: Dart-Arrow Index Application and Discriminant Function Analysis Sample Examined Archaeological Sites and Site Components Determining Site Component Age Estimates Chronological Distribution of Site Components Artefact Sample Description Artefact Material Identification 7 Lithic Technological Organization Impacts of Material Quality and Curation on Variation Curation Impact on Metric Attributes Curation by Period Curation by Region Material Quality Impact on Metric Attributes Material Quality by Period Material Quality by Region Curation and Material Quality Functional Analyses Stemmed Dart-Arrow Index Discriminant Function Analysis for Unstemmed Dart-Arrow Index Stylistic Variation by Functional Class Summary 8 Assemblage Stylistic Diversity and Metric Variation Sample Size and Time Averaging Effects on Assemblage Stylistic Variation Sample Size Effects on Stylistic Measures Time Averaging Effects on Stylistic Measures Chronological and Spatial Trends in Assemblage Stylistic Variation Temporal Trends in Stylistic Measures Spatial Trends in Stylistic Measures Summary of Stylistic Chronological and Spatial Trends Site Function and Seasonal Rounds Spatial and Temporal Trends in Artefact Styles Trends by 500 Year Period Trends by Region and 500 Year Period Sample Size and Time Averaging Effects on Assemblage Metric Variation Sample Size Effects on Metric Measures Time Averaging Effects on Metric Measures Chronological and Spatial Trends in Metric Variation Temporal Trends in Metric Measure Spatial Trends in Metric Measures Summary of Metric Chronological Spatial Trends Summary 9 Inferring Cultural Transmission Key Findings Assemblage Diversity Analyses Sample Size and Time Averaging Effects on Tf and Te Estimating Site Component Deviation from Neutrality (Tf and Theta) Estimating Theta Tf compared to Theta Spatial and Temporal Trends in Tf-Te Temporal Trends in Innovation Rate and Cumulative Richness Summary 10 Discussion Assessing Knowledge Restriction in the Salish Sea Overall Findings Additional Variables: Material Quality, Curation, Sample Size, Time-Averaging, and Shifts in Tool Function Temporal Trends in Artefact Styles Interpreting Observed Deviations from Neutrality Influence of Prestige on Learning and Patterns in the Record Summary Impacts of Household and Group Interaction on Lithic Craft Learning and Relational Wealth Influence of Household Economics on Dart and Arrow Learning Degree of Group Interaction, Seasonality, and

About the Author :
Adam N. Rorabaugh received his PhD from Washington State University and has worked on the Northwest Coast for a decade. His research interests focus on the impacts of the emergence of social inequality on the production and reproduction of knowledge and material resources among complex hunter-gatherer-fishers from an evolutionary perspective.

Review :
'This work is very interesting as it can either be read as a work of lithic analysis or a work of archaeological anthropology; it is of course really both and very usefully bridges these worlds.' Anonymous reviewer 'Previous research on the emergence of social inequality in this study area has tended to focus on status items or unusual materials. The innovation of [Rorabaugh's work] is that it shows that similar changes happen in the more 'mundane' world of the stone tool technology of these people.' Anonymous reviewer