How to read stone tools: A new mode system for describing variation in the Eastern African lithic record?
How to read stone tools: A new mode system for describing variation in the Eastern African lithic record?
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DOI：
10.1002/evan.21866
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发表时间：
2020-10-16
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Timbrell L
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Timbrell L
石器的分类是一个挑战，但对于理解远古人类的行为至关重要。《东非史前石器：指南》试图（a）为对东非考古学感兴趣的学生提供一个简单明了的石器介绍;（B）促进区域内时间和空间的比较分析;（c）为调查有关居住在该地区的原始人的进化和历史重要问题提供一个新的框架。它非常好地实现了这些目标，提供了东非石器工具证据的全面概述，以及一个新的系统，通过该系统可以检查该地区的石器，东非石器（EAST）类型学。这本书的作者，约翰谢伊，是成功地说服读者，东部类型学可以改革石器系统在东非考古学;作为一个经验丰富的石器分析师，他的专业知识在本指南中得到了证明，然而他提出的对东非凳子工具系统学的彻底改革将被证明是多么的可行，以及他的新框架将被多么广泛地应用，与考古学的理论和方法不同，东非石器的分类并没有经历类似的发展。目前采用多个系统来分类类似年龄和起源的非洲石器，如非洲的“三个年龄系统”和模式1-5，1，2，尽管这些是否实际上反映了现有证据中的模式是高度争议的，特别是因为它们不可避免地低估了非洲考古记录中变化的多样性和复杂性。3-5由于这种“石器系统的无政府状态”（Shea创造的一个短语），许多杰出的学者先前呼吁对石器系统进行改革，6-8然而，到目前为止，这些改革对石器系统几乎没有任何影响。
Classification of stone artifacts is challenging yet essential for understanding hominin behavior in the deep past. The Prehistoric Stone Tools of Eastern Africa: A Guide attempts (a) to provide students interested in Eastern African archeology with a simple and straightforward introduction to stone tools;(b) to facilitate intraregional comparative analysis over time and space; and (c) to provide a new framework for investigating evolutionary and historically vital questions about hominins inhabiting the area. It accomplishes these goals exceptionally well, offering both a comprehensive overview of stone tool evidence in Eastern Africa as well as a novel system through which lithics from this region can be examined, the Eastern African Stone Tool (EAST) Typology. The book's author, John Shea, is successful in convincing the reader that the EAST Typology could reform stone tool systematics in Eastern African archeology; his expertise as an experienced stone tool analyst is demonstrated throughout this guide, yet how feasible his proposed overhaul of Eastern African stool tool systematics will prove to be, and how widely his novel framework will be applied, remains to be seen.Unlike archeological theory and methods, which have seen consistent review, the classification of Eastern African stone tools has not experienced similar development. Multiple systems are presently adopted for categorizing African stone tools of similar age and provenance, such as Africa's' Three Age System'and Modes 1-5, 1, 2 though whether these actually reflect patterning in the existing evidence is highly debated, especially as they inevitably undervalue the diversity and complexity of variation in the African archeological record. 3–5 Because of this “lithics system anarchy”(a phrase coined by Shea), many prominent scholars have previously called for a reform in stone tool systematics, 6–8 yet, so far, these have had little, if any, effect on