Technological Organization

In the English-speaking world, technological organization—also referred to as the organization of technology—is the predominant interpretative framework for inferring what the features of stone artifact assemblages can tell us about past human behavior, regardless of their chronological or geographi...

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Main Authors: Spry, Caroline, Stern, Nicola
Format: Book Part
Language:unknown
Published: Oxford University Press 2016
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0158
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spelling croxfordunivpr:10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0158 2024-04-07T07:52:16+00:00 Technological Organization Spry, Caroline Stern, Nicola 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0158 unknown Oxford University Press Anthropology reference-entry 2016 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0158 2024-03-08T02:56:38Z In the English-speaking world, technological organization—also referred to as the organization of technology—is the predominant interpretative framework for inferring what the features of stone artifact assemblages can tell us about past human behavior, regardless of their chronological or geographical distribution. Lewis Binford originally conceived of technological organization as “the organizational characteristics within a technology which may be manipulated differently to effect acceptable adaptations for different situations” (see Binford 1979, cited under Technological Organization and Mobility, p. 255). Since then, technological organization has come to be defined more formally as “the study of the selection and integration of strategies for making, using, transporting, and discarding tools and the materials needed for their manufacture and maintenance” (see Nelson 1991, cited under General Overviews, p. 57). Studies of technological organization seek to investigate how stone tool technology can solve adaptive problems. This approach developed from ethnoarchaeological studies of the relationships among artifact assemblages, subsistence activities, and land-use patterns—such as John Yellen’s observations of the !Kung bushmen in the Kalahari Desert (see Yellen’s Archaeological Approaches to the Present: Models for Reconstructing the Past, New York: Academic Press, 1977), and Lewis Binford’s study of the Nunamiut Eskimos in Alaska (see Binford’s Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology, New York: Academic Press, 1978). The literature on technological organization has identified a number of archaeological “signatures” for organizational differences that reflect different patterns of land use and planning (see Binford and Stone’s “Righteous Rocks” and Richard Gould: Some Observations on Misguided “Debate,” American Antiquity 50.1 (1985): 151–153). While this literature is vast, an overall sense of cohesion is lacking. This article identifies the key literature on the organization of technology, the different problems it can ... Book Part eskimo* Alaska Oxford University Press Kung ENVELOPE(-132.571,-132.571,54.050,54.050)
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description In the English-speaking world, technological organization—also referred to as the organization of technology—is the predominant interpretative framework for inferring what the features of stone artifact assemblages can tell us about past human behavior, regardless of their chronological or geographical distribution. Lewis Binford originally conceived of technological organization as “the organizational characteristics within a technology which may be manipulated differently to effect acceptable adaptations for different situations” (see Binford 1979, cited under Technological Organization and Mobility, p. 255). Since then, technological organization has come to be defined more formally as “the study of the selection and integration of strategies for making, using, transporting, and discarding tools and the materials needed for their manufacture and maintenance” (see Nelson 1991, cited under General Overviews, p. 57). Studies of technological organization seek to investigate how stone tool technology can solve adaptive problems. This approach developed from ethnoarchaeological studies of the relationships among artifact assemblages, subsistence activities, and land-use patterns—such as John Yellen’s observations of the !Kung bushmen in the Kalahari Desert (see Yellen’s Archaeological Approaches to the Present: Models for Reconstructing the Past, New York: Academic Press, 1977), and Lewis Binford’s study of the Nunamiut Eskimos in Alaska (see Binford’s Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology, New York: Academic Press, 1978). The literature on technological organization has identified a number of archaeological “signatures” for organizational differences that reflect different patterns of land use and planning (see Binford and Stone’s “Righteous Rocks” and Richard Gould: Some Observations on Misguided “Debate,” American Antiquity 50.1 (1985): 151–153). While this literature is vast, an overall sense of cohesion is lacking. This article identifies the key literature on the organization of technology, the different problems it can ...
format Book Part
author Spry, Caroline
Stern, Nicola
spellingShingle Spry, Caroline
Stern, Nicola
Technological Organization
author_facet Spry, Caroline
Stern, Nicola
author_sort Spry, Caroline
title Technological Organization
title_short Technological Organization
title_full Technological Organization
title_fullStr Technological Organization
title_full_unstemmed Technological Organization
title_sort technological organization
publisher Oxford University Press
publishDate 2016
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0158
long_lat ENVELOPE(-132.571,-132.571,54.050,54.050)
geographic Kung
geographic_facet Kung
genre eskimo*
Alaska
genre_facet eskimo*
Alaska
op_source Anthropology
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0158
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