Testing the Integrity of the Middle and Later Stone Age Cultural Taxonomic Division in Eastern Africa

Grove, Matt ORCID: 0000-0002-2293-8732 and Blinkhorn, James (2021) Testing the Integrity of the Middle and Later Stone Age Cultural Taxonomic Division in Eastern Africa. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 4 (2). 14-.

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The long-standing debate concerning the integrity of the cultural taxonomies employed by archaeologists has recently been revived by renewed theoretical attention and the application of new methodological tools. The analyses presented here test the integrity of the cultural taxonomic division between Middle and Later Stone Age assemblages in eastern Africa using an extensive dataset of archaeological assemblages. Application of a penalized logistic regression procedure embedded within a permutation test allows for evaluation of the existing Middle and Later Stone Age division against numerous alternative divisions of the data. Results suggest that the existing division is valid based on any routinely employed statistical criterion, but that is not the single best division of the data. These results invite questions about what archaeologists seek to achieve via cultural taxonomy and about the analytical methods that should be employed when attempting revise existing nomenclature.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age, Cultural taxonomy, Lithic technology, Logistic regression, Permutation analysis
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	11 Jun 2021 08:46
Last Modified:	17 Mar 2024 12:07
DOI:	10.1007/s41982-021-00087-4
Open Access URL:	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41982-0...
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3125963