LITHIC ANALYSIS

Because of their durability, stone tools provide archaeologists an opportunity to study technological organization and social information exchange in many prehistoric contexts. I combine experimental replication with macroscopic analytical techniques to better understand how stone tools were made, used, and discarded in the past. My work with stone tools spans diverse topics, from pointed tool and groundstone bead production in early Neolithic Jordan to gunflints in historic North America.

Examples:

Quinn, C.P., N. Goodale, W. Andrefsky, Jr., I. Kuijt, and B. Finlayson

2019          Lithic Technological Organization and Hafting in Early Villages. American Antiquity 84(4):708-727.

Quinn, C.P.

2015     Signals in Stone: Exploring the Role of Social Information Exchange, Conspicuous Consumption, and Costly Signaling Theory in Lithic Analysis. In Lithic Technological Systems and Evolutionary Theory. N. Goodale and W. Andrefsky (eds.). pp. 198-222. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Quinn, C.P.

2010     Use-Wear Under Fire: An Experimental Use-Wear and Functional Analysis of Gunflints. The Michigan Archaeologist 50-52 (2004-2006):249-264.

Quinn, C.P., W. Andrefsky, I. Kuijt, and B. Finlayson

2008    Stone Tool Perforating and Retouch Intensity: A Neolithic Case Study. In: Lithic Technology: Measures of Production Use and Curation. W. Andrefsky (ed.). pp. 150-174. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.