Hardy, K. and Sillitoe, P. (2003). Material Perspectives: Stone Tool Use and Material Culture in Papua New Guinea. Internet Archaeology 14. Vol 14, https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.14.3.
 Title The title of the publication or report |
Material Perspectives: Stone Tool Use and Material Culture in Papua New Guinea | ||||
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Issue The name of the volume or issue |
Internet Archaeology 14 | ||||
Series The series the publication or report is included in |
Internet Archaeology | ||||
Volume Volume number and part |
14 | ||||
Biblio Note This is a Bibliographic record only. |
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Licence Type ADS, CC-BY 4.0 or CC-BY 4.0 NC. |
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
International Licence |
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Publication Type The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book |
Journal | ||||
Abstract The abstract describing the content of the publication or report |
Flaked stone tools are synonymous with prehistory to the extent that it is arguable that without these, the discipline would not exist. Yet we know relatively little about how people used them and what role they played within the material cultures of which they formed a part. The opportunity to study habitual users of flaked tools in an ethnographic context has always been limited and is now arguably non-existent. But in 1983, despite having steel tools, stone was still used for many of the everyday tasks performed by the Wola, of highland Papua New Guinea. The extensive knowledge of Wola life and material culture has afforded an opportunity to examine stone tool use within a broad material and socio-economic framework. This has provided new levels of contextual information, including the observation of habitual storage of raw material and tools despite abundant local raw material and an expedient technology; their important manufacturing role and the use of tools made from other materials in place of stone for many tasks.Flaked tools also feature in non-material contexts, such as myths, suggesting that their cultural significance is more complex than initial appearances suggest. Women used the bipolar method to obtain flakes, though they were prohibited by convention from using stone axes. Multiple authorship of objects is common though women's work is often hidden in items such as string which is made by women and which forms a constituent part of many male items such as muscial instruments. Use-wear data are recorded and a statistical method developed to further their analysis objectively. Finally, an examination of possible reasons for the simple yet sophisticated nature of chert technology suggests that a combination of material, environmental, social and economic factors may be responsible. | ||||
Year of Publication The year the book, article or report was published |
2003 | ||||
Locations Any locations covered by the publication or report. This is not the place the book or report was published. |
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Source Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in. |
ADS Library
(ADS Library)
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Relations Other resources which are relevant to this publication or report |
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Created Date The date the record of the pubication was first entered |
24 Jul 2019 |
