Skip to main content
Log in

Reconstructing Movement in Prehistory

  • Published:
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Movement is a universal part of human life. However, it normally leaves no material trace, so movements made in the past are difficult to investigate. Refitting artifacts across unusually long distances provides a robust method of reconstructing individual acts of movement. When there are multiple individual movements, it is possible to reconstruct patterns of movement, and to differentiate between different types of movement made for different purposes, even in prehistory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES CITED

  • Amick, D. S. (1996). Regional patterns of Folsom mobility and land use in the American Southwest. World Archaeology 27: 411–426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrefsky, W., Jr. (1994). Raw-material availability and the organization of technology. American Antiquity 59: 21–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arts, N., and Cziesla, E. (1990). Bibliography on the subject of refitting stone artefacts. In Cziesla, E., Eickhoff, S., Arts, N., and Winter, D. (eds.), The Big Puzzle: International Symposium on Refitting Stone Artefacts, Studies in Modern Archaeology 1, Holos, Bonn, pp. 652–683.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arts, N., and Deeben, J. (1981). Prehistorische Jagers enVerzamelaars teVessem: Een Model, Bijdragen tot de Studie van het Brabantse Heem Deel 20, Stichting Brabants Heem, Eindhoven.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bamforth, D. B. (1988). Ecology and Human Organization on the Great Plains, Plenum Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bamforth, D. B. (1991). Technological organization and hunter-gatherer land use: ACalifornia example. American Antiquity 56: 216–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binder, D., and Perlès, C. (1990). Stratégies de gestion des outillages lithiques au Néolithique. Paléo 2: 257–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1978). Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1979). Organization and formation processes: Looking at curated technologies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35: 255–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1980). Willow smoke and dogs' tails: Hunter-gatherer settlement systems and archaeological formation processes. American Antiquity 45: 4–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1982). The archaeology of place. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 1: 5–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bleed, P. (1986). The optimal design of hunting weapons: Maintainability or reliability. American Antiquity 51: 737–747.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodu, P. (1996). Les chasseurs magdaléniens de Pincevent: quelques aspects de leurs comportements. Lithic Technology 21: 48–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonzani, R. M. (1997). Plant diversity in the archaeological record: A means toward defining huntergatherer mobility strategies. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 1129–1139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bracco, J.-P. (1995). Déplacements des groupes humains et nature de l'occupation du sol en Velay (Massif Central, France) au Paléolithique supérieur: intérêt de l'étude des matières premières minérales. In Chenorkian, R. (ed.), L'Homme Méditerranéen: Mélanges offerts àGabriel Camps, Publications de l'Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, pp. 285–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brantingham, P. J. (1998). Mobility, competition, and Plio-Pleistocene hominid foraging groups. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 5: 57–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brose, D. S. (1994). Trade and exchange in the Midwestern United States. In Baugh, T. G., and Ericson, J. E. (eds.), Prehistoric Exchange Systems in North America, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 215–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brumbach, H. J., and Jarvenpa, R. (1997). Ethnoarchaeology of subsistence space and gender: A subarctic Dene case. American Antiquity 62: 414–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cahen, D., and Keeley, L. H. (1980). Not less than two, nor more than three. World Archaeology 12: 166–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, P. J. (ed.) (1994). The Organization of North American Prehistoric Chipped Stone Tool Technologies, International Monographs in Prehistory, Archaeological Series 7, Ann Arbor.

  • Cattin, M.-I. (1992). Un raccord entre deux sites magdaléniens. Préhistoire européenne 1: 35–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Church, T. (1994). Lithic Resource Studies: A Sourcebook for Archaeologists, LithicTechnology Special Publication 3, Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Close, A. E. (1980). Stylistic analysis of theWadi Kubbaniya assemblages. In Wendorf, F., and Schild, R. (assemblers), Close, A. E. (ed.), Loaves and Fishes: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, pp. 245–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Close, A. E. (1992). Holocene occupation of the Eastern Sahara. In Klees, F., and Kuper, R. (eds.), New Light on the Northeast African Past: Current Prehistoric Research, Africa Praehistorica 5, Heinrich-Barth-Institut, Cologne, pp. 155–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Close, A. E. (1996). Carry that weight: The use and transportation of stone tools. Current Anthropology 37: 545–553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Close, A. E. (1997). Lithic economy in the absence of stone. Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology 13: 27–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Close, A. E. (1999). Distance and decay: An uneasy relationship. Antiquity 73: 24–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cziesla, E. (1990a). Artefact production and spatial distribution on the open air site 80/14 (Western Desert, Egypt). In Cziesla, E., Eickhoff, S., Arts, N., and Winter, D. (eds.), The Big Puzzle: International Symposium on Refitting Stone Artefacts, Studies in Modern Archaeology 1, Holos, Bonn, pp. 583–610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cziesla, E. (1990b). On refitting stone artefacts. In Cziesla, E., Eickhoff, S., Arts, N., and Winter, D. (eds.), The Big Puzzle: International Symposium on Refitting Stone Artefacts, Studies in Modern Archaeology 1, Holos, Bonn, pp. 9–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cziesla, E., Eickhoff, S., Arts, N., and Winter, D. (eds.) (1990). The Big Puzzle: International Symposium In Refitting Stone Artefacts, Studies in Modern Archaeology 1, Holos, Bonn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebert, J. I. (1992). Distributional Archaeology, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

    Google Scholar 

  • Féblot-Augustins, J. (1997a). La Circulation des Matières Premières au Paléolithique, Études et Recherches Archéologiques de l'Université de Liége 75 (2 vols.), Liège.

    Google Scholar 

  • Féblot-Augustins, J. (1997b). Middle and Upper Paleolithic raw material transfers in Western and Central Europe: Assessing the pace of change. Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology 13: 57–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fish, S. K., and Kowalewski, S. A. (eds.) (1990). The Archaeology of Regions: A Case for Full-Coverage Survey, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fujimura, S., and Yamada, A. (1991). A discovery of refitted lithic tools among different site locations in the Late Palaeolithic at Yakuai-san site group, Miyagi Prefecture. Proceedings of the Tohoku Historical Museum 16-17: 1–45 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamble, C. S. (1991). An introduction to the living spaces of mobile peoples. In Gamble, C. S., and Boismier, W. A. (eds.), Ethnoarchaeological Approaches to Mobile Campsites, International Monographs in Prehistory, Ethnoarchaeological Series 1, Ann Arbor, pp. 1–23.

  • Gamble, C. S., and Boismier, W. A. (eds.) (1991). Ethnoarchaeological Approaches to Mobile Campsites, International Monographs in Prehistory, Ethnoarchaeological Series 1, Ann Arbor.

  • Geneste, J.-M. (1985). Analyse Lithique d'Industries Moustériennes du Périgord: une approche technologique du comportement des groupes humains au Paléolithique moyen, Ph.D. dissertation, Université de Bordeaux I, Bordeaux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gramly, R. M. (1984). Kill sites, killing ground and fluted points at the Vail site. Archaeology of Eastern North America 12: 110–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greaves, R. D. (1997). Hunting and multifunctional use of bows and arrows: Ethnoarchaeology of technological organization among Pumé hunters of Venezuela. In Knecht, H. (ed.), Projectile Technology, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 287–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hahn, J. (1988). Die Geißenklösterle-Höhle im Achtal bei Blaubeuren I: Fundhorizontbildung und Besiedlung im Mittelpaläolithikum und im Aurignacien, Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor-und Frühgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg 26, Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haynes, C. V., Jr. (1982). Were Clovis progenitors in Beringia? In Hopkins, D. M., Matthews, J. V., Jr., Schweger, C. E., and Young, S. B. (eds.), Paleoecology of Beringia, Academic Press, New York, pp. 383–398.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofman, J. L. (1992). Putting the pieces together: An introduction to refitting. In Hofman, J. L., and Enloe, J. G. (eds.), Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 578, Oxford, pp. 1–20.

  • Hofman, J. L., and Enloe, J. G. (eds.) (1992). Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 578, Oxford.

  • Holl, A., and Levy, T. E. (eds.) (1993). Spatial Boundaries and Social Dynamics: Case Studies from Food-Producing Societies, International Monographs in Prehistory, Ethnoarchaeological Series 2, Ann Arbor.

  • Inizan, M.-L., Roche, H., and Tixier, J. (1992). Technology of Knapped Stone, Préhistoire de la Pierre Taillée Tome 3, Cercle de Recherches et d'Etudes Préhistoriques, Meudon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isaac, G. Ll., and Harris, J. W. K. (1975). Scatter between the patches. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Kroeber Anthropological Society, Berkeley.

  • Kelly, R. L. (1985). Hunter-Gatherer Mobility and Sedentism: A Great Basin Study, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, R. L. (1988). The three sides of a biface. American Antiquity 53: 717–734.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, R. L. (1992). Mobility/sedentism: Concepts, archaeological measures, and effects. Annual Review of Anthropology 21: 43–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, R. L., and Todd, L. C. (1988). Coming into the country: Early Paleoindian hunting and mobility. American Antiquity 53: 231–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, S. L. (1994). A formal approach to the design and assembly of mobile toolkits. American Antiquity 59: 426–442.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, S. L. (1996). The trouble with ham steaks: A reply to Morrow. American Antiquity 61: 591–596.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, M. L., and Ingbar, E. E. (1992). Perspectives on refitting: Critique and a complementary approach. In Hofman, J. L., and Enloe, J. G. (eds.), Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 578, Oxford, pp. 151–162.

  • Larson, M. L., and Kornfeld, M. (1997). Chipped stone nodules: Theory, method, and examples. Lithic Technology 22: 4–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey, M. D., and Hay, R. (1979). Pliocene footprints in the Laetoli Beds at Laetoli, northern Tanzania. Nature 278: 317–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leroi-Gourhan, A., and Brézillon, M. (1966). L'Habitation magdalénien nº. 1 de Pincevent près Montereau (Seine-et-Marne). Gallia Préhistoire 9(2): 263–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leroi-Gourhan, A., and Brézillon, M. (1972). Fouilles de Pincevent: Essai d'analyse ethnographique d'un habitat magdalénien (la Section 36), VIIe supplément à Gallia Préhistoire, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luedtke, B. E. (1978). Chert sources and trace-element analysis. American Antiquity 43: 413–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, B. J., Camilli, E. L., and Wandsnider, L. (1992). Spatial patterning in ceramic vessel distributions. In Hofman, J. L., and Enloe, J. G. (eds.), Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 578, Oxford, pp. 217–237.

  • Morrow, C. A., and Jefferies, R. W. (1989). Trade or embedded procurement?: A test case from southern Illinois. In Torrence, R. (ed.), Time, Energy and Stone Tools, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 27–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrow, J. E. (1997). End scraper morphology and use-life: An approach for studying Paleoindian lithic technology and mobility. Lithic Technology 22: 70–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrow, T. A. (1996). Bigger is better: Comments on Kuhn's formal approach to mobile toolkits. American Antiquity 61: 581–590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, M. C. (1991). The study of technological organization. In Schiffer, M. B. (ed.), Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 3, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp. 57–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ono, A. (1994). Die Altsteinzeit in Japan, Achte Rudolf Virchow-Vorlesung, Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Bonn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlès, C. (1987). Les Industries lithiques taillées de Franchthi (Argolide, Grèce). Tome I: Présentation générale et Industries paléolithiques, Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece Fascicle 3, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlès, C. (1994). Les industries lithiques taillées de Tharrounia (Eubée), Ateliers 15, Universit´e de Paris X, Laboratoire de Préhistoire, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petraglia, M. D. (1992). Stone artifact refitting and formation process at the Abri Dufaure, an Upper Paleolithic site in southwest France. In Hofman, J. L., and Enloe, J. G. (eds.), Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 578, Oxford, pp. 163–178.

  • Phillips, J. L. (1991). Refitting, edge-wear and chanes opératoires: A case study from Sinai. In 25 Ans d' Études Technologiques en Préhistoire, bilan et perspectives, Éditions APDCA, Juan-les-Pins, pp. 305–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Politis, G. G. (1996). Moving to produce: Nukak mobility and settlement patterns in Amazonia. World Archaeology 27: 492–511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rapson, D. J., and Todd, L. C. (1992). Conjoins, contemporaneity and site structure: Distributional analysis of the Bugas-Holding site. In Hofman, J. L., and Enloe, J. G. (eds.), Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 578, Oxford, pp. 238–263.

  • Rensink, E., Kolen, J., and Spieksma, A. (1991). Patterns of raw material distribution in the Upper Pleistocene of Northwestern and Central Europe. In Montet-White, A., and Holen, S. (eds.), Raw Material Economies Among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers, University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology 19, Lawrence, pp. 141–159.

  • Robertson, J. A. (1984). Chipped stone and functional interpretations: A Fort Ancient example. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 9: 251–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossignol, J., and Wandsnider, L. (eds.) (1992). Space, Time, and Archaeological Landscapes, Plenum Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, B. J., and Dibble, H. L. (1998). Production and transport of blanks and tools at the French Middle Paleolithic site of Combe-Capelle Bas. American Antiquity 63: 47–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaller-Åhrberg, E. (1990). Refitting as a method to separate mixed sites: A test with unexpected results. In Cziesla, E., Eickhoff, S., Arts, N., and Winter, D. (eds.), The Big Puzzle: International Symposium on Refitting Stone Artefacts, Studies in Modern Archaeology 1, Holos, Bonn, pp. 611–622.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, A. (1986). Ein Nachweis absoluter Gleichzeitigkeit von Paläolithischen Stationen? Archäo logisches Korrespondenzblatt 16: 383–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, A. (1990). Von der Schichtinterpretation bis zum Besiedlungsmuster-Zusammensetzungen als absoluter Nachweis. In Cziesla, E. Eickhoff, S. Arts, N., and Winter, D. (eds.), The Big Puzzle: International Symposium on Refitting Stone Artefacts, Studies in Modern Archaeology 1, Holos, Bonn, pp. 623–650.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, A. (1993). The organization of lithic resource use during the Gravettian in Germany. In Knecht, H., Pike-Tay, A., and White, R. (eds.), Before Lascaux: The Complex Record of the Early Upper Paleolithic, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 193–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shennan, S. (1993). After social evolution: A new archaeological agenda? In Yoffee, N., and Sherratt, A. (eds.), Archaeological Theory: Who Sets the Agenda?, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 53–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shott. M. (1986). Technological organization and settlement mobility: An ethnographic examination. Journal of Anthropological Research 42: 15–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simek, J. F. (1994). The organization of lithic technology and evolution: Notes from the continent. In Carr, P. J. (ed.), The Organization of North American Prehistoric Chipped Stone Tool Technologies, International Monographs in Prehistory, Archaeological Series 7, Ann Arbor, pp. 118–122.

  • Simms, S. R., Bright, J. R., and Ugan, A. (1997). Plain-ware ceramics and residential mobility: A case study from the Great Basin. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 779–792.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, C. A. (1984). The 63-kilometer fit. In Ericson, J. E., and Purdy, B. A. (eds.), Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 35–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tankersley, K. B. (1991). A geoarchaeological investigation of distribution and exchange in the raw material economies of Clovis groups in eastern North America. In Montet-White, A., and Holen, S. (eds.), Raw Material Economies Among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers, University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology 19, Lawrence, pp. 285–303.

  • Tindale, N. B. (1972). The Pitjandjara. In Bicchieri, M. G. (ed.), Hunters and Gatherers Today: A Socioeconomic Study of Eleven Such Cultures in the Twentieth Century, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, pp. 217–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tixier, J., Marmier, F., and Trécolle, G. (1976). Le campement préhistorique de Bordj Mellala, Ouargla, Algérie, Cercle de Recherches et d'Etudes Préhistoriques, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrence, R. (ed.) (1989). Time, Energy and Stone Tools, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrence, R. (1994). Strategies for moving on in lithic studies. In Carr, P. J. (ed.), The Organization of North American Prehistoric Chipped Stone Tool Technologies, International Monographs in Prehistory, Archaeological Series 7, Ann Arbor, pp. 123–131.

  • Upton, G. J. G., and Fingleton, B. (1985). Spatial Data Analysis by Example. Vol. 1: Point Pattern and Quantitative Data, Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Noten, F. (1971). Excavations at Munyama cave. Antiquity 45: 56–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veil, S. (1990). A dynamic model of a Magdalenian settlement by spatial analysis of refitted artefacts. In Cziesla, E., Eickhoff, S., Arts, N., and Winter, D. (eds.), The Big Puzzle: International Symposium on Refitting Stone Artefacts, Studies in Modern Archaeology 1, Holos, Bonn, pp. 45–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walthall, J. A., and Holley, G. R. (1997). Mobility and hunter-gatherer toolkit design: Analysis of a Dalton lithic cache. Southeastern Archaeology 16: 152–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winterhalder, B. (1981). Optimal foraging strategies and hunter-gatherer research in anthropology: Theory and models. In Winterhalder, B., and Smith, E. A. (eds.), Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies: Ethnographic and Archeological Analyses, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 13–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yellen, J. E. (1977). Archaeological Approaches to the Present: Models for Reconstructing the Past, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Close, A.E. Reconstructing Movement in Prehistory. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 7, 49–77 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009560628428

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009560628428

Navigation