Special Issue: Reduction Sequence, Chaîne Opératoire, and Other Methods: The Epistemologies of Different Approaches to Lithic Analysis. Loosening Our Chaînes: Cognitive Insights for the Archaeological Application of Sequence Models.

Abstract

Sequential analysis has become a well established means of describing the operation of past activities. As their applications have expanded, the nature and implications of the models archaeologists have developed for the con-sideration of sequential activities have come into focus and debate. Difference in the steps used to produce micro-blades in two terminal Paleolithic sites in Japan exposes “breadth” and “depth” in routinized activities. Ideas from modern psychology can augment archaeological use of sequence models to reveal how technological information was organized and in that way help to address cognitive aspects of archaeologically observed behaviors.This special issue is guest edited by Gilbert B. Tostevin (Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota). This is article #2 of 7.