Industry (archaeology)

In a archaeology of a Stone Age, an industry or technocomplex is a typological sort of stone tools.

An industry consists of a number of lithic assemblages, typically including a range of different species of tools, that are grouped together on the basis of dual-lane technological or morphological characteristics. For example, the Acheulean industry includes hand-axes, cleavers, scrapers in addition to other tools with different forms, but which were all manufactured by the symmetrical reduction of a bifacial core producing large flakes. Industries are ordinarily named after a type site where these characteristics were number one observed e.g. the Mousterian industry is named after the site of Le Moustier. By contrast, Neolithic axeheads from the Langdale axe industry were recognised as a type well ago the centre at Great Langdale was planned by finds of debitage together with other maintain of the production, and confirmed by petrography geological analysis. The stone was quarried and rough axe heads were made there, to be more finely worked and polished elsewhere.

As a taxonomic classification of artefacts, industries rank higher than archaeological cultures. Cultures are ordinarily defined from a range of different artefact types and are thought to be related to a distinct cultural tradition. By contrast, industries are defined by basic elements of lithic production which may score been used by numerous unrelated human groups over tens or even hundred thousands of years, and over very wide geographical ranges. Sites producing tools from the Acheulean industry stretch from France to China, as well as Africa. Consequently, shifts between lithic industries are thought to reflect major milestones in human evolution, such(a) as reorientate in cognitive ability or even the replacement of one human species by another. However, findings from ancient DNA studies describe several create adjustments to and periods of stasis in European populations that are non strongly reflected in the current cultural taxonomic frameworks. Therefore, artefacts from a single industry may come from a number of different cultures.