The significance of flaked stone tool variation has been a source of great archaeological debate for over 100 years. Even though evidence for stone tool hafting exists as far back as the Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age, there is a dearth of information concerning how hafting affects stone tool technology. This ethnoarchaeological study of hafted stone scrapers among the Gamo of southern Ethiopia examines why a single cultural group utilizes two different hafts, which generate different lithic morphologies, technologies, and spatial distributions. The relationships between history, environment, and social group membership are explored to demonstrate how these associations create variation in technological practices.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
My original publications stating 4 1/2 h represent a miscalculation. The mean is 243.8 min which is 4 h and 3 min based on 28 observations.
However, because of the high variability in sizes, probably based on individuality, age, and the sex of the cattle, and the small sample size there is not a statistically significant difference in the size between lowland and highland cattle hides in my sample.
The tree species and their geographical ranges that were used to make and use the Gamo handles, were identified first by the hideworkers, then scientifically named by the local agricultural extension office, and finally verified by faculty at the Addis Ababa University Herbarium (Bekele-Tesema et al., 1993; Hedberg and Edwards 1995; Hedberg and Edwards 1989).
REFERENCES CITED
Abélès, M. (1977). La guerre vue d’ Ochollo. Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines 11: 455–471.
Abélès, M. (1978). Pouvoir et societe chez les Ochollo d’Ethiopie meridionale. Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines 18: 293–310.
Abélès, M. (1979). Religion, traditional beliefs: Interaction and changes in a Southern Ethiopian Society: Ochollo (Gamu-Gofa). In Donham, D. L. and James W. (eds.), Society and History in Ethiopia: The Southern Periphery from the 1880s to 1974, African Studies Center University of Cambridge, Cambridge, pp. 184–194.
Abélès, M. (1981). In search of the monarch: Introduction of the state among the Gamo of Ethiopia. In Crummey, D., and Steward, C. (eds.), Modes of Production in Africa: The Precolonial Era, Sage Publication, Beverly Hills, pp. 35–67.
Aiston, G. (1929). Chipped stone tools of the aboriginal tribes East and North-East of Lake Eyre, South Australia. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (March): 123–131.
Aiston, G. (1930). Method of mounting stone tools on Koondi: tribes east and north-east of lake Eyre. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (March): 44–46.
Albright, S. (1984). Tahltan Ethnoarchaeology, Department of Archaeology Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Allchin, B. (1957). Australian stone industries, past and present. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 87: 115–136.
Ambrose, S. H. (2001). Paleolithic technology and human evolution. Science 291: 1748–1753.
Ammerman, A. J., and Feldman, M. W. (1974). On the making of an assemblage of stone tools. American Antiquity 39: 610–616.
Anderson-Gergaued, P., and Helmer, D. (1987). L’emmanchement au Mousterien. In Stordeur, D., (ed.), La Main et l’outil, Masion de l’Orient Mediterraneen, Lyon, pp. 37–54.
Andresky, W., Jr. (1994). Raw-material availability and the organization of technology. American Antiquity 59: 21–35.
Arthur, J. W. (2002). Brewing beer: Status, wealth, and ceramic use-alteration among the Gamo of southwestern Ethiopia. World Archaeology 34: 516–528.
Arthur, J. W. (2003). Beer, food, and wealth: An ethnoarchaeological use-alteration analysis of pottery. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 9: 331–355.
Arthur, J. W. (2006). Living with Pottery: Ethnoarchaeology among the Gamo of Southwest Ethiopia, Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Bahrey, U. (1993 [1593]). History of the Galla. In Levine, D. N. (ed.), History of the Galla (Oromo) of Ethiopia, African Sun Publishing, Oakland, pp. 44–55.
Beckingham, C. F., and Huntingford, G. W. B. (1954). Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593–1646, Hakluyt Society, London.
Bekele-Tesema, A., Birene, A., and Tenganas B. (1993). Useful Trees and Shrubs for Ethiopia, SIDA Regional Soil Conservation UNIT RSCU Technical Handbook No. 5, Addis Ababa.
Beyries, S. (1988). Functional variability of lithic sets in the Middle Paleolithic. In Dibble, H., and White, M. (eds.), Upper Pleistocene Prehistory of Western Eurasia, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, pp. 213–223.
Beyries, S., Vasil’ev, S. A., David, F., D’iachenko, V. I., Karlin, C., and Chesnokov Y. V. (2001). Uil, a Paleolithic site in Siberia: an ethnoarchaeological approach. In Beyries, S., and Pétrequin, P. (eds.), Ethno-archaeology and its Transfers, CNRS_UNSA, Moyen Âge, France, pp. 9–21.
Binford, L. R. (1973). Inter-assemblage variability—The mousterian and the functional argument. In Renfrew, C. (ed.), The Explanation of Cultural Change, Duckworth, London, pp. 227–254.
Binford, L. R. (1986). An Alyawara day: Making men’s knives and beyond. American Antiquity 51: 547–562.
Binford, L. R. (1989). Style of styles. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 8: 51–67.
Bird, C. F. M. (1993). Woman the tool maker: Evidence for women’s use and manufacture of flaked stone tools in Australia and New Guinea. In du Cros, H., and Smith, L. (eds.), Women in Archaeology: A Feminist Critique, The Australian National University, Canberra, pp. 22–30.
Bisson, M. (2000). Nineteenth century tools for twenty-first century archaeology? Why the middle paleolithic typology of francios bordes must be replaced. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 7: 1–48.
Boeda, E., Connan, J., Dessort, D., Muhesen, S., Mercler, Valladas, N. S., and Tisnerat, N. (1996). Bitumen as a hafting material on Middle Paleolithic artefacts. Nature 380: 336–338.
Bordes, F. (1961). Mousterian cultures in France. Science 134: 803–810.
Bordes, F. (1973). On the chronology and contemporaniety of different Paleolithic cultures in France. In Renfrew, C. (ed.), The Explanation of Cultural Change, Duckworth, London, pp. 218–226.
Borelli, J. (1890). Ethiopie Meridionale, Librairies-Imprimeries Reunies, Paris.
Brandt, S. A. (1996). The ethnoarchaeology of flaked stone tool use in southern Ethiopia. In Pwitit, G., and Soper, R. (eds.), Aspects of African Archaeology, Papers from the 10th Congress of the PanAfrican Association for Prehistory and Related Studies, 1996, University of Zimbabwe Publications, Harare, Zimbabwe, pp. 733–738.
Brandt, S. A., Spring, A., Hiebsch, C., McCabe, J. T., Tabogie, E., Diro, M., Wolde-Michael, G., Yntiso, G., Shigeta, M., and Tesfaye, S. (1997). The “Tree Against Hunger.” American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Brandt, S. A., and Weedman, K. J. (1997). The ethnoarchaeology of hide working and flaked stone tool use in southern Ethiopia. In Fukui, K., Kuimoto, E., and Shigeta, M. (eds.), Ethiopia in Broader Perspective: Papers of the XIIth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Shokado Book Sellers, Kyoto, pp. 351–361.
Brandt, S. A., Weedman, K. J., and Hundie, G. (1996). Gurage hide working, stone tool use and social identity: An ethnoarchaeological perspective. In Hudson, G. (ed.), Essays on Gurage Language and Culture: Dedicated to Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday November 14, 1996, Harrassowitz, Verlag, pp. 35–51.
Broadbent, N. D., and Knutsson, K. (1975). An experimental analysis of quartz scrapers. Fornavannen 70: 113–128.
Bureau, J. (1975). Le Statut des artisans en Ethiopie. Ethiopie, la terre et les hommes (1975): 38–44.
Bureau, J. (1976). Note sur les Eglises du Gamo. Annales d’Ethiopie X: 295–302.
Bureau, J. (1978). Etude diachronique de deux titres Gamo. Cahiers d’Etudes Africanes 18: 279–291.
Bureau, J. (1979). Notes sur l’ histoire contemporaine des Gamo d’Ethiopie meridionale. Abbay 10: 201–204.
Bureau, J. (1981). Les Gamo d’Ethiopie: Etude du Syteme Politique. Societe d’Ethnographie, Paris.
Bureau, J. (1983). La mort du serpent remarques: A propos d’une version d’Ethiopie meridonale. Abbay 12: 779–784.
Bureau, J. (1986–1987). La royaute en question. Abbay 13: 137–142.
Cartledge, D. (1995). Taming the Mountain: Human Ecology, Indigenous Knowledge, and Sustainable Resource Management in the Doko Gamo society of Ethiopia. Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida.
Cerulli, E. (1956). Peoples of South-west Ethiopia and its Borderland, International African Institute, London.
Childs, S. T., and Killick, D. J. (1993). Indigenous African metallurgy: Nature and culture. Annual Review of Anthropology 22: 317–337.
Clark, J. D., and Kurashina, H. (1981). A study of the work of a modern tanner in Ethiopia and its relevance for archaeological interpretation. In Gould, R. A., and Schiffer, M. B. (eds.), Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us, Academic Press, New York, pp. 303–343.
Close, A. E. (1977). The Identification of Style in Lithic Artefacts from North East Africa, Geological Survey of Egypt, Cairo.
Close, A. E. (1989). The identification of style in lithic artefacts. World Archaeology 10: 223–236.
Dale, L. (1870). Stone implements of South Africa. Cape Monthly 1: 365–366.
Deacon, H. J. (1966). Note on the x-ray of two mounted implements from South Africa. Man 1: 87–90.
Deacon, H. J., and Deacon, J. (1980). The hafting, function, and distribution of small convex scrapers with an example from Boomplaas Cave. South African Archaeological Bulletin 35: 31–37.
Dekker, G. (1971). Film shown at the 7th Pan African Congress, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Dibble, H. L. (1984). Interpreting typological variation of Middle Paleolithic scrapers: function, style or sequence reduction? Journal of Field Archaeology 11: 431–435.
Dibble, H. L. (1987). The interpretation of Middle Paleolithic scraper morphology. American Antiquity 52: 109–117.
Dietler, M., and Herbich, I. (1998). Habitus, techniques, style: An integrated approach to social understanding of material culture and boundaries. In Stark, M. T. (ed.), The archaeology of social boundaries, Smithsonian Institution Press, London, pp. 232–269.
Dirks, N. (2001). Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Dobres, M. A., and Hoffman, C. R. (1999). Introduction: a context for the present and future of technology studies. In Dobres, M. A., and Hoffman, C. R. (eds.), The Social Dynamics of Technology, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, pp. 1–22.
Donham, D. L. (1985). Work and Power in Maale, Ethiopia, UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor.
Donham, D. L. (1990). History, Power, Ideology: Central Issues in Marxism and Anthropology, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Dunnell, R. C. (1978). Style and Function: A Fundamental Dichotomy. American Antiquity 43: 192–202.
Dumont, L. (1970). Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ewers, J. C. (1930). Blackfeet Crafts, Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington DC.
Feyissa, D. (1997). The Oyda of Southwestern Ethiopia. A Study of Socio-economic Aspects of Village Inequality. Unpublished MA thesis, Department of History, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Fleming, H. C. (1973). Recent research in Omotic speaking areas. In Proceedings of the First United States Conference on Ethiopian Studies, African Studies Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, pp. 261–278.
Fleming, H. C. (1976). Omotic overview. In Bender, L. (ed.), The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia, African Studies Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, pp. 299–323.
Freeman, D. (1997). Images of fertility: the indigenous concept of power in Doko Masho, Southwest Ethiopia. In Fukui, K., Kurimoto, E., and Shigeta, M. (ed.) Ethiopia in Broader Perspectives: XIII International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Vol. III, Shokado Book Sellers, Kyoto, pp. 342–357.
Freeman, D. (2001). Gamo. In Freeman, D., and Pankhurst, A. (eds.), Living on the Edge: Marginalised Minorities of Craftworkers and Hunters in Southern Ethiopia, Department of Sociology and Social Administration, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, pp. 186–205.
Freeman, D. (2002). Initiating Change in Highland Ethiopia: Causes and Consequences of Cultural Transformation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gallagher, J. P. (1974). The preparation of hides with stone tools in south central Ethiopia. Journal of Ethiopian Studies XII: 177–182.
Gallagher, J. P. (1977a). Contemporary stone tool use in Ethiopia: Implications for archaeology. Journal of Field Archaeology 4: 407–414.
Gallagher, J. P. (1977b). Ethnoarchaeological and Prehistoric Investigations in the Ethiopian Central Rift Valley, Doctoral dissertation, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
Giglioi, H. H. (1889). On a singular obsidian scraper Used at present by some of the Galla tribes in southern Shoa. Internationales Archives fur Ethnographie 2: 212–214.
Goodwin, A. H. J., and Van Riet Lowe, C. (1929). The stone age cultures of South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 27: 1–289.
Gosselain, O. P. (1998). Social and technical identity in a clay crystal Ball. In Stark, M. T. (ed.), The archaeology of social boundaries, Smithsonian Institution Press, London, pp. 78–107.
Gould, R. A. (1968). Living archaeology: The Ngatatjara of Western Australia. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 24: 101–121.
Gould, R. A. (1977). Ethnoarchaeology: or Where Do Models Come From. In Wright, R. V. S. (ed.), Stone Tools as Cultural Markers, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, pp. 162–168.
Gould, R. A. (1978). Explanations in Ethnoarchaeology, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Gould, R. A. (1980). Living Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gould, R. A., Koster, D., and Sontz, A. (1971). The lithic assemblage of the western desert Aborigines of Australia. American Antiquity 36: 149–169.
Haaland, R. (1987). Socio-Economic Differentiation in the Neolithic Sudan, Cambridge BAR International Series 350, Cambridge.
Haberland, E. (1981). Die materielle kultur der dizi (Sudwest-Athiopien) und Ihr kulturhistischer kontext. Paideuma 27: 121–171.
Haberland, E. (1993). Hierarchie und Kaste, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart.
Hallpike, C. R. (1968). The status of craftsmen among the Konso of southwest Ethiopia. Africa 38: 258–269.
Halperin, R., and Olmstead, J. (1976). To catch a feastgiver: Redistribution among the Dorze of Ethiopia. Africa 46: 146–165.
Hambley, W. D. (1936). Primitive Hunters of Australia, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Hasen, A. (ed.) (1996). Livestock, Poultry and Beehives Population and Number. Office of Population and Housing Census Commission Central Statistical Authority, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Hayden, B. (1977). Stone Tool Functions in the Western Desert. In Wright, R. V. S. (ed.), Stone Tools as Cultural Markers, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, pp. 178–188.
Hayden, B. (1979). Paleolithic Reflections, Humanities Press, New Jersey.
Hayward, R. (1998). The challenge of Omotic. Horn of Africa XVI: 1–30.
Hedberg, I., and Edwards, S. (1989). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea, vol. 3. Addis Ababa University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Hedberg, I., and Edwards, S. (1995). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea, vol. 7. Addis Ababa University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Henry, D. O. (1989). Correlations between reduction strategies and settlement patterns. In Henry, D. O., and Odell, G. H. (eds.), Alternative Approaches to Lithic Analysis, Westview Press, Boulder, pp. 139–212.
Hester, T. R., and Schaffer, H. J. (1986). An ancient Maya hafted stone tool from northern Belize. Working Papers in Archaeology (Center for Archaeological Research, the University of Texas at San Antonio) 3: 1–11.
Hill, J. M. (1970). Broken K. Pueblo: Prehistoric Social Organization in the American Southwest. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 18, Tucson.
Hiller, W. R. (1948). Hidatsa soft tanning of hides. Minnesota Archaeologists 14: 4–11.
Hocart, A. M. (1950). Caste: A Comparative Study, Methuen and Co. Ltd, London.
Hodder, I. (1982). Symbols in Action, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hodder, I. (2003). Archaeology beyond Dialogue, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Hodson, A. (1929). Journeys from southwest Abyssinia. Geographical Journal 73: 401–428.
Holmes, W. H. (1894). Natural history of flaked stone implements. In Staniland Wake, C. (ed.), Memoirs of the International Congress of Anthropology, The Schulte Publishing Company, Chicago, pp. 120–139.
Holdaway, S. (1996). Tool hafting with a mastic. Nature 380: 288–289.
Jackson, R. T. (1972). Land Use and Settlement in Gamu Gofa, Ethiopia. Department of Geography Makerere University Kampala Occasional Paper No. 17, Kampala, Uganda.
Jackson, R. T. (1971). Periodic markets in southern Ethiopia. Institute of British Geographers Transactions 53: 31–42.
Jackson, R. T., Rulvaney, T. R., and Forster, J. (1969). Report of the Oxford University Expedition to the Gamu Highlands of Southern Ethiopia, Oxford University, Oxford.
Jensen, E. (1959). Altvoker Sud-Atheiopiens, Kohlhammer, Verlag.
Johnston, C. (1972 [1844]). Travels in Southern Abyssinia through the Country of Adaal to the Kingdom of Shoa, Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, U.K.
Karsten, D. (1972). The Economics of Handicrafts in Traditional Societies, Weltforum Verlag, Munchen.
Keeley, L. H. (1980). Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Keeley, L. H. (1982), Hafting and retooling: Effects on the archaeological record. American Antiquity 47: 798–809.
Kelley, L. (1999). Elements of the behavioral ecological paradigm for the study of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. In Schiffer, M. B. (ed.), Social Theory in Archaeology, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, pp. 63–78.
Kleindienst, M. (1998). What is the Aterian? The view from Dakhleh Oasis and the Western Desert, Egypt. In Marlow, M. (ed.). Proceedings of the First Dakhleh Oasis Project Seminar, vol. 1, Oxbow Press, Oxford, pp. 1–50.
Kuhn, S. L. (1990). A geometric index of reduction for unifacial stone tools. Journal of Archaeological Sciences 17: 583–593.
Kuhn, S. L. (1992). Blank form and reduction as determinants of Mousterian scraper morphology. American Antiquity 57: 115–128.
Lange, W. (1982). History of Southern Gonga, Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH, Wiesbaden.
Larick, R. (1985). Spears, style, and time among Maa-Speaking pastoralists. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 4: 206–220.
Leach, E. R.(1960). Introduction: what should we mean by caste? In Leach, E. R. (ed.), Aspects of caste in south India, Ceylon and north-west Pakistan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–10.
Lechtman, H. (1977). Style in Technology- Some Early Thoughts. In Lechtman, H., and Merrill, R. (eds.), Material Culture: Styles, Organization, and Dynamics of Technology, West Publishing Company, New York, pp. 3–20.
Levine, D. N. (1974). Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Lewis, H. S. (1962). Historical problems in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 96: 504–511.
Lewis, H. S. (1974). Neighbors, friends, and kinsmen: Principles of social organization among the Cushitic-Speaking peoples of Ethiopia. Ethnology 13: 145–157.
Longacre, W. A. (1964). Sociological implications of the ceramic analysis. In Martin, P. S., Rindaldo, J., Longacre, W. A., Freeman, L., Brown, J., Hevly, R., and Cooley, M. (eds.), Chapters in the Prehistory of Eastern Arizona II, vol. 55, Fieldiana (Anthropology), Chicago, pp. 155–170.
Longacre, W. A. (1970). Archaeology as Anthropology. University of Arizona, Anthropological Papers Vol. 17, University of Arizona, Tucson.
Lowie, R. H. (1935). The Crow Indians, Farrar & Rinehart, New York.
Marcus, H. G. (1994). A History of Ethiopia, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Mason, O. (1889). Aboriginal Skin Dressing, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Mellars, P. (1970). Some comments on the notion of ‘functional variability’ in stone-tool assemblages. World Archaeology 3: 74–89.
Michels, J. W. (1991). The Axumite kingdom: A settlement archaeology perspective. In Yerkru, W. (ed.), Henok, Ethiopian Research Council, Washington, DC, pp. 63–78.
Murdoch, J. (1988 [1892]). Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Nelson, E. (1899). The Eskimo about Bering Strait, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Nissen, K., and Dittemore, M. (1974). Ethnographic data and wear pattern analysis: a study of socketed Eskimo scrapers. Tebiwa 17: 67–87.
Nilsson, S. (1868). The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia, Longmans, Green, London.
Odell, G. H. (1989). Fitting analytical techniques to prehistoric problems with lithic data. In Henry, D. O., and Odell, G. H. (eds.), Alternative Approaches to Lithic Analysis, Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association Number 1, Washington, DC, pp. 159– 182.
Odell, G. H. (1994). Prehistoric hafting and mobility in North American midcontinent: examples from Illinois. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 13: 51–73.
Olmstead, J. (1972). The Dorze house. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 10: 27–36.
Olmstead, J. (1974a). Female Fertility, Social Structure, and the Economy: A Controlled Comparison of Two Southern Ethiopian Communities. Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, New York.
Olmstead, J. (1974b). The versatile ensete plant: its use in the Gamu Highland. Journal of Ethiopian Studies XII: 147–153.
Olmstead, J. (1975). Agricultural land and social stratification in the Gamu highlands of southern Ethiopia. In Marcus, H. G. (ed.), Proceedings of the First U.S. Conference on Ethiopian Studies, African Studies Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, pp. 223–234.
Olmstead, J. (1997). Woman Between Two Worlds: Portrait of an Ethiopian Rural Leader, University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Orent, A. (1969). Lineage Structure and The Supernatural: The Kafa of Southwest Ethiopia, Doctoral dissertation, Boston University, Boston.
Oswalt, W. H. (1976). An Anthropological Analysis of Food-Getting Technology, Wiley, New York.
Parry, W. J., and Kelley, R. L. (1987). Expedient core technology and sedentism. In Johnson, J. K., and Marrow, C. A. (eds.), The Organization of Core Technology, Westview Press, Boulder, pp. 282–304.
Pfaffenberger, B. (1992). Social anthropology of technology. Annual Review of Anthropology 21: 491–516.
Plog, S. (1978). Social interaction and stylistic similarity: a reanalysis. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 1: 143–182.
Pokotylo, D. L., and Hanks, C. C. (1989). Variability in curated lithic technologies: an ethnoarchaeological case study from the Mackenzie Basin, Northwest Territories, Canada. In Amick, D. S., and Mauldin, R. P. (eds.), Experiments in Lithic Technology, vol. 528, BAR International Series, Cambridge.
Raheja, G. G. (1989). The Poison in the Gift: Ritual, Prestation, and the Dominant Caste in a North Indian Village, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Rick, J. W. (1980). Prehistoric Hunters of the High Andes. Academic Press, New York.
Robertshaw, R. (1990). A History of african archaeology: An introduction. In Robertshaw, R. (ed.), A History of African Archaeology, James Currey, London, pp. 3–12.
Rots, V. (2001). Hafting Traces on Flint Tools: Possibilities and Limitations of Macro- and Microscopic Approaches, Doctoral Dissertation. Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belguim.
Rudner, J. (1979). The use of stone artifacts and pottery among the Khoisan Peoples in historic and protohistoric times. South African Archaeological Bulletin 34: 3–17.
Rule, P., and Evans, J. (1985). The relationship of morphological variation to hafting techniques among Paleo-Indian endscrapers at the Shawnee Minisink site. In McNett, C. W. J. (ed.), Shawnee Minisink: A Stratified Paleoindian Archaic Site in the Upper Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania, Academic Press, Orlando, pp. 211–220.
Sackett, J. R. (1982a). Approaches to style in lithic archaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 1: 59–112.
Sackett, J. R. (1982b), The meaning of style in archaeology: A general model. American Antiquity 42: 369–380.
Sackett, J. R. (1990). Style and ethnicity in archaeology: The case for isochrestism. In Conkey, M. W., and Hastorf, C. A. (eds.), The Uses of Style in Archaeology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 32–43.
Schiffer, M. B., and Skibo, J. (1997). The explanation of artifact variability. American Antiquity 62: 27–50.
Shott, M. J. (1986). Settlement mobility and technological organization: an ethnographic examination. Journal of Anthropological Research 41: 15–51.
Shott, M. J. (1997). Stones and shafts redux: The metric discrimination of chipped-stone dart and arrow points. American Antiquity 62: 86–101.
Spencer, B., and Gillen, F. J. (1927). The Arunta: A Study of Stone Age People, MacMillian and Co, London.
Sperber, D. (1972). Paradoxes of seniority among the Dorze. In Marcus, H. G. (ed.), Proceedings of the First U.S. Conference on Ethiopian Studies, 1975,Center for African Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, pp. 209–222.
Sterner, J., and David, N. (1991). Gender and caste in the Mandara highlands: Northeastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon. Ethnology 30: 355–369.
Straube, H. (1963). Volker Sud-Atheiopiens, vol. 3. Kohlhammer, Verlag.
Takase, K. (2004). Hide processing of oxen and koryak: an ethnoarchaeological survey in Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. Material Culture (Japan) 77: 57–84.
Tamari, T. (1991). The development of caste systems in West Africa. Journal of African History 32: 221–250.
Teshome, T. (1984). Material Culture of the Wolaitas. Unpublished MA thesis, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Administration, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Tindale, N. B. (1965). Stone implement making among the Nakako, Ngadadjara, and Pitjandjara of the Great Western Desert. Records of the South Australian Museum (1965): 131–164.
Todd, D. M. (1977). Caste in Africa? Africa 47: 398–412.
Todd, D. M. (1978a). The Origins of outcastes in Ethiopia: Reflections on an Evolutionary Theory. Abbay 9: 145–158.
Todd, D. M. (1978b). Aspects of chiefship in Dime, South-West Ethiopia. Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines 71: 311–332.
Tuden, A., and Plotnicov, L. (1970). Introduction. In Tuden, A., and Plotnicov, L. (eds.), Social Stratification in Africa, The Free Press, New York, pp. 1–30.
Weedman, K. J. (2000). An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Stone Scrapers among the Gamo people of Southern Ethiopia. Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida. Ann Arbor: UMI.
Weedman, K. J. (2002a). On the spur of the moment: effects of age and experience on hafted stone scraper morphology. American Antiquity 67: 731–744.
Weedman, K. J. (2002b). An ethnoarchaeological study of stone-tool variability among the Gamo hideworkers of southern Ethiopia. In Audoin-Rouzeau, F., and Beyries, B. (eds.), Le Travail Du Cuir de La Prehistoire à nos jours, Editions APDCA, Antibes, France, pp. 131–142.
Weedman, K. J. (2005). Gender and stone tools: An ethnographic study of the Konso and Gamo hideworkers of southern Ethiopia. In Frink, L., and Weedman, K. (eds.), Gender and Hide Production, AltaMira, Walnut Creek, pp. 175–196.
White, J. P., and Thomas, D. H. (1972). What mean these stones? Ethno-taxonomic models and archaeological interpretations in the new guinea Highlands. In Clarke, D. L. (ed.), Models in Archaeology, Methuen & Co., Ltd., London, pp. 275–308.
White, J. P., Modjeska, N., and Hipuya, I. (1977). Group definitions and mental templates: An ethnographic experiment. In Wright, R. V. S. (ed.), Stone Tools as Cultural Markers, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, pp. 380–390.
Wiessner, P. (1983). Style and social information in Kalahari San projectile points. American Antiquity 48: 253–276.
Wiessner, P. (1985). Style or Isochrestic variation? A reply to Sackett. American Antiquity 50: 160–166.
Wilmsen, E. N. (1968). Functional analysis of flaked stone artifacts. American Antiquity 33: 156–152.
Wobst, M. (1999). Style in archaeology or archaeologists in style. In Chilton, E. S. (ed.), Material Meaning: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Material Culture, University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City, pp. 118–132.
Yelvlington, K. A. (2001). The anthropology of Afro-Latin America and the Caribbean: Diasporic dimensions. Annual Review of Anthropology 30: 227–260.
Yintso, G. (1995). The Ari of Southwestern Ethiopia. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Administration, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was funded by generous grants including a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant SBR-9634199, a J. William Fulbright Student Award, and a L. S. B. Leakey Foundation Dissertation Grant. I extend my deep gratitude to Ethiopia’s ARCCH, SNNRP’s Bureau of Culture and Information in Awasa and Arba Minch, the National Museum of Ethiopia, and the Addis Ababa University Herbarium. Heartfelt thanks go toward many people in Ethiopia and without whose patience and help this project would not have been possible including the Gamo hideworkers, Berhano Wolde, Gezahegn Alemayehu, and Getacho Girma. I especially thank Steve Brandt for introducing me to southern Ethiopia and for all his support of my research. Melanie Brandt produced the wonderful maps and in doing so translated the dense text into effective visual media. Lastly, this article would never have reached completion without the inexhaustible support and patience of my colleague and husband, John Arthur, my editor and mother Jane Branham, and to my daughter, Hannah, who finally decided to sleep through the night.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weedman, K.J. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Hafting and Stone Tool Diversity among the Gamo of Ethiopia. J Archaeol Method Theory 13, 188–237 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-006-9010-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-006-9010-4