Hutchison, Diana

In archaeology, size distributions of lithic debitage can convey information about reduction stage and possibly other aspects of reduction trajectories and activities. Previous investigations have used inadequately robust methods to identify and characterize fractal power law size distributions in experimental and archaeological debitage assemblages. In this study, weights and maximum dimensions of individual, experimentally reproduced “preferential” Levallois debitage specimens were recorded by core and preparation-exploitation stage. Rigorous statistical methods were used to assess distribution conformities to power law (fractal), lognormal and exponential models. Results show that Levallois debitage size distributions are complex and do not fit any simple model closely; however, MLE derived power law parameters coarsely but effectively describe most data, while exponential distributions characterize the extreme right tails. Moreover, distributions tend to form a “characteristic shape” when graphed, which persists across cores and stages. These findings may aid in identifying and evaluating Levallois materials in the archaeological record.