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Moving on from Here: Suggestions for the Future of “Mobility Thinking” in Studies of Paleolithic Technologies

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Abstract

Beginning in the early 1990s, the theme of mobility became central to many studies of Paleolithic lithic technology. Models relating group movements to the design, production, and treatment of stone artifacts have been widely employed both to explain features of Paleolithic assemblages, and as a source of information about the ecology of Pleistocene foragers. However, many of the questions that “mobility thinking” was originally adopted to answer are no longer at the center of inquiry in Paleolithic research. To remain relevant to new research agendas, new approaches to mobility and lithic technology should be developed. In kee** with the theme of this special issue, this paper discusses three areas where relatively simple changes in theory and practice could help to integrate “mobility thinking” into emerging research questions of broad, cross-disciplinary relevance: these include territories and ranging patterns, social networks, and intra-group variation in mobility.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Shumon Hussain and Marie Soressi for inviting me to participate in the 2018 UISPP symposium “Old Stones, New Eyes?” and to contribute to the special into which it evolved. After 30+ years in the field, it is particularly gratifying to be identified as someone who might still manage to imagine a novel way of looking at things. I also salute their patience with my revisions to the manuscript, which took much more time to complete than they ought to have. Three anonymous reviewers also provide extensive comments that helped sharpen and improve the paper.

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    Steven L. Kuhn

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Kuhn, S.L. Moving on from Here: Suggestions for the Future of “Mobility Thinking” in Studies of Paleolithic Technologies. J Paleo Arch 3, 664–681 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-020-00060-7

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