Some Comments on Classification

Abstract

The absence of any critical evaluation in the pages of Lithic Technology of Tixier’s glossary may be indicative of the failure among lithic analysts to recognize the importance of words as tools. Indeed, there may be, among various archaeological traditions, a “glossary syndrome” in which analysts name and describe categories of morphological variation but do so without showing much concern for the interpretability of the categories. It therefore seems both opportune and necessary to comment critically about Tixier’s glossary, such discussion serving as a vehicle for more general comments on lithic terminology.