Refitting Rate as a Tool for Investigating Geological and Behavioral Aspects of Site Formation: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative approach to lithic refitting research. The paper examines a broad set of refitting studies with the aim ofbuilding frames of reference for making archaeological inferences on the basis of refitting analysis results. The paper looks at some of the methodological problems inherent in constructing these comparative frameworks and settles primarily on refitting rate as a way of making comparisons across excavations of various sizes, densities of artifacts, and various other archaeological characteristics. While far from perfect, this study suggest that (1) systematic refitting considering all aspects of site formation and (2)presentation of refitting rate offer promising avenues in terms of making inferences from various refitting patterns. The paper closes by briefly considering the implications of refitting rate patterns for African Early Stone Age (ESA) sites in terms of theoretical debates concerning early hominin site use.