Technological Organization and Settlement Mobility: An Ethnographic Examination

Functional requirements of activities do not alone explain variability in the technologies of forager groups. Rather, they are one among a larger set of factors that determine how technologies are organized within cultural systems. Failure to consider these other factors can impair interpretations of behavior based on analysis of artifact assemblages. One promising avenue of research is the relationship between technology and settlement mobility. Ethnographic evidence shows that elements of technology are related to the settlement mobility of forager societies. The implications of this relationship for archaeology are far-reaching, and they deserve careful consideration.

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