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Papers by John Piprani
International Journal of Historical Archaeology
Journal of Lithic Studies, 2021
The idea of holding a conference to discuss how we can explore what affects our approaches to, an... more The idea of holding a conference to discuss how we can explore what affects our approaches to, and understanding of, lithic artefacts and their analysis emerged from a hands-on workshop entitled Northern Knap-in in November 2014. In that workshop we wanted to explore how prehistoric people in the north of England, which is perceived by many as being a (lithic)resource-poor region, might have adapted to the lack of good quality flint and chert for tool manufacture and so we experimented with the working of non-flint raw materials. Many things emerged from that day including how the experimental knapping of materials other than flint allowed us to think outside the conventional box, and how communal knapping and grinding demonstrated some of the different ways that people interacted and adapted to each other’s rhythm when making artefacts. We were also struck (excuse the pun) by how much non-lithic specialists contributed to the questions we raise in lithic analysis. This brought home...
Journal of Lithic Studies, Dec 21, 2021
This paper is reflective and discusses the results of a process experiment designed to develop un... more This paper is reflective and discusses the results of a process experiment designed to develop understanding of a particular British Early Upper Palaeolithic stone tool technology. The technology in question is the Lincombian, and the discussion breaks down into three main parts. The first part argues that raw material availability and practitioner performance can be influential factors within the modern experimental reproduction process. When these issues were factored in for this experiment it became clear that early phase debitage materials reflected a process of interpretation, not replication. The second substantive part of this discussion focuses upon the final phase of the experimental process. Selection criterion for assessing finished artefacts was tightly constrained by archaeologically derived data. It is argued therefore that when finished artefacts fell within these assessment criteria the final phase of the process was akin to replication. Consequently, debitage associated with the final phase can provide useful analogue material to fill gaps in our understanding of this Lincombian technology. The final section is summative and returns to the issue of performance. It argues that practitioner performance facilitates audience engagement. Engagement is valuable for communicating understanding to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. The paper concludes by arguing that a rigorously evaluated experimental process can be used twice: firstly, as a tool for generating materials to develop our understanding; secondly, as an engaging performance to communicate understanding to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
Thesis, 2016
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition is seen as an important research focus and key to und... more The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition is seen as an important research focus and key to understanding issues surrounding Neanderthal and modern human interactions. Because of this focus upon human type transitional industries without associated human fossil evidence have been marginalised within the debate. This perspective can be termed etic, looking at overall patterns and millennial timescales to answer 'big' questions. In contrast my research could be termed emic, using a small collection of 'transitional' stone tools to explore the perspective of the producers and users. Human type is not considered relevant here. This approach has allowed a shift in scale; from millennial and pan-European to seasonal and the uplands that now constitute Britain. To explore this emic perspective experimental production has been used to make material a manufacturing process. Metrical, formal and typological analysis has been applied to the archaeological type fossil corpus to more fully comprehend variability. Together these approaches have been used to construct a nuanced and comprehensive châine operatoire model for the industry. This model allowed comparative analysis to derive new understandings from old and new archaeological collections from three sites. Resultant material and behavioural patterns have been interpreted within their particular landscape and general faunal contexts. Emergent themes have been integrated into a seasonal structure to create the desired emic narrative. This process has revealed a maintainable, repairable and adaptable technology used to manage the predictable unpredictability associated with the hunting of migrating large fauna through a long summer season and in uplands of known and unknown stone resources.
It has been argued that when examining hunter gatherer archaeology from the millennial past, obje... more It has been argued that when examining hunter gatherer archaeology from the millennial past, objects recovered may not make sense to us within our own modern materialist and sedentary context. In response this paper makes a close examination of a particular human lion figurine and situates the discussion within its Aurignacian (ca. 32,000 BP) archaeological context. Examining the components of this figurine in relation to archaeological evidence of behavioural adaptation suggests that modern categories of human, animal and material culture obfuscate how humans entering Europe modelled their predatory adaptation on that of an established felid population. This adaptation was behavioural and the figurine under discussion reflects a preoccupation with felids in association with the human body. Ethnographic evidence shows how modelling patterns of animal movement and behaviour changes how humans experience the world, no longer human or animal but a complex of human animal experiences and behaviours. More appropriate may be to describe the figurine as a material expression of ‘cyborgian’ felid identity. This recognizes an Aurignacian preoccupation with the human body as reflecting its importance as experiential nexus through which behavioural identities were lived. Material culture then is an archaeologically recoverable expression of lived behavioural identity.
Talks by John Piprani
This is a 15 minute presentation for the Immersed in Lithics conference at the University of Manc... more This is a 15 minute presentation for the Immersed in Lithics conference at the University of Manchester on the 26th February 2016. It is a more resolved version of the presentation given at the Lithic Studies Society student workshop on the 3rd of February.
This presentation discusses some of the value, but also some of the issues to consider when using... more This presentation discusses some of the value, but also some of the issues to consider when using a modern flint-knapper to reproduce a Palaeolithic technology.
Teaching Documents by John Piprani
International Journal of Historical Archaeology
Journal of Lithic Studies, 2021
The idea of holding a conference to discuss how we can explore what affects our approaches to, an... more The idea of holding a conference to discuss how we can explore what affects our approaches to, and understanding of, lithic artefacts and their analysis emerged from a hands-on workshop entitled Northern Knap-in in November 2014. In that workshop we wanted to explore how prehistoric people in the north of England, which is perceived by many as being a (lithic)resource-poor region, might have adapted to the lack of good quality flint and chert for tool manufacture and so we experimented with the working of non-flint raw materials. Many things emerged from that day including how the experimental knapping of materials other than flint allowed us to think outside the conventional box, and how communal knapping and grinding demonstrated some of the different ways that people interacted and adapted to each other’s rhythm when making artefacts. We were also struck (excuse the pun) by how much non-lithic specialists contributed to the questions we raise in lithic analysis. This brought home...
Journal of Lithic Studies, Dec 21, 2021
This paper is reflective and discusses the results of a process experiment designed to develop un... more This paper is reflective and discusses the results of a process experiment designed to develop understanding of a particular British Early Upper Palaeolithic stone tool technology. The technology in question is the Lincombian, and the discussion breaks down into three main parts. The first part argues that raw material availability and practitioner performance can be influential factors within the modern experimental reproduction process. When these issues were factored in for this experiment it became clear that early phase debitage materials reflected a process of interpretation, not replication. The second substantive part of this discussion focuses upon the final phase of the experimental process. Selection criterion for assessing finished artefacts was tightly constrained by archaeologically derived data. It is argued therefore that when finished artefacts fell within these assessment criteria the final phase of the process was akin to replication. Consequently, debitage associated with the final phase can provide useful analogue material to fill gaps in our understanding of this Lincombian technology. The final section is summative and returns to the issue of performance. It argues that practitioner performance facilitates audience engagement. Engagement is valuable for communicating understanding to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. The paper concludes by arguing that a rigorously evaluated experimental process can be used twice: firstly, as a tool for generating materials to develop our understanding; secondly, as an engaging performance to communicate understanding to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
Thesis, 2016
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition is seen as an important research focus and key to und... more The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition is seen as an important research focus and key to understanding issues surrounding Neanderthal and modern human interactions. Because of this focus upon human type transitional industries without associated human fossil evidence have been marginalised within the debate. This perspective can be termed etic, looking at overall patterns and millennial timescales to answer 'big' questions. In contrast my research could be termed emic, using a small collection of 'transitional' stone tools to explore the perspective of the producers and users. Human type is not considered relevant here. This approach has allowed a shift in scale; from millennial and pan-European to seasonal and the uplands that now constitute Britain. To explore this emic perspective experimental production has been used to make material a manufacturing process. Metrical, formal and typological analysis has been applied to the archaeological type fossil corpus to more fully comprehend variability. Together these approaches have been used to construct a nuanced and comprehensive châine operatoire model for the industry. This model allowed comparative analysis to derive new understandings from old and new archaeological collections from three sites. Resultant material and behavioural patterns have been interpreted within their particular landscape and general faunal contexts. Emergent themes have been integrated into a seasonal structure to create the desired emic narrative. This process has revealed a maintainable, repairable and adaptable technology used to manage the predictable unpredictability associated with the hunting of migrating large fauna through a long summer season and in uplands of known and unknown stone resources.
It has been argued that when examining hunter gatherer archaeology from the millennial past, obje... more It has been argued that when examining hunter gatherer archaeology from the millennial past, objects recovered may not make sense to us within our own modern materialist and sedentary context. In response this paper makes a close examination of a particular human lion figurine and situates the discussion within its Aurignacian (ca. 32,000 BP) archaeological context. Examining the components of this figurine in relation to archaeological evidence of behavioural adaptation suggests that modern categories of human, animal and material culture obfuscate how humans entering Europe modelled their predatory adaptation on that of an established felid population. This adaptation was behavioural and the figurine under discussion reflects a preoccupation with felids in association with the human body. Ethnographic evidence shows how modelling patterns of animal movement and behaviour changes how humans experience the world, no longer human or animal but a complex of human animal experiences and behaviours. More appropriate may be to describe the figurine as a material expression of ‘cyborgian’ felid identity. This recognizes an Aurignacian preoccupation with the human body as reflecting its importance as experiential nexus through which behavioural identities were lived. Material culture then is an archaeologically recoverable expression of lived behavioural identity.
This is a 15 minute presentation for the Immersed in Lithics conference at the University of Manc... more This is a 15 minute presentation for the Immersed in Lithics conference at the University of Manchester on the 26th February 2016. It is a more resolved version of the presentation given at the Lithic Studies Society student workshop on the 3rd of February.
This presentation discusses some of the value, but also some of the issues to consider when using... more This presentation discusses some of the value, but also some of the issues to consider when using a modern flint-knapper to reproduce a Palaeolithic technology.