A spatial approach to the study of competition between toolstones in specific regional contexts

Abstract

By "competition" between toolstones we understand the differential probability of such elements of being used by humans as a function of their intrinsic properties plus the cultural preferences and strategic/tactical/operational decision rules applied by people on a situational basis. Despite the fact that the concept of competition applied to the relationships between knappable rocks and/or sources is not novel, it has had little theoretical and methodological development. This contribution represents an initial attempt to set a standard approach to the problem of recognizing and describing competitive relationships between toolstones on a regional scale, using spatial analysis performed with GIS tools. Our approach is based on the comparative analysis of paired distance-decay curves, taking into account four simple parameters that can be considered gross measures of the relative competitive fitness of each raw material or source. The approach is exemplified with data from east-central Argentina.