industry: a standalone construct

In Palaeolithic archaeology, an industry is a recurring, geographically and chronologically bounded way of making stone tools: a consistent repertoire of techniques and tool forms, such as the Acheulean or Mousterian, taken to reflect a shared technological tradition. Debénath and Dibble's Handbook of Paleolithic typology sets out how the tool types that define such industries are described and classified. The referent is a pattern across assemblages of knapped stone, named after a type site and used to track cultural traditions through deep time. It is a different construct from a person's diligence or a branch of the economy, sharing only the word's meaning of a characteristic way of producing things.[1]

Unit

A defined repertoire of knapping techniques and tool types across assemblages

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Defined by the recurring tool types, reduction techniques, and typological proportions characteristic of a set of assemblages