Linking Ethnoarchaeological Interpretation and Archaeological Data

Abstract

In this chapter we examine the extent to which archaeological techniques of spatial analysis produce satisfactory results when applied to an ethnographically recorded hunter-gatherer site, and we explore the degree to which useful results can be obtained after simulated disturbance of the site. We believe we have gained some insights into methods of spatial analysis and clarified our understanding of their strengths and limitations through this study. John Yellen’s (1977) ethnoarchaeological study of!Kung sites in Botswana was selected to provide the basis for this investigation. Yellen’s data were selected because we were curious to test the validity of our quantitative methods of spatial analysis with ethnoarchaeological data. His study provided a data set comparable to those from open-air sites of mobile hunter-gatherers on which such methods most commonly are applied archaeologically.