UISPP 2006, Colloquium 83 "Projectile tips" : call for papers

[JM]

Dear colleagues,

in the course of the next UISPP congress (Lisbon, September 4-9, 2006),
there will be a Colloquium dedicated to projectile points, both lithic and
osseous, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Neolithic. It is organized by
Marie-Helene Dias-Meirinho, Pierre Cattelain, Matthieu Honegger, Christian
Normand, Nicolas Valdeyron and myself ; you will find the presentation text
below (French and English versions are in the attached file).

Since this Colloquium project was worked out quite a short time ago (in
fact, we submitted it last week to the UISPP secretary), there is still room
for papers, and contributions from your part would of course be welcome.
Also, feel free to give this information to anyone who might be interested.
We hope that the topics addressed will match your own research concerns !

For organization reasons, we would prefer to have all proposals and
abstracts for the end of november - in order to organize the different
sessions. All information concerning congress registration can be found at
http://www.uispp.ipt.pt

Yours,

Jean-Marc Petillon
UMR 7041 ArScAn, ethnologie prehistorique
MAE, 21 allee de l'Universite, F-92023 Nanterre cedex
+33 (0)1 43 49 69 54

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Colloquium C83 of the XVth IUPPS congress (Lisbon, September 4-9, 2006)

Current Issues on Projectile Tips Studies, from the Beginning of the Upper
Palaeolithic to the End of the Neolithic

Colloquium organized by:
- Jean-Marc Pétillon
(UMR 7041-Archéologies et sciences de l'Antiquité), Nanterre, France
- Marie-Hélène Dias-Meirinho
(UMR 5608-Unité toulousaine d'archéologie et d'histoire), Toulouse, France
- Pierre Cattelain
(ULB / Ecomusée du Viroin, CEDARC / Musée du malgré-tout), Treignes, Belgium
- Matthieu Honegger
(Institut de Préhistoire de l'Université de Neuchâtel, Laténium), Neuchâtel,
Switzerland
- Christian Normand
(SRA Aquitaine, UMR 5608-Unité toulousaine d'archéologie et d'histoire),
Hasparren, France
- Nicolas Valdeyron
(Université Toulouse 2, UMR 5608-Unité toulousaine d'archéologie et
d'histoire), Toulouse, France

All questions and contributions should be sent to:
Jean-Marc Pétillon <jeanmarc1 at no-log.org>
UMR 7041, Ethnologie préhistorique, Maison René Ginouvès, 21 allée de
l'Université, F-92023 Nanterre cedex

This Colloquium intends to bring together researchers concerned with the
study of prehistoric weaponry. Most of our attention will be dedicated to
projectile tips, which are our primary source of evidence relating to this
topic.

Participants can of course use this Colloquium to present new archaeological
results. But above all, we wish it to be an opportunity for debate and
exchange between specialists from different fields ‹ lithic technology, bone
and antler technology, archaeozoology, ethnoarchaeology, etc. For this
reason, much time will be reserved for discussions. The papers will not be
grouped by chronological periods, but organized in four thematic sessions of
one half day. We selected these four themes because they reflect the main
questions addressed by the current researches on prehistoric projectile
tips:

1) Projectile tips: definition and identification
The methods and criteria used to identify projectile tips among
archaeological assemblages are they reliable? How do we make the distinction
between weapons and tools? How, and under what conditions, can experimental
archaeology help us to solve these problems?

2) What is the use of projectile tips?
How do projectile tips fit into the technical system of weaponry? E.g., is
it possible to correlate a point type with a specific launching system (bow,
spearthrower...) or a particular game? Is it possible to distinguish hunting
weapons from weapons used in warfare?

3) "Technical investment": real topic or irrelevant question?
To what extent is it possible to estimate the technical investment of
prehistoric people in their weapons (i.e., amount of time devoted to
manufacture, complexity of the corresponding technical know-how...)? Does a
low technical investment mean that the weapons were deserved only little
interest? Is a high technical investment always the evidence of the object's
social importance? From what other point of view can we address the question
of the projectile tips' cultural status?

4) Can we find out why projectile tips change over time?
What are the factors causing projectile tips assemblages to change over
time? Do these evolutions reflect a progressive rationalization and
improvement of the weapon kit? Are they induced by environmental changes, or
by the structural modifications (whether economic or symbolic) of the
prehistoric societies? Can we even know it?
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