[Bonetools] Info and thoughts on craft learning

[Liye Xie]

Dear Alice,

Thank you so much for the note.

You are right! It was household production. Can we then expect training provided by family members?

One detail I found puzzling about the Hemudu case is that the end products were full of basic technical errors that could have been easily avoided with minimal intervention by an experienced person. This, combined with the lack of practice pieces, made me conclude that the production was infrequent and that technical training was almost non-existent. However, thinking through your note made me realize that my infrequent production conclusion contradicts the conclusion about lack of intervention. If the production was infrequent, then even the most experienced family members might not have reached high skill competency. How can I expect their teaching (if it existed) to have eliminated technical errors?

I feel more comfortable with my conclusion already, Alice. Thank you so much!

Looking forward to continuing inspiration/critique from this incredible group.

-Liye

From: Bonetools <bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu> On Behalf Of Alice Choyke
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2021 1:56 PM
To: Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn. <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
Subject: Re: [Bonetools] Info and thoughts on craft learning

Dear Liye,
        Thinking  about your stimulating question I would think that during prehistoric periods where all tool/ornament production was closely tied to household production, this binary system of socially narrated technical norms versus individual variation in know-how is EXACTLY what I would expect. Once production becomes semi-specialized or specialized I would expect technical norms would come to dominate technical design. The 'audience' for the objects is wider, requiring more uniformity in production and general form. For example, I believe that by the end of the Middle Bronze Age in the Carpathian  Basin, horse harness antler fittings, with some cruder exceptions that really do look 'homemade', are technically much more uniform within settlements' worked hard osseous materials than anything else found in the general bone or antler tool assemblages where objects are technically much more variable, more ad hoc looking. Anyway - this is just my fast take on your question. I would love to see what discussion develops.

Best,
Alice

On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 7:23 PM Liye Xie <liye.xie at utoronto.ca<mailto:liye.xie at utoronto.ca>> wrote:
Hello everyone,

I am seeking help from this incredibly resourceful and knowledgeable group.

I am working on a paper on the learning patterns of bone shovel production in the Neolithic Hemudu culture in eastern China. It appears to me that the Hemudu people had a binary system for maintaining their bone shovel tradition, meaning they conformed to the social norms in terms of object style and raw material preference but relied on self-learning to produce the tools. This combination of social learning and self-learning for an object that was likely tied to a group identity seems odd to me. Because, honestly, I naively expected to find evidence for communities of practice or at least some sort of formal training to maintain an almost iconic object of society.

I have been trying to find comparable studies on cultural transmission and ways of maintaining technological tradition. But, unfortunately, the case studies I have seen so far are primarily on pottery and lithic productions. In addition, I couldn’t find any mention of a binary learning system as such. Therefore, I wondered if you could point me to relevant publications on bone tools or a binary learning system for any crafts.

I understand everyone is very busy. I would appreciate any information or thoughts you could share.

Thank you.

-Liye

Dr. Liye Xie
Associate Professor & Associate Chair
Department of Anthropology
University of Toronto Mississauga
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Liye-Xie
https://www.anthropology.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/liye-xie/

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