<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Dear Liye,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"> 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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Best,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Alice</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 7:23 PM Liye Xie <<a href="mailto:liye.xie@utoronto.ca">liye.xie@utoronto.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal">Hello everyone,<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I am seeking help from this incredibly resourceful and knowledgeable group.
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<p class="MsoNormal">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.
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<p class="MsoNormal">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.
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<p class="MsoNormal">I understand everyone is very busy. I would appreciate any information or thoughts you could share.<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you. <u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">-Liye<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">Dr. Liye Xie <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">Associate Professor & Associate Chair<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">Department of Anthropology<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">University of Toronto Mississauga<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)"><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Liye-Xie" target="_blank">https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Liye-Xie</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)"><a href="https://www.anthropology.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/liye-xie/" target="_blank">https://www.anthropology.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/liye-xie/</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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