Some comments on the notion of ‘functional variability’ in stone‐tool assemblages

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Abstract
This paper examines some of the difficulties encountered in attempting to interpret stone‐tool assemblages in terms of ‘functional variability’ — i.e. by reference to variations in the economic and technological activities undertaken by a single human group. An exclusively ‘functional’ interpretation of Mousterian industries in South‐West France would be open to serious objections from several points of view — chronological, typological, economic and others. Recent studies of Mousterian assemblages in the Near East and northern Spain by means of ‘factor analysis’ are interesting from a methodological viewpoint, but provide little positive support for the functional interpretations of these industries which are offered. It is suggested that evidence for functional variability in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic industries may in fact be much less conspicuous than some writers have imagined. Finally, attention is drawn to the difficulty of adequately ‘testing’ hypotheses concerning this kind of patterning against existing archaeological data.