Small Signals: Comprehending the Australian Microlithic as Public Signalling

Abstract

Signalling is a critical capacity in modern human cultures but it has often been difficult to identify and understand on lithic artefacts from pre-literate contexts. Often archaeologists have minimized the signalling role of lithic tools by arguing for strong form-function relationships that constrained signalling or else imposed ethnographic information on the archaeological patterns with the assumption they assist in defining the signalling carried out in prehistory. In this paper I present a case study for which it can be shown that function does not correlate with form and that the technology fell out of use 1000–1500 years ago. This means that neither presumptions of continuity in social practice nor reference to tool use provide strong explanations for the size, shape standardization and regional differentiation of Australian microliths. Sender-receiver signalling theory is harnessed to motivate a new synthesis of these microliths, and I demonstrate that not only were these artefacts probably key objects used in public signalling but also that sender-receiver frameworks enable us to infer details about the operation of the signalling system.

Bronze age stone flaking at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai, southeastern Arabia

“…Although the technologies used to produce blanks for microliths included different forms of ad hoc knapping, such as the direct percussion method at Saruq al-Hadid and the bipolar method on the Tihamah coast, highly technical blank production methods were used at Harappan sites in India. The varying environmental and cultural contexts of this Bronze Age microlith technology—as well as the varied methods of producing them—may indicate that stone-tipped arrows played a role in social signalling [ 96 , 97 ]. This is particularly relevant given the shift towards metal arrowheads during the Bronze Age, and it promises to provide fresh insights into the complexity of social changes occurring in Arabia and beyond during this critical period.…”

“…this Bronze Age microlith technology-as well as the varied methods of producing themmay indicate that stone-tipped arrows played a role in social signalling [96,97]. This is particularly relevant given the shift towards metal arrowheads during the Bronze Age, and it promises to provide fresh insights into the complexity of social changes occurring in Arabia and beyond during this critical period.…”

Evolution of Microliths at Batadomba-lena, Sri Lanka

“…The application of signalling theory to geographic and temporal patterns of microlith shape provides a way of tracking past information flow and the geographic configurations of those signalling systems (see Hiscock 2021). Several predictions would be made if public signalling was the key mechanism responsible for microlith shape and its evolution.…”

The effect of edge serration on the performance of stone-tip projectiles: an experimental case study of the Maros Point from Holocene South Sulawesi

“…For instance, the fragmentation of closed-canopy rainforests and the expansion of grasslands could have led to greater seasonal variation in the distribution of animal and plant species (Simons and Bulbeck 2004), prompting past people to invest greater time and energy in the manufacture and use of technologies, such as projectile weapons, that can improve hunting success and buffer against foraging risk and cost (Bleed 1986;Torrence 2008;Hiscock 1994). Moreover, a decline in local resource abundance could have also promoted inter-group interactions over territorial boundaries and social arrangements for resource access and information sharing (Mackay et al 2014;Ambrose and Lorenz 1990), with material culture playing a role in the maintenance of social cohesion under heightened social and economic tensions (Hodder 1979;David and Lourandos 1998;Clarkson et al 2018;Hiscock 1994Hiscock , 2018Hiscock , 2021. From this perspective, the uptake and spread of the Maros point and other distinctive Toalean tools in South Sulawesi may be functionally driven but socially mediated, through the signalling and negotiation of social identity and relations within and between groups.…”