Participants: Gösta Ingvar Gabriel, Cale Johnson, Néhémie Strupler
Discussion about
- Techniques of the body can be excessive and "meaningless" outside the infrastructure ("bodybuilding")
- How are techniques transmitted?
- What is the definition of chaîne opératoire?
- Problem of the chaîne opératoire: It is a method with a strong focus on materiality & visibility.
Take-away questions:
What happen to the invisible parts of the technique in the chaîne opératoire (such as belief)?
- Is it possible to define an end of a technique or an end to a chaîne opératoire?
- How does language and description connect to the steps of the chaîne opératoire?
- Is the material world, the reconstruction of techniques and chaine opératoire misdirecting our view to a by-product?
Definition of chaîne opératoire
1) (2017) Once upon a time…the (hi)story of the concept of the chaîne opératoire in French prehistory, World Archaeology, 49:2, 158-173, DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2017.1300104
This paper is about the history of concept of the chaîne opératoire (on the right). I do not think that it gives a lot of clues about what chaîne opératoire is, but it is a good reference to pintpoint to the fact that it can be interpreted in different ways.
(p. 160): "One can only be amazed at the uncertainties and contradictions surrounding how this concept emerged in prehistory."
2) Y. Tafelmaier et al., Methoden zur Analyse von Steinartefakten, essentials, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30570-3_4
This paper is a kind of reference for students learning how to study stone artefact. This is the most basic reading of chaîne opératoire