Individualistic Technological Strategies for Lithic Core Reduction: insights into Middle Stone Age industrial variability.

A sample of refitted Middle Stone Age (MSA) cores from the site of Kudu Koppie, Limpopo Province, South Africa is examined via the application of the chaîne opératoire approach. Employing a method for the simultaneous depiction and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data developed by the author, associations between these data types reveal the complex nature of each unique knapping event. In addition, individual “sub-strategies” characterize each reduction providing insight into the mechanisms for technological variability demonstrated during the MSA.