A very strange attractor

A Complexity model applied to the activities of man might seem inappropriate, but archaeology is full of examples of taking methods and theories from the hard sciences and applying them to cultural behaviour. "Complexity came out of Mathematical Imagination, sired by Physics. But where is it going ? Into every natural phenomenon that exhibits irregularity, but in circumstances that suggest there ought to be underlying patterns." (Stewart 1989, 292). The latter part of this statement would appear to be entirely relevant to Archaeology and lithic studies in particular.


Chaotic patterns are sometimes related to strange attractors (see Gleick 1987, 119); attractors because they act as the focus for the non-periodicity and strange because that's what they are. But however strange, "Strange attractors are not just topological confections. They're really there, in simple equations, in equations that model aspects of the real world." (Stewart 1989,, 154). Attractors are the stable factors within chaotic dynamics. They represent the general trend of a system around which the details oscillate. They have been likened to the basin of a river system. The flow of water, and changes in water courses produce transient change within the stability of the watershed region. They can be visualized in order to represent the chaotic dynamics of a system. Perhaps the most famous, and one of the earliest strange attractors to be discovered, is the Lorenz attractor that represents the output from a series of simple non linear equations. (see Gleick 1987, 140). This can be compared with the attractor of a regular system such as the classic pendulum.

Lithic variability could be conceptualized as repeating oscillation around a strange attractor, that would account for the apparent or 'invented' periodic developments in lithic material. For example the occurrence of convergence in technology and tool types might be understood by reference to the influence of a strange attractor, as convergence of tool forms occurs in otherwise different environmental and cultural contexts. Australian Aboriginal adzes can resemble Quina scrapers which are similar to scrapers from the Yabrudian of the Middle East.