Sammenlign metoder

	Cortex Ratio Analysis	Chaine Operatoire
Fagfelt	Arkeologi	Arkeologi
Familie	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Opprinnelsesår	2008	1993
Opphavsperson	Matthew Douglass, Simon Holdaway, Patricia Fanning & Justin Shiner	Andre Leroi-Gourhan (concept); operationalized for lithics by Francois Sellet and the French technological school
Type	Quantitative index comparing observed to expected cortical surface area	Analytical reconstruction of the full sequence of technical operations from raw material to discard
Opprinnelig kilde	Douglass, M. J., Holdaway, S. J., Fanning, P. C., & Shiner, J. I. (2008). An Assessment and Archaeological Application of Cortex Measurement in Lithic Assemblages. American Antiquity, 73(3), 513-526.	Sellet, F. (1993). Chaine Operatoire; The Concept and Its Applications. Lithic Technology, 18(1-2), 106-112.
Alias	Cortex Ratio, Cortical Surface Area Analysis, Assemblage Cortex Analysis, Lithic Cortex Ratio Method	Operational Sequence Analysis, Reduction Sequence Approach, Chaine Operatoire Analysis, Technological Sequence Analysis
Relaterte	2	2
Sammendrag	Cortex ratio analysis is a quantitative method for assessing whether a lithic assemblage represents the complete reduction of the stone present, or whether pieces have been carried into or out of the deposit. Its insight is that every stone nodule begins entirely covered by a weathered outer rind, or cortex, and that knapping progressively removes this cortex as flakes are struck; a complete, undisturbed reduction event should therefore retain a predictable amount of cortical surface relative to the volume of stone it contains. By measuring the cortical surface area actually observed across all artifacts and dividing it by the cortical surface area expected from the assemblage's total volume, Douglass and colleagues derived a single index — the cortex ratio — that diagnoses assemblage completeness. A ratio near one indicates an intact assemblage, less than one indicates that cortical pieces were removed, and more than one indicates that cortical material was imported. Building on the macroscopic measurement conventions Andrefsky systematizes, the method turns cortex from a qualitative stage indicator into a rigorous test of artifact transport and site formation.	The chaine operatoire, or operational sequence, is an analytical framework that reconstructs the entire ordered chain of technical actions and decisions by which a raw material is transformed into a tool, used, maintained, and finally discarded. Originating in the technological anthropology of Andre Leroi-Gourhan, the concept treats technology not as a set of finished objects but as a process — a sequence of gestures, choices, and constraints that materializes human know-how, or savoir-faire. As Sellet's influential synthesis explains, applying the chaine operatoire to stone tools means tracking material from its geological source through acquisition, core preparation, blank production, tool shaping, use and rejuvenation, and eventual abandonment, with every stage represented by characteristic artifacts and by-products. The approach is dynamic and behavioral rather than typological: it asks how and why objects were made the way they were. It complements attribute-based macroscopic analysis, which Andrefsky systematizes, by binding individual technological readings into a coherent narrative of production from start to finish.