Anthropological Interpretation of Chaînes Opératoires

Chapter 6 summarizes the scope of the technological approach for interpreting the synchronic and diachronic variability of technical traditions and is a culmination of the analyses presented in the previous chapters. It shows how the chaine operatoire concept is powerful for modeling techno- and socioeconomic systems and for analyzing cultural lineages and their evolution through the elementary and universal mechanism of transmission. In the same way, it shows how this concept is essential for appraising the history of techniques and the underlying evolutionary forces using theoretical frameworks combining the singularity of historical scenarios and anthropological regularities, Francophone and Anglophone approaches.