Ethnographic diversity as a theoretical framework for the reconstruction of archaeological hide-working chaînes opératoires

Résumé En

Many modern nomadic hunter-gatherer communities rely on hide-working to produce clothing, housing materials, and various utilitarian objects. This craft is often considered to be influenced by cultural, technical, and economic factors specific to each human group. Numerous ethnographic studies have described hide-working, identifying a variety of chaînes opératoires. However, this literature is rarely taken extensively into account by archaeologists working on past hide-working crafts: studies usually present the few ethnographic case studies that parallel their observations, occulting the inherent variability of hide-working techniques. This paper presents an extensive bibliographic database aimed at documenting the diversity of hide-working chaînes opératoires among sub-actual traditional societies, regardless of their environmental, economic, or social context. Focusing on the technical aspect of this craft, I did not consider groups who use industrial techniques of the manufacture. This synthesis highlights three patterns: 1) the invariable steps of hide-working, 2) the uniqueness of each chaîne opératoire, and 3) the variability of gestures, tools, and their functioning mode. These conclusions can serve as a theoretical framework for reconstructing hide-working amongst archaeological hunter-gatherer societies. This work shows the usefulness of taking into consideration the ethnographic diversity of techniques for apprehending past crafts.