ABSTRACT
The most impressive schemes for the description of differences and similarities in flint assemblages have developed in Old World prehistory, partly as a function of the academic context of prehistory in Europe, where it is considered a natural science and students are trained in the basic skills of the natural sciences—among which is systematics. Problems arise, however, in the explanation of differences and similarities and in understanding changes through time. All too often prehistorians view flint industries “evolving” through time, as though they contained genetic materials and were capable of mutation. Factor analysis is designed to express just such multivariate relations. It is designed to isolate from a matrix of many variables those which consistently share mutual determinants. It is suggested that the place to see a “transition” is in the basic adaptation itself and not in the technological means developed within the framework of the new adaptation.
