ABSTRACT
Technological traditions and associated items of material culture have long been a central focus of archaeological investigations of Indigenous-colonial interactions in the Americas. Although popular understandings of the colonial period continue to posit a model of rapid technological change, current archaeological research instead focuses on the skill and knowledge represented by Native people’s incorporation of new materials into existing technological and social traditions. This chapter offers a review of how archaeologists are combatting overly simplistic narratives of technological change, both through the refinement of conceptual approaches and the accumulation of empirical evidence about how Native people made culturally informed choices about when, where, and how to use different materials and technologies. A brief case study on post-contact stone tool traditions in the Americas demonstrates the spatial and temporal variation of technological persistence—and associated aspects of material choice, acquisition, use, and meaning—across the American continents.
