Shumon T. Hussain is a transdisciplinary archaeologist with a research focus on Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene foragers, especially their stone artefact technologies and animal relationships. He is broadly interested in theoretical innovation and synthesis beyond archaeology as a disciplinary specialism, to better integrate data and perspectives across the humanities and sciences vis-à-vis question of the human deep past, and the epistemology and practice of science. He is currently based at the University of Cologne, Germany, where he is a senior researcher and lecturer at the newly established research hub MESH – Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities.

• AcknowledgementsAuthor’s prefaceForeword by Raymond CorbeyTerminology, definitions and key conceptsIntroductionChapter 1: The clash between French and Anglophone lithic research in Palaeolithic archaeology1.1 The problem of lithic knowledge1.2 The French-Anglophone divide1.3 Critical practice beyond partisanshipChapter 2: Pepper’s four world hypotheses as a new framework to examine the French-Anglophone divide2.1 Why Pepper?2.2 The landscape of Western thought2.3 Root metaphor theory2.4 Four distinct ways of marshalling evidence2.5 Affinities and trade-offs between world hypotheses2.6 The problem of knowledge corroboration2.7 Finding utility in world hypothesesChapter 3: The French-Anglophone divide and the analytic-synthetic polarity of world theories3.1 Pepper applied: a new hypothesis3.2 The structure of the French-Anglophone divide reconsideredChapter 4: Analyticity unpacked – Anglophone approaches between formism and mechanism4.1 Tropes of formism in Anglophone practice4.2 Tropes of mechanism in Anglophone practiceChapter 5: Syntheticity unpacked – French approaches between contextualism and organicism5.1 Tropes of contextualism in French practice5.2 Tropes of organicism in French practiceChapter 6: Conceptual equivocality, pluralism and critical practice at the French-Anglophone boundary6.1 A review of main findings and arguments6.2 Towards a new understanding of time-honoured problems6.3 The epistemological status of the divide6.4 A call for pluralism in lithic research6.5 The art of criticism6.6 Future perspectives: exploiting the world hypotheses interfaceEpilogueFAQBibliographyElectronic Appendix

Shumon T. Hussain is a transdisciplinary archaeologist with a research focus on Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene foragers, especially their stone artefact technologies and animal relationships. He is broadly interested in theoretical innovation and synthesis beyond archaeology as a disciplinary specialism, to better integrate data and perspectives across the humanities and sciences vis-à-vis question of the human deep past, and the epistemology and practice of science. He is currently based at the University of Cologne, Germany, where he is a senior researcher and lecturer at the newly established research hub MESH – Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities.

• AcknowledgementsAuthor’s prefaceForeword by Raymond CorbeyTerminology, definitions and key conceptsIntroductionChapter 1: The clash between French and Anglophone lithic research in Palaeolithic archaeology1.1 The problem of lithic knowledge1.2 The French-Anglophone divide1.3 Critical practice beyond partisanshipChapter 2: Pepper’s four world hypotheses as a new framework to examine the French-Anglophone divide2.1 Why Pepper?2.2 The landscape of Western thought2.3 Root metaphor theory2.4 Four distinct ways of marshalling evidence2.5 Affinities and trade-offs between world hypotheses2.6 The problem of knowledge corroboration2.7 Finding utility in world hypothesesChapter 3: The French-Anglophone divide and the analytic-synthetic polarity of world theories3.1 Pepper applied: a new hypothesis3.2 The structure of the French-Anglophone divide reconsideredChapter 4: Analyticity unpacked – Anglophone approaches between formism and mechanism4.1 Tropes of formism in Anglophone practice4.2 Tropes of mechanism in Anglophone practiceChapter 5: Syntheticity unpacked – French approaches between contextualism and organicism5.1 Tropes of contextualism in French practice5.2 Tropes of organicism in French practiceChapter 6: Conceptual equivocality, pluralism and critical practice at the French-Anglophone boundary6.1 A review of main findings and arguments6.2 Towards a new understanding of time-honoured problems6.3 The epistemological status of the divide6.4 A call for pluralism in lithic research6.5 The art of criticism6.6 Future perspectives: exploiting the world hypotheses interfaceEpilogueFAQBibliographyElectronic Appendix

Shumon T. Hussain is a transdisciplinary archaeologist with a research focus on Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene foragers, especially their stone artefact technologies and animal relationships. He is broadly interested in theoretical innovation and synthesis beyond archaeology as a disciplinary specialism, to better integrate data and perspectives across the humanities and sciences vis-à-vis question of the human deep past, and the epistemology and practice of science. He is currently based at the University of Cologne, Germany, where he is a senior researcher and lecturer at the newly established research hub MESH – Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities.

• AcknowledgementsAuthor’s prefaceForeword by Raymond CorbeyTerminology, definitions and key conceptsIntroductionChapter 1: The clash between French and Anglophone lithic research in Palaeolithic archaeology1.1 The problem of lithic knowledge1.2 The French-Anglophone divide1.3 Critical practice beyond partisanshipChapter 2: Pepper’s four world hypotheses as a new framework to examine the French-Anglophone divide2.1 Why Pepper?2.2 The landscape of Western thought2.3 Root metaphor theory2.4 Four distinct ways of marshalling evidence2.5 Affinities and trade-offs between world hypotheses2.6 The problem of knowledge corroboration2.7 Finding utility in world hypothesesChapter 3: The French-Anglophone divide and the analytic-synthetic polarity of world theories3.1 Pepper applied: a new hypothesis3.2 The structure of the French-Anglophone divide reconsideredChapter 4: Analyticity unpacked – Anglophone approaches between formism and mechanism4.1 Tropes of formism in Anglophone practice4.2 Tropes of mechanism in Anglophone practiceChapter 5: Syntheticity unpacked – French approaches between contextualism and organicism5.1 Tropes of contextualism in French practice5.2 Tropes of organicism in French practiceChapter 6: Conceptual equivocality, pluralism and critical practice at the French-Anglophone boundary6.1 A review of main findings and arguments6.2 Towards a new understanding of time-honoured problems6.3 The epistemological status of the divide6.4 A call for pluralism in lithic research6.5 The art of criticism6.6 Future perspectives: exploiting the world hypotheses interfaceEpilogueFAQBibliographyElectronic Appendix