The Nature of Difference

This study, based on the author's thesis, studies and compares the lithic assemblages of two Upper Palaeolithic sites in Central Europe: Dolni Vestonice and Willendorf. More especially it discusses the means by which these assemblages have been classified and the issues and problems surrounding the use of typologies. Silvia Tomaskova argues that applying standardised labels to the prehistoric material fails to adequately describe it and that often these labels are used, not just to organise the material, but to interpret it as well. A history of the two sites and their investigation preceeds a discussion of the material itself and a comparison of types of behaviour from the lithic assemblages.