In the first edition preface, Professor Andrefsky ponders the question that has occurred to many of us as to "why stone tools which appear to be perfectly functional and useful are left at sites." In a general way, this question frames the book in that the author organizes a series of chapters to systematically inform us as to the nature of lithic technologies, their durability in archaeological contexts, and the rationale and methods of analysis useful in explaining the behaviors behind their manufacture and use. This second edition updates the 1998 Lithics with three new sections, new references, and an expanded index and glossary. The organization, which I think is generally well reasoned, remains unchanged.
The author begins the volume with a section (the first four chapters) on the necessary background to understand lithic studies. Following a perhaps overly brief discussion of the historical development of the specialty of lithic analysis in the first chapter, Chapter 2 introduces basic terminology. This discussion is supplemented with an informative glossary, significantly expanded from the first edition. A discussion of fracture mechanics and production dynamics follows in Chapter 2, including a good introduction to reduction strategies in chipped stone tool manufacture.
Chapter 3 discusses raw materials in geological detail, a discussion that I particularly like for its inclusion of a review of geochemical analysis techniques. This section provides a brief description of prominently used analytical techniques with basic references for further reading. This chapter could probably fit well before the basic terminology discussion in Chapter 2, as in many Lithics classes, geologic sources and sourcing often are discussed in the beginning of the course.
Chapter 4 introduces the reader to attributes, types, and typologies. This is one of the most difficult topics in lithic analysis (or any other artifact analysis) for most students to grasp, and the large literature on artifact classification is often rather obtuse. However, this chapter is well organized and progresses through reasonably straightforward discussions to introduce chipped stone artifact variation and the uses of classification schemes to organize these data. The chapter concludes by introducing a generalized chipped stone typology which includes basic discussions of core tools, flake tools, bifacial tools, and debitage, thereby establishing some basic definitions before moving into more detailed discussions of analysis of tool classes in the second section of the book.
The second section provides a discussion of analytical classes and approaches to analysis. Chapter 5 discusses attributes of debitage and Chapter 6 deals with methods of debitage analysis, an area of lithic studies that has expanded dramatically in the last few years, as evidenced by the fact that the author spends as many pages on debitage analysis as on the analysis of tool categories. A short, new section appears in Chapter 6 which discusses recent methodological advances on the problem of mixed debitage samples along with ways to partition debitage into behaviorally or technologically related groups through consideration of key attributes.
Chapter 7 presents a discussion of stone tool analysis, including analyses of cores, flake tools, and bifaces. There is a short, new section in this chapter that discusses ways to measure and interpret retouch on flakes tools. This is followed by a new section on tool function, expanding on a short section in Chapter 1 that describes microscopic use wear analytical techniques. Although the author's intention to restrict the book to macroscopic methods of analysis of chipped stone is clear in the title and elsewhere, the new sections on tool function and wear analysis improve the coverage of the book and provide some useful references to those desiring more details. As a microwear analyst, I found these discussions to be clearly written and balanced.