Moving on from Here: Suggestions for the Future of “Mobility Thinking” in Studies of Paleolithic Technologies

Beginning in the early 1990s, the theme of mobility became central to many studies of Paleolithic lithic technology. Models relating group movements to the design, production, and treatment of stone artifacts have been widely employed both to explain features of Paleolithic assemblages, and as a source of information about the ecology of Pleistocene foragers. However, many of the questions that “mobility thinking” was originally adopted to answer are no longer at the center of inquiry in Paleolithic research. To remain relevant to new research agendas, new approaches to mobility and lithic technology should be developed. In keeping with the theme of this special issue, this paper discusses three areas where relatively simple changes in theory and practice could help to integrate “mobility thinking” into emerging research questions of broad, cross-disciplinary relevance: these include territories and ranging patterns, social networks, and intra-group variation in mobility.