Student profiles
Oliver Cooper
Email: Oliver.Cooper@liverpool.ac.uk
Email: oliverjmcooper@gmail.com
Thesis Title
Institution
Supervisors
Professor Matt Grove (primary)
Professor Anthony Sinclair
Research Summary
This research project investigates the long-standing archaeological question of whether prehistoric artefact variability reflects functional adaptation or symbolic expression. Material culture, beyond its utilitarian role, often conveys social identity, status, and group affiliation. Previous research has distinguished between functionally driven artefacts, shaped by environmental necessity and transmitted via performance-based learning, and stylistic artefacts, which emerge through random variation and are transmitted through conformist learning, reinforcing local social norms. Despite much theoretical discussion, few studies have quantitatively tested the patterns this dichotomy implies.
Focusing on the European Upper Palaeolithic (~50,000–12,000 BP), which provides a rich archaeological record of both subsistence and symbolic material culture, this research fills a lacuna by directly comparing functional (stone tools) and stylistic (personal ornaments) artefacts. Building on Vanhaeren and d’Errico’s database of exclusively stylistic artefacts, I will compile a parallel database of functional artefacts across >100 sites. By employing a Multiple Matrix Regression (MMR) framework, I will assess the relationships between artefactual variation and spatial, temporal, and palaeoenvironmental variables. Environmental datasets will be extracted via the pastclim R package to construct climatic distance matrices; Jaccard distances will measure archaeological differences in artefact types.
I hypothesise that functional artefact variation will correlate strongly with environmental differences, while stylistic artefact variation will cluster in space and time, reflecting ethnolinguistic group boundaries and social norms. The results will not only clarify the interplay of style and function in prehistoric assemblages but also contribute a reproducible, evolutionary framework applicable across archaeology and allied disciplines studying cultural transmission and social identity.
Research Interests
Cultural Evolution and Transmission
Material Culture Studies
Upper Palaeolithic Technologies
Human Behavioural Ecology
Quantitative Archaeological Methodologies
Prehistoric Social Identity and Symbolism
Publications
coming soon