The mortality of things: Correlates of use life in Wola material culture using age-at-census data

How long ancient artifacts lasted affects the composition of archaeological assemblages. Some research suggests that longevity or use life relates to size and other artifact properties, but we know less than we should about w hat determines use life. An ethnographic census of Wola objects from highla nd Papua New Guinea recorded artifact age. From these data we use Hildebran d and Hagstrum's method to estimate mean use life. It does not covary gener ally with object size as in previous studies but does with commodity value. Among arrows alone, use life covaries with object size. Results complicate in some respects adn clarify in others our growing understanding of what d etermines artifact use life.