Conceptual premises in experimental design and their bearing on the use of analogy: an example from experiments on cut marks

Experimental archaeology embodies a large array of conceptual approaches. In the present work, it is argued that only those methodological approaches maximizing comparability between experiments and case-specific archaeological problems are heuristically scientific. This reduces the range of analogies that can be applied to the past. The adequateness of analogies depends on how the conceptual premises of experiments are designed. A practical example of this is provided through the comparison of referential frameworks created to understand the utility of cut marks to reconstruct butchering behaviors.