Knapped bones used as tools: experimental approach on different activities

Abstract

Bone artefacts have been widely studied because they can be difficult to identify in ancient chronologies. Taphonomical and zooarchaeological studies have demonstrated problems of equifinality of biotic and/or abiotic agents that create pseudo-tools: marrow fracturing of green bone by hominins and carnivores, trampling, etc. In particular, minimally elaborated bone tools are especially subject to the problems of identification of bone artefacts, as the criteria for characterizing their patterns of elaboration are not clearly defined.The aim of this study is to experimentally reconstruct the manufacture and use of minimally elaborated bone artefacts in order to evaluate their potential as tools involved in different activities, and to study the resulting use-wear traces. To achieve this goal, bovid long bones were experimentally broken via direct percussion on an anvil to extract the marrow and obtain blanks. Unmodified fragments were used in different tasks: scraping hide and wood, sawing wood, and cutting flesh. Another set of bone blanks were retouched to shape bone tools, which were then used in the same activities. This latter process was sequentially performed and recorded.Thus, using techniques supported by experimentation and microscopy, this study presents the use-wear analysis on minimally elaborated bone tools. The operative chain of used bones and knapped bone tools and their effects on the formation of different traces is explored. Further technological and taphonomical studies will complete our understanding about these processes, proving new clues for the study of hominin subsistence strategies.