Macrodebitage Writ Small? Studying Stoneknapping with Experimental Archaeology, Dynamic Image Analysis, and Statistics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Microscopic artifacts help archaeologists study ancient societies and site formation processes. They have struggled to analyze them objectively, though. The traditional microscope-based approach has limited the number of samples and increased intra- and inter-observer errors. Here, we present an alternative based on experimental archaeology, Dynamic Image Analysis (DIA), and statistics. We ask whether microdebitage – the almost invisible debris from stone-knapping – has the same shape as macrodebitage or lithic artifacts wider than 4 mm. We collaborated with four modern stone-knappers to gather lithic debris. A new type of particle analyzer allowed us to measure five relevant variables for 23,694 knapping debris items. We use DIA to count, describe, and size-grade the debitage. We then analyze the resulting spreadsheet statistically. The results indicate highly significant statistical differences between microdebitage and macrodebitage as well as among microdebitage size classes. Combining experimental archaeology, DIA, and statistics enables the quantitative study of microdebitage.