Significance of experimental works in research of functions of ancient tools (after materials of the settlement Bodaki of Tripolye culture)

Abstract

Abstract Methods of experimentation are nowadays widely used in archaeological research. Some authors consider this an independent field and call it “Experimental Archaeology”. A systematic approach to experimental research in close connection with studies of tool functions and technology of their manufacture was developed by S.A. Semenov. A number of main principles should be followed in the course of experimental works to receive objective results: a clear setting of the aim, a stable logical-empirical base, controlled conditions in the course of the experiment, a repetitive character of the experiment, and the verification of data in the existing database of archaeological finds and reference collections. The results of our research on materials of the unique flint working site Bodaki (Ukraine) can serve as an example for the employment of an experimental-traceological method. The use of a complex experimental-traceological analysis of the productive inventory of a site allows the reconstruction of technology of flint knapping, and recognition of tools used in various branches of this Eneolithic economy. The results show that settlements-workshops specialized in mining and the treatment of flint emerged near sources of raw material during that period and that all productions needed for normal subsistence of population were also functioning in such sites. This example shows, furthermore, that the close connection of traceology and experiments gives substantial evidence not only for determining the purpose of ancient tools and the character of ancient productions, but also provides new sources for the identification of the peculiarities of an ancient economy.