End Scrapers Research Articles

The Chassean lithic industry from Bernières-sur-Seine “Les Fondriaux” (Eure)

In Upper Normandy in the Eure, alongside a palaeo-channel of the Seine, the excavation of a northern Chassean settlement brought to light a significant well-conserved lithic industry. This publication presents the comprehensive study of this industry. The main worked raw material is local flint, which was practically exclusively used for flake debitage to produce blanks for several tool types using different operational methods. Some stages of the chaîne opératoire appear to have been preferred to supply blanks adapted to certain types of tools. Original and elaborate technical retouch processes were also used to optimize tool use. End scrapers were the main, but not the only tools, used for working hide. Other tools are represented in smaller proportions (tranchets, denticulates, backed objects, cutting arrow armatures, perforating or hammering tools, etc.), including an exceptional deposit of two matching, burnt axe blades. The detailed study of some of these tools aims to bring to light their technical, typological and functional characteristics in order to enhance our knowledge of the use of Chassean tools. These new data make Bernières-sur-Seine a reference site for the northern Chassean in the Paris basin.

The Technology of the Early Oakhurst Lithic Techno-Complex from Klipdrift Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa

The analysis of the lithics recovered from the layers dating between cal bp 10,700 and cal bp 13,700 at Klipdrift Cave, southern Cape, South Africa, provides new information on the Oakhurst techno-complex. A comparison with contemporary sites such as Matjes River Rock Shelter indicates not only technological similarities, but also unexpected differences. The Klipdrift Cave Oakhurst shares many characteristics typical of this techno-complex from the southern Cape, for example, in the dominance of quartzite, irregular and unstandardised flakes; the occurrence of irregular cores; and typical large side and end scrapers. It differs from most coastal Oakhurst sites however, in the more intensive exploitation of quartz, and the presence of a blade component, especially in the lowermost layers. Palaeoenvironmental data, derived from stable isotope analysis of ostrich eggshell, suggest that it was dry in this region during this time period. This was partially a result of the colder conditions that prevailed during the Younger Dryas. The lithic technological production techniques are stable at Klipdrift Cave during the period that the site was occupied from cal bp 13,700 to cal bp 10,700. Our data suggest that the lithic technology did not change in response to possible climatic variability.

Contextual, technological and chronometric data from Cova Gran: Their contribution to discussion of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in northeastern Iberia

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Western Europe is a central topic in current paleoanthropological research. Recently, Neanderthal survival during MIS 3 and the emergence of anatomically modern humans have been the focus of much discussion in Iberia.Here, we analyse the stratigraphic and contextual resolution of the S1B/497D archaeological levels from Cova Gran, in which a techno-typological discontinuity has been identified affecting raw material, knapping systems, blanks and retouched tools. Attributes such as radial reduction systems to obtain flakes for subsequent preferential modification into notches and denticulates place level S1B within the Mousterian tradition. However, in 497D, attributed to the Early Upper Palaeolithic, laminar production intermingles the extraction of blades, bladelets and flakes. Blades were transformed into burins, end scrapers and retouched blades, and bladelets into microlithic tools such as backed points and backed bladelets. These artefacts are associated with a significant assemblage of notches, denticulates and scrapers on flakes. Radiometric data places the end of the Mousterian tradition ca. 42 ka cal BP and the appearance of the Early Upper Palaeolithic ca. 39–38 ka cal BP.The geographic and temporal ascription of levels S1B and 497D stimulate discussion on Neanderthal survival at the end of MIS 3 in northeastern Iberia. Likewise, the 497D lithic assemblage is compared to other techno-complexes assigned to this chronological range: the Chatelperronian tradition assigned to Neanderthals and Protoaurignacian linked to the appearance of anatomically modern humans. The archaeological resolution and techno-typological discontinuity documented in Cova Gran are useful points of reference in analysis of the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in northeastern Iberia, and have implications affecting the characterization of this process across Western Europe.

A functional analysis of the LGM microblade assemblage in Hokkaido, northern Japan: A case study of Kashiwadai 1

Topics currently debated in the northeastern Asian prehistory include the emergence and spread of microblade technology during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). On these issues, Hokkaido, the northernmost Japanese island, provides one of the earliest evidences of microblade technology. The present study reports results of functional analysis on the LGM microblade assemblage from the Kashiwadai 1 site, Hokkaido, and preliminary comparisons with other Upper Paleolithic (UP) assemblages in Japan. Results indicate that microblades may have been slotted into and served as lateral edges of composite points. Use-wear traces on burins and burin spalls show a strong correlation with antler, bone, or ivory (ABI) processing. End scrapers were used chiefly for hide working. A blade may have been employed for sawing or cutting hides and flesh. Furthermore, the comparison suggests that developed ABI polishes exclusively observed on burins and burin spalls highlight the LGM microblade assemblage, and are rarely found from the other UP assemblages until the appearance of the LGM microblade assemblages. This implies that the technology and concept to shape ABI implements with burins seem to have emerged coincidently with the earliest microblade technology, and may not have had roots from previous UP technologies in both of the southern Paleo-Sakhalin/Hokkaido/Kurile Peninsula and Paleo-Honshu Island. Besides the microlithization, investigating sophisticated ABI technologies will also illuminate the first appearance and spread of the LGM microblade technologies in northeast Asia.

Flint complex of the Mariupol burial ground

The Mariupol burial ground is one of the largest Neolithic sites of Eastern Europe. The funeral complex consists of 124 burials many of which include rich grave goods. Flint artifacts, usually single plate-like flint knives, have been found in 40 graves. In burials there also were end and oval scrapers, microlithics, axes, triangular arrowheads with bilateral treatment. The industry has been based on squeezing plates of average size. Flint tools were selected specially for burial. Flint artifacts have only been found in graves with other grave goods. In some graves there were rather numerous congestions of flint tools from 10 to 25 tools and their workpieces. In these backpack sets plates and tools made of them also prevail. Backpack sets of the Mariupol burial ground are divided into two types. The first type includes mainly unspecialized stone tools. Backpack sets of the second type consist of stone tools and household objects, i.e. jewelry made of bone, shells and stone, ochre. The trapezes and plates were used as arrowheads and their parts. Two flint axes with polished edges are found in one of the burials. The flint industry of the Mariupol burial ground is comparable to the industry of a Neolithic layer of the Kalmius settlement in Mariupol on the opposite right river bank. Probably, the burial ground has been made by residents of the settlement. Flint products are found both in male and in female burials.

Новая интерпретация каменной индустрии нулевого слоя стоянки Шугноу (Предпамирье)

The article studies the Final Pleistocene - Early Holocene stone industry of layer 0 of the Shugnou site. The Shugnou site is located in the Cis-Pamir (Tajikistan). The site was discovered in 1968 by V.A. Ranov. Field excavations at Shugnou were carried out in 1969 and 1970. On the Shug nou site V.A. Ranov deter mi ned 5 cult ural horizons (4 to 0): four lower horizons were attributed to the Upper Paleolithic, and layer 0 was attributed to the Epipaleolithic. Given that the new stage of research was reconsidered, the review was made of the attribution of the Upper Paleolitic materials of Shugnou and a lot of new data on the Mesolithic complexes in the region were obtained. The 0 layer industry of the Shugnou monument requires detailed study to clarify its cultural and chronological position. The collection of stone ar tifacts of layer 0 in Shugnou currently has more than 200 artifacts. Primary knapping in the Shugnou industry is represented by flat-face and prismatic cores, in the tool kit the point with backed distal end and end scrapers were defined. The materials of the Shugnou material layer under research demonst rate the highest degree of similarity on the technical and typological level with the complexes of the early and middle stages of the Tutkaul line of the development which presents the similar tools and strategies for the primary cleavage. Accordingly, it is proposed to consider the zero-layer materials of Shugnou as the ones close in appearance to the industries of the Tutkaul line of development. DOI 10.14258/izvasu(2016)4-42

An Unusual Late Aboriginal Assemblage from the Wilson Site (41SS186), San Saba County, Central Texas

The late aboriginal component in the Wilson Site in San Saba County is unusual in that most of the assemblage is consistent with that of Classic Toyah, but the diagnostic projectile point is an unnotched triangular arrow point instead of the typical Perdiz point. The absence of Perdiz points suggests that this component is associated with non-Toyah people and possibly dates to after 1700. Archaeological testing by the Llano Uplift Archeological Society (LUAS) to find supporting evidence for a historic date identified an Austin phase shell midden and a “Late Component” composed of triangular arrow points, end scrapers, a beveled biface and bone-tempered sherds, but no items of European manufacture. Complicating matters, the luminescence dating on a ceramic sample opens the possibility that the Late Component predates the currently accepted beginning of the Toyah phase.

A separation: Caspian Mesolithic vs Trialetian lithic industry. A research on the excavated site of Komishan, southeast of the Caspian Sea, Iran

Komishan Cave in the southeast of the Caspian Sea was selected for a small excavation in 2009 to address questions concerning the Mesolithic industries of the region. Two AMS dates present an age between 10,628 cal. BC and 11,771 cal. BC for the Mesolithic deposits. The chipped stone assemblage is characterised by large concentration of blade/ lets, notches/ denticulates, scrapers of all forms, especially end scrapers, borers, and backed pieces. This chipped stone assemblage is obviously most similar to those of Kamarband, Hotu and Alitepe regarding their locations, which are in the same climatic, geological and ecological conditions. The Mesolithic chipped stone industry of the southeast of the Caspian Sea has been previously attributed to Trialetian lithic industry. In this article the differences in raw material access, technological organization and the subsistence between these sites are discussed ; as a conclusion based on Human Ecology the Mesolithic of the east-southeast of the Caspian Sea should be separated from Trialetian Industry and presented as “ Caspian Mesolithic.”

Late Paleoindian–Early Archaic Dart Points from the Wolfshead Site (41SA117) in the Angelina River Basin in East Texas

The Wolfshead site (41SA117) was excavated by the Texas Archeological Salvage Project at The University of Texas in 1960 prior to the inundation of the site by the waters of Lake Sam Rayburn in the Angelina River basin in East Texas. The site was located on a sandy terrace and covered ca. 1 acre in size; the sandy deposits were a maximum of ca. 60 cm in thickness below an historic plow zone. The excavations in the northern and southern parts of the site indicated that the Wolfshead site had an extensive Late Paleoindian–Early Archaic San Patrice culture occupation estimated to date between ca. 10,500–9800 years B.P. based on the radiocarbon dating of archaeological deposits with San Patrice points in sites in the Woodland and Southern Plains in south central North America. San Patrice components cluster “in the eastern half of Texas, where prairies and woodlands would have predominated." The component at the Wolfshead site is marked by a number of distinctive dart points, as discussed in the next section, as well as scraping tools, and Albany scrapers. The Albany scrapers were made on local petrified wood, while the unifacial side and end scrapers were manufactured on both petrified wood and pebble cherts.

A Late Glacial family at Trollesgave, Denmark

Microwear analysis is applied to reconstruct the function and social organisation at the Late Glacial site of Trollesgave, Denmark. As with Bromme Culture sites in general, the lithic assemblage consists of primarily three types of tools. There is a strong association between these types and their use: end scrapers for dry hide scraping; burins for working hard material, primarily bone; and tanged points primarily for projectile tips. Nearly all divergence from this pattern can be referred to as the activities of children, the products and workshops of which have previously been identified. Based on the combined information from microwear analysis, flint knapping and spatial distribution of artefacts, the assemblage is inferred as the traces of a single family hunting (and fishing) occupation.

The Sanders Site (41LR2): A Middle to Historic Caddo Settlement and Mound Center on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas

The T. M. Sanders site (41LR2) is one of the more important (although still not well known or intensively studied) ancestral Caddo sites known in East Texas, primarily because of its two earthen mounds and the well-preserved mortuary features of Caddo elite persons buried in Mound No. 1 (the East Mound). Archaeological work began at the site in 1931 by The University of Texas at Austin, with sporadic work by members of the Dallas Archeological Society in the 1940s and 1950s. Archaeological and bioarchaeological interpretations of the findings from this work at the Sanders site began with Krieger’s analyses of the burial features and associated funerary objects (including marine shell gorgets, shell beads, arrow points, and ceramic vessels). These analyses and studies continue to the present day, and rely upon the reanalysis and reinterpretation of the archaeological and bioarchaeological materials recovered in the Pearce and Jackson and Jackson's work. Although the Sanders site is not dated by radiocarbon analyses, the general consensus is that the main Caddo occupation took place around ca. A.D. 1100-1300, contemporaneous with related sites downstream along the Red River near its confluence with the Kiamichi River, and other sites in the Sabine River basin. A late 17th-early 18th century Caddo occupation is also present at the Sanders site, but remains poorly known. Harris and Harris commented that European “trade material is exceptionally scarce” at the Sanders site, but they do note that 478 glass beads had been found at the site. Harris had previously stated that several Caddo burials with European trade goods had been found along Bois d’Arc Creek south of Mound No. 2, the larger or West Mound. According to Edward B. Jelks, an Historic Caddo area investigated by Lester Wilson (an avocational archaeologist from Wylie, Texas) was about 100 m south of the two mounds at the Sanders site. This may be one of the areas identified by Jackson between ca. 90-150 m south of the mounds where he noted concentrations of triangular arrow points, small end scrapers, flint awls, and other stone tools. A 1971 map in the TARL files drawn by Dee Ann Story locates the historic Caddo settlement east of Bois d’Arc Creek and south of Mound No. 2.

Working With Wilmsen: Paleoindian End Scraper Design and use at Nobles Pond

AbstractThis study is an investigation of tool design and the organization of work. Here we further test Wilmsen’s (1970) conclusion that early Paleoindian tools—specifically, hafted end scrapers—were redesigned to facilitate the processing of a broader range of resources as colonizing populations moved into the forested environments of eastern North America from the west. We use a large sample from the Nobles Pond site, morphometic variables, and high-powered microwear to evaluate the effects of design and reduction as they bear on this generalization. Results do not support Wilmsen’s model, and, more generally, we conclude that an understanding of form and function in reductive technologies comes not only from an appreciation of the planned, stage-like change that is inherent in the design of reliable tools, but also from a consideration of the many contingencies and particular work situations that arise in the lives of mobile foragers.

Illuminating Activities at Paleo Crossing (33ME274) Through Microwear Analysis

Microwear analysis provides a means to extract important information on the activities conducted at Paleoindian sites from meager assemblages. Microwear analysis was conducted on a sample of 10 tools from the Paleo Crossing site in Medina County, Ohio. Tools analyzed included fluted points, end scrapers, blades, gravers, and unifacial knives. Wear patterns indicated that the tools were used to cut, scrape, engrave, and penetrate (i.e., via a projectile) such materials as soft plant, meat, hide, and bone/antler. Several of the tools were hafted and wear patterns were well developed overall. Based on this pilot study, comparison with microwear studies conducted on sites in the Great Lakes region and beyond suggests that Paleo Crossing provides new information on the number, as well as the types, of Paleoindian tools used to cut soft plant.

Upper Paleolithic Osseous Materials Artefacts from Piatra Neamț – Poiana Cireșului. 2010-2011 Excavation Campaigns

The 2010 and 2011 archaeological excavations from the well-known site from Piatra Neamţ-Poiana Cireşului, Neamţ County (dated from Upper Paleolithic – Gravettian culture) led by Professor Marin Cârciumaru (“Valahia” University, Târgovişte) offered the opportunity of recovering an assemblage of osseous materials artefacts comprising 11 pieces made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler. They were recovered from S VIII/2010 and S XI/2011. The importance of this assemblage is underlined by their rarity in the Romanian Upper Paleolithic discoveries. The typological classification revealed the existence of followings categories (according to Beldiman 2007 Typological List) : I. Tools ; II. Weapons ; V. Varia – Technical pieces, debris. The last category is predominant and it is represented by : segments of reindeer tines (5) and beam (1). They are followed by the finished objects (4) : an ivory spear point ; a reindeer spear point ; an end scraper made of reindeer tine ; an end scraper made of a fragment of reindeer beam. There is a single blank made of reindeer beam that probably was prepared to obtain an end scraper or a spear point. The analysis of the artefacts allowed us to observe some manufacturing schemes applied during the processing of reindeer antler or the manufacturing stages of certain types of pieces (ivory and reindeer spear points ; end scrapers made of reindeer tine or beam). Also, we could reconstruct the technological environment in which those artefacts were used. Here we may mention : the débitage of the reindeer antler by direct percussion/chopping with a massive lithic piece ; direct percussion/ fracture with a lithic hammer ; groove and splinter technique applied on the opposed surfaces of the reindeer beam with the purpose of detaching a segment or tine ; this was followed by the direct percussion/chopping. The shaping stage is represented by two simple procedures : axial scraping and direct percussion, followed by chopping technique. The intense axial scraping is used in order to obtain smooth surfaces ; this is the case of ivory and reindeer antler spear points. In order to obtain the active parts of the end scrapers the direct percussion/chopping, followed by the axial scraping were applied. There are no clear usewear traces because the surfaces were affected by the taphonomic processes like the corrosion produced by the soil acids and the roots of the plants, fissures and exfoliations etc. The osseous materials industry from the site attests some economic activities. The archaeological contexts connect the artefacts with hunting/ weaponry, with the processing of the reindeer carcasses/hides and with the process of transforming various raw materials. The artefact PNC/2010 5 offers an important clue regarding the season in which the site was inhabited. The piece is a base of a reindeer beam gathered in the autumn time (in October-November). This detail is added to the observations that were obtained during the archaeozoological analysis and it underlines the hypothesis according to which the site was inhabited during the autumn time. Even if the assemblage is composed of few artefacts, they offer important chrono-cultural and paleotechnological observations in terms of a complex and extensive approach of manifestations of civilisation and culture in the Paleolithic communities. The osseous materials industry analysed with this occasion is included in above mentioned context. In this respect, the general catalogue of discoveries was augmented with pieces that were used like spear armatures (made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler) or with tools (reindeer end scrapers used for carcass processing and for hides working. These could have also been used like daggers.). We have to underline the importance of the mammoth ivory piece that increases the number of these artefacts at 5 in Piatra Neamţ-Poiana Cireşului site. At the moment, this is the most important Romanian site with pieces made of ivory dated from the Upper Paleolithic.

Middle Holocene settlements on coastal dunes, southwest Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

The aim of this paper is to discuss hunter-gatherer settlements on coastal sand dunes in the Southwest of Buenos Aires Province (Argentina). Technological, archaeofaunal and radiocarbon information from Barrio Las Dunas site is presented, and compared with the context of other Pampean coastal sites. Barrio Las Dunas site is located on a sand dune and shows a hunter-gatherers settlement from 6900 14C BP. The archaeofaunal context demonstrates the exploitation of marine taxa: mammals (Otariidae) and fish (Pogonias cromis). Lithic tools such as end scrapers, side scrapers, denticulates, notches and many retouched flake tools were identified. Also, some carefully worked unifacial and bifacial tools were recovered. Artifacts were mainly manufactured from basalt, followed by quartzite and subarkose.The data presented supports some palaeoenvironmental considerations: first that the southwest Atlantic coast sand dunes of Buenos Aires province date from the Early-Middle Holocene and second, that Barrio Las Dunas site was next to a coastal lagoon or estuarine palaeoenvironment with a crab community. This context was appropriate for black drum feeding. Early-Middle Holocene sites from the area illustrate the variability of coastal environments when different landforms, which included lagoons, marsh, sand dunes and beaches, were present in the landscape. The sand dunes were used by hunter-gatherers in their periodic activities; e.g., lithic artifacts were manufactured and sea lions and black drums were butchered and eaten. This data in addition to the areal information show a complex use of the coast during this period.

The human occupation of the Benelux during the Younger Dryas

In the Benelux, the Federmesser population of the Allerød period seems to have disappeared at the onset of the Younger Dryas, which was a period of very cold conditions. The Ahrensburgian, a new group of people, occupied and expanded in the lowland and the higher country probably on a seasonal basis, during winter in the lowlands, and during the summer in the southern highland. In the Benelux, it can be defined typologically as an industry with numerous Zonhoven points, a variable number of Ahrensburgian points, numerous end scrapers and burins and no microburin technique. The origin of the Ahrensburgian remains fully unclear. We suggest that the Benelux Ahrensburgian is older than the north European one. At the end of the Younger Dryas and early Preboreal the whole Benelux, northern France, the dry southern North Sea and Southern England was used by Ahrensburgian groups. The late Ahrensburgian groups gave birth to the early Mesolithic and a continuous occupation of the Benelux.

Use Angle and Motional Direction of End Scrapers: A Case Study of the Palaeolithic in Hokkaido, Japan

This article examines the direction of tool movement of end scrapers used by Palaeolithic peoples for hide-working in the Japanese Islands. Specimens are approximately 400 end scrapers from three sites dated to the first half of the late Palaeolithic in Hokkaido, northern Japan. As a result of examination using a method combining the high-power approach of lithic use-wear analysis with a replication technique for measuring the edge angle and the use angle, it was clarified that end scrapers were used only for hideworking. They were classified into four groups: (1) relatively short end scrapers used in a pulling motion (group A); (2) relatively short end scrapers used in a pushing motion (group B); (3) relatively long and large end scrapers used in a pulling motion (group C); and (4) relatively long and large end scrapers used in a pushing motion (group D). Groups B and D (i.e., for pushing motion) are dominant among whole specimens. This study will contribute significantly to the investigation of tool use strategies, curation systems, and the reduction sequences of end scrapers when compared with results of techno-morphological research. At the same time, the methodology performed for this article enabled to change of needs for hide products in prehistoric society.

Pontecosi : un site aurignacien en Toscane (Italie)

Three excavation campaigns at the Tuscan open air site of Pontecosi, near Lucca (Tuscany, Italy) have yielded a rich artefact series signing the presence of Aurignacian populations in this part of peninsular Italy. Abruptly backed points associated with typical carinated or “à museau” end scrapers most probably indicate the recent character of this Tuscan Aurignacian.

Un habitat azilien en Anjou : les Chaloignes à Mozé-sur-Louet (Maine-et-Loire)

The site of Chaloignes (Mozé-sur-Louet, Maine-et-Loire) was excavated in 1999 over surface of 9200 m2. This work led to the first description of a complex habitat of the Final Palaeolithic on the Armorican Massif and clarified our image of Azilian technical choices. The immediate environment was strongly influenced by the Loire River, with 10 km of banks accessible within a range of 5 km. Three small thalwegs converge in this “ basin”, which is closed by a narrow outlet associated with a quartz vein. This natural deposition favoured the preservation of Tardiglacial levels, sometimes under a Middle La Tène habitat (northern part of the site), and sometimes directly under the topsoil (southern part of the site). The habitats are sealed by colluviums in all the valleys. Geomorphological and micromorphological analyses show evidence for a first phase of erosion during a periglacial climatic period, followed by a complex phase of silt deposits with Azilian remains lying on top of them. The deposition of this level at this moment attests to improvement in climatic conditions that we correlate with the Alleröd interstadial. These deposits later show elements indicating a new period of cold conditions (Late Dryas) and sedimentary truncations. The lithic artefacts that can be attributed to the Azilian were found within ten homogeneous loci, two homogeneous zones and two others with a strong Azilian component along with posterior intrusions. There is an additional locus dated to the Final Neolithic. The spatial units cover 25 m2 to 70 m2. There is construction, hearth, rubified zone or wall effect is perceptible. The preservation of organic materials is compromised by the acidity of the sediments of the Armorican Massif. The flint knappers at Chaloignes most often acquired their raw materials from the closest sources. These materials consist essentially of cobbles from the Loire terraces, the closest of which were located less than 2 km away. In variable proportions in the loci, we also identified ten materials with a non-rolled cortex that originate from the sedimentary basins. Ochre was gathered from the Armorican sandstone formations, located around 10 km north of the site, perhaps under the current city of Angers or more to the north on the edge of the Armorican Massif. The objectives of the lithic production sequence were double : to produce small, rectilinear blade blanks to be transformed into projectile weapon elements and short flakes with a consistent thickness to be transformed into scrapers. The debitage is mostly bipolar and realized with hard stone hammer and little striking platform preparation. The principal tools in this Azilian assemblage from Chaloignes are asymmetric monopoints with an arched back (Azilian Points), a few backed bladelets, burins on a truncation or break, thumbnail scrapers and end scrapers on blades. This industry presents a sufficient number of elements to attribute it to either to a late phase of the Azilian, or to the monopoint phase at the end of the Alleröd interstadial (around 10,800 BP, or 11,000 BC). All of the tool types are represented at all of the loci ; a detailed analysis of the proportions of types nonetheless indicates a possible spatial segmentation of activities. A functional analysis showed that in addition to the hunting activities directly demonstrated by the presence of weapon elements, the technical processes identified were mostly associated with skin and bone working. Many of the lithic objects were abandoned in place without having been used. Locus 11 is the only one that yielded three cobbles engraved with fine, parallel lines. These objects were found in a clear stratigraphic position and can thus be associated with certitude to the Azilian occupation. The functioning of the loci was probably discontinuous in time. The “ basin” of Chaloignes, which was sheltered from the wind and contained a spring, must have offered certain advantages to groups exploiting this side of the Loire Valley : the forest cover was perhaps more developed here than on the step with Poaceae described by palynological analyses in the Mayenne department. The economic territory was influenced by the Loire, which composed a vast intersection between several rivers.

Microwear Analysis of Retouched Glass Fragments from Fortlet Miñana, Azul, Argentina, 1860–1863

This paper presents the results of a microscopic analysis conducted on supposedly retouched glass fragments that were likely used as tools. The pieces were recovered in a series of excavations performed at the historical site of Fortlet Minana (1860–1869), a military settlement used during the war against the Indians on the southern border of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The use of glass as raw material in archaeological sites of the historic period has frequently been reported in the Pampas and Patagonian regions. In this paper we present a review of ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources concerning the use of glass side scrapers, end scrapers, and arrowheads by aboriginal groups throughout the world. In order to perform the analysis, the glass fragments from Fortlet Minana were compared to a series of experimental pieces on which traces of deliberate use on two kinds of raw material, wood and hide, were identified. The experimental approach and the microscopic analysis demonstrate that the retouched glass fragments recovered at Fortlet Minana were not used as tools. Therefore, we conclude that microscopic analysis is of significant use to all researchers working with materials of this kind.