Lithic Use-wear Analysis Research Articles

Experimental replication of early human behaviour in bird preparation: a pilot-study focusing on bone surface modification and breakage patterns

The origin of complex behaviour amongst early humans is a subject of heated debate within the scientific community, and the study of small prey remains has become a significant aspect when examining such modern behaviour. Nonetheless, the consumption of small prey by human populations poses analytical difficulties due to the often negligible, or entirely absent, traces on bone surfaces. To address this difficulty, an experimental study focusing on terrestrial avifauna has been prepared, and here we present a preliminary phase of this research. The aim is to distinguish potential modifications on bird bone surfaces and fracture patterns that might facilitate the recognition of human manipulation of avian skeletal remains. Building upon the challenges encountered in the study of archaeological findings recovered from recent excavations in Iberian Middle Palaeolithic sites, the experimental protocol was formulated to encompass the processing of two uncooked and three roasted birds; and the lithic use-wear analysis of the flint flake used in the processing of raw birds. The results showcase distinct patterns of bone surface modifications and breakage between cooked and uncooked birds. Higher numbers of cut marks and manual disarticulation breaks are found on raw animals, whereas roasted animals show no cut marks, local-specific burns and higher bone loss. This pilot-study provides a baseline for future research to further explore the role of avifauna in Neanderthal subsistence and food processing, which may help highlight cultural choices.

Through Time: Reconstructing Palaeolithic Occupations Through Use-Wear Analysis in the Middle Palaeolithic Site of Ciota Ciara (Borgosesia, Italy)

Lithic use-wear analysis, through defining site function and allowing reconstructing of patterns of human occupation, can contribute to our understanding of archaeological palimpsests. The Ciota Ciara cave represents an excellent case study for this methodology. Multidisciplinary research so far conducted on the materials recovered from the atrial sector of the cave distinguishes three archaeological units from a Middle Palaeolithic occupation of the site: stratigraphic units (SUs) 13, 14, and 15. Each unit is interpreted as referring to a period of numerous, superimposed episodes of human occupation, the characteristics of which we try to reconstruct and present in this work through use-wear studies. The functional analysis of lithic industries from the upper units (13 and 14) has already been published previously; here, we report corresponding new data from the lowest level, SU 15. By comparing the use-wear results from the three units and integrating the findings with data from the geoarchaeological, palaeontological, zooarchaeological, and technological studies, we attempt to reconstruct the different phases of human occupation represented in the site through time, contributing to current interpretations regarding settlement dynamics and human behaviour in the Middle Palaeolithic of north-western Italy.

Lithic usewear confirms the function of Wilamaya Patjxa projectile points

Approximately 9000 years ago at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa, forager communities interred female and male individuals with projectile points, suggesting that large-mammal hunting may have been a gender neutral activity among that community. We report a lithic usewear analysis, which confirms that the ostensible projectile points were indeed used as projectile points. The data further reveal evidence of cutting and hide scraping consistent with animal processing activities. A new radiocarbon date shows that the female and male individuals were contemporaries, or nearly so, sometime between 9.0 and 8.7 cal. ka. These findings support a model of early subsistence practices in which both female and male individuals at Wilamaya Patjxa hunted large mammals.

Barely scratched the surface: Development and future directions of lithic use-wear analysis in Island Southeast Asia

Use-wear, microwear, or traceological analysis is a method for the identification of prehistoric tool use and associated activities. While this method can be applied to any lithic and some non-lithic materials, use-wear analysis plays, in particular, an important role in understanding amorphous flake tools from Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) during the Late Pleistocene. The absence of formal tool types, including those that are considered as ‘projectiles’ or ‘hafted’ implements, may have hindered our views regarding the actual role these tools played in the development of cognition, behavioural capacity, and complex technologies in the region. Use-wear analysis of unretouched flakes, however, indicate that these were used in a variety of activities, beyond simple actions such as cutting or scraping. In this paper, we provide an overview of the beginnings and development of use-wear analysis in ISEA. Then, we discuss its role in addressing issues such as the bamboo hypothesis, the interpretation of the apparent absence of ‘complex’ lithic technologies from a functional point of view, and in the context of the chronological development of lithic technology. Technological and traceological studies in the region often highlight the presumed presence of a bamboo technology in the past. However, there seem to be limited recurring microscopic wear traces that would allow to verify the hypothetical presence of a ‘vegetal technology’ that would make up for the seemingly simple lithic technology in ISEA. An evaluation of the current state of the art and future directions of use-wear analysis attempts to provide context for the current understanding of prehistoric technology in ISEA. In general, this paper critically examines the development of use-wear analysis as a specialisation in archaeology that was established and developed in the region out of necessity.

Highlighting the Diversity of Food Practices in the First Mediterranean Farming Societies

As new discoveries are made, the diet of the earliest agro-pastoral communities of the Mediterranean, which was initially seen as homogeneous, is revealed to be increasingly varied. However, diversity in the Neolithic food practices remains difficult to grasp because of the scarcity of large-scale diachronic and synchronic syntheses published on food remains (faunal and botanical remains), human bones (teeth lesions), kitchen utensils (ceramic and stone vessels, grinding stones, knapped flint tools), storage and cooking installations (silos, ovens, hearths). This special issue aims to shed light on the great diversity of food resources exploited and the ways of procuring, storing and preparing them among the first Mediterranean farmers by bringing together contributions from scholars who are specialized in various ‘‘areas’’ (eastern vs western Mediterranean) and disciplinary fields (archaeology, archaeozoology, archaeobotany, physical anthropology, lithic usewear analysis). Together these contributions open up new ways of understanding the Neolithization processes in the Mediterranean area from the perspective of food traditions.

The Effect of Heat on Lithic Microwear Traces: An Experimental Assessment

ABSTRACTDespite decades of study of post-depositional surface modification by lithic use-wear analysts, the impact of heat remains underexplored. In this paper, we present the results of an experiment designed to test the effects of heat on chert tools with well-developed wood polish. We placed 50 flakes at varying positions in and around a wood fueled hearth. Visual examination of the wood polish before and after exposure to the fire identified no discernable alterations to its texture, brightness, or extent. These results indicate that the specific conditions of thermal alteration reported here may not inhibit lithic use-wear analysis on fine-grained chert implements with wood polish, ultimately highlighting the need for further experimentation on additional lithic materials and types of polish. Given that this experiment was inspired by analysis of stone tools from ephemeral hunter-gatherer camps, we consider the implications of this experiment for the analysis of chert tools at these sites.

Progress, problem and prospect: An overview of lithic use-wear study in China

Lithic use-wear analysis, became one of the major techniques of lithic studies in Europe and North America during 1980–1990s, was not fully and widely adopted in China until the beginning of 21st century. Over the past decades, the lithic use-wear study in China has made significant progress. This article reviews the history and development of lithic use-wear analysis in China, investigates recent international improvements and trends briefly, and then attempts to find new directions and suggestions. On the one hand, Chinese use-wear specialists have being contributed to world archaeology by: 1) supplementing the database of use-wear, and providing more regional case studies which promoted the knowledge of the prehistoric human evolution and adaptation; 2) conducting experiments on special raw materials, and providing a partial set of references of tool usage patterns in China to foreign colleagues; 3) improving understanding of subsistence strategies and origin of agriculture in China. On the other hand, some problems or limitations are still need to be considered by Chinese colleagues for lithic functional studies. And then, I suggested that we can make some adjustments and improvements through multi-disciplinary approaches, as well as train more young specialists and students and investigate more regional cases in China.

Function and behaviour: use-wear evidence from Upper Paleolithic tools in southern Shanxi Province, North China

Lithic use-wear analysis has become a principal approach for interpreting the function of stone tools and inferring human behaviour. This study presents the results of use-wear analysis on lithic tools excavated from the Upper Paleolithic sites of Xiachuan and Chaisi in the southern part of Shanxi Province, North China. In this study, microblades and so-called core-like tools from these two sites were selected for examination by low-power techniques to identify their use patterns. The results suggest that approx. 30% of microblades might have been used mainly to process animal substances, and a lower percentage for vegetal substances. Based on the use-wear evidence, items classified as core-like tools should be regarded as microblade-cores, since they exhibit few traces of utilisation.

Lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (Cape St. Vicente, southern Portugal): insights into human technology and settlement in southwestern Iberia

During the Upper Paleolithic, lithic variability is one of the most important keys to recognize hunter-gatherer behavior, technology, ecology, and social dynamics. The origin and expansion of Gravettian populations in Eurasia has been seen as one of the most critical episodes in human evolution, argued to be the first clear evidence of the so-called polymorphism among modern human populations. In the case of southern Iberian Peninsula, recent data have shown a new regional and diachronic organization for the Gravettian occupation in this region. Therefore, the interpretation of such variability is one of the most important questions, and functional analysis is a fundamental proxy to recognize human technological, settlement and ecological adaptations as major factors for this polymorphism. This study focused on lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (southern Portugal), in order to understand lithic technological organization and variability within and between occupations at the site. Results show similar patterns between assemblages, showing that different materials were worked at the site, although showing reduced time of work, low variability and percentage of pieces used. Unlike other Gravettian contexts in southern Iberia, the Early Gravettian from Vale Boi is characterized by some variability of backed points, marked by the predominance of bipointed double-backed bladelets. Functional analysis of the Early Gravettian lithic industries of Vale Boi provide a new insight to interpret human technology and settlement strategy during the onset of Upper Paleolithic industries in western Eurasia.

Testing a taphonomic predictive model of edge damage formation with Middle Stone Age points from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B and Die Kelders Cave 1, South Africa

The interpretation of taphonomic and behavioral lithic edge wear formation is complicated by equifinality of edge damage morphologies. Rejecting hypotheses that edge damage originates from taphonomic processes is standard practice for many archaeological analyses and should be incorporated into lithic use-wear more explicitly. Quantitative hypothesis testing is advocated here, and facilitated by recording edge wear observations in an image referenced GIS spatial environment. A taphonomic predictive model was generated using trampling and flint-knapping experiments. Trampling experiments were conducted to determine how edge damage is distributed along tool edges due to non-use related, taphonomic processes. Experiments designed to test the assumption that undisturbed flakes do not preferentially orient either surface side-up (dorsal or ventral) were performed. Furthermore, it is argued that artifact orientation data, if available, can also be used to assess whether the frequency of edge damage is correlated with the degree of disturbance. This taphonomic predictive model is then statistically compared with frequency and distribution edge damage data from two South African Middle Stone Age sites. The research presented here illustrates the usefulness of edge damage distribution analysis for accounting for taphonomic processes as causal agents of edge damage formation, and strengthening behavioral interpretations regarding tool function. Bringing tool wear observations into a uniform spatial structure is one avenue for standardization of lithic use-wear analysis.

A review of quantification of lithic use-wear using laser profilometry: a method based on metrology and fractal analysis

Over a decade of experimental lithic use-wear analysis using laser profilometry has led to the development of a method to measure surface modification due to wear in a reliable fashion. This research demonstrates that surface roughness can be documented on experimental stone tools made from a variety of raw material types, including chert, flint, and obsidian, using the laser profilometer, but that determining root mean square roughness (Rq) and a fractal dimension (Dr) may not always be possible. However, when coupled with scale-sensitive fractal analysis, specifically relative length (RL), and the F-test (MSR), it is possible to mathematically discriminate both used and unused surfaces on flint flakes, as well as used flake surfaces worn against different contact materials. This research has also identified some potential limitations associated with measuring stone tool surfaces using the profilometer, which affect this method's ability to quantify surface roughness on some experimental stone tools.

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.

Use-wear evidence confirms the earliest hafted chipped-stone adzes of Upper Palaeolithic in northern China

Chipped-stone “adze-shaped objects” (ASOs) were identified from a few Upper Palaeolithic sites in northern China. Its morphological form resembles to ground-stone type-specific adze, but the function of the ASO has never been assessed. The objective of this study is to investigate the use function of this particular tool type recovered from the Hutouliang site in the Nihewan Basin of northern China. In this study, the lithic use-wear analysis is applied to examining microscopically edge-damages and surface-rounding of the tools in order to assess how they were employed. The result suggests that the ASO might have been used as woodworking tools with a hafted shaft, providing evidence for the appearance of the earliest hafted chipped-stone adzes prior to 10000 years ago in northern China. This study also demonstrates that the use-wear technique is an innovated and effective analytic appraoch to the study of stone tool functions that has been conventionally treated by typo-technological analyses. Stone tool use-patterns revealed by use-wear evidence would shed new insights on prehistoric adaptive strategies of modern human in northern China.

Interpreting Wichita Lifeways at the Cusp of Contact

The Lasley Vore site (34TU65), located 21 km south of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a protohistoric Wichita settlement aggregation that was thoroughly investigated in 1988. Although not as large as some late prehistoric settlements north of there, the author argues that Lasley Vore represents a single-occupation Wichita village that was inhabited at the very cusp of contact with the French. Despite a lack of discernible dwellings, several clues have permitted a reconstruction of certain aspects of the village during this period. Notably, a study of pottery clays has suggested that not all occupants came from the same region, and a lithic use-wear analysis has isolated areas in which specific activities were conducted. These studies flesh out a picture of Wichita settlement as a multi-ethnic mix of people practicing a variety of tasks at specific locales.

High-Resolution Casts for Lithic Use-Wear Analysis

ABSTRACTThis paper describes a method for creating positive epoxy casts of lithic artifacts that can be subjected to use-wear examination. This method overcomes problems associated with examining patinated artifactsfor microscopie traces of use and limitations documented for other casting methodologies. These limitations include having to work with negative casts or surface peels, air bubbles on cast surfaces, and long-term east integrity. To demonstrate the utility andaccuracy of the described casting methodology, use-wear features were documented on a sample of patinated Middle Paleolithic stone tools from the site of Solutré-Village (Saône-et-Loire), France. Epoxy casts were made of these tools, and the same use-wear features observed on the tools were located and documents on the casts. The results demonstrate that this methodology allows for the systematic functional analysis of stone tool assemblages independent of artifact color or chemical weathering.

Some Preliminary Observations on Subsurface Damage on Experimental and Archaeological Quartz Tools using CLSM and Dye

Lithic use-wear analysis mainly deals with use-wear features which can be observed on the surface of stone tools but a major part of the wear of brittle material is found under the surface. This wear might also be a clue to the interpretation of archaeological stone tools. In this paper we try to examine subsurface damage on experimental and archaeological quartz tools by dying them with fluorescent colour and scanning them with a CLSM. This method shows that various worked materials cause different subsurface damage, which is related to the hardness of the worked material.

UBM Laser Profilometry and Lithic Use-Wear Analysis: A Variable Length Scale Investigation of Surface Topography

Lithic use-wear analysis, despite being a well-accepted research tool, is still undermined by its qualitative nature. An effort has been made to quantify use-wear analysis, but only with limited success. This paper will present a new method of analysis based on a non-destructive measurement technique, laser profilometry. This optical technique, when coupled with appropriate software, allows for easy measurement of roughness parameters at several length scales. This accounts for the length-scale dependence of surface topography and allows for its quantitative description. Further, the information from this type of measurement can, in some cases, be described by fractal geometry leading to new interpretive possibilities. Initial results showed that measurements could be made on several different chert and obsidian samples and that these could be distinguished based on their wear histories.

On Accuracy and Revelance in Lithic Use-wear Analysis

Discussion of the high magnification/microwear and low magnification/edge-damage techniques of lithic use-wear analysis has been impeded by the use of a single set of accuracy estimates for the latter. The results of six blind test results, apparently indicated almost equal abilities of individuals using microwear and edge damage techniques to determine stone tool uses. The rapid artifact-processing rate of the edge damage approach allows a more inclusive sampling of the archaeological record and a more direct assessment of inter-assemblage functional variability. To increase the relevance of lithic use-wear data, analysts must provide archaeologists with convincing evidence of their own accuracy.

Use-Wear Analysis of Flaked Stone Tools.

This important new methodologically-oriented work represents a major step forward in the expanding field of traceological studies...The text is exceptionally well written and documented. Schematic artifacts line drawings ...clearly indicate different use zones on edges and are preceded by a coded use-type key. The 280 x photomicrographs in section III are exceptional as is also the presentation of qualitative and quantitative data. American Antiquity Vaughan's monograph provides a thorough treatment of the high-power microscopic approach to lithic use-wear analysis and will contribute to the resolution of this issue...An excellent introduction to the subject. North American Arcaeologist

An evaluation of Keeley's microwear approach

Lawrence Keeley has developed a microwear approach to lithic use-wear analysis which he claims will enable an investigator to reconstruct aspects of implement function. A notable feature of his approach is the assertion that distinctive wear-polishes form as a result of contact with specific worked materials, making the identification of worked materials possible. To verify the power of this approach, an independent “blind test” was conducted in which Keeley attempted to identify the uses of a set of experimental implements. While the test results support the utility of Keeley's approach in identifying worn areas on an implement and kinematics of use, we suggest the results do not demonstrate the existence of characteristic wear-polishes and thus question the efficacy of this technique in identifying worked materials. A reply by Keeley to this evaluation follows this paper.