Making Stone Tools Research Articles

Design and development of a sensorized hammerstone for accurate force measurement in stone knapping experiments.

The process of making stone tools, specifically knapping, is a hominin behaviour that typically involves using the upper limb to manipulate a stone hammer and apply concentrated percussive force to another stone, causing fracture and detachment of stone chips with sharp edges. To understand the emergence and subsequent evolution of tool-related behaviours in hominins, the connections between the mechanics of stone knapping, including the delivery of percussive forces, and biomechanics and hominin anatomy, especially in the upper limb, are required. However, there is an absence of direct experimental means to measure the actual forces generated and applied to produce flakes during knapping. Our study introduces a novel solution to this problem in the form of an ergonomic hand-held synthetic hammerstone that can record the percussive forces that occur during knapping experiments. This hammerstone is composed of a deformable pneumatic 3D-printed chamber encased within a 3D-printed grip and a stone-milled striker. During knapping, hammer impact causes the pneumatic chamber to deform, which leads to a change in pressure that is measured by a sensor. Comparisons of recorded pressure data against corresponding force values measured using a force plate show that the synthetic hammer quantifies percussion forces with relatively high accuracy. The performance of this hammerstone was further validated by conducting anvil-supported knapping experiments on glass that resulted in a root mean square error of under 6%, while recording forces up to 730 N with successful flake detachments. These validation results indicate that accuracy was not sensitive to variations up to 15° from the vertical in the hammer striking angle. Our approach allows future studies to directly examine the role of percussive force during the stone knapping process and its relationship with both anatomical and technological changes during human evolution.

구석기시대 사용된 자갈돌의 시론적 연구

Paleolithic people made and used tools from a variety of materials, including stone, bone, antler, and wood. In particular, based on stone tools found in Paleolithic sites, many researchers have made an effort to reveal the function of the site and the life and culture of the people. It has found not only cores, flakes, retouched tools, but also pebbles that were not retouched but had traces by use in Paleolithic sites. Although utilized pebbles have been continuously used in the Paleolithic, they have not been treated much as a subject of research. So we will try to understand various functions of utilized pebbles through use-wear analysis, experiments, and ethnographic research. There are many different types of utilized pebbles in Paleolithic sites, but they can be largely categorized as hammer stones, anvil stones, pitted stones, and ground stones. Hammer stones can be used alone or in combination with other tools. It is generally assumed that they were used to make stone tools, but they were used for a variety of purposes. Anvil stones were used alone as hammer stones for knapping big stones, or such as bipolar debitage in combination with hammer stones, or to crack bones or hard fruits. Pitted stones have the function of both a hammer and an anvil. Depending on the size and depth of the pits formed on the pebble, it can be assumed that it was used for various functions, such as making stone tools and breaking hard fruits, nuts. Ground stones have grinding or stripe traces on the surface, and it is likely that they were used to work with leather, bone, and antler. Utilized Pebbles had been used as tools by people for a long time since the Paleolithic and reflected the technology, activities, and culture of the people at that time. Various types of utilized pebbles, including hammer and anvil stones, have been identified in Paleolithic sites on the Korean Peninsula. If studies on the utilized pebbles are accumulated, it is expected that we have dynamic interpretations related to the technological and economic activities of Paleolithic people.

Joe Louis: A Late Fisher Phase Village on the Little Calumet River

Abstract Excavations at the Joe Louis site (11CK284) in northeastern Illinois provide insight into village life along the Little Calumet River between the mid-fourteenth and late fifteenth centuries AD. In addition to evidence for their horticultural and other subsistence activities, the assemblage shows that site occupants were making stone tools and pottery, processing hides, making clothing, and possibly producing bird-wing fans. Structured deposits of bone and antler hoes, mussel shell, and specific plant and animal remains document the relational entanglements of the site's occupants, both human and otherwise. Given the geographically central location of the site at the margins of two major cultural areas (Oneota and Fort Ancient), as well as the overlapping boundaries with Langford and Huber peoples, Joe Louis villagers may have been actively negotiating social networks and identities through their material products as well as ritual gatherings. These negotiations may have enabled and encouraged coalescent occupations (Langford and Fisher, Fisher and Huber) at other sites in the region.

Did Early Pleistocene hominins control hammer strike angles when making stone tools?

In the study of Early Pleistocene stone artifacts, researchers have made considerable progress in reconstructing the technical decisions of hominins by examining various aspects of lithic technology, such as reduction sequences, hammer selection, platform preparation, core management, and raw material selection. By comparison, our understanding of the ways in which Early Pleistocene hominins controlled the delivery and application of percussive force during flaking remains limited. In this study, we focus on a key aspect of force delivery in stone knapping, namely the hammerstone striking angle (or the angle of blow), which has been shown to play a significant role in determining the knapping outcome. Using a dataset consists of 12 Early Pleistocene flake assemblages dated from 1.95 Ma to 1.4 Ma, we examined temporal patterns of the hammer striking angle by quantifying the bulb angle, a property of the flake's Hertzian cone that reflects the hammer striking angle used in flake production. We further included a Middle Paleolithic flake assemblage as a point of comparison from a later time period. In the Early Pleistocene dataset, we observed an increased association between the bulb angle and other flake variables related to flake size over time, a pattern similarly found in the Middle Paleolithic assemblage. These findings suggest that, towards the Oldowan–Acheulean transition, hominins began to systematically adjust the hammer striking angle in accordance with platform variables to detach flakes of different sizes more effectively, implying the development of a more comprehensive understanding of the role of the angle of blow in flake formation by ∼1.5 Ma.

Beyond the genus stereotype. Who were the first toolmarkers in Africa? Crossed views between archaeology and anatomy

The evolutionary history of hominins and archaeological assemblages has become considerably more complex in the last twenty-five years due to the contribution of innovative analytical methods and new archaeological and paleoanthropological discoveries. The discoveries unearthed in eastern and southern Africa show a high biological and cultural diversity. But what is the nature of the relationships between hominins and the different material cultures? Singularity or plurality of the stone and bone-tool makers and archaeological assemblages? We propose a crossed view on these questions based on investigations of hominin/culture associations in the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene fieldwork records, morphology-underlying hominins with manual skills as well on interdisciplinary research conducted recently. Our work highlights the plurality of bone and stone toolmakers, in particular Paranthropus, H. habilis and H. erectus/ergaster for Oldowan assemblages. Similarly, in terms of anatomy, the type of dexterity required to make Oldowan assemblages is likely not limited to Homo genus. The frequency of Paranthropus remains associated with Oldowan assemblages is not negligible and insignificant. The occurrences between Oldowan assemblages and Paranthropus seem not to be coincidental and Paranthropus should be therefore considered as a stone and bone-tool maker in the same way as it is for early Homo.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF GUA PELANGI, JELEBU, NEGERI SEMBILAN, MALAYSIA: ITS POTENTIAL AS A HERITAGE TOURISM SITE

Archaeological studies conducted in Gua Pelangi, Negeri Sembilan have been able to find an early civilization aged between 14,000 to 9,000 thousand years ago which was used as a shelter from hot rain and wild animals, in addition to making stone tools and food preparation. The interpretation was based on the findings of 299 lithic artifacts, 52,929 faunal remains and evidence of burning such as ash, charcoal and burning sediments that are still in situ have been recorded. This site is also used as a workshop for the manufacture of stone tools with the presence of hammer stone, cores, anvil, flake, chopper and debitage. Analysis of the fauna remains found clearly shows that this community hunts and collects terrestrial, arboreal/semi-arboreal and aquatic/semi-aquatic vertebrate animals and mollusk shells. Based on the scientific evidence, ecotourism activities involving cave exploration, pioneering and jungle trekking, camping, limestone hill climbing, cooking demonstrations in the forest and visits to local community villages have been carried out. This shows that efforts to develop Gua Pelangi into a tourism product have begun and this is able to develop the economy of the local community in the area.

Древняя «каменоломня» на Канозере: следы разработки камня и новые петроглифы панели Каменный 5

It is known that some sites of rock art finds coexist with traces of mining: stone material for making tools, asbestos for ceramics, ocher for paint, etc. The petroglyphs of Kanozero also turned out to be associated with “mining”. So, near the group of petroglyphs Kamenny 5 on Kamenny Island, a rocky area was discovered where crystalline schist was mined, probably used to make stone tools. The article provides a description of the traces of mining at this rock outcrop, the stages of separating stone blocks that could be traced. A discussion is proposed regarding the connection of this mining of stone with making of petroglyphs. Recently discovered petroglyphs of this panel are also published.

Maltese chert: An archaeological perspective on raw material and lithic technology in the central Mediterranean

The Maltese Islands in the central Mediterranean are renowned for their prehistoric archaeological record, particularly the megalithic ‘temples’ and associated ceramics and artwork. The temples were built by a society lacking metal technology, who relied on stone and organic materials. Knapped stone tool (lithic) technology, to produce sharp edged tools for tasks like cutting, hide working, and wood shaping offers insights into human behaviour in Malta, as well as into themes of exchange and connectivity. As well as imported chert and obsidian, local chert was widely used to make stone tools in prehistoric Malta. The local chert has generally been described as low-quality, yet relatively little research has been conducted on its distribution, characteristics, and use. In this paper I report a survey of chert sources, identifying a wider distribution of chert outcrops along the west coast of Malta than previously discussed. Some general macroscopic properties are outlined, as well as aspects of variability in the chert sources. Knapping experiments were then conducted on samples of chert collected, allowing clarification of its characteristics. These observations are used to offer some insights into lithic technology in Neolithic and Temple Period Malta, such as the hypothesis that the high frequencies of multidirectional flake production and subsequent ‘scraper retouch’ reflect adaptations to the characteristics of local chert.

Submarine volcanic activity and giant amygdale formation along the Panama island arc as a precursor to 6000-year-old agate exploitation on Pedro González Island

AbstractAn extensive deposit of agate occurs in Pedro González Island in the Gulf of Panama. Previous archaeological research showed that the agate was exploited between 6200 and 5600 cal BP to make stone tools found at the oldest known Preceramic human settlement in the Pearl Island archipelago. We constrain here the origin and geological context of the agate through a geological and geochemical study of the island. We show that it includes primary volcanic breccias, lavas, and tuffaceous marine deposits with sedimentary conglomerates and debris flow deposits, which we define as the Pedro González Formation. This formation records submarine to subaerial volcanic activity along an island arc during the Oligo-Miocene, confirming previous regional models that favour progressive emergence of the isthmus in the early Miocene. The igneous rocks have an extreme tholeiitic character that is interpreted to reflect magmatic cessation in eastern Panama during the early Miocene. The agate is hosted in andesitic lavas in unusually large amygdales up to 20–40 cm in diameter, as well as small amygdales (0.1–1.0 cm) in a bimodal distribution, and in veins. The large size of the agates made them suitable for tool manufacture. Field evidence suggests that the formation of large amygdales resulted from subaqueous lava–sediment interaction, in which water released from unconsolidated tuffaceous deposits at the base of lava flows rose through the lavas, coalesced, and accumulated below the chilled lava top, with subsequent hydrothermal mineralization. These amygdales could therefore be regarded as an unusual result of combined peperitic and hydrothermal processes.

Insular networks: An exploration of material distribution, insularity and island identity on the edge of Europe in the Shetland Neolithic

Shortly after arriving in the Shetland archipelago early in the 4th millennium BC, communities began to quarry and make stone tools from riebeckite felsite, quarried from the Northmavine region of North Mainland. The effort expended traveling to the quarry sites, extracting, making and crafting tools was considerable indicating the importance of felsite to Neolithic communities. Results from the North Roe Felsite Project are presented in this paper. The quarrying and distribution of felsite in Shetland can tell us much about insularity, choice, and island identities on a wider scale. The geospatial distribution of 416 felsite tools from across the archipelago was explored. Felsite is used to make tools for utilitarian and ceremonial purposes and, with two exceptions compromising 0.33% of the total dataset, no tools can be securely provenanced outside of Shetland. At a time of increasing communications elsewhere in the Neolithic world, communities in Shetland appear to become focused on the archipelago. This insularity is also evident in contemporary material culture including pottery and funerary structures which do not follow mainland or Orcadian styles, strongly suggesting an island-focused society during this period. Recent radiocarbon dates suggest that these dynamics were established in the Early Neolithic, before 3500 BC. Felsite, therefore, allows us to explore the otherwise elusive early prehistory of the islands. The distribution network of tools from the quarry complex around the archipelago strongly indicates a preference for maritime travel and transportation, even where terrestrial routes are available. The patterns also suggest settlement and activity across Shetland with important foci at previously understudied locations across North and West Mainland. The study has considerable implications for understanding movement, choice, and identity in past island societies and their relationship to material culture.

Kinetics of stone tool production among novice and expert tool makers.

As is the case among many complex motor tasks that require prolonged practice before achieving expertise, aspects of the biomechanics of knapping vary according to the relative experience/skill level of the practitioner. In archaeological experiments focused on the production of Plio-Pleistocene stone tools, these skill-mediated biomechanical differences have bearings on experimental design, the interpretation of results, and lithic assemblage analysis. A robust body of work exists on variation in kinematic patterns across skill levels but less is known about potential kinetic differences. The current study was undertaken to better understand kinetic patterns observed across skill levels during "Oldowan," freehand stone tool production. Manual pressure data were collected from 23 novice and 9 expert stone tool makers during the production of simple stone flakes using direct hard hammer percussion. Results show that expert tool makers experienced significantly lower cumulative pressure magnitudes and pressure-time integral magnitudes compared with novices. In expert knappers, digits I and II experienced similarly high pressures (both peak pressure and pressure-time integrals) and low variability in pressure relative to digits III-V. Novices, in contrast, tended to hold hammerstones such that pressure patterns were similar across digits II-V, and they showed low variability on digit I only. The similar and consistent emphasis of the thumb by both skill groups indicates the importance of this digit in stabilizing the hammerstone. The emphasis placed on digit II is exclusive to expert knappers, and so this digit may offer osteological signals diagnostic of habitual expert tool production.

Thinking Outside the Box at Open-Air Archeological Contexts: Examples From Loess Landscapes in Southeast Romania

Stratified, well preserved sites preserving unambiguous geological and archaeological data from which human-environmental interactions can be reconstructed, are rare. More commonly we must test our hypotheses based on extrapolation of the few available sites, particularly in regions with high sedimentation rates. Here we test the idea of aggregating “off-sites” – human traces which provide isolated evidence of activity in an area – to maximizing the information which can meaningfully be extracted from Palaeolithic open-air contexts. We present two case studies from the sediment-rich loess steppe of southeast Romania, Lipniţa and Dealul Pesterica. Both off-sites preserve low density, undiagnostic lithic assemblages which may otherwise be overlooked in favour of more impressive sites. We constrain the timing of occupation at these two localities to c. 61ka and 34-41 ka at Lipniţa and Dealul Pesterica, and show that people were present near a river bank and on loess slopes respectively. Aggregation of data from the region suggests repeated visitation of riverine landscapes; additionally people likely ranged across landforms, particularly where raw material for making stone tools was plentiful. Our case studies demonstrate that empirical, incremental findings may still be generated from sites traditionally thought to be of little value. We argue that this approach is highly applicable to investigating the human implications for landscape context from archaeological traces in sediment-rich, open-air situations.

Hand grasping and finger flexion during Lower Paleolithic stone tool ergonomic exploration

Lower Paleolithic stone tool features and shape have been studied in detail; traceology and experimental archaeology have provided us with a lot of information about possible tool use and functionality. The way modern humans use these tools has been used as a proxy for the study of early stone tool-makers’ behavior, taking into account that our ancestors could have had similar manipulative capabilities to us. Less importance has been given to stone tool ergonomics, even if comfortable and ergonomic grasping prevent hand damage and improve tool use. Here, we measured the phalanx flexion of 82 subjects during comfortable stone tool handling for both Oldowan pebble tools and Acheulean handaxes. We expected differences in the pattern of phalanx flexion in the two tool types and in relation with tool dimensions. In fact, Oldowan pebble tools and handaxes show differences in finger flexion and in the single finger contribution to comfortable grasping.

Lithic Raw Materials in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, South Texas and Northeast Mexico

ABSTRACT Analysis of 976 lithic artifacts from twelve museum and private collections in the Lower Rio Grande Valley revealed a preference for seven rock types. Sixty nine percent of all tools were made from gravel chert, which is locally the most abundant rock type on the Frio and Goliad Formations, as well as on the gravels of the Rio Grande. Representing less than 10% each were, the local El Sauz Chert, a black banded metamorphic rock, volcanic rocks, agates, silicified wood, limestone and black chert. Variations in the relative proportion of each rock type are observed by location, suggesting a tendency to use other suitable rocks that were locally available. Contrary to what has been suggested an abundance of lithic resources were available to stone tool makers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This study underscores the value of working with collectors in regions where little archaeological research has been conducted.

Right or left? Determining the hand holding the tool from use traces

Currently, approximately 90% of the human population is right-handed. This handedness is due to the lateralization of the cerebral hemispheres and is controlled by brain areas involved in complex motor tasks such as making stone tools or in language. In addition to describing the evolution of laterality in humans, identifying hand preference in fossil hominids can improve our understanding of the emergence and development of complex cognitive faculties during evolution. Several fields of prehistory like palaeoanthropology or lithic analysis have already investigated handedness in fossils hominins but they face limitations due to either the incomplete or the composite state of the skeleton remains or to results replication or method application failure. Wear analysis could provide new complementary data about hand preference evolution and the development of certain complex cognitive functions using indirect evidence (use traces, micro-scars in particular) of the hand holding the stone tool during use. Controlled experiment has been carried out in order to establish a reference collection of tools used with the left and tools used with the right hand. Wear analysis was performed on this corpus using “classical” microscopic approach and geometric morphometric analysis. A machine learning algorithm, the k-NN method, was applied to verify if use traces (micro-scars) could help determine the hand holding the tool during use. The best model, based on parameters referring to invasiveness of micro-scars, was able to correctly determine the hand holding the tool with 75% accuracy.

Post-marital Residence Patterns in the Late Archaic Coastal Southeast USA: Similarities in Stone Tools Revealed by Geometric Morphometrics

Analyses of hafted biface shape using geometric morphometrics reveals similarities between assemblages recovered from two contemporaneous settlements located in coastal Georgia (USA), both dating to ca. 4200–3900 cal. B.P. This finding contradicts prior studies that demonstrated notable differences in pottery manufacture techniques used at each site. This pattern of similarity in one technology and differences in another suggests that residents of these settlements engaged in post-marital residence practices that resulted in potters remaining in their natal homes while stone tool makers were the post-marital mobile gender. Based on historic records, as well as limited archaeological studies, we posit that women were the primary producers of pottery and that matrilocality was a dominant practice in the region. This conclusion is strengthened by studies along nearby river valleys where similar patterns were observed. We posit that matrilocality was a means by which newly sedentary groups formed alliances, exchange relations, and social networks among and between one another even as mobility between regions decreased.

Applying Brantingham's neutral model of stone raw material procurement to the Pinnacle Point Middle Stone Age record, Western Cape, South Africa

The Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (PAP), when exposed, presented Middle Stone Age (MSA) foragers at Pinnacle Point (PP) on the South Coast of South Africa with new sources of raw materials to make stone tools. Sea-level fluctuations and the changing size of the Paleo-Agulhas Plain throughout the Pleistocene PP record ∼165 ka to 50 ka would have altered the availability of different resources, thus potentially forcing new raw material procurement strategies. The relative frequencies of raw material throughout the PP sequence shows that frequencies of raw material types did change, especially after 90 ka. What caused these changing frequencies is debated and centers on whether targeted procurement of specific raw materials was the cause, or if simple raw material availability and abundance due to the changing environmental context in conjunction with opportunistic procurement drove such shifts. The application of a neutral model of stone raw material procurement presented here evaluates whether random walk in the region surrounding the PP site during different coastline configurations (Marine Isotope Stage 6, 5, and 4) explains the observed shifts in raw material usage. Put differently, did opportunistic acquisition of raw materials during random walk in these different environments cause the observed raw material pattern? Model simulations and a sensitivity analysis provide no convincing evidence that observed raw material frequencies at PP resulted from opportunistic acquisition during random walk.

Local neotectonic restructuring in the North Caucasus orogene

Cases of regional neotectonic restructuring are well known in the Caucasus. Detailed geotectonic zoning and identification of local structural changes are required for the engineering geological and paleoecological studies. The Baksan River valley was studied in the North Caucasus as an example of such a restructuring. The problem about the number of Quaternary volcanogenic strata and their role in structural rearrangement is considered. The Pliocene – Plio-Pleistocene volcanogenic strata cloak-like covered the Nizhnechegemsky district before the first reconstruction. Zayuksky graben (with an amplitude of 200 m) was formed in the end of Plio-Pleistocene; and a part of Pliocene- Plio-Pleistocene volcanogenic strata sank into it. Two layers with a total thickness of more than 100 m were deposited in the resulting trough. The upper strata (baxangess) contain redeposited boulder-pebbly volcanogenic material. Colluvial, subaquatic-deltoid and lacustrian facies are registered. The orographic depression in Zayuksky graben was completely filled before Eopleistocene as a result of next restructuring. The Baksan River began to form a wide well-terraced valley without any significant left tributaries there. The baxangess strata contain pebble of liparite lavas and obsidians. This pebble was used by the Paleolithic man for making stone tools. Poor roundness of pebble indicates its short transportation distance. Contradictory ideas about the initial distribution of parental volcanic rocks are considered. It is concluded on the acuteness of identifying such neotectonic rearrangements for the analysis of various paleogeographic and paleoecological changes.

Feature Line Extraction of Stone Tools Based on Mahalanobis Distance Metric

Point-cloud-based technique plays a very significant role in 3D model restoration. In the archaeological application of stone tools, the scale drawing, which is hand-drawn from measured stone tools, is traditionally used. In the scale drawing creation, a base drawing which consists outline and ridge lines is initially drawn from geometric features of shape. After that other lines are extracted from knowledge of making stone tools and are added to the base drawing. It requires special knowledge to extract feature lines from stone tools so that scale drawing is time-consuming. Therefore, if the base drawing is automatically extracted, the working hours are reduced. To overcome this issue, this paper proposes a feature line extraction method using the Mahalanobis distance metric. First, the points on outline are extracted from a point cloud. Then, the surface variation is calculated with a various number of neighbors and thus the potential feature points are detected by the analysis of its surface variation. After that, the potential feature points are thinned towards the highest variation points by using Laplacian smoothing. Then, the thinned feature points are shrunk to the potential feature points. Finally, a feature line is extracted by connecting the nearest thinned feature points locating in the Mahalanobis distance field. To verify our method, the extracted feature lines are compared to the ground truth of base drawing drawn by archaeological illustrators. Our method is applied to stone tools, and we confirm the effectiveness of our method.

The Difference between Jurassic and Cretaceous Cherts in Central Europe and Its Heat Treatment before Stone Chip-Ping (Pilot Study)

Rock-magnetic methods prove that the cultures in Moravia (Europe) 15,000 - 11,500 years ago might know the technique how to enhance knapping properties of Jurassic chert and Cretaceous flint in order to make stone tools.