Controlled experiments in lithic technology and function

Marreiros, João; Pereira, Telmo; Ioviţă, Radu

doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01059-5

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…To isolate the effect of material hardness while maintaining reasonable costs and effort, we opted for a tightly controlled protocol [30,31]. Flint bits (Baltic/morainic flint from Denmark with nano-crystalline non-oriented chalcedony texture [25]) were rubbed against dry bone, antler, and wood (beechwood and spruce) using a tribometer at room temperature.…”

Section: Methods Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of worked material hardness on stone tool wear

Rodriguez¹,

Yanamandra²,

jd@nyu.edu³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The identification of ancient worked materials is one of the fundamental goals of lithic use wear analysis and one of the most important parts of understanding how stone tools were used in the past. Given the documented overlaps in wear patterns generated by different materials, it is imperative to understand how individual materials' mechanical properties might influence wear formation. Because isolating physical parameters and measuring their change is necessary for such an endeavor, controlled (rather than replicative) experiments combined with objective measurements of surface topography are necessary to better grasp how polish formed on stone tools. Therefore, we used a tribometer to wear natural flint surfaces against five materials (bone, antler, beech wood, spruce wood, and ivory) under the same force, and speed, over one, three, and five hours. The study aimed to test if there is a correlation between polish formation and the hardness of the worked material. We measured each raw material's hardness using nano-indentation test, and we compared the surface texture of the polished flint bits using a 3D optical profilometer. The interfacial detritus powder was analyzed with a scanning electron microscope to look for abraded flint particles. We demonstrate that, contrary to expectation, softer materials, such as wood, create smoother polishes than hard ones, such as ivory.

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Section: Methods Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of worked material hardness on stone tool wear

Rodriguez¹,

Yanamandra²,

jd@nyu.edu³

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Microstructural characteristics are also thought to potentially affect the size and/or shape of a final knapped product [2]. This is supported by replicative experiments conducted by contemporary knappers which have demonstrated that higher quality raw material has a direct influence on the manufacturing process [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Some scholars argue that a good raw material that is suitable for knapping should be brittle, elastic, and isotropic [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanical properties of lithic raw materials from Kazakhstan: Comparing chert, shale, and porphyry

et al. 2022

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The study of lithic raw material quality has become one of the major interpretive tools to investigate the raw material selection behaviour and its influence to the knapping technology. In order to make objective assessments of raw material quality, we need to measure their mechanical properties (e.g., fracture resistance, hardness, modulus of elasticity). However, such comprehensive investigations are lacking for the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan. In this work, we investigate geological and archaeological lithic raw material samples of chert, porphyry, and shale collected from the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (henceforth IAMC). Selected samples of aforementioned rocks were tested by means of Vickers and Knoop indentation methods to determine the main aspect of their mechanical properties: their indentation fracture resistance (a value closely related to fracture toughness). These tests were complemented by traditional petrographic studies to characterise the mineralogical composition and evaluate the level of impurities that could have potentially affected the mechanical properties. The results show that materials, such as porphyry possess fracture toughness values that can be compared to those of chert. Previously, porphyry was thought to be of lower quality due to the anisotropic composition and coarse feldspar and quartz phenocrysts embedded in a silica rich matrix. However, our analysis suggests that different raw materials are not different in terms of indentation fracture resistance. This work also offers first insight into the quality of archaeological porphyry that was utilised as a primary raw material at various Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor from 47–21 ka cal BP.

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“…Simple models allow for simple experimental designs that are more likely to yield “clean” interpretable results. In many ways, these models are similar to the kinds of controlled experiments that have become more common in lithic studies (Lin et al 2018; Marreiros et al 2020). Both emphasize variable control and manipulation so that the experimental outcomes can be attributed securely and causally to the experimental variables rather than confounded by “nuisance” factors (Lin et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Forager Mobility and Lithic Discard Probability Similarly Affect the Distance of Raw Material Discard from Source

Lin¹,

Premo²

2021

Am. Antiq.

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The neutral model of stone procurement developed by Brantingham (2003, 2006) provides a formal means to investigate the formation of lithic discard patterning under changing forager mobility conditions. This study modifies Brantingham's (2006) Lévy walk model to examine the influence of discard probability on the spatial distribution of raw material abundance. The model outcome shows that forager movement and tool discard probability have similar effects on the simulated patterns of raw material transport, so it is difficult—if not impossible—to differentiate the respective influence of the two factors from distance to source distributions alone. This finding of equifinality complicates the task of interpretating hominin mobility from archaeological distance to source data, particularly in settings such as the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition, which is marked by an important reorganization in hominin lithic technology that may have affected stone tool discard probability.

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Controlled experiments in lithic technology and function

Abstract: This article is part of the Topical Collection on Controlled experiments in lithic technology and function * João Marreiros

Cited by 14 publications

References 50 publications

The effect of worked material hardness on stone tool wear

The effect of worked material hardness on stone tool wear

Mechanical properties of lithic raw materials from Kazakhstan: Comparing chert, shale, and porphyry

Forager Mobility and Lithic Discard Probability Similarly Affect the Distance of Raw Material Discard from Source

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