Lithic reduction sequences as an aid to the analysis of Late Stone Age quartz assemblages from the Luano Spring, Chingola, Zambia

Were Olduvai Hominins making butchering tools or battering tools? Analysis of a recently excavated lithic assemblage from BK (Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

“…Although the core sample is not representative enough (due to the small number of specimens and the fact that some of them are already exhausted blanks), the mean length and width of the negative scars measured by us seem to be in agreement with this pattern. The platform location of the flakes obtained at BK tend to be, by this order, irregular side-struck (60%), elliptical (43%) and end-struck (42%) (Bisson, 1990).…”

“…Certainly, in order to eliminate irregularities and to enhance the stability of the base during the reduction process, platforms may be subject of some sort of preparation by rotating the core and using previous negative scars as new striking platforms and bases. Core rotation might Bisson (1990). respond both to exploitation intensity and the particular characteristics of the raw material available at the site.…”

Vein quartz in lithic traditions: an analysis based on experimental archaeology

“…While Tallavaara et al 2010 suggest that in order to reduce fragmentation bipolar knapping would be more common with quartz than with chert, a review e plus the archaeological assemblages analysed during this project e has shown bipolar knapping is not always dominant in quartz technologies (e.g. Barber, 1981;Boudreau, 1981;Bisson, 1990;Moore, 2002;Cornelissen, 2003;Driscoll, In press), notwithstanding the problems in identifying quartz bipolar artefacts. In this experiment, while the distinction between bipolar and direct percussion was generally clear, a sizable proportion of bipolar flakes appeared as direct percussion flakes; conversely, but to a lesser degree, direct percussion flakes appeared as bipolar flakes.…”

How flakes shatter: a critical evaluation of quartz fracture analysis

“…Ballin, 2008;Bisson, 1990;Callahan, 1987;de la Torre, 2004;Flenniken, 1980;Holdaway and Stern, 2004;Leng, 1998;Pearson, 2003;Rankama et al, 2006;Seong, 2004). However, quartz assemblages pose a problem for archaeologists since they do not lend themselves easily to traditional lithic analyses.…”