The relative effects of core surface morphology on flake shape and other attributes

Režek, Željko; Lin, Sam C.; Ioviţă, Radu; Dibble, Harold L.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.01.014

Cited by 90 publications

(118 citation statements)

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“…Machine flaking has provided valuable insights into some potential causal variables that govern stone-tool fracture mechanics at the level of individual flakes 2 (e.g. Dibble 1997Dibble , 1998Dibble and Pelcin 1995;Dibble and Rezek 2009;Dibble and Whittaker 1981;Magnani et al 2014;Pelcin 1997aPelcin , 1997bPelcin , 1997cPelcin , 1998Rezek et al 2011), but it would be a mistake to assume machine-flaking experiments are automatically superior to human ones or vice versa. Certain variables such as "force of blow" or "angle of blow" can be measured or observed more easily through machine flaking than through human flaking, but the design of the machine itself may introduce variables whose effects on stone fracture relative to what is present in the archaeological record are unclear.…”

Section: What Is Stone-tool Replication?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Test, Model, and Method Validation: The Role of Experimental Stone Artifact Replication in Hypothesis-driven Archaeology

et al. 2016

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Section: What Is Stone-tool Replication?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Test, Model, and Method Validation: The Role of Experimental Stone Artifact Replication in Hypothesis-driven Archaeology

et al. 2016

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“…The behaviors within the flake-by-flake domains are either consciously chosen or unconsciously determined through the knapper's body performance at the same instant as the blow of the percussor for each flake in the assemblage. These domains include platform maintenance, which determines platform thickness, exterior platform angle, and platform surface preparation; and, the dorsal surface convexity, which determines the attributes of flake shape chosen by the knapper through the choice of where to strike the core relative to the morphology of the dorsal surface (see Dibble and Rezek 2009;Pelcin 1997;and Rezek et al 2011 for discussions of these variables in controlled flake fracture studies). In addition to the two flake-by-flake domains, two clusters of decisions are made once or twice during a given core reduction.…”

Section: Abandoning the Typological Approach To The Characterization mentioning

confidence: 99%

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2011

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There are more areas of overlap as well as distinction between the Reduction Sequence and Chaîne Opératoire methods of archaeological analysis than the current debate recognizes. While methodological differences have been acknowledged, high-level theory differs to a greater degree than is currently appreciated, partly due to the social practice of archaeology in different contexts. This paper compares and evaluates examples of reduction sequence and chaîne opératoire research to demonstrate how high-level theory goals impact middle-range theory and even low-level theory practices (i.e., how data are constructed and published). The paper then utilizes the distinction between an emic decision hierarchy and an etic production hierarchy to elucidate how the practitioners of both methods can more successfully integrate their approaches. An alternative to both methods is offered to demonstrate how common epistemological problems can be resolved. As an example of this alternative approach, the paper compares blank production behaviors and tool kit morphologies among Levantine Ahmarian, as well as among Levantine Aurignacian assemblages, from Kebara Cave, Israel. This case study demonstrates that the two Ahmarian assemblages are more different, rather than more similar to each other, in comparison to the Levantine Aurignacian assemblages. This suggests that a typological approach to these assemblages conceals significant behavioral data.

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“…Primarily, archaeologists have been concerned with the role of key variables on the resultant morphology of flakes. These variables include platform attributes Dibble 1997;Muller and Clarkson 2014;Patterson 1981;Pelcin 1997c;, billet type (Driscoll and García-Rojas 2014;Muller and Clarkson 2016a see S1 Text;Pelcin 1997b;Schindler and Koch 2012;Wenban-Smith 1989), strike velocity (Dibble and Pelcin 1995), and core morphology (Pelcin 1997a;Rezek et al 2011). There are also those who explore the complex interplay among these variables (Dibble and Rezek 2009;Dibble and Whittaker 1981;Magnani et al 2014).…”

Section: Recent Applications Of Experimental Knappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(1972; 1974; 1975) and Faulkner (1972; revealing key aspects of fracture mechanics. More recent work makes use of a mechanised flaking apparatus to tightly control the influence of the variables involved in knapping (Dibble 1997;Dibble and Pelcin 1995;Dibble and Rezek 2009;Dibble and Whittaker 1981;Magnani et al 2014;Pelcin 1997a;1997b;1997c;Rezek et al 2011). Although such controlled experiments have been criticised for their removal from natural knapping conditions (Tsirk 1974), most of these criticisms were levelled specifically at Speth (1972).…”

Section: Recent Applications Of Experimental Knappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The relationship between platform variables and original flake size was originally exploited by Dibble and Whittaker (1981), and much subsequent attention has been directed at confirming and refining our understanding of this relationship (Braun et al 2008a;Clarkson and Hiscock 2011;Davis and Shea 1998;Dibble 1995;Dibble and Pelcin 1995;Dibble and Rezek 2009;Dogandžić et al 2015;Lin et al 2013;Magnani et al 2014;Muller and Clarkson 2014;Pelcin 1997a;1997b;1997c;Rezek et al 2011;Shott et al 2000). By creating a linear regression between platform measurements and original flake mass, predictive equations can be developed to estimate the original mass of flakes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of experimental knapping in empirically testing key themes in the evolution of lithic technology: reduction intensity, efficiency and behavioural complexity

Muller¹

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Experimental knapping has complimented and stimulated lithic analyses for over a century.Throughout this period, the discipline has witnessed an increase in the scientific rigour and theoretical grounding with which these studies are conducted. This thesis charts these key trends and in doing so establishes a best-practice model of experimental knapping, the veracity of which is in turn tested using four new lithic experiments. These case-studies employ experimental knapping to advance our understanding of flake platform measurement, reduction intensity, technological efficiency, and behavioural complexity.The first case-study, Chapter 3, offers a more accurate and precise calliper-based method of flake platform measurement that relies on simple geometric approximations of platform shape rather than the inflexible and unreliable existing method of multiplying platform width by thickness. In Chapter 4, a new reduction intensity metric for backed blades, a hitherto overlooked tool-type, is developed and tested on the backed blades from an early Neolithic site in Turkey. This new metric allows a reconstruction of the raw material consumption patterns at the site, finding that the backed blades These four case-studies, coupled with a consideration of existing knapping experiments, allow an understanding of how experimental knapping is embedded in the broader archaeological research process, and ultimately tests the efficacy of a best-practice model of experimental knapping. This model identifies the initial scope, methodological control, and breadth of interpretations as the key variables dictating the validity of an experiment. While knapping experiments may differ markedly in their scope and control, they do not necessarily vary in their validity. Instead, it is the interplay of these variables that dictates the validity of experimentation. Within this best-practice model, lithic experiments are most robust when the scale of the initial scope, methodological control and ensuing interpretations are congruent, and when they involve explicit and falsifiable hypothesis testing.iii

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The relative effects of core surface morphology on flake shape and other attributes

Cited by 90 publications

References 24 publications

Test, Model, and Method Validation: The Role of Experimental Stone Artifact Replication in Hypothesis-driven Archaeology

Test, Model, and Method Validation: The Role of Experimental Stone Artifact Replication in Hypothesis-driven Archaeology

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The role of experimental knapping in empirically testing key themes in the evolution of lithic technology: reduction intensity, efficiency and behavioural complexity

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