An experimental investigation of cut mark production and stone tool attrition

Braun, David R.; Pobiner, Briana; Thompson, Jessica C.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.08.015

Cited by 66 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…The attrition of tool edges during butchery is something that has previously been highlighted [16,23,24]. Here we show that this attrition is related to the opening angle of a cut mark.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Cut marks on bone surfaces: influences on variation in the form of traces of ancient behaviour

2016

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Although we know that our lineage has been producing sharp-edged tools for over 2.6 Myr, our knowledge of what they were doing with these tools is far less complete. Studies of these sharp-edged stone tools show that they were most probably used as cutting implements. However, the only substantial evidence of this is the presence of cut marks on the bones of animals found in association with stone tools in ancient deposits. Numerous studies have aimed to quantify the frequency and placement of these marks. At present there is little consensus on the meaning of these marks and how the frequency relates to specific behaviours in the past. Here we investigate the possibility that mechanical properties associated with edges of stone tools as well as the properties of bones themselves may contribute to the overall morphology of these marks and ultimately their placement in the archaeological record. Standardized tests of rock mechanics (Young's modulus and Vickers hardness) indicate that the hardness of tool edges significantly affects cut-mark morphology. In addition, we show that indentation hardness of bones also impacts the overall morphology of cut marks. Our results show that rock type and bone portions influence the shape and prevalence of cut marks on animal bones.

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“…The attrition of tool edges during butchery is something that has previously been highlighted [16,23,24]. Here we show that this attrition is related to the opening angle of a cut mark.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Cut marks on bone surfaces: influences on variation in the form of traces of ancient behaviour

2016

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“…Field dressing is important in order to avoid meat spoilage, and to make carcasses more transportable. Tools used for these differing tasks are often expediently produced, and deposited after dulling or becoming clogged with fat and fur (Nilssen, 2000), and disarticulation activities results in more tool damage than defleshing (Braun et al, 2008b). …”

Section: Foraging On the South Coast And Agulhas Plainmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extraction activities such as disarticulation creates more edge damage (Braun et al, 2008b), which will tend to occur outside of cave contexts. Caves tend to be supplied with material; therefore tools are expected to be damaged less intensively.…”

Section: Hypothesis 3 Caves Will Have Fewer Difs and Less Overall Dammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although these two processes are not completely representative of the range of cutting behaviors that occurred in the MSA, they do provide an indication of differential processes of edge damage formation across the landscape on blades. The reasons for this patterning require further investigation, but may be due to differential carcass transport patterns and the overall tendency for more damage to form from field dressing (disarticulating) activities than defleshing (Braun et al, 2008b).…”

Section: Dynamic Settlement Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape variability in tool-use and edge damage formation in South African Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages

Schoville

2016

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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This study explores how early modern humans used stone tool technology to adapt to changing climates and coastlines in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa. The MSA is associated with the earliest fossil evidence for modern humans and complex cultural behaviors during a time period of dramatic climate change. Human culture allows for the creation, use, and transmission of technological knowledge that can evolve with changing environmental conditions. Understanding the interactions between technology and the environment is essential to illuminating the role of culture during the origin of our species. This study is focused on understanding ancient tool use from the study of lithic edge damage patterns at archaeological assemblages in southern Africa by using image-based quantitative methods for analyzing stone tools. An extensive experimental program using replicated stone tools provides the comparative linkages between the archaeological artifacts and the tasks for which they were used. MSA foragers structured their tool use and discard behaviors on the landscape in several ways -by using and discarding hunting tools more frequently in the field rather than in caves/rockshelters, but similarly in coastal and interior contexts. This study provides evidence that during a significant microlithic technological shift seen in southern Africa at ~75,000 years ago, new technologies were developed alongside rather than replacing existing technologies. These results are compared with aspects of the European archaeological record at this time to identify features of early human technological behavior that may be unique to the evolutionary history of our species.ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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“…Such studies rely on relatively straightforward uniformitarian assumptions about the material and chemical properties of stones and the objects with which they interact. These studies examine traces of residue and usewear (Braun et al 2008b;Claud et al 2015;Collins 2008;Key 2013;Key et al 2015;Lemorini et al 2014;Lerner et al 2007;Macdonald 2014;Miller 2015;Newcomer et al 1986;Olausson 1983a;Smallwood 2015), the functionality of particular tools (Bar-Yosef et al 2012;Cheshier and Kelly 2006;Clarkson et al 2015a;Couch et al 1999;Eren and Andrews 2013;Friis-Hansen 1990;Galán and Domínguez-Rodrigo 2014;Hunzicker 2008;Key and Lycett 2014; in press-a; in press-c; Key et al 2016;Lipo et al 2012;Machin et al 2007;Nigra and Arnold 2013;Pétillon et al 2011;Pettigrew et al 2015;Quinn et al 2008), projectile technologies (Barton and Bergman 1982;Bergman and Newcomer 1983;Brindley and Clarkson 2015;Clarkson 2016;Crombé et al 2001;Fischer et al 1984;Huckell 1982;Hutchings 2011;Iovita et al 2014;Lombard et al 2004;Moss and Newcomer 19...…”

Section: Recent Applications Of Experimental Knappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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An experimental investigation of cut mark production and stone tool attrition

Cited by 66 publications

References 37 publications

Cut marks on bone surfaces: influences on variation in the form of traces of ancient behaviour

Cut marks on bone surfaces: influences on variation in the form of traces of ancient behaviour

Landscape variability in tool-use and edge damage formation in South African Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages

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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