Documenting the degradation of animal-tissue residues on experimental stone tools: a multi-analytical approach

Monnier, Gilliane; May, Kaitlyn E.

doi:10.1007/s12520-019-00941-1

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Current studies on residue preservation and diagenesis are relatively few and have often been conducted under field conditions (Cnuts et al 2017;Langejans 2010;Monnier and May 2019). Future research should be conducted in a laboratory setting focusing on isolated variables, such as pH level, UV exposure, or freeze-thaw cycles, (e.g.…”

Section: Environmental Factors Influencing Adhesive Preservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding preservation and identification biases of ancient adhesives through experimentation

Kozowyk

Gijn

Langejans

2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Adhesive production is one of the earliest forms of transformative technology, predating ceramics and metallurgy by over 150,000 years. The study of the adhesives used by Neandertals and early modern humans currently plays a significant role in debates about human technological and cognitive evolution. Depending on the type of adhesive used, different production sequences were required. These can vary in complexity and would have needed different knowledge, expertise, and resources to manufacture. However, our knowledge of this important technological development is severely hampered by poorly understood taphonomic processes, which affects the preservation and identification of adhesive materials and leads to a research bias. Here we present the results from a 3-year field preservation experiment. Flint flakes hafted and non-hafted with replica adhesives were left to weather naturally on and below the surface at two locations with different soils and climatic conditions. Differential preservation was recorded on a variety of natural adhesives by digitally measuring the surface area of each residue before and after the elapsed time. Residues were further assessed and photographed using metallographic optical microscopy. Results show that certain adhesives preserve to a significantly higher degree than others, while some materials may be more easily overlooked or visually misdiagnosed. We must therefore be aware of both taphonomic and identification biases when discussing ancient adhesive technology. This research provides a first look that will help us understand the disparities between which adhesives were used in the past and what we find in the archaeological record today.

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Section: Environmental Factors Influencing Adhesive Preservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding preservation and identification biases of ancient adhesives through experimentation

Kozowyk

Gijn

Langejans

2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…Use-wear evidence and residues found on the archaeological specimens were compared to wear traces and residues observed on the replicas used during the chopping experiments. A comparison between archaeological and experimental use-wear and residue was also conducted [ 21 – 22 , 44 , 47 , 58 , 60 , 62 , 65 – 68 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy proved to be an effective and reliable technique for in-situ residues characterization on archeological and experimental stone tools [57][58][59][60]. Despite of that, caution is needed when ancient residues on lithic tools are analyzed through FTIR.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrated study discloses chopping tools use from Late Acheulean Revadim (Israel)

et al. 2021

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Chopping tools/choppers provide one of the earliest and most persistent examples of stone tools produced and used by early humans. These artifacts appeared for the first time ~2.5 million years ago in Africa and are characteristic of the Oldowan and Acheulean cultural complexes throughout the Old World. Chopping tools were manufactured and used by early humans for more than two million years regardless of differences in geography, climate, resource availability, or major transformations in human cultural and biological evolution. Despite their widespread distribution through time and space in Africa and Eurasia, little attention has been paid to the function of these items, while scholars still debate whether they are tools or cores. In this paper, we wish to draw attention to these prominent and ubiquitous early lithic artifacts through the investigation of 53 chopping tools retrieved from a specific context at Late Acheulean Revadim (Israel). We combined typo-technological and functional studies with a residue analysis aimed at shedding light on their functional role within the tool-kits of the inhabitants of the site. Here we show that most of the chopping tools were used to chop hard and medium materials, such as bone, most probably for marrow extraction. A few of the tools were also used for cutting and scraping activities, while some also served as cores for further flake detachment. The chopping tools exhibit extraordinarily well-preserved bone residues suggesting they were used mainly for bone-breaking and marrow acquisition. We discuss the data and explore the tool versus core debate also in light of a sample of 50 flake cores made on pebbles/cobbles retrieved from the same archeological layer. The results add further pieces to the puzzle of activities carried out at Revadim and add to our knowledge of the production and use of these enigmatic tools and their role in human evolutionary history.

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“…Ancient residues found on archaeological stone tools are always subjected to degradation processes during their burial period, and sometimes it is difficult to interpret them based only on observing their morphology. In order to give more strength to the interpretation, the residues were double-checked through FTIR and EDX techniques which proved to provide reliable results also on degraded residues (Hayes and Rots 2019;Monnier and May 2019). The interpretation of the residues was considered reliable if at least one of the two spectroscopic techniques showed results matching the use-wear interpretation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flint Recycling in the Lower Paleolithic Levant: A Microscopic Investigation of Small Recycled Flakes at Qesem Cave (Israel)

Venditti¹

2021

MGfU

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Recycling is defined as a process in which waste materials can again become usable. In the common belief of many peoples, recycling is only considered a contemporary manifestation linked to the economic and ecological politics of industrialized societies. Both archaeological and historical records, however, prove that recycling has its roots back in time, being a common behavior of our ancestors as well as of many past societies. At the Late Lower Paleolithic site of Qesem Cave, Israel, research has identified a particular lithic trajectory oriented towards the production of small flakes by means of recycling, in the exploiting of old discarded flakes to be re-used as cores. The high density of this specific production throughout the stratigraphic sequence of the cave demonstrates that lithic recycling was a conscious and planned technological choice aimed at providing small and sharp items, most probably in order to meet specific functional behaviors. This particular lithic behavior persisted for some 200 kyr of human use of the cave and is not related to any shortage of flint, as the vicinity of the cave is exceptionally rich in flint sources. The exceptional conservation of use-wear signs and residues has allowed the author to reconstruct the functional role of this specific production, highlighting its specialized nature mostly related to the processing of animal carcasses through accurate and careful actions. The aptitude towards specialization in a tool’s function and technology shows how advanced the cognitive capacities were of the Qesem hominins. Applying functional analysis based on the determination of wear on artifacts by means of optical light microscopes, scanning electron microscopy and chemical analysis (FTIR and EDX) provides a useful and effective approach for understanding the adaptive strategies of the Qesem Cave hominins who, while facing various situations, were able to find thoughtful solutions for different needs.

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Documenting the degradation of animal-tissue residues on experimental stone tools: a multi-analytical approach

Cited by 14 publications

References 33 publications

Understanding preservation and identification biases of ancient adhesives through experimentation

Understanding preservation and identification biases of ancient adhesives through experimentation

An integrated study discloses chopping tools use from Late Acheulean Revadim (Israel)

Flint Recycling in the Lower Paleolithic Levant: A Microscopic Investigation of Small Recycled Flakes at Qesem Cave (Israel)

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