Every hunter needs a knife: Hafted butchering knives from Maisières-Canal and their effect on lithic assemblage characteristics

Taipale, Noora; Rots, Veerle

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102874

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The modified flake has two flake margins, one with scalar microchipping and polish where high arrises intersect the cutting edge and the opposing convex margin with polish directly on the otherwise unmodified edge 27 , 28 . The artifact identified morphologically as a backed knife exhibits polish, scalar flaking, and striae oblique to the retouched concave lateral flake margin suggesting use in butchering 26 , 29 . Bit edges of the two endscrapers acquired intensive polish, rounding, pitting, and striae perpendicular to the scraping edge—characteristics experimentally associated with the processing of dry hides 30 – 32 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Lithic usewear confirms the function of Wilamaya Patjxa projectile points

Smallwood,

Haas,

Jennings

2023

Sci Rep

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Approximately 9000 years ago at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa, forager communities interred female and male individuals with projectile points, suggesting that large-mammal hunting may have been a gender neutral activity among that community. We report a lithic usewear analysis, which confirms that the ostensible projectile points were indeed used as projectile points. The data further reveal evidence of cutting and hide scraping consistent with animal processing activities. A new radiocarbon date shows that the female and male individuals were contemporaries, or nearly so, sometime between 9.0 and 8.7 cal. ka. These findings support a model of early subsistence practices in which both female and male individuals at Wilamaya Patjxa hunted large mammals.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Lithic usewear confirms the function of Wilamaya Patjxa projectile points

Smallwood,

Haas,

Jennings

2023

Sci Rep

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“…S2). Excavation related friction wear (e.g., metal marks) was also recorded in a few cases, as well as friction wear possibly derived from storage 34 (Fig. S2d).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Butchering knives and hafting at the Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO), Israel

Martín-Viveros

Oron

Ollé

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Much of what is known about human behavior and subsistence strategies in the Levantine Middle Paleolithic comes from long sequences from caves and rock shelters. In this context, studies of stone tool function have traditionally focused on determining the use of Levallois points and triangular elements, either as projectiles or, more rarely, multipurpose knives. Little is known about such tool use and hafting in Middle Paleolithic open-air sites in the Levant through the systematic application of micro-wear analysis. Here we report the results of a low and high-power study performed on the lithic assemblage of the Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO, Israel). Most pointed items, including Levallois and non-Levallois points, were used as butchering knives, many of them while hafted; to a much lesser extent they were also used for hide, bone, and wood/plant processing activities. Blades and flakes were mostly handheld and used as butchering knives, with hide, bone, antler, and wood/plant-processing tasks being rare. Hafted artifacts include morphologies and activities for which hafting is not required, indicating that NMO inhabitants possessed varied hafting expertise. Wood/plant processing tools, some of which were hafted, attest that manufacture and maintenance tasks were planned well in advance of game procurement at the site. These results attest to early evidence of hafted butchering knives and hafted plant processing tools for a Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site in the Levant, and support previous interpretations of NMO as a short-term task-specific location focused on animal processing activities, mostly butchery.

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“…The Gravettian lithic record is characterised by the presence of distinct artefacts with morphologies suggestive of projectile function, including tanged points, Gravette and microgravette points, and fléchettes. Projectile use has been confirmed for some of them through usewear studies relying on tailored experimental reference material [14,57,58], but other functional analyses have demonstrated that not all pointed objects functioned as armatures [59][60][61][62].…”

Section: Gravettian Hunting Weaponry In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why did hunting weapon design change at Abri Pataud? Lithic use-wear data on armature use and hafting around 24,000–22,000 BP

2022

Self Cite

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Projectile technology is commonly viewed as a significant contributor to past human subsistence and, consequently, to our evolution. Due to the allegedly central role of projectile weapons in the food-getting strategies of Upper Palaeolithic people, typo-technological changes in the European lithic record have often been linked to supposed developments in hunting weaponry. Yet, relatively little reliable functional data is currently available that would aid the detailed reconstruction of past weapon designs. In this paper, we take a use-wear approach to the backed tool assemblages from the Recent and Final Gravettian layers (Levels 3 and 2) of Abri Pataud (Dordogne, France). Our use of strict projectile identification criteria relying on combinations of low and high magnification features and our critical view of the overlap between production and use-related fractures permitted us to confidently identify a large number of used armatures in both collections. By isolating lithic projectiles with the strongest evidence of impact and by recording wear attributes on them in detail, we could establish that the hunting equipment used during the Level 3 occupations involved both lithic weapon tips and composite points armed with lithic inserts. By contrast, the Level 2 assemblage reflects a heavy reliance on composite points in hunting reindeer and other game. Instead of an entirely new weapon design, the Level 2 collection therefore marks a shift in weapon preferences. Using recent faunal data, we discuss the significance of the observed diachronic change from the point of view of prey choice, seasonality, and social organisation of hunting activities. Our analysis shows that to understand their behavioural significance, typo-technological changes in the lithic record must be viewed in the light of functional data and detailed contextual information.

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Every hunter needs a knife: Hafted butchering knives from Maisières-Canal and their effect on lithic assemblage characteristics

Cited by 10 publications

References 25 publications

Lithic usewear confirms the function of Wilamaya Patjxa projectile points

Lithic usewear confirms the function of Wilamaya Patjxa projectile points

Butchering knives and hafting at the Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO), Israel

Why did hunting weapon design change at Abri Pataud? Lithic use-wear data on armature use and hafting around 24,000–22,000 BP

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