Heat treatment of Polish flints

Domański, Marian; Webb, John A.; Glaisher, Robert W.; Gurba, Jan; Libera, Jerzy; Zakościelna, Anna

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.02.002

Cited by 51 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The characteristics of heat alteration in lithic specimens were originally determined on the basis of a series of laboratory experiments conducted on fine-grained cherts, although other lithic materials, including quartz, also were tested (Purdy 1975(Purdy , 1982Purdy and Brooks 1971). The purpose of these experiments was principally to determine the characteristics of intentional heat alteration, whereby the knapping qualities of fine-grained materials are improved (also see Beauchamp and Purdy 1986;Bleed and Meier 1980;Brown et al 2009b;Domański et al 2009;Domański and Webb 1992;Domański et al 1994;Flenniken and Garrison 1975;Gregg and Grybush 1976;Griffiths et al 1987;Inizan and Tixier 2001;Mercieca and Hiscock 2008;Olausson and Larsson 1982;Patterson 1984;Rick and Chappell 1983;Robins et al 1978;Schindler et al 1982;Webb and Domański 2009;Weymouth and Mandeville 1975). However, these investigations also identified the features of heat stress on stone artifacts, regardless of whether the thermal alteration was intentional or accidental.…”

Section: Burnt Msa Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Purdy and Brooks (1971: 323) color alternation begins at temperatures as low as 240° to 260° (also see Domański et al 2009Domański et al : 1403. The most common color change is to reddish hues (e.g., Patterson 1984: 171;Webb and Domański 2009: 820) which is the result of iron compounds or goethite transforming to haematite during the heating process (Patterson 1984: 171;Schindler et al 1982: 529).…”

Section: Burnt Msa Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most common color change is to reddish hues (e.g., Patterson 1984: 171;Webb and Domański 2009: 820) which is the result of iron compounds or goethite transforming to haematite during the heating process (Patterson 1984: 171;Schindler et al 1982: 529). However, many types of siliceous minerals show virtually no change in color because they lack iron compounds or other heat-sensitive trace elements (e.g., Collins and Fenwick 1974: 135;Domański et al 2009Domański et al : 1406.…”

Section: Burnt Msa Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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2011

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Rhino Cave, located at the World Heritage site of Tsodilo Hills, is one of the three main Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites in Botswana. Initial investigations during the mid-1990s left unanswered a number of key questions regarding the early use of the cave. This prompted the current investigations, which have unearthed a wealth of MSA artifacts from a lag deposit. Results of a selectively employed chaîne opératoire analysis have revealed a very special set of behavioral patterns. It will be argued that the best-fit interpretation of the results from this investigation lies within the realm of ritualized behavior. The assemblage is characterized by an unexpectedly large number of MSA points, which are for the most part produced in non-locally acquired raw materials. These points are colorful, carefully and often elaborately made, and, once complete, never left the cave. They were either deliberately burned to the point where they could no longer be used, abandoned, or intentionally smashed. These artifacts were found together with tabular grinding slabs and pieces of the locally available pigment, specularite. This assemblage was recovered directly beneath a massive, virtually free-standing rock face that has been carved with hundreds of cupules of varying sizes and shapes. A section of the carved rock face was recovered from well within the MSA deposits in association with handheld grinding stones. INTRODUCTIONI t has been proposed that "collective ritual -with its formal characteristic of amplified, stereotypical, redundant display -might be expected to leave a loud archaeological signature" (Watts 2009: 62). According to a number of researchers (e.g., Knight 2009;Knight 2010;Power 1999Power , 2009Power and Aiello 1997;Watts 1999Watts , 2002Watts , 2009) the archaeological record of ochre use, dating from the late Middle Pleistocene, provides such a signature. Symbolism, a crucial feature of ritual behavior, has been central to the debate on behavioral modernity. . However, one area of investigation that could potentially reveal patterns of ritual behavior has received minimal attention within African MSA studies. This is the application of the chaîne opératoire. Results from this method identify sequences of conscious choices made by the original artifact makers. The combined results of these individual sequences can provide insight into behavior patterns which are indicative of broader culturally determined traits and norms. By applying this methodological approach to a site that contains unusual or atypical MSA features, it can identify other 'loud archaeological signatures'.As noted by McBrearty (2003: 514) "one of the most difficult tasks for the prehistorian is to identify the emergence of novel behaviors." The authors suggest that a set of novel behavioral patterns is a most apt description for the results that have emerged from a recent test excavation at Rhino Cave, located within the World Heritage site of Tsodilo Hills, Botswana. This site was initially excavated in the mid-1990s (Robbins et al...

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Section: Burnt Msa Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Burnt Msa Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Burnt Msa Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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2011

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“…Much experimentation has been done by archaeologists to understand how ancient flaked stone tools were produced, and how they and their byproducts can be identified in the archaeological record (e.g., Ahler 1983;Crabtree 1972;Desrosiers 2012;Domanski et al 2009;Tixier 1984;Whittaker 1994;Wilke and Quintero 1996). Most lithic-reduction experimenters emphasize that there are no smoking gun attributes associated with a given reduction technique.…”

Section: Artifact Analysis Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However these experiments were done comparing the sound generated from pieces of exact same size and weight dimensions and no outline was offered for how to apply this method to an actual archaeological assemblage with many different sizes and shapes of artifacts and multiple varieties of chert. Domanski et al (2009) could see clear textural differences in scanning electron microscope images of their experimentally heated and raw Polish flint. However they used this method to understand the fracture mechanics, and were not recommending it as a method to differentiate heated cherts in archaeological assemblages.…”

Section: Heat Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 96%

Beyond Prestige: A Ritual Production Model for Stone Tool Specialization in Naqada Period Egypt

Skarzynski¹

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This dissertation looks at the organization and development of specialized production in 4th millennium BCE Egypt. At the outset of this period northeastern Africa was occupied by small-scale groups of pastoralists and early agriculturalists. By the close of the 4th millennium BC, the Nile Valley was one of the earliest instances of a society with centralized political organization, extensive labor division, and institutionalized inequalities.This research brings data on stone tools and settlement sites to bear on competing models of specialization. Many models of specialized production have focused either on the production of symbolically meaningful goods for the elite, or the production of utilitarian goods for the masses; they have not considered the production of symbolically meaningful goods for commoners. In Egypt the prevailing theory for the development of specialized production is a prestige-goods model, where elites sponsored the production of items used to display status and which were not available to all. However, this model does not account for all specialized production. A review of the evidence for specialization in Egypt shows that some items made by specialists were quite widely used (e.g., lithic blades, black-topped red ware ceramics), and so do not fit a prestige-goods model. To explore how the production of various stone tools was organized and developed, a model of ritual production outlined by Spielmann (2002) was considered. This model recognizes that people have often increased their economic production in order to make items needed for ritual activities, such as life cycle events (e.g., birth, marriage, death) and community-encompassing rituals. These ritual activities involved many members of society, not a restricted subset. Expectations were developed for archaeological patterns of raw material choice, production locations, and find contexts that should be observed if the ritual production model can account for the development of some aspects of specialized production in -ivEgypt. These expectations were evaluated based on examination of lithic artifact collections from the settlement sites of el-Mahâsna, Abydos, and Nag el-Qarmila, and comparison to published data from other sites and online museum databases. This research showed that there were many different ways that stone tool production was organized at the intra-site and regional levels. Some of stone tools-early fishtail knives, axes, large-blade knives, and microendscrapers-fit the ritual production model for the development of specialized production quite well. Preferences for certain raw materials were evident, and these preferences could not be accounted for by functional considerations or access to local resources. Instead, the raw material choices probably related to the symbolic significance of their colors, which can be traced from the Pharaonic back to the Predynastic periods. These tools were produced in conjunction with ritual activity areas, and the tools themselves were found in ritually significant cont...

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Lithic Artefacts

Angelucci

2017

Archaeological Soil and Sediment Micromorphology

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Heat treatment of Polish flints

Cited by 51 publications

References 24 publications

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Beyond Prestige: A Ritual Production Model for Stone Tool Specialization in Naqada Period Egypt

Lithic Artefacts

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