Past human decision-making based on stone tool performance: Experiments to test the influence of raw material variability and edge angle design on tool function

Schunk, Lisa; Calandra, Ivan; Cramer, Anja; Gneisinger, Walter; Marreiros, João

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2024.106003

Journal of Archaeological Science

2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106003

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Past human decision-making based on stone tool performance: Experiments to test the influence of raw material variability and edge angle design on tool function

Lisa Schunk,

Ivan Calandra,

Anja Cramer

et al.

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2024

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Cited by 2 publications

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An experimental approach on dynamic occlusal fingerprint analysis to simulate use-wear localisation and development on stone tools

Rausch,

Marreiros,

Kullmer

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Information about the use of stone tools in the past is encoded in the wear patterns left on their surface; however, post-depositional processes can modify and obstruct these traces. One aim in the field of lithic functional analysis is to develop methods to detect and quantify these traces on stone tools. The occlusal fingerprint analysis (OFA) is a well-established method in dental wear studies to virtually simulate dental occlusal (contact between teeth) stroke movements and thus locate and quantify the sequential contact between opposing tooth crowns. Reaching across disciplines, we conducted controlled experiments to test the applicability of the OFA method on stone tools to address the challenge of use-wear quantification and localisation, and therefore the identification of post-depositional wear. Our findings reveal a clear overlap between zones of experimentally produced use-wear and OFA-calculated contact areas. We demonstrate OFA as a potential method to generate models of multiscale use-wear that can be used as references on experimental tools to identify post-depositional surface modifications on stone tool artefacts.

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An experimental approach on dynamic occlusal fingerprint analysis to simulate use-wear localisation and development on stone tools

Rausch,

Marreiros,

Kullmer

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Controlled comparative tensile tests of backed versus non‐backed edges’ adhesion: Inferences into stone tool functional properties

Wilson,

Buchanan,

Fisch

et al. 2024

Archaeometry

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Backing is a procedure for retouching a stone tool edge to an angle of or near 90°. Archaeologists have recorded backed lithic specimens in the Pleistocene and Holocene around the world. One prominent hypothesis for the occurrence of backing is that it increases a stone tool's adhesion relative to what it would have otherwise been with unmodified, sharp edges. We conducted a highly controlled semi‐static tensile test in which we assessed lithic specimens that possessed both a backed and a non‐backed edge, opposing each other. We hafted each specimen's backed and non‐backed edges to wood, and the bi‐hafted stone implement was then pulled apart using an Universal Instron Materials Tester, allowing for a direct ‘head‐to‐head’ comparison of the two edge types’ adhesive properties. Our tensile test results suggested no significant difference between backed and non‐backed edges in terms of adhesion, which does not support the hypothesis that backing increases a lithic specimen's adhesion.

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Past human decision-making based on stone tool performance: Experiments to test the influence of raw material variability and edge angle design on tool function

Cited by 2 publications

References 46 publications

An experimental approach on dynamic occlusal fingerprint analysis to simulate use-wear localisation and development on stone tools

An experimental approach on dynamic occlusal fingerprint analysis to simulate use-wear localisation and development on stone tools

Controlled comparative tensile tests of backed versus non‐backed edges’ adhesion: Inferences into stone tool functional properties

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