Use Wear on Bone and Antler Tools from the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories

LeMoine, Genevieve

doi:10.2307/281935

Cited by 75 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Such studies include among others, the work of Anderson et al [6], who used tribological techniques to analyse micro-wear traces observed on flint blades for threshing grain and cutting straw from sites in the Near East from the later Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Similarly Le Moine's study of bone and antler tools [7] was carried out to demonstrate that distinctive patterns of wear on tool working faces depend on the activities tool were used for. For example bone and antler tools used to cut ice often show very different patterns of wear on the tool face compared with those used to cut wood.…”

Section: Tribology and Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Abrasive and impact wear of stone used to manufacture axes in Neolithic Greece

Lewis¹,

Tsoraki²,

Broughton³

et al. 2011

Wear

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Excavations at the Neolithic settlement at Makriyalos in Northern Greece brought to light a large number of stone axe heads, the majority of which were manufactured from serpentinite and igneous rocks. Detailed study of the manufacturing traces on the archaeological implements identified that both percussive (pecking) and abrasive techniques (sawing and grinding/polishing) were employed for the production of the axes. There is limited evidence, however, of how these processes may have been undertaken.The aim of this work was to build on previous research investigating sawing and polishing methods and the materials that may have been used in these tasks.Modern samples of two types of serpentinite and a dolerite were collected from the environs of the archaeological site. These were tested for strength and porosity. Through archaeological research the materials available to Neolithic people were established and some testing was carried out to establish sliding speeds and loads and percussive impact velocities achievable by a human to feed into the tribological test design.Pin-on-disc wear tests were carried out using quartz, chalcedony and sandstone as the pin material in wet and dry conditions to study sawing and polishing behaviour. Reciprocating tests were carried out using leather and combinations of lubricant (animal fat and water) and abrasive medium (sand) to study effects on polishing. Percussive impact tests were also carried out.The tests indicated that with certain combinations of materials and test conditions, both sawing and polishing could be achieved. A series of stages for the polishing were identified which are in line with observations made by archaeologists.

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Section: Tribology and Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Abrasive and impact wear of stone used to manufacture axes in Neolithic Greece

Lewis¹,

Tsoraki²,

Broughton³

et al. 2011

Wear

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“…En cambio, las de los instrumentos óseos utilizados para cortar o raspar piel, madera, corteza, etc. sí muestran rastros característicos de la materia trabajada (Semenov 1964;LeMoine 1997;Clemente et al 2002;Clemente y Gyria 2003;Maigrot 2003, entre otros). A los problemas mencionados hay que unir la falta de estudios experimentales relativos al uso de los arpones.…”

Section: Materiales Y Métodosunclassified

Apuntes en torno al uso de los arpones magdalenienses: primeras observaciones microscópicas a partir de los materiales de El Horno (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria)

Martínez¹,

Clemente‐Conte²,

Vilá³

2013

Trab. prehist.

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Se presenta el análisis microscópico de tres arpones magdalenienses procedentes de la cueva de El Horno (Ramales, Cantabria). Su fin era la identificación, en superficie, de rastros susceptibles de aportar información preliminar sobre el uso de los arpones. Las observaciones sobre uno de ellos revelan que se empleó en distintas ocasiones, quizá para la captura de presas con una piel más resistente que la de los peces. Las trazas identificadas en los otros dos son compatibles con el empleo de cuerdas como parte del dispositivo de enmangue. Los resultados se enmarcan en el debate abierto acerca de la función concreta de los arpones, sin obviar la relación existente entre estas armas y la fauna, otro de los aspectos clave para poder avanzar en el debate. Los test estadísticos efectuados a partir de la información disponible en la costa cantábrica revelan que los arpones magdalenienses no se asocian a ningún tipo de fauna en concreto.

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“…Oakes (1987:8 -10) lists the necessary tools as an ulu, a knife sharpener, a straight-edged scraper, a convex-edged scraper, and a scraping platform, commonly a board (Holtved, 1967:126). In the past, scapula and long-bone scrapers were used, and ground slate blades of uluit and scrapers were set into bone or wooden handles (Oakes, 1987;Lemoine, 1997). While bone scrapers are still in use today, ulu and scraper blades today are exclusively metal (Otak, 2005).…”

Section: Ethnographic Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the ulu was multi-purpose, and in other contexts had a bifacial edge (Rankin and Labrèche, 1991;Frink et al, 2003). Long bone and scapula scrapers were commonly used at this stage of the process (Boas, 1888;Birket-Smith, 1929, 1945Lemoine, 1997). The skin was laid on the woman's thigh or scraping board, and the scraping movements were made away from the body with the bevel of the ulu against the flesh side of the sealskin (Oakes, 1987;Issenman, 1997).…”

Section: Ethnographic Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dorset Palaeoeskimo Skin Processing at Phillip's Garden, Port au Choix, Northwestern Newfoundland

Renouf¹,

Bell²

2009

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. This paper examines artifactual and palaeo-limnological evidence of sealskin processing associated with Phillip's Garden, a Dorset Palaeoeskimo site at Port au Choix in northwestern Newfoundland. We propose that harp seals were hunted from Phillip's Garden as much for skins as for meat and fat, and that processing sealskins was the first step in the important activity of making clothes, boots, and other items. We outline the steps and tools involved in sealskin processing throughout the northern circumpolar world, and we identify specialized skin-processing tools in the Phillip's Garden tool assemblage. Sealskin processing is also inferred from pollen and chironomid data from Bass Pond, adjacent to Phillip's Garden. Disturbance across pollen taxa is evident at 2200 -1400 cal BP, and anomalous salinity values are evident at 2000 -1400 cal BP. We argue that these are connected to Palaeoeskimo activities at the pond, in particular Dorset sealskin soaking and tanning. This study shifts our perception of Dorset activities at Phillip's Garden away from a narrow focus on seal hunting and the site itself and broadens our view to include more of the multiplicity of day-to-day human activities that took place within a larger cultural landscape that included Phillip's Garden and Bass Pond.

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Use Wear on Bone and Antler Tools from the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories

Cited by 75 publications

References 14 publications

Abrasive and impact wear of stone used to manufacture axes in Neolithic Greece

Abrasive and impact wear of stone used to manufacture axes in Neolithic Greece

Apuntes en torno al uso de los arpones magdalenienses: primeras observaciones microscópicas a partir de los materiales de El Horno (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria)

Dorset Palaeoeskimo Skin Processing at Phillip's Garden, Port au Choix, Northwestern Newfoundland

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