Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.2016257
Anna M. Mika, Briggs Buchanan, R. Walker, Alastair J. M. Key, B. Story, Michelle R. Bebber, M. Eren
{"title":"North American Clovis Point Form and Performance III: An Experimental Assessment of Knife Cutting Efficiency","authors":"Anna M. Mika, Briggs Buchanan, R. Walker, Alastair J. M. Key, B. Story, Michelle R. Bebber, M. Eren","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.2016257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.2016257","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study is an experimental assessment of Clovis knife use. This work is the third contribution in a series of experiments aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis “point” forms. Here, we used seven replica Clovis point forms, representing the average and extremes of observed Clovis form, in two cutting tasks: rope cutting and clay cutting. Statistical comparison of cutting time, our measure of cutting efficiency, indicated differences among the knife forms in both tasks. These results, especially when considered with previous penetration and durability studies, are largely consistent with the hypothesis that selection of functional attributes contributed to Clovis point variability and evolution across North America. We also show that better knives serve as poorer points, and vice versa, but better knives are more durable than poorer knives. We conclude with discussion of knife use, allometry, and knife use in other time periods.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"47 1","pages":"203 - 220"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48426008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-11-18DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.2002548
J. McNabb
{"title":"Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards: Evaluating the Roe Handaxe Methodology in the Twenty-first Century and the Introduction of a New ‘Roe-type’ Index","authors":"J. McNabb","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.2002548","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.2002548","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 The methodology developed by Derek Roe in the 1960s to describe the outline shape of handaxes has become an industry standard amongst scholars of the Acheulean. It was applied to the UK and in a modified form in East and Southern Africa. It is being used by a new generation of archaeologists to understand successive Acheulean occupations of the UK in the Middle Pleistocene. There has been a relatively little critique of the method. This paper explores some of the issues that the method raises and suggests and that while it may not fairly represent specific outlines shapes, in every case, it does fairly represent a basic bauplan. A new Roe-style index is suggested, the tip elongation index which helps structure the methodology when used with modern statistical and graphic software packages.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"47 1","pages":"183 - 202"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43078665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.2011175
G. McCall
{"title":"Editor’s Lair: Introduction to Experiments in Stone Tool Analysis","authors":"G. McCall","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.2011175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.2011175","url":null,"abstract":"Sometimes academic publishing can be a tough business. Under the best of circumstances, authors, editors, and publishers face great challenges in terms of the many tasks that need to be done, and shortages of time and energy with which to do them. To make matters worse, for many of us, our professional lives depend on timely publications; which is especially true for our junior colleagues. When the COVID pandemic is added to the mix – and its many knock-on effects in terms of new professional roles, childcare issues, and all the rest – the result is often a big mess! This special issue of Lithic Technology arises from this general context. Most of the following papers were presented to the 11th International Symposium on Knappable Materials in Buenos Aires in November 2017. Subsequently, these papers were slated to be included in various publications resulting from the conference, which failed for reasons stemming from the COVID pandemic and other related issues. It was my pleasure to give them a home here. These papers share a concern for experimental methods in lithic analysis, which is a subject personally dear to my heart. Especially as it pertains to lithics, the field of experimental archaeology is a fundamental and irreplaceable approach to moving beyond the realm of bald speculation and onto the firmer ground of empirical evidence. There are many analytical themes that I thought about highlighting here: knapping and tool reduction; the correspondence between tool form and function; experimental replicability; etc. In the end, however, the theme that stands out to me the most is hard work! When all is said and done, what stands out in my mind is the thousands of hours spent doing these experiments and conducting analysis – not to mention preparing, editing, reviewing, and revising manuscripts. After all of that, and in spite of many obstacles, the papers appearing in this publication are extremely compelling and I hope readers will enjoy them as I have.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"46 1","pages":"259 - 259"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46081961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-09-27DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.1981654
H. Forestier, Yuduan Zhou, Cyril Viallet, P. Auetrakulvit, Yinghua Li, Heng Sophady
{"title":"Reduction Sequences During the Hoabinhian Technocomplex in Cambodia and Thailand: A New Knapping Strategy in Southeast Asia from the Terminal Upper Pleistocene to mid Holocene","authors":"H. Forestier, Yuduan Zhou, Cyril Viallet, P. Auetrakulvit, Yinghua Li, Heng Sophady","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.1981654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1981654","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Hoabinhian is a cultural marker of the late Paleolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia. And it is one of the most debated topics in prehistoric research in Southeast Asia. However, today there is a lack of reliable information on the diversity of production strategies and tool structures in the Hoabinhian, due to poor scientific methods and few well-excavated sites in the twentieth century. Over the last two decades, a technological approach that aims to identify reduction sequences (chaîne opératoires) has been applied to Hoabinhian lithic assemblages. Results have been generated that broaden our understanding of the technological characteristics and nature of the Hoabinhian industry. In this study, we present two Hoabinhian case studies from Cambodia (Laang Spean Cave) and Thailand (Moh Khiew Cave) to reveal the reduction sequences and end products of the Hoabinhian industry. We also compare and discuss the unity and variability between the two sites.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"47 1","pages":"147 - 170"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45409298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-09-27DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.1981655
C. Spry, R. Kurpiel, E. Foley, Paul Penzo‐Kajewski
{"title":"Revisiting the “Quartz Problem” in Lithic Studies: A Review and New, Open-access, Experimental Dataset","authors":"C. Spry, R. Kurpiel, E. Foley, Paul Penzo‐Kajewski","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.1981655","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1981655","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Quartz artefacts are common components of flaked stone assemblages worldwide. However, flaked quartz can appear similar to quartz fractured by natural and other (non-flaking) cultural processes. Despite attempts to address this “quartz problem”, the analysis and interpretation of flaked quartz assemblages remain problematic. Here we present a review of literature investigating the quartz problem, and a case study that examines an experimentally flaked assemblage – including the presence of “markers” widely reported to be diagnostic of knapped quartz. The results suggest that freehand knapping of a vein quartz block will produce mostly shatter and small, undiagnostic pieces with few artifacts exhibiting previously suggested markers. An integrated approach, considering physical features of individual quartz pieces, along with assemblage composition, characteristics and context more broadly, is therefore crucial. The dataset created for this study is freely available, providing the first example of an open-access dataset to aid study of flaked quartz assemblages worldwide.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"47 1","pages":"171 - 181"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45816656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-09-27DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.1981653
Ariel D. Frank, J. Baridón
{"title":"The Effect of Fire in the Distribution of Lithic Assemblages: An Experimental Approach","authors":"Ariel D. Frank, J. Baridón","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.1981653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1981653","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Lithics are thrown or fall into the fire in different situations. When exposed to sudden high temperatures, they tend to fracture in an explosive manner, and fragments can be expelled outside the hearth. In this paper, we present our experimentations aimed at understanding the distribution of lithics thrown into a fire. We analyze if the size of the flakes affects the distributional pattern generated after the thermal alteration. Furthermore, we examine if debris recovered inside and outside hearths have similar or contrasting thermal traits. Results show that small flakes have a low fragmentation rate and that shatters always stay in the hearth. In contrast, big flakes fracture extensively, and some of the shatters are expelled outside the hearth. There are no significant differences in the thermal traits recorded in fragments found inside and outside the hearths. Based on the results, we present expectations for different burning situations.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"47 1","pages":"133 - 146"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44024676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-08-31DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.1973782
M. Lotter, M. Caruana, M. Lombard
{"title":"The Large Cutting Tools from Wonderboom, South Africa","authors":"M. Lotter, M. Caruana, M. Lombard","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.1973782","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1973782","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Wonderboom remains largely excluded from discussions about the Earlier Stone Age of southern Africa, despite having one of the largest Acheulean assemblages for the region. With this contribution, we revisit its large cutting tool assemblage (namely the handaxes, cleavers, picks and knives) and investigate some of the tool manufacturing preferences of the hominins who used the site during the Earlier Stone Age. We also provide an inter-site comparison of handaxes with another later and two early Acheulean sites from South Africa, wherein the Wonderboom assemblage clusters with the later Acheulean and is distinguished from the early Acheulean assemblages. This tentatively places Wonderboom within the South African Acheulean chronology and provides the first characterization of later Acheulean LCT production strategies for the region that includes the Cradle of Humankind.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"47 1","pages":"117 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42040791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-08-26DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.1967580
Jakub Mugaj
{"title":"Seasonal Aggregation Site in Late Paleolithic – Intrasite Analysis of Large Hamburgian Encampment in Myszęcin, Western Poland","authors":"Jakub Mugaj","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.1967580","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1967580","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The pioneering colonization of the North European Plain by the communities of the Hamburgian culture was considered a cultural phenomenon related archaeologically to episodic short-term occupations. The camps resulting from this mobility were to be characterized by little differentiation. The presented article shows the results of a spatial analysis of the Hamburgian culture site in Myszęcin, in western Poland. The use of the refitting method to analyze the flint inventory made it possible to determine the relative chronology of concentrations and to reconstruct the spatial organization of the camp. The results of the analysis indicate the existence of large encampments in the settlement system of the Hamburgian societies. The presence of such structures suggests that the Hamburgian groups functioned within a dualistic settlement model with seasonal aggregation, which was a permanent element of the post-Magdalenian traditions of the Late Paleolithic communities.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"47 1","pages":"106 - 116"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46488754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-08-26DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.1967581
Heather Smith, Alyssa Perrone, Michael Wilson, M. Raghanti, C. Lovejoy, M. J. Rosen, Sharad J. Shanbhag, David S. DeForrest, R. Lyman, M. Eren
{"title":"Rock Music: An Auditory Assessment of Knapping","authors":"Heather Smith, Alyssa Perrone, Michael Wilson, M. Raghanti, C. Lovejoy, M. J. Rosen, Sharad J. Shanbhag, David S. DeForrest, R. Lyman, M. Eren","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.1967581","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1967581","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT We explore and describe the auditory landscape that emerges from stone tool making. Using two trained musicians, we identify the pitches and octaves produced from percussion knapping. We also analyze whether knapping sounds vary by raw material, knapper skill level, or by flake size. Our results show that our chosen stone material types each displayed a single fundamental pitch (E or G) with one or two additional octaves present, and each individual nodule maintained the same pitch throughout reduction. Knappers of different skills produced no differences in pitch, but there were significant differences in octaves present. Different raw materials showed significant differences in both pitch and octaves present. Flake size did not seem to influence either pitch or octaves present. The acoustic landscape resulting from knapping was certainly even more diverse than what we documented here, and likely influenced hominin stone tool production and learning, cognition, language, and music.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"46 1","pages":"320 - 335"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46977701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lithic TechnologyPub Date : 2021-08-11DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2021.1961412
L. Vetrisano, N. Franco
{"title":"Heat Treatment and Changes in Siliceous Rock Quality in the Southern End of the Deseado Massif (Patagonia, Argentina)","authors":"L. Vetrisano, N. Franco","doi":"10.1080/01977261.2021.1961412","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1961412","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The use of high-quality rocks and heat-treatment by hunter-gatherers during the initial exploration of America has been emphasized by different authors. Here we present the case of the Southern End of the Deseado Massif (Patagonia, Argentina), where human occupations have been dated from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition until historical times. An intense survey of lithic resources has shown the presence of primary and secondary sources of high quality siliceous rocks, most of them of hydrothermal origin. These siliceous rocks have a highly localized occurrence. In most cases, their quality does not match the one found at the archaeological record, which encompasses caches of artifacts, logistic and multiple activity sites. We present the results of heat treatment experiments on samples from local primary sources. Results obtained are compared with the artifacts found, in order to evaluate the potential utilization of the sources and the presence of heat treatment in the archaeological record.","PeriodicalId":45597,"journal":{"name":"Lithic Technology","volume":"46 1","pages":"302 - 319"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48443217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}