Search results for "MicroWear Analysis"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Quantifying cereal-reaping microwear on flint tools : an experimental approach
2016
International audience; From the earliest Neolithic in the Near East to the last Chalcolithic cultures in Western Europe, certain flint tools have been used as sickles to harvest cereals. Such harvesting tools can be identified through use-wear analyses, because cutting herbaceous plants produces specific wear-traces on the working edge of flint blades. The aim of this work is to explore harvesting-driven microwear variability and, more particularly, intensity of use as a governing factor. To achieve this objective, an experiment was designed consisting in the production of flint replicas to be used as harvesting tools, in various controlled conditions. A simple, cost-effective method of qu…
Using mechanical experiments to study ground stone tool use: Exploring the formation of percussive and grinding wear traces on limestone tools
2021
Ground Stone Tools (GST) have been identified in several Levantine archaeological sites dating to the Middle Paleolithic. These tools, frequently made of limestone, are often interpreted based on their morphology and damage as having been used for knapping flint, and sometimes for breaking animal bones or processing vegetal materials as well. However, the lack of experimental referential collections on limestone is a major obstacle for the identification of diagnostic traces on these types of tools and raw material. In this sense, the understanding of the specific function of these GST and the association between tool types and activity often remains unknown or merely speculative. Recent di…
Experiments and results on obsidian tools: the case study of Le Rocche (Roccapalumba, Pa, Sicily) through microwear analysis.
2003
The results of the experimental activity related to the functional analysis of obsidian tools, coming from the Neolithic site of "Le Rocche" (Roccapalumba, Palermo), are discussed here.