Testing the influence of stone tool type on microscopic morphology of cut-marks: Experimental approach and application to the archaeological record with a case study from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Noisetier Cave (Fréchet-Aure, Hautes-Pyrénées, France)

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Val ◽  
S. Costamagno ◽  
E. Discamps ◽  
S. Chong ◽  
E. Claud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Cut Marks ◽  
Microscopic Morphology

Interview with a Neanderthal: an Experimental Approach for Reconstructing Scraper Production Rules, and their Implications for Imposed Form in Middle Palaeolithic Tools

2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Bisson
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Plane Angle ◽  
Production Rules ◽  
Common Category ◽  
Significant Divergence ◽  
Striking Platform

This article investigates the degree and nature of ‘imposed form’ in Middle Palaeolithic scrapers, the most common category of stone tool produced by Neanderthals. Novice flintknappers unfamiliar with Middle Palaeolithic tool forms were found to consistently employ two rules in manufacturing scrapers: the striking platform and any adjacent blunt edges were left intact to facilitate prehension, and the longest edge with the most acute spine-plane angle was retouched. Scrapers from three major Middle Palaeolithic sites adhered to these rules in over 90 per cent of cases, but significant divergence from these rules was found in a sample from Skhul cave (Israel) level B1, associated with early anatomically modern Homo sapiens. It is concluded that Middle Palaeolithic scraper manufacture was structured by the need to create a suitable working edge, and to locate that edge to maximize ease and comfort during manufacture and use. The overall shape of the resulting tools was thus not an expression of ‘imposed form’ in the conventional sense. The discovery of violations of these rules in the Skhul B1 collection provides evidence of increased use of imposed form, as well as potentially significant behavioural differences between early anatomically modern Homo sapiens and contemporary Neanderthals.

The Dynamics of Small Postglacial Lake Basins and the Nature of Their Archaeological Record: A Case Study of the Middle Palaeolithic Site Neumark-Nord 2, Germany

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 393-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduard Pop ◽  
Corrie Bakels ◽  
Wim Kuijper ◽  
Herman Mücher ◽  
Madeleine van Dijk
Keyword(s):  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Lake Basins

Evaluation of CO2 Gas Injection For Major Oil Production Fields in Malaysia - Experimental Approach Case Study: Dulang Field

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahidah Md. Zain ◽  
Nor Idah Kechut ◽  
Ganesan Nadeson ◽  
Noraini Ahmad ◽  
D.M. Anwar Raja
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Gas Injection ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Co2 Gas

Growth Mechanism vs Matter Transport in Thermally Growing Oxides on High Temperature Materials: A Brief Survey Based on the Case Study of Alumina Formers

2009 ◽  
Vol 289-292 ◽  
pp. 385-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Jedlinski
Keyword(s):  
Growth Mechanism ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Metallic Materials ◽  
High Temperature Materials ◽  
Matter Transport ◽  
Alumina Formers ◽  
Microstructure Morphology ◽  
The Relationship

This paper reviews briefly the relationship between the growth mechanism and matter transport using as an example the best currently applied metallic materials being alumina formers. The attention is paid to the experimental approach as well as to the interpretation procedure of experimental results. The scale structure, microstructure, morphology and phase composition are indicated as factors strongly affecting its growth mechanism. The attempt is made to elucidate the possible relationships between the obtained experimental results and actual scale growth mechanisms operating during oxidation exposures.

scholarly journals Weaving the Common Threads of Simulation and Formation studies in Archaeology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Davies
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Surface Erosion ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Material Record

Computer simulation is a tool increasingly used by archaeologists to build theories about past human activity; however, simulation has had a limited role theorising about the relationship between past behaviours and the formation of observed patterning in the material record. This paper visits the argument for using simulation as a means of addressing the gap that exists between archaeological interpretations of past behaviours and their physical residues. It is argued that simulation is used for much the same reason that archaeologists use ethnographic or experimental studies, and that computational models can help to address some of the practical limitations of these approaches to record formation. A case study from arid Australia, examining the effects of episodic surface erosion on the visibility of the record, shows how simple, generative simulations, grounded in formational logic, can be used to compare different explanatory mechanisms and suggest tests of the archaeological record itself.

Mode 3 Technologies and the Evolution of Modern Humans

1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Foley ◽  
Marta Mirazón Lahr
Keyword(s):  
Strong Association ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
African Origin ◽  
Biological Models ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Archaeological Interpretation ◽  
Mode 3 ◽  
Tool Technology

The origins and evolution of modern humans has been the dominant interest in palaeoanthropology for the last decade, and much archaeological interpretation has been structured around the various issues associated with whether humans have a recent African origin or a more ancient one. While the archaeological record has been used to support or refute various aspects of the theories, and to provide a behavioural framework for different biological models, there has been little attempt to employ the evidence of stone tool technology to unravel phylogenetic relationships. Here we examine the evidence that the evolution of modern humans is integrally related to the development of the Upper Palaeolithic and similar technologies, and conclude that there is only a weak relationship. In contrast there is a strong association between the evolution and spread of modern humans and Grahame Clark's Mode 3 technologies (the Middle Stone Age/Palaeolithic). The implications of this for the evolution of Neanderthals, the multiple pattern of human dispersals, and the nature of cognitive evolution, are considered.

Neanderthal behaviour and stone tool function at the Middle Palaeolithic site of La Quina, France

Antiquity ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (301) ◽  
pp. 547-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce L. Hardy
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic

Neanderthal diet is explored by examining stone tools found at the site of La Quina for residues and microwear. The Neanderthal people are found to be using their scrapers for working plants and woods as well as meat.

Postclassic Tool Production at Santa Rita Corozal

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc D. Marino ◽  
Lucas R. Martindale Johnson ◽  
Nathan J. Meissner
Keyword(s):  
Craft Production ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Lithic Artifacts ◽  
Exchange Network ◽  
Source Materials ◽  
Debitage Analysis

This chapter presents a case study of a previously excavated lithic sample from Santa Rita Corozal, considering stone tool production at two structures, 216 and 218. Both exhibit a higher number of Postclassic chert and chalcedony lithic artifacts than other contemporary structures excavated at the site. The authors use debitage analysis to reveal how two households crafted formal tools locally and visual sourcing analysis to better understand how these tools articulated with broader traditions of lithic craft production in a regional exchange network. In contrast to the commercial level of production exhibited at Colha, Belize, these households used a variety of source materials and produced a less standardized tool kit on a much smaller scale.

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