scholarly journals Cut marks on bone surfaces: influences on variation in the form of traces of ancient behaviour

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 20160006 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Braun ◽  
Michael Pante ◽  
William Archer
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Rock Type ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Indentation Hardness ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Cut Marks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Animal Bones

Although we know that our lineage has been producing sharp-edged tools for over 2.6 Myr, our knowledge of what they were doing with these tools is far less complete. Studies of these sharp-edged stone tools show that they were most probably used as cutting implements. However, the only substantial evidence of this is the presence of cut marks on the bones of animals found in association with stone tools in ancient deposits. Numerous studies have aimed to quantify the frequency and placement of these marks. At present there is little consensus on the meaning of these marks and how the frequency relates to specific behaviours in the past. Here we investigate the possibility that mechanical properties associated with edges of stone tools as well as the properties of bones themselves may contribute to the overall morphology of these marks and ultimately their placement in the archaeological record. Standardized tests of rock mechanics (Young's modulus and Vickers hardness) indicate that the hardness of tool edges significantly affects cut-mark morphology. In addition, we show that indentation hardness of bones also impacts the overall morphology of cut marks. Our results show that rock type and bone portions influence the shape and prevalence of cut marks on animal bones.

scholarly journals 4E cognition in the Lower Palaeolithic

2020 ◽  
pp. 105971232096718
Author(s):  
Thomas Wynn ◽  
Karenleigh A Overmann ◽  
Lambros Malafouris
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Technical Expertise ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cognitive Archaeology ◽  
4E Cognition ◽  
Thinking Process ◽  
Computational Processes ◽  
Lower Palaeolithic

This essay introduces a special issue focused on 4E cognition (cognition as embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended) in the Lower Palaeolithic. In it, we review the typological and representational cognitive approaches that have dominated the past 50 years of paleoanthropology. These have assumed that all representations and computations take place only inside the head, which implies that the archaeological record can only be an “external” product or the behavioral trace of “internal” representational and computational processes. In comparison, the 4E approach helps us to overcome this dualist representational logic, allowing us to engage directly with the archaeological record as an integral part of the thinking process, and thus ground a more parsimonious cognitive archaeology. It also treats stone tools, the primary vestiges of hominin thinking, as active participants in mental life. The 4E approach offers a better grounding for understanding hominin technical expertise, a crucially important component of hominin cognitive evolution.

scholarly journals On the Late Pliocene stone tools of the Quranwala Zone, north-west sub-Himalayas, India

Antiquity ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (357) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidwan Singh Soni ◽  
Anujot Singh Soni
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Fossil Bone ◽  
Question Mark ◽  
North West ◽  
Cut Marks ◽  
The North ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Fossil Bones

A recent study of the Quranwala Zone (QZ) of the north-west sub-Himalayas, India, presents evidence for anthropic activity during the Pliocene that includes a number of stone tools found in association with fossil animal bones with cut marks. Based on the date of the Pliocene rock outcrop, the tools and bones are suggested to date from 2.6 Ma (Gaillard et al. 2016). There is, however, a question mark over the context of these tools within an outcrop of Pliocene rocks and, hence, over the date of these tools and the fossil bones. The trench from which they were excavated at Masol 2 (Gaillard et al.2016: fig. 3) lies in a depression at the bottom of a slope; the description provided in section 2 of the paper by Gaillard et al. (2016) suggests that the stone tools may not have been in situ within the Pliocene levels, but had accumulated there and were mixed with the fragments of fossil bone due to geological processes. Moreover, many of the stone tools, such as the ‘simple choppers’ found in association with the fossil animal bones (Gaillard et al.2016: figs 6, 8, 9), are usually found on much more recent sites and are therefore unlikely to date from 2.6 Ma.

scholarly journals 4E cognition in the Lower Palaeolithic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Wynn ◽  
Karenleigh A. Overmann ◽  
Lambros Malafouris
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Technical Expertise ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cognitive Archaeology ◽  
4E Cognition ◽  
Thinking Process ◽  
Computational Processes ◽  
Lower Palaeolithic

This essay introduces a special issue focused on 4E cognition (cognition as embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended) in the Lower Palaeolithic. In it, we review the typological and representational cognitive approaches that have dominated the past 50 years of paleoanthropology. These have assumed that all representations and computations take place only inside the head, which implies that the archaeological record can only be an ‘‘external’’ product or the behavioral trace of ‘‘internal’’ representational and computational processes. In comparison, the 4E approach helps us to overcome this dualist representational logic, allowing us to engage directly with the archaeological record as an integral part of the thinking process, and thus ground a more parsimonious cognitive archaeology. It also treats stone tools, the primary vestiges of hominin thinking, as active participants in mental life. The 4E approach offers a better grounding for understanding hominin technical expertise, a crucially important component of hominin cognitive evolution.

Stone Tool Life Meets Everyday Life

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Carr ◽  
Andrew P. Bradbury
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Tool Life ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Organization Of Technology

Often, the lives of people in the past were constrained by their basic everyday needs and what they needed to accomplish. This chapter considers both how people conducted certain minimal activities everyday to meet those needs and how those activities left traces in the archaeological record. An Organization of Technology model articulates the archaeological record (artifact form and distribution) not only through activities and technological strategy but also through other considerations. The authors explore the possibilities of how examining the everyday life of an individual in the past just from discarded Lithics is possible: from the stone’s first procurement for the manufacture of chipped stone tools, to the stone’s use in various activities before it’s either (eventually) discarded or reused, to the stone’s finally recovery by archaeologists.

scholarly journals Using 3D Microscopy to Analyze Experimental Cut Marks on Animal Bones Produced with Different Stone Tools

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Moretti ◽  
Simona Arrighi ◽  
Francesco Boschin ◽  
Jacopo Crezzini ◽  
Daniele Aureli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Profile Data ◽  
Mechanical Motion ◽  
Cut Marks ◽  
3D Microscopy ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Digital Microscope ◽  
The Moment

This study uses a combination of digital microscopic analysis and experimental archaeology to assess stone tool cut marks on animal bones. We used two un-retouched flint flakes and two burins to inflict cut marks on fresh, boiled, and dry ungulate  bones. The experiment produced three series of three engravings on each bone with each of the experimental tools. The first series involved one single stroke; the second, two strokes in the same direction; and the third, multiple strokes using a to-and-fro movement. We analyzed the striations using a Hirox 3D digital microscope (KH-7700) and collected metric and profile data on the morphology of the cut marks. In order to describe the shape of each cross section, we calculated the ratio between the breadth at the top and the breadth at the floor of cut marks. Preliminary results show that both the tool type and the method of creating the cut mark influence the shape of the resulting groove. In our experiment, morphological parameters can be used to differentiate between marks produced using un-retouched flint flakes and those produced using burins. However, neither morphological nor morphometric analysis allows us to identify the mechanical motion used to produce the cuts, nor the state of the bone (fresh, boiled, or dry) at the moment of marking. 

scholarly journals Understanding ion-induced assembly of cellulose nanofibrilllar gels through shear-free mixing and in situ scanning-SAXS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Rosén ◽  
Ruifu Wang ◽  
HongRui He ◽  
Chengbo Zhan ◽  
Shirish Chodankar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Building Block ◽  
Cellulose Nanofibrils ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
The Past

During the past decade, cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) have shown tremendous potential as a building block to fabricate new advanced materials that are both biocompatible and biodegradable. The excellent mechanical properties...

The Structure and Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Cellular Metal With Periodic Cubic Cells

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobing Dang ◽  
Ruxu Du ◽  
Kai He ◽  
Qiyang Zuo
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Relative Density ◽  
Sheet Metal ◽  
Light Weight ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Sheet Metal Stamping ◽  
High Stiffness ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cellular Metal ◽  
Metal Stamping

As a light-weight material with high stiffness and strength, cellular metal has attracted a lot of attentions in the past two decades. In this paper, the structure and mechanical properties of aluminum cellular metal with periodic cubic cells are studied. The aluminum cellular metal is fabricated by sheet metal stamping and simple adhesion. Two sizes of specimens with cell sizes of 3mm and 5mm are fabricated. Their relative density and mechanical properties are tested by means of experiments. The results show that the cubic-cell cellular metal has high and predictable strength and hence, can be used for many practical applications.

The Effect of Cross-Linking on Nano-Mechanical Properties of Polyamide

2016 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 37-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Ovsik ◽  
David Manas ◽  
Miroslav Manas ◽  
Michal Stanek ◽  
Martin Reznicek
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Surface Layer ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Nanoindentation Test ◽  
Cross Linking ◽  
Indentation Hardness ◽  
Depth Sensing ◽  
Nanomechanical Properties ◽  
Radiation Crosslinking

Radiation crosslinking of polyamidu 6 (PA 6) is a well-recognized modification of improving basic material characteristics. Radiation, which penetrated through specimens and reacted with the cross-linking agent, gradually formed cross-linking (3D net), first in the surface layer and then in the total volume, which resulted in considerable changes in specimen behaviour. This research paper deals with the possible utilization of irradiated PA6. The material already contained a special cross-linking agent TAIC (5 volume %), which should enable subsequent cross-linking by ionizing β – radiation (15, 30 and 45 kGy). The effect of the irradiation on mechanical behavior of the tested PA 6 was investigated. Material properties created by β – radiation are measured by nanoindentation test using the DSI method (Depth Sensing Indentation). Hardness increased with increasing dose of irradiation at everything samples; however results of nanoindentation test shows increasing in nanomechanical properties of surface layer. The highest values of nanomechanical properties were reached radiation dose of 45 kGy, when the nanomechanical values increased by about 95%. These results indicate advantage cross-linking of the improved mechanical properties.

scholarly journals Roles of Lanthanum and Cerium in Grain Refinement of Steels during Solidification

Metals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunping Ji ◽  
Ming-Xing Zhang ◽  
Huiping Ren
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Grain Refinement ◽  
Rare Earths ◽  
Heterogeneous Nucleation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cast Steels ◽  
Steel Castings ◽  
Similarity And Difference

Refinement of as-cast structures is one of the most effective approaches to improve mechanical properties, formability, and surface quality of steel castings and ingots. In the past few decades, addition of rare earths (REs), lanthanum and cerium in particular, has been considered as a practical and effective method to refine the as-cast steels. However, previous reports contained inconsistent, sometime even contradictory, results. This review summaries the major published results on investigation of the roles of lanthanum or/and cerium in various steels, provides reviews on the similarity and difference of previous studies, and clarifies the inconsistent results. The proposed mechanisms of grain refinement by the addition of lanthanum or/and cerium are also reviewed. It is concluded that the grain refinement of steels by RE additions is attributed to either heterogeneous nucleation on the in-situ formed RE inclusions, a solute effect, or the combined effect of both. The models/theories for evaluation of heterogeneous nucleation potency and for solute effect on grain refinement of cast metals are also briefly summarized.

scholarly journals How Rocks Die: Changing Patterns of Discard and Re-Use of Ground Stone Tools in Middle Bronze Age Cyprus

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8869
Author(s):  
Andrew McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Cultural Objects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Cultural objects are thought to have a lifespan. From selection, through construction, use, destruction, and discard, materials do not normally last forever, transforming through stages of life, eventually leading to their death. The materiality of stone objects, however, can defy the inevitable demise of an object, especially durable ground stone tools that can outlive generations of human lifespans. How groups of people deal with the relative permanence of stone tools depends on their own relationship with the past, and whether they venerate it or reject its influence on the present. A case study from the long-lived site of Prasteio-Mesorotsos in Cyprus demonstrates a shifting attitude toward ground stone objects, from the socially conservative habit of ritually killing of objects and burying them, to one of more casual re-use and reinterpretation of ground stone. This shift in attitude coincides with a socio-political change that eventually led to the ultimate rejection of the past: complete abandonment of the settlement.

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