Stone Artifacts of Southeastern Alaska

1962 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Keithahn
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Southeast Alaska ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Indian Tradition ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Stone Artifact

AbstractThe fact that Northwest Coast Indians obtained iron for tool making at least 175 years ago makes it unlikely that any literate person ever saw stone edge tools in use in this area, or even talked with an Indian who had seen them in use. Thus, interpretation of the function of stone tools in southeast Alaska is based on an estimate of the type of tools needed for the known aboriginal industries, experimental use of the tools, and Indian tradition. The use of 25 stone artifact types is discussed, including adzes and similar tools, mauls and hammers, mortars and pestles, lamps and pipes, clubs and fighting tools, projectile points, and ornaments.

4 Chipped Stone Tools

1969 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Roberta S. Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Elementary Technology

The chipped stone artifacts comprise a full tool kit. Ranging in size from the largest of the choppers to the tiniest of the flake scrapers, they conform to a characterization of generalized implements shaped with a minimum of modification. The broad and shallow flaking, unifacial percussion technique, use of flawed lithic material, re-working of artifacts from one kind to another, and the great number of tools retaining cortex and bulb of percussion are typical of the basic simplicity of all classes. Something of a paradox exists between the wide variety of shapes and sizes of the tools, which do tend to fall into groups, and the elementary technology of their manufacture. The major classifications include projectile points and blades, flake knives, drills, gravers, choppers, hammerstones, scrapers, picks, crescents, cores, and flakes.

Experimental Use of Clovis Weaponry and Tools on African Elephants

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 766-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Frison
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
African Elephants ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Positive Statements ◽  
Hwange National Park ◽  
Experimental Use

Clovis projectile points and chipped-stone tools have been recovered in a number of archaeological sites in the New World, but these cannot be tested on mammoths, which we know from the archaeological evidence Clovis hunters were able to procure. Extensive culling of elephants in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe provided the necessary animals to test replicas of Clovis tools and weaponry. The experiments leave little doubt that Clovis projectile points can inflict lethal wounds on African elephants and that simple stone tools will perform the necessary butchering tasks. The physiology of mammoths and elephants is similar enough to make positive statements on the potential of this kind of stone-tool and weaponry assemblage, but we will never be able to compare elephant and mammoth behavior directly.

Experimental and Archaeological Verification of an Index of Retouch for Hafted Bifaces

2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Andrefsky
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Data Set ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Projectile Points

The relative amount of retouch on stone tools is central to many archaeological studies linking stone tool assemblages to broader issues of human social and economic land-use strategies. Unfortunately, most retouch measures deal with flake and blade tools and few (if any) have been developed for hafted bifaces and projectile points. This paper introduces a new index for measuring and comparing amount of retouch on hafted bifaces and projectile points that can be applied regardless of size or typological variance. The retouch index is assessed initially with an experimental data set of hafted bifaces that were dulled and resharpened on five occasions. The retouch index is then applied to a hafted biface assemblage made from tool stone that has been sourced by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). Results of both assessments show that the hafted biface retouch index (HRI) is effective for determining the amount of retouch and the degree to which the hafted bifaces have been curated.

Percussive-Abrasive Stone Tools from Chagyrskaya Cave: Results of Functional Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
M. V. Seletsky ◽  
A. Y. Fedorchenko ◽  
P. V. Chistyakov ◽  
S. V. Markin ◽  
K. A. Kolobova
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Abrasive Stone ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Reference Samples ◽  
Comprehensive Study

This article presents a comprehensive study of percussive-abrasive active stone tools from Chagyrskaya Cave, using experimental use-wear and statistical methods, supplemented by 3D-modeling. Experiments combined with use- wear analysis allowed us to determine the functions of these tools by comparing the working surfaces and use-wear traces in the Chagyrskaya samples with those in the reference samples. As a result, we identified 19 retouchers, four hammerstones for processing mineral raw materials, and one hammer for splitting bone, which indicates the dominance of secondary processing over primary knapping in the Chagyrskaya lithic assemblage. Using statistical analysis, we traced the differences in the dimensions of the manuports and lithics under study. These artifacts are a promising and underestimated source of information for identifying working operations associated with stone- and bone-processing; moreover, they can provide new data on the functional attribution of sites and the mobility of early hominins.

Stone Artifacts

1949 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 152-178
Author(s):  
Alex D. Krieger
Keyword(s):  
Projectile Point ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Point Types ◽  
Three Phases

With some exceptions, notably the projectile points, the various artifacts of stone, flint, and pigment are simple in nature and will be but briefly described. Figures 53-61 provide illustrations of nearly every descriptive grouping, specimens having been selected to show ranges of variation; the more variation —as in projectile point types—the more specimens are shown.Tables 17-18 show the stratigraphic position of all stone artifacts and pigments found. Ordinary household artifacts such as milling stones, hammerstones, hones, knives, scrapers, and gravers were but sparsely represented in the mound, as might be expected. But since the mound provides our only sure stratigraphic control, the general dearth of utilitarian artifacts in it renders their occurrence in the three phases of occupation uncertain. That is, absence from one or more of the mound phases could be due to chance where only ten or a dozen (or fewer) specimens of a particular group came from the mound.

scholarly journals Earliest known Oldowan artifacts at >2.58 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, highlight early technological diversity

2019 ◽  
pp. 201820177 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Braun ◽  
Vera Aldeias ◽  
Will Archer ◽  
J Ramon Arrowsmith ◽  
Niguss Baraki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Human Lineage ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Technological Diversity ◽  
Behavioral Adaptations ◽  
First Occurrence

The manufacture of flaked stone artifacts represents a major milestone in the technology of the human lineage. Although the earliest production of primitive stone tools, predating the genus Homo and emphasizing percussive activities, has been reported at 3.3 million years ago (Ma) from Lomekwi, Kenya, the systematic production of sharp-edged stone tools is unknown before the 2.58–2.55 Ma Oldowan assemblages from Gona, Ethiopia. The organized production of Oldowan stone artifacts is part of a suite of characteristics that is often associated with the adaptive grade shift linked to the genus Homo. Recent discoveries from Ledi-Geraru (LG), Ethiopia, place the first occurrence of Homo ∼250 thousand years earlier than the Oldowan at Gona. Here, we describe a substantial assemblage of systematically flaked stone tools excavated in situ from a stratigraphically constrained context [Bokol Dora 1, (BD 1) hereafter] at LG bracketed between 2.61 and 2.58 Ma. Although perhaps more primitive in some respects, quantitative analysis suggests the BD 1 assemblage fits more closely with the variability previously described for the Oldowan than with the earlier Lomekwian or with stone tools produced by modern nonhuman primates. These differences suggest that hominin technology is distinctly different from generalized tool use that may be a shared feature of much of the primate lineage. The BD 1 assemblage, near the origin of our genus, provides a link between behavioral adaptations—in the form of flaked stone artifacts—and the biological evolution of our ancestors.

The Columbia-Fraser Region and the Northwest Coast

1950 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 36-40
Author(s):  
Marian W. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Bone Tools ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Marine Economy ◽  
Wood Sculpture ◽  
Stone Carving

The archaeology of the Columbia-Fraser region in the southern Northwest Coast is more complicated than early generalizations woilld have led one to suspect. Although there has been a constant adaptation to a river and marine economy, variations within that economy are marked and may be tentatively identified by the presence of bone and stone carving, and by the proportion.of stone to bone tools. Using these criteria, four cultural phases may be recognized: (1) Late Bone, which ties with historically known Indian groups and occurs throughout the region. It has wood sculpture but no carving in bone or stone; there are a few ground stone artifacts but chipped stone is rare. (2) Early Bone, which has the greatest antiquity and is apparently the richest culture of the region, having elaborate carving in bone and stone, beaten copper, a large variety of bone artifacts, and a number of stone pieces both ground and chipped.

Materials from Dwelling 2 on Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (1977 Season, Excavation III)

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
V. E. Medvedev ◽  
I. V. Filatova
Keyword(s):  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Northeastern Asia ◽  
Plan View ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Shed Light

This article presents the fi nal results of excavations at one of the largest Neolithic sites in northeastern Asia— a settlement on Suchu Island on the Amur. Most of the rich collection (3967 spec.), owned by IAET SB RAS (stone tools, ceramics, ornaments, and artistic and ritual artifacts), has not been described before. This publication focuses on the analysis of artifacts from dwelling 2 (excavation III, 1977). We describe the construction of this semi-underground dwelling, circular in plan view. The typological analysis of the lithics indicates a complex economy. Many of them (arrowheads, projectile points, inserts, knives, plummets) relate to hunting and fi shing, and to processing carcasses (end-scrapers, scrapers, burins, combination tools), others are chopping tools. The distinctive feature of the lithics is that some are bifacial. The analysis of the ceramics suggests that they belong to the Late Neolithic Voznesenovskoye culture. The use of binocular microscopy allowed us to assess the technological and constructive properties of the ceramics, as well as their morphological, decorative, and functional features. Non-ut ilitarian artifacts shed light on the worldview of the Suchu people. The collection dates to the mid-second millennium BC.

A Petro-Archaeological Study of a Deposit of Neolithic Stone Tools at Stará Břeclav, Czechoslovakia

1970 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 233-240
Author(s):  
J. Štelcl ◽  
F. Kalousek ◽  
J. Malina
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Building Material ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Similar Tendency ◽  
Equal Degree ◽  
The Soviet Union

There is no need to stress that at the present day it is becoming increasingly accepted that the further expansion of prehistory depends not only on the development and ever greater precision of the actual methods of archaeology, but also to an equal degree on the application of natural scientific research methods. This has been well exemplified in the series of systematic studies on petrological research on stone artifacts published in these Proceedings.A similar tendency can be noted of late in many other European countries, France (Cogné and Giot, 1957; Giot, 1964), Austria (Zirkl, 1956–9), Germany (Frechen, 1965; Wiegers, 1950; Scholz, 1968), Hungary (Végh and Viczian, 1964), Poland (Kowalski and Kozlowski, 1959), the Soviet Union (Gajduk, 1963; Kovnurko, 1963; Petruň, 1967) and Switzerland (Hugi, 1948).In Czechoslovakia, too, from 1960 onwards, regular petrological-archaeological co-operation has been carried on between the Department of Prehistory at the Philosophical Faculty of the Purkyně University of Brno and the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology of the same University. To begin with, the stone building material of Great Moravian architecture in the region of the lower Dyje valley and the lower Morava valley (Štelcl and Tejkal, 1961–7) was petrologically examined and latterly the investigation has been extended to cover the chipping and polishing industry of the Stone Age (Štelcl, 1967; Malina, forthcoming; Štelcl and Malina, 1966, and forthcoming).

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