Form and Function of Bipolar Lithic Artifacts from the Three Dog Site, San Salvador, Bahamas

The significance of a microlithic assemblage composed of imported, nonlocal materials is discussed for the Three Dog site, an early Lucayan site located on San Salvador, Bahamas. The Bahama archipelago is an interesting area in which to examine the organization of technology because the islands lack cherts and other suitable materials for chipped stone manufacture, suggesting that economizing strategies may have been practiced. The artifacts were manufactured by bipolar production and a few show evidence of recycling and reuse. Microwear analysis, undertaken to determine function, was inconclusive due to heavy weathering from the depositional environment. Traces of an organic adhesive suggest that some of the objects were used as hafted or composite tools. The presence of starch grains, most likely Xanthosoma sp., and other plant residues on some artifacts suggests they were used in plant processing. The morphological similarities of the flakes produced through bipolar reduction with those from ethnographic sources suggest that most of them probably were used as grater chips to process root or tuber foods. The assemblage was compared to other bipolarly-produced microlithic assemblages from nearby islands.

Download Full-text

Alan Cyril Walker. 23 August 1938—20 November 2017

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society ◽

10.1098/rsbm.2019.0017 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 67 ◽

pp. 449-467

Author(s):

Leslea J. Hlusko ◽

Peter S. Ungar

Keyword(s):

Homo Erectus ◽

Early Adopter ◽

Dental Microwear ◽

Form And Function ◽

Microwear Analysis ◽

Living Species ◽

Late Twentieth ◽

And Function ◽

Late Twentieth Century ◽

Bony Morphology

Colleagues often refer to Alan Walker as the Eric Clapton (one of the most influential musicians of the late twentieth century) of palaeoanthropology in recognition of the artistry of his science. His field discoveries filled major gaps in our knowledge of primate evolution, such as elucidating the Miocene world of Proconsul and finding the transitional ‘Black Skull’ of Australopithecus aethiopicus and the skeleton of a Homo erectus boy. In addition to discovering these remarkable fossils, Alan was essential in bringing a palaeobiological approach to the laboratory interpretation of their bony morphology. He used the relationships between form and function in living species as a baseline for understanding the past, he pioneered dental microwear analysis to infer diet and was an early-adopter of the use of microCT to explore the internal structure of primate ear bones. Beyond these scientific accomplishments, however, it was Alan's grace and generosity that truly set him apart from his peers. As the patriarch of an extensive intellectual family of students, postdocs and colleagues, Alan taught by example how to be intellectually creative, brave, meticulous, generous and kind. His legacy will long be felt in both the science and the culture of palaeoanthropology.

Download Full-text

Microwear Analysis in the Southeast Maya Lowlands: Two Case Studies at Copan, Honduras

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/972148 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 129-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Kazuo Aoyama

Keyword(s):

Ninth Century ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Complex Societies ◽

Royal Family ◽

Late Classic ◽

Chipped Stone ◽

Microwear Analysis ◽

Use Wear ◽

Lithic Artifacts ◽

Marine Shell

Based on the results of 267 replication experiments with obsidian, chalcedony, and agate tools conducted with a range of working materials, I have classified use-wear patterns using Keeley's high-resolution approach to establish a framework for interpretation of stone-tool use. This paper describes the results of microwear analysis of two assemblages of lithic artifacts from the late Late Classic period (A. D. 763-850) at Copán, western Honduras, and shows how the use-wear data can be interpreted within the archaeological contexts and help to investigate how ancient complex societies functioned as well as how and why they changed. Microwear analysis of chipped-stone artifacts collected in front of Structure 10L-16 and artifacts from Structure 10L-22A show clear differences between the two assemblages. In accordance with the archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence, the low use-intensity of chipped stone from the first structure could have originated from special use such as ritual, production of marine shell ornaments, etc., during the reign of Yax Pac. Marine shell craft production may have been carried out by members of the royal family or attached specialists serving the ruler. The relatively high use-intensity observable in the second assemblage may reinforce the hypothesis that the building was a Classic Maya popol na (council house) in which feasts or banquets were prepared. If this was the case, use-wear data might support epigraphic and iconographic evidence that suggests the weakening and eventual demise of centralized political authority at Copán in the ninth century.

Download Full-text

Style, form and function: from Xikrin’s arrows to lithic artifacts.

Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia ◽

10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2003.109493 ◽

2003 ◽

pp. 211

Author(s):

Lucas De Melo Reis Bueno

Keyword(s):

Form And Function ◽

Lithic Artifacts ◽

And Function

Através da análise da variabilidade formal de flechas Xikrin, presentes no acervo do M AE/USP, procuramos averiguar a existência de um modo de fazer flechas que seja característico desse grupo e quais atributos são fundamentais na definição dos diferentes tipos de flecha. Classificando as flechas de acordo com a descrição feita por Frickel (1968), procuramos também investigar a relação entre forma e matéria-prima da ponta com a função das flechas. Por fim, levantamos algumas hipóteses para pensar a variabilidade de pontas de projétil líticas encontradas no registro arqueológico e a necessidade de rever o atual esquema classificatório empregado no Brasil para esse tipo de artefato.

Download Full-text

CRAFTING IDENTITY: ACQUISITION, PRODUCTION, USE, AND RECYCLING OF SOAPSTONE DURING THE MISSION PERIOD IN ALTA CALIFORNIA

American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/aaq.2018.2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 83 (2) ◽

pp. 244-262 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kaitlin M. Brown

Keyword(s):

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Raw Material ◽

Indigenous Identity ◽

Form And Function ◽

Alta California ◽

Mission Period ◽

Cultural Spaces ◽

Show Evidence ◽

Cooking Wares ◽

And Function

This article investigates the daily practices and social processes of indigenous identity negotiation in the Santa Barbara Channel region through an analysis of soapstone ollas, bowls, andcomales. After assessing the source of the raw material and using a typological classification based upon form and function, I discuss the ways in which soapstone cooking wares were used diachronically and across the colonial landscape. These finds show a reorganization of the soapstone industry inside the mission space: soapstone was acquired from new sources, an emphasis was placed on the production of bowls and comales, and more soapstone vessels show evidence of remodification. However, the continued use of traditional soapstone ollas in historically occupied Chumash villages outside the mission indicates persistent practices that linked indigenous peoples to a deep ancestral past. I argue that these changes and continuities illuminate a range of identities that existed between the cultural spaces previously described as “native” and “Spanish.” This study illustrates that indigenous peoples negotiated, redeployed, and expressed their identities in new ways that allowed them to adapt and persist under colonialism.

Download Full-text

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of DNA and RNA

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100152148 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 34-35

Author(s):

Patricia G. Arscott ◽

Gil Lee ◽

Victor A. Bloomfield ◽

D. Fennell Evans

Keyword(s):

Molecular Structures ◽

Inorganic Materials ◽

Resolving Power ◽

Scanning Tunneling ◽

Tunneling Microscopy ◽

Form And Function ◽

Dna And Rna ◽

Calf Thymus ◽

And Function ◽

The Relationship

STM is one of the most promising techniques available for visualizing the fine details of biomolecular structure. It has been used to map the surface topography of inorganic materials in atomic dimensions, and thus has the resolving power not only to determine the conformation of small molecules but to distinguish site-specific features within a molecule. That level of detail is of critical importance in understanding the relationship between form and function in biological systems. The size, shape, and accessibility of molecular structures can be determined much more accurately by STM than by electron microscopy since no staining, shadowing or labeling with heavy metals is required, and there is no exposure to damaging radiation by electrons. Crystallography and most other physical techniques do not give information about individual molecules.We have obtained striking images of DNA and RNA, using calf thymus DNA and two synthetic polynucleotides, poly(dG-me5dC)·poly(dG-me5dC) and poly(rA)·poly(rU).

Download Full-text