The effect of eraser sampling for proteomic analysis on Palaeolithic bone surface microtopography

Bone surface modifications are crucial for understanding human subsistence and dietary behaviour, and can inform about the techniques employed in the production and use of bone tools. Permission to destructively sample such unique artefacts is not always granted. The recent development of non-destructive proteomic extraction techniques has provided some alternatives for the analysis of rare and culturally significant artefacts, including bone tools and personal ornaments. The Eraser Extraction Method (EEM), first developed for ZooMS analysis of parchment, has recently been applied to bone and ivory specimens. To test the potential impact of the EEM on ancient bone surfaces, we analyse six anthropogenically modified Palaeolithic bone specimens from Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) through a controlled sampling experiment using qualitative and 3D quantitative microscopy. Although the overall bone topography is generally preserved, our findings demonstrate a slight flattening of the microtopography alongside the formation of micro-striations associated with the use of the eraser for all bone specimens. Such modifications are similar to ancient use-wear traces. We therefore consider the EEM a destructive sampling approach for Palaeolithic bone surfaces. Together with low ZooMS success rates in some of the reported studies, the EEM might not be a suitable approach to taxonomically identify Pleistocene bone specimens.

Animals for Tools: The Origin and Development of Bone Technologies in China

The origin and development of bone technologies in China are reviewed in the light of recent discoveries and compared to trends emerging from the European and African archaeological records. Three categories of osseous tools are targeted: 1) unmodified bone fragments bearing traces of use in technological activities; 2) bone fragments modified to a variable extent with techniques generally used in stone technologies; 3) osseous fragments entirely shaped with techniques fit for the manufacture of formal bone tools. Early evidence of bone technologies in China are sporadically found in contexts dated between 1.8 and 1.0 Ma. By the late MIS6–early MIS5, bone tools are well-integrated in the technological systems of Pleistocene populations and the rules guiding their use appear increasingly standardized. In addition, the first evidence for the use of osseous material in symbolic activities emerges in the archaeological record during this period. Finally, between 40 and 35 ka, new manufacturing techniques and products are introduced in Late Palaeolithic technological systems. It is first apparent in the manufacture of personal ornaments, and followed by the production and diversification of formal bone tools. By that time, population dynamics seem to become materialized in these items of material culture. Despite regional specificities, the cultural trajectories identified for the evolution of bone technologies in China seem entirely comparable to those observed in other regions of the world.

The Patterns of Bone Technology in Ancient Kashi (1300 bc to 300 ad)

The political, socio-economic and cultural development of Kashi was never blocked. The history of technological development in Kashi state has been very flourished. The present study is an attempt to present historical and analytical studies regarding bone technology and its characteristics used in the region of ancient Kashi. The contribution of bone technology in the wisdom of Kashi and the development of a socio-economic perspective has also been discussed. Various bone tools obtained from Kashi’s archaeological sites and excavations reports have been studied. Archaeological and literary sources revealed that ancient Kashi was very developed in technology. The sources candidly depicted the prosperous societal life of its inhabitants in the backdrop of rich culture. Bone objects remains constitute an essential theme to study the integrated ecological aspect of human life.

Elephant bones for the Middle Pleistocene toolmaker

The use of bone as raw material for implements is documented since the Early Pleistocene. Throughout the Early and Middle Pleistocene bone tool shaping was done by percussion flaking, the same technique used for knapping stone artifacts, although bone shaping was rare compared to stone tool flaking. Until recently the generally accepted idea was that early bone technology was essentially immediate and expedient, based on single-stage operations, using available bone fragments of large to medium size animals. Only Upper Paleolithic bone tools would involve several stages of manufacture with clear evidence of primary flaking or breaking of bone to produce the kind of fragments required for different kinds of tools. Our technological and taphonomic analysis of the bone assemblage of Castel di Guido, a Middle Pleistocene site in Italy, now dated by 40Ar/39Ar to about 400 ka, shows that this general idea is inexact. In spite of the fact that the number of bone bifaces at the site had been largely overestimated in previous publications, the number of verified, human-made bone tools is 98. This is the highest number of flaked bone tools made by pre-modern hominids published so far. Moreover the Castel di Guido bone assemblage is characterized by systematic production of standardized blanks (elephant diaphysis fragments) and clear diversity of tool types. Bone smoothers and intermediate pieces prove that some features of Aurignacian technology have roots that go beyond the late Mousterian, back to the Middle Pleistocene. Clearly the Castel di Guido hominids had done the first step in the process of increasing complexity of bone technology. We discuss the reasons why this innovation was not developed. The analysis of the lithic industry is done for comparison with the bone industry.

BONE TOOLS OF TANNING PRODUCTION OF TALDYSAY SETTLEMENT

The article describes the bone and antler industry in the Taldysay settlement. In the settlement of Taldysai many tools and products from the bones of cattle and small ruminants were found, and the purposes of their use were different. They were widely used in metalworking, ceramics processing, and leatherworking. In the late Bronze Age, there were many types of farms in the Taldysai settlements. In particular, leather processing was an important production of ancient people. The article describes the main types of bone tools used in the leather industry and the results of trasological research. The trasological (use wear analysis) analysis allowed the authors to distinguish and characterize the groups of the tools found in the settlement: puffins, polished astragals of small cattle, prosplitting, and scrapers. The general and specific features of each of the hand-made tools, their functions and applications. Considering the types of bone tools, we see that the method of leather processing by the Taldysai population in the Bronze Age consisted of several processes, and they produced leather goods of very high quality

Bone-related behaviours performed by captive chimpanzees during an excavating experiment

After stone tools, bone tools are the most abundant tool type in the hominin archaeological record. However, due to their poor preservation, they are relatively scarce, limiting our understanding of the behavioural processes that led to their production and use. Extant primates constitute a unique source of behavioural data to build and shape hypotheses about the potential uses that our hominin ancestors might have given to bone tools. In this study, we investigated the behavioural responses of two groups of captive chimpanzees (Ntotal=42) to detached and cleaned bones while participating in a foraging task aimed at eliciting excavating behavior. Each chimpanzee group was provided with bones of different characteristics and the two groups differed in their respective levels of experience with tool excavation (one group being mostly inexperienced while the other had ample experience in stick tool excavation). We found that several individuals from the inexperienced group used the provided bones as tools during the task. No individuals from the experienced group used bones as excavating tools. Instead, these chimpanzees performed other bone-related behaviours (not observed in the inexperienced group), such as hammering and tool-assisted marrow consumption. Given that previous experience in tool excavation did not predict the use of bones as tools in the excavating task, we hypothesize that the differences in behavior observed between the two chimpanzee groups were due to the characteristics of the bones they were provided with. Furthermore, our results suggest that object characteristics rather than material determine whether chimpanzees perceive an object as a suitable excavating tool.

Bone Tools at the Late Pre-Hispanic Site Boyo Paso 2 (Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina)

The aim of the article is to assess the role played by bone tools at Boyo Paso 2 (Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina), an open-air site interpreted as a basecamp seasonally occupied by mobile mixed foraging and farming people c. 900–700 years BP. The results suggest that diverse activities were carried out on-site, including hunting or warfare, tool production, food processing and rituals. Bone tool analysis may enable reconstruction of the technological level, social organization, and cultural attitude towards the environment among people neither wholly foragers nor wholly farmers, a category for which archaeology currently lacks sufficient archaeological understanding and that merits further research.

A set of bone tools in the case from the settlement Asaviec 2 in the Krivina peat bog (northern Belarus)

In 2010, during the investigation of the site Asaviec 2 (Krivina peat bog, Beankovičy District, Viciebsk Region, Belarus) a unique set of tools in a case was revealed. It consists of an ornamented case made of the tubular bone of a large bird, an awl made of the lateral metapody of an elk, and a pointed bone item with an extension in the form of a wedge at one end. The method of experimental-traceological analysis was employed to determine the details of the manufacturing technology and the functional purpose of the find. According to the results of the study, a separate use of the tools was established - working with plant materials, which may indicate evidence of knitting or weaving products from organic fibers. Following experimental observations, some possible ways of working with these implements are considered. Thus, on the basis of the structural and contextual features of the artefacts, a variant of their use in a composite form, where the case served also as a handle is proposed. Bone awls or points are a widespread type of tools on sites from the Stone to the Bronze Age. However, the unique set found in situ allows us to expand our knowledge of the economy and productive activities of the past. Archaeological material, revealed an accompanying set of tools and a radiocarbon date from the underlying finding of conditional layer - 3810 50 BP (cal BC 2460-2064) (Le 10465), allow us to reconcile it with the antiquities of the Zhyzhyca-Kryvina stage of the Northern Belarusian Culture, middle of the 3rd-first half of the 2nd mill. BC.