Crystallographic and structural transformations of sedimentary chalcedony in flint upon heat treatment

The early occurrence of intentional heat treatment of silica rocks has recently become a key element in the discussion about the cultural modernity of prehistoric populations. Lithic vestiges are the only sources that remain of this process and the understanding of the material’s properties and transformations are essential for reconstructing the conditions and parameters applied during heat treatment. Several models of the structural transformations upon heating have been proposed in the current literature. These models are often contradictory and do not account for the most recent structural and mineralogical data on chalcedony. In order to propose a new model, we elaborated an experimental procedure and applied different techniques involving infrared spectroscopy, solid state NMR, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. The results show that the major transformation to happen is the loss of silanole (SiOH) and the creation of new Si-O-Si bonds according to the reaction: Si?OH HO-Si → Si-O-Si + H₂O. This reaction starts between 200 °C and 300 °C and causes an increase in the hardness of the rocks. The maximal annealing temperature and the ramp rate are the functions of the ability of the structure to evacuate newly created H₂O and depend on the size of the specimen and the volume of its porosity. These results also show that the annealing duration at maximum temperature can be relatively short (<50 min) for a sufficiently large amount of transformation to be accomplished.     

Occlusal molar microwear and the diets of the Ipiutak and Tigara populations (Point Hope) with comparisons to the Aleut and Arikara

Archaeological excavations at Point Hope, Alaska uncovered skeletal remains of two populations: the Ipiutak (100 B.C.–500 A.D.) and Tigara (1200–1700 A.D.). Archaeological evidence indicates that, although both groups relied on animal (largely marine) resources for their subsistence, the Ipiutak were mainly caribou hunters, whereas the Tigara were primarily whale hunters. To date, no study has attempted to ascertain whether the inferred dietary differences of these two groups could be substantiated using a more direct technique, e.g. microwear or stable isotope analysis. In this study, the occlusal molar microwear fabrics of the Ipiutak and Tigara were analyzed. Comparative data for two other modern human groups, the Aleut and Arikara, were also examined. Significant differences in microwear signatures were detected among the groups considered. The results of this study show that the Tigara have significantly more microwear features, more pits and narrower scratches compared to the Ipiutak. These results are concordant with interpretations that the two Point Hope populations had significantly different dietary habits. Differences in microwear signatures between the Aleut and the two Point Hope populations were also detected. Compared to the two Point Hope populations, the Aleut has significantly fewer features and wider scratches. The Aleut microwear signature further differs from that of the Tigara in having significantly lower pitting incidence. The microwear pattern of the Arikara, who had a mixed diet, differed from that of the mainly meat-eating Aleut and Point Hope peoples in that the Arikara has significantly fewer features, lower pitting incidence and narrower scratches.     

Functional analysis of prehistoric flint tools by high-power microscopy: A review of West European research

The present paper is a review of the functional analysis of prehistoric flint tool edges by means of high-power microscopy. The article, which focuses exclusively on West European research, discusses a series of methodological issues and problems related to the development and distinctiveness of the so-called wear polishes, produced by the various materials with which prehistoric stone tools came in contact. A selection of functional observations on tool use from the Upper Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic periods is presented. The archaeological part of the review is concerned with two trends in functional analysis, namely, (1) controlled site-specific studies with different levels of foci and (2) thematic studies of particular tool types, e.g., endscrapers, burins, and unmodified débitage. Finally, problems concerning the interpretation of hafting and of multiple tool use are discussed.     

Relative frequency of butchering cutmarks produced by obsidian and flint: an experimental approach

An experimental approach was used to determine how stone tool materials affect the frequency of observed cutmarks. Five whitetail deer were butchered by an expert butcher using flint and obsidian tools and the skeletons were prepared and analyzed. The authors found that the deer butchered with obsidian tools generally displayed fewer incidents of cutmarks than their flint-butchered counterparts. Consideration of this variable may prove to be important to archaeologists attempting to answer questions of specialization or when making comparisons of cutmark data between sites.     

Scanning electron microscopy of dry hide working tools: The role of abrasives and humidity in microwear polish formation

This paper presents the results of the scanning electron microscopy of a series of experimental tools designed to investigate the role of abrasive agents and humidity in microwear polish formation. The tools—35 end scrapers—were divided into four groups and used to work dry hide. It was found that both humidity and abrasive agents are two basic variables in the development of the microwear polish.     

Middle Palaeolithic raw material gathering territories and human mobility in the southern Massif Central,France: first results from a petro-archaeological study on flint

During the Middle Palaeolithic in the south-eastern Massif Central and the bordering Rhone Valley, humans collected almost all their raw materials from various secondary outcrop which can be distinguished by the inherent characteristics of the materials. Similar lithic facies are unlikely to be encountered on two or more different natural outcrops and every artefact shows a surface that is well enough preserved to be studied according to a morphoscopic analysis at various magnifications. For all sites, some more remote sources were also exploited. However, most of the supposed exogenous materials, such as some Cretaceous flints identified in the Velay assemblages of Sainte-Anne I and Baume-Vallée for example, come from the heart of the massif where they occur in secondary alluvial deposits. Nevertheless, the extent of the foraging territories as revealed by raw materials sourcing covers a large band of various relief between the western and southern Causses, the Rhône corridor and the northern Limagne and Forez plains and animal species hunted by these groups express an environmental mosaic which fits with the image of landscape given by the raw materials.     

A pottery workshop with flint tools on blades knapped with copper at Nausharo (Indus civilisation, ca. 2500 BC)

Twenty years after its discovery, the pottery workshop of Nausharo (province of Baluchistan, Pakistan), which yielded a series of knapped stone tools in association with unbaked sherds and clay waste, is still of unique importance in Asian protohistorical studies. The types of pottery production (sandy marl fabrics) identified in this workshop, which is dated to ca. 2500 BC, correspond to the majority of the domestic pottery discovered at the site during the first two phases of the Indus Civilisation. The flint blades discovered in the workshop were made from exotic flint, coming from zones close to the great Indus sites such as Mohenjo-Daro and Chanhu-Daro. This is also the origin of a small amount of the pottery (micaceous fabrics) found at Nausharo in domestic contexts, e.g. Black-Slipped-Jars. The butts of the blades display features characteristic of pressure detachment with a copper pressure point. Gloss and microwear traces (polish) testify to the blades' having been used for finishing the clay vessels: for actual finishing (trimming) while they were being turned on a wheel, and possibly also for scraping by hand. Both of these operations are distinctly attested to by the presence in the workshop of two different types of clay shavings.     

Insights from a tribological analysis of the tribulum

Since the 1980s, “strange” microwear traces were found to occur on flint blades from sites in the Near East from the late Neolithic and occurring in great abundance by the Early Bronze Age. Although these were considered by archaeologists to be sickles because they had visible gloss on their edges, their use-traces could not be reproduced in harvesting experiments carried out in the field. Subsequently, several lines of evidence were used to study the blades, including not only direct observation of microscopic wear traces, but also Near Eastern cuneiform texts from the third and second millennium BC describing agricultural instruments and analogy with ethnographic and experimental reference material. We found that these tools and their traces best matched traces on flint used to arm the underside of a tribulum (threshing sledge) for threshing grain and cutting straw. We built a replica of the tribulum described in cuneiform texts from the Bronze Age, using copies of the Bronze Age blades, and used this instrument in experiments.     

Properties of ancient landscape: the present prehistoric in twentieth-century Breckland

The paper considers the presence of prehistory in the Breckland region of East Anglia in the twentieth century, addressing the ways in which ancient landscape became bound up with definitions of regional identity and claims to cultural and/or archaeological authority, and contributing to debate over the animation of landscape. Sites considered include the flint mines of Grimes Graves, with its controversial mid-twentieth-century Neolithic ‘chalk goddess’, and the ancient trackways of the region. Grimes Graves and the Brandon flint-knapping industry focus discussion concerning the poetics of flint. Archaeological debate is set within the wider characterisation of Breckland as a ‘primitive’ landscape. While some found in prehistory equivalents for a progressive modernity, others found an escape from or antidote to a fallen modern world, a sensibility continued in recent imaginings of the ancient landscape. The paper concludes by exploring the parallel presence of the twentieth-century past in the region via selected monuments and relics.     

Stone Tool Research at the End of the Millennium: Procurement and Technology

The literature of stone tool procurement and technology published in the past decade is reviewed in this article. The presentation attempts to be geographically comprehensive but, because of where it was written, it provides fuller coverage of New World publications, particularly those from North America, than of literature from the rest of the world. Topics covered include raw materials and procurement, flake experimentation, technology, and specific tool types. An article in a subsequent issue of this journal will discuss issues of function, behavior, and classification in lithic analysis.     

Efficient but destructive: a test of the dental wash technique using secondary electron microscopy

The Boyadjian et al dental wash technique provides, in certain contexts, the only chance to analyze and quantify the use of plants by past populations and is therefore an important milestone for the reconstruction of paleodiet. With this paper we present recent investigations and results upon the influence of this method on teeth. A series of six teeth from a three thousand years old Brazilian shellmound (Jabuticabeira II) was examined before and after dental wash. The main focus was documenting the alteration of the surfaces and microstructures. The status of all teeth were documented using macrophotography, optical light microscopy, and atmospheric Secondary Electron Microscopy (aSEM) prior and after applying the dental wash technique. The comparison of pictures taken before and after dental wash showed the different degrees of variation and damage done to the teeth but, also, provided additional information about microstructures, which have not been visible before. Consequently we suggest that dental wash should only be carried out, if absolutely necessary, after dental pathology, dental morphology and microwear studies have been accomplished.     

An investigation of soil phosphorus distribution within occupation deposits from a Romano-British hut group

A simple scheme for soil sampling and subsequent analysis for total soil phosphorus using perchloric acid digestion is described and its application illustrated by samples from the native farmstead of the Roman period at Cefn Graeanog in North Wales. The floor deposits of three distinctive buildings were analysed, and the data obtained enhanced by Trend Surface Analysis to produce generalized maps of the phosphorus distribution, together with levels of significance of such distribution patterns. These were then used to clarify the details of the interpretation of the usage of the various types of building. Data for soil phosphorus concentration clearly reveal the pattern of erosion of constructed floors, the presence of features such as hearths and drains, and can be used to reveal patterns not otherwise discernible by excavation techniques.     

殷墟使用朱砂情况的考察

与史前、夏及早商时期一样,朱砂在殷墟文化时期的北方仍是较为稀缺的资源,只存在于规格较高的考古遗存中。通过对安阳殷墟及其他同时期情况进行分析,朱砂的使用从殷墟早期到晚期呈上升趋势。依据使用场合的不同,可分为朱砂葬、朱砂祭祀坑和朱书文字三类。朱砂葬是朱砂使用情况中最为常见的一种。本文通过对殷墟西区、大司空、孝民屯、徐家桥和侯家庄王陵区墓地的朱砂葬进行分析,发现晚商时期只有高等级贵族才有资格使用朱砂。从其使用情况推测,晚商时期朱砂在丧葬活动中的礼仪功能是主要的,用以体现死者的身份等级,同时或具有辟邪的功能。殷墟朱砂的来源,最大可能性仍然是以贵州为中心的我国西南地区,不过特定时期也可能采用了来自陕西秦岭一带的资源。     

Testing for the presence of thermal pretreatment of flint in the mesolithic and neolithic of Sweden

Through ethnographic accounts, the method of heat treatment of silica materials to improve the flaking qualities is shown to have been known almost worldwide. Some mesolithic and neolithic flint artifacts from southern Sweden were examined in order to determine if they too were heat treated. From several methods proving or indicating thermal alteration of flint, analysis using scanning electron microscopy was chosen. Two samples were taken from each artifact, one being examined unaltered, the other being heat treated. No two samples from the same artifact had the same kind of surface appearance. Thus these analyses prove that the artifacts examined had not been heat treated.     

关于卜用甲骨起源之探讨

关于卜用甲骨的起源,学术界有不同的看法。本文通过对卜用甲骨产生背景的构建,探讨了卜用甲骨的起源问题。卜骨这一占卜习俗在北方地区从龙山早期出现后一直沿用到龙山晚期,中原地区的卜骨可能受到北方地区的影响。卜甲最早见于南关外期,此后在二里岗下层二期卜甲才又开始出现,二里岗上层数量大为增加,分布范围亦有所扩大。卜甲不见二里岗下层一期,可能南关外期的这件卜甲年代需要重新考虑。     

《西狭颂》摩崖现状考

东汉摩崖《西狭颂》与《都阁颂》、《石门颂》并称“汉三颂”。清末张祖翼提出近拓《西狭颂》笔画肥肿,神气索然,乃吴大敬剜洗所致,是说证据不足。然《西狭颂》摩崖“正文”、“文前题记”及文后第一行“题名”的确有刻洗迹象。《五瑞图》下题名第四行“记”字也系后人重刻,其重刊时间约在嘉庆十七年（1812）至道光二年（1822）间,《西狭颂》剜洗亦或同时。另外,《西狭颂》正文末“时府”二字,字形、刀法、位置均与整篇不和谐,当为摩崖刻竣后补刊。     

Swept under the rug: the problem of unacknowledged ambiguity in lithic residue identification

Microscopic analysis of organic residues on stone tools is used to interpret prehistoric stone tool functions. The morphology of some residues can be difficult to interpret, yet this ambiguity is rarely acknowledged in the literature. Our research seeks to understand the nature of this ambiguity by objectively identifying ambiguous residues in our reference collection. We trained four archaeologists in residue analysis using one part of our reference collection, then tested their ability to identify sixty-eight residues in another part of the same collection. Forty-eight of the residues in the test (70%) were correctly identified by three or all four subjects. We considered the remaining twenty residues, which were correctly identified by two or fewer of the subjects, to be ambiguous. These are most often in the hide-scraping, bone-scraping, and hardwood-scraping (macerated) categories, and tend to have an atypical morphology which falls in the range of variability of another residue category. Some of these residues also have optical properties which make them more difficult to image than others. We explore the potential for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to improve residue identification in a second test. This test shows a modest improvement in identification success rates of ambiguous residues when SEM images are included. We conclude that while images from different types of microscopes can improve reliability of identification, some residues will always be ambiguous. Rather than being ignored, these ambiguities should be brought to light, closely examined, and published as such.