Experimental protocols for the study of battered stone anvils from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

Percussive activities are highly relevant in the economy of modern hunter-gatherer societies and other primates, and are likely to have been equally important during the Palaeolithic. Despite the potential relevance of percussive activities in the Early Stone Age, attempts to study battered artefacts are still rare. In order to establish protocols of analysis of battered tools, this paper pursues an interdisciplinary approach combining techno-typological, refit, use-wear and GIS studies of experimental anvils from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). The main aim is to classify types of damage on battered artefacts according to the percussive task performed, and hence identify patterns that can be used to interpret the Oldowan and Acheulean evidence. Our results indicate that abrasion marks on anvil surfaces are typical of nut cracking, while bone breaking leaves characteristic scars and abrasion marks on the edges of anvils. Pounding of soft materials such as meat and plants also causes battering of anvils, producing morphological and spatial patterns that can be discerned from the heavy breakage of anvils during bipolar flaking. By integrating macroscopic, microscopic and spatial analyses of experimental stone tools, this paper contributes to create a referential framework in which Early Stone Age battered artefacts can be interpreted.     

Simulating archaeologists? Using agent-based modelling to improve battlefield excavations

The study of material culture generated by military engagements has created an emergent sub-discipline of archaeological studies centred on battlefields. This approach has developed a particular and sophisticated methodology that is able to deal with the fact that archaeologists will often not find either structures or a useful stratigraphical record on the site, as the material remains of the battle will basically be metallic objects carried by combatants. It is therefore rather complicated not only to test hypotheses about battle events based on archaeological data, but also to validate the methodology used. Here we propose the use of agent-based models to explore these issues in the case of eighteenth-century battlefield archaeology. The simulation is divided into four different steps. Firstly, a battle is simulated in order to generate realistic virtual archaeological remains left by an engagement between two armies of this era. We then simulate the loss of information that the passing of time produces in the battlefield. The third step involves simulating the archaeological survey, enabling us to explore different survey strategies and the impact on the interpretation of the event itself. Finally, we design a confidence index in order to compare the results of the different virtual excavations using spatial analysis and statistics. The results show that the methodology is fully functional in terms of understanding a battle, and it allows us to suggest new strategies to improve fieldwork and to develop new ways of exploring these particular archaeological sites. It is concluded that the described approach illustrates how simulation can be used to explore methodological issues of archaeological science.     

GIS and the application of a model of pollen deposition and dispersal: a new approach to testing landscape hypotheses using the POLLANDCAL models

The recent advances in computer-based modelling of pollen dispersal and deposition through the POLLANDCAL (POLlen-LANDscape CALibration) network have enabled landscape simulations to be constructed and tested, both to validate the theoretical models, and to validate modelled landscapes using empirical data. This paper presents the first attempt to develop simulations based on real landscapes, by placing distinct vegetation communities using reclassified digital elevation models (combined slope and altitude data). The approach is tested by modelling a palynological signature for the expansion of mixed agriculture into an upland margin, and the results for 49 simulated pollen deposition sites, across an altitudinal range for a series of landscape scenarios, is compared with existing empirical data. The broad trends within the two data sets are in general accordance, and variation between them is attributed to local variation in vegetation heterogeneity. The results show that the POLLANDCAL models offer a new and exciting method by which sub-fossil pollen assemblages can be examined, theoretical models of landscape use tested, and will offer a significant tool in the interpretation of environmental data in archaeology, in particular when combined with GIS-based models of the physical environment.     

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.     

Ground stone tool production and use in the Late Upper Palaeolithic: The evidence from Riparo Dalmeri (Venetian Prealps,Italy)

Abstract

The site of Riparo Dalmeri yielded numerous flint, bone, and shell artifacts, as well as faunal and botanical remains, which are evidence of the Late Upper Palaeolithic (or Late Epigravettian culture, ca. 16,000–12,000 cal b.p.) occupation of the Alps region. The importance of the site is related to the discovery of 267 stones painted with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric designs. Here we report on ground stone tools from Riparo Dalmeri investigated by means of an integrated technofunctional and experimental approach to reconstruct their production and use. The results support the hypothesis that the ground stone artifacts were employed in specialized activities (e.g., hide treatment, flintknapping) as well as in the production of some of the painted stone artifacts.     

Estimating original flake mass from 3D scans of platform area

This study confirms the increased capacity to predict flake mass that arises from more accurately measuring surface area in three dimensions using a digital scanner. We also reveal the existence of significantly different relationships between platform area and flake mass for flakes with different platform types and ventral and dorsal morphologies. These different relationships between platform surface area and mass have not been previously identified, and reveal the complexity of platform/mass relationships. Using multivariate regression of 3D platform surface area and external platform angle we improve the accuracy of predictions of original flake mass. We propose a method for studying reduction intensity on retouched flakes, based on comparing predictions of the initial mass of the flake with measurements of the mass following retouching to estimate the amount of mass removed through retouching. We name this approach the Initial-/Terminal-Mass Comparison, or ITMC. Our experiments demonstrate that the capacity of the 3D platform scans to predict flake mass, and by implication the capacity of the ITMC to estimate mass loss, rivals or exceeds the capacity demonstrated for existing reduction measures.     

A locally-adaptive model of archaeological potential (LAMAP)

A new method for modelling archaeological resource potential is presented that avoids some of the mathematical violations and inconsistencies of previously-favoured techniques. The Minanha research area in west-central Belize and a database of other Maya centres from within Belize are used as a case study for demonstrating the utility of the proposed modelling technique.     

The Digital Reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo ship

This article describes the digital reconstruction of the ship remains from Mound 1, at the early 7th‐century Anglo‐Saxon burial ground at Sutton Hoo, East Anglia, UK. This research provides a critical component of the wider project to build a full‐scale reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo ship. The nature of the archaeological record relating to the Sutton Hoo ship is outlined, and the subsequent assumptions underpinning the digital reconstruction explained, followed by a step‐by‐step account of that work. Hydrostatic testing of the resulting digitally reconstructed hull is then presented, allowing new insight into the capacity and capability of the vessel.     

Spatial network analysis of a terminal prehispanic and early colonial settlement in highland Peru

This study uses GIS-based spatial network analysis (SNA) to simulate patterns of foot traffic and analyze the manipulation of the built environment of a small Inka imperial outpost that became an early Franciscan doctrina (doctrinal settlement) in the Andean highlands of southern Peru. Excavations show evidence for growth and remodeling of the site's public and domestic spaces over its short use life as a doctrina, pointing to an increasingly orthodox regime of indoctrination. The results of SNA-based walking simulations show specifically how movement through the site was rerouted to isolate the old Inka ceremonial core, producing new rhythms of interaction and directing public processionals to the colonial plaza and chapel of the doctrina. The complementarity of SNA with other established forms of access analysis and its broader utility for archaeological research design, sampling strategies, hypothesis testing, and interpretation are discussed.     

Pitted stone cobbles in the Mesolithic site of Font del Ros (Southeastern Pre-Pyrenees,Spain): some experimental remarks around a controversial tool type

The presence of cobbles with activity-related marks in the Mesolithic site of Font del Ros (Berga, Spain), and in particular one group of artefacts – pitted stones – raises problematic issues associated with the characterization of percussion activities. Although these artefacts have generated an extensive bibliography on ethological, ethnographic, ethnoarchaeological and archaeological levels, various questions persist in relation to their possible contextual function. In this paper we present the results of an experimental programme in which three types of activities that could create pitted stones are reproduced: bipolar knapping of vein quartz, hazelnut cracking, and hazelnut grinding. The aim of this experimental programme is to describe marks and use-wear traces related to such activities.