关于旧石器时代石制工具定义的探讨

旧石器时代石制工具的判别应该以疤痕分析为基础;微痕分析是一种检验石制品的有效方法,但难以成为石器分类的基础。     

骨质修理器——石器修理的新视角

本文介绍在欧洲旧石器时代遗址中发现较多的用于修理石器的动物骨头和牙齿。这类工具被称为骨质修理器,为解读石器修理技术和人类对动物资源的利用提供了重要线索。文章通过实验揭示了骨质修理器的操作过程、效能及其痕迹特征,有助于分析修理器的技术和行为内涵。从技术操作和原材料的来源与供给来看,使用骨头或牙齿修理石器是很有效的方法且成本低。最后从考古材料来看,骨质修理器在欧洲旧石器时代中期和晚期常见,而在东亚尚未发现。这种分布特点可能反映了人类对原材料选择利用和文化传统的差异;另一方面随着我们对骨质修理器的关注和认识,随着动物遗存与石制品综合系统研究的开展,这种工具有可能在更多地区被发现,为研究旧石器时代的技术和人类行为提供更丰富的材料与视角。     

Technology based evolution? A biometric test of the effects of handsize versus tool form on efficiency in an experimental cutting task

The use of stone cutting tools opened a novel adaptive niche for hominins. Hence, it has been hypothesised that biomechanical adaptations evolved to maximise efficiency when using such tools. Here, we test experimentally whether biometric variation influences the efficiency of simple cutting tools (n = 60 participants). Grip strength and handsize were measured in each participant. 30 participants used flint flakes, while the other 30 used small (unhafted) steel blades. Variations in basic parameters of tool form (length, width, thickness, cutting edge length) were recorded for the 30 flint flakes. It was ensured that mean handsize and strength in each participant group were not significantly different to investigate the effect of tool variation. The experimental task required cutting through a 10 mm-diameter hessian rope. Cutting efficiency was measured using both ‘Number of cutting strokes required’ and ‘Total time taken’. Results show that both efficiency measures were significantly correlated with handsize using all 60 participants. However, no significant differences were found between the flake and blade groups in terms of mean efficiency. Nor was any significant relationship found between tool form parameters and efficiency in the flint flake group. We stress that our results do not imply that tool form has no impact on tool efficiency, but rather that – all other things being equal – biometric variation has a statistically significant influence on efficiency variation when using simple cutting tools. These results demonstrate that biomechanical parameters related directly to efficiency of use, may plausibly have been subject to selection in the earliest stone tool-using hominins.     

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.     

Middle Stone Age bone tools from the Howiesons Poort layers,Sibudu Cave,South Africa

Recently discovered bone implements from Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at Sibudu Cave, South Africa, confirm the existence of a bone tool industry for the Howiesons Poort (HP) technocomplex. Previously, an isolated bone point from Klasies River provided inconclusive evidence. This paper describes three bone tools: two points and the end of a polished spatula-shaped piece, from unequivocal HP layers at Sibudu Cave (with ages greater than ∼61 ka). Comparative microscopic and morphometric analysis of the Sibudu specimens together with bone tools from southern African Middle and Later Stone Age (LSA) deposits, an Iron Age occupation, nineteenth century Bushman hunter-gatherer toolkits, and bone tools used experimentally in a variety of tasks, reveals that the Sibudu polished piece has use-wear reminiscent of that on bones experimentally used to work animal hides. A slender point is consistent with a pin or needle-like implement, while a larger point, reminiscent of the single specimen from Peers Cave, parallels large un-poisoned bone arrow points from LSA, Iron Age and historical Bushman sites. Additional support for the Sibudu point having served as an arrow tip comes from backed lithics in the HP compatible with this use, and the recovery of older, larger bone and lithic points from Blombos Cave, interpreted as spear heads. If the bone point from the HP layers at Sibudu Cave is substantiated by future discoveries, this will push back the origin of bow and bone arrow technology by at least 20,000 years, and corroborate arguments in favour of the hypothesis that crucial technological innovations took place during the MSA in Africa.     

Functional analysis of stone grinding and polishing tools from the earliest Neolithic of north-western Europe

This reconstruction of grinding, pounding, hammering and abrading activities in the Early Neolithic of north-western Europe (Linearbandkeramik and Villeneuve-Saint-Germain cultures, 5100–4700 BC) is based on the study of 1289 sandstone tools from 17 sites located in the main Paris basin river valleys (Aisne, Eure, Marne, Oise, Seine, Yonne). An original method of functional identification was elaborated, relying on observation of use-wear with a stereoscopic microscope (under120×). Identification of traces of use relied on an experimental referential of 92 samples. These include (1) grinding cereals, (2) pounding temper, colourants and various plants, (3) shaping mineral, vegetal and animal objects by polishing (schist, limestones, bone, antler, wood), (4) softening skin. A significant observation concerns the use of small handstones for grain dehusking and larger handstones for grain grinding. Recycling is a widespread feature, with multipurpose handstones and frequent reuse of lower grinding tools for obtaining colourants. A change in the function of tools can also be observed between the Linearbandkeramik and the Villeneuve-Saint-Germain.     

Finding resolution for the Howiesons Poort through the microscope: micro-residue analysis of segments from Sibudu Cave,South Africa

In this paper I present the results of a micro-residue analysis of stone segments, the type fossils of the Howiesons Poort technocomplex in South Africa, with an age of more than 60 ka at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal. Fifty-three segments were systematically analysed and 1826 organic micro-residue occurrences were documented on the sample. The distribution patterns of micro-residues and other use-traces are interpreted in terms of hafting and function. It is shown that most of the tools were indeed hafted and most were probably used as inserts for hunting weapons. There is evidence for differences and changes over time in haft materials and hafting configurations of the segments. The study demonstrates how functional studies could improve our understanding of change and variability in human behaviour during the Middle Stone Age, a period that used to be portrayed as static or slow changing.     

Experimental assessment of plan-view and profile-view gross-edge curvature on stone flake slicing efficiency

Separating two or more aspects of an object via cutting was likely an important factor in the origin and evolution of flaked stone technology. In recent years experiments have demonstrated that several stone tool attributes can influence different kinds of cutting behaviour: slicing, cleaving, scraping, sawing, drilling, piercing and abrading. Here we experimentally assessed the role of stone flake plan- and profile-view gross-edge curvature in a controlled slicing task. We also assessed the role of edge length. A total of 21 participants, using 252 stone flakes with distinct gross-edge curvatures and edge lengths, were asked to cut through a standardized substrate, and their efficiency in the task was measured over time. Flakes with longer edge lengths increased the efficiency of the cutting task, but increasing either plan- or profile-view edge curvature decreased the efficiency of the cutting task. These results have implications for the emergence of particular tool forms or reduction sequences throughout the Pleistocene, and may in part explain why certain forms were favoured by Paleolithic people, leading to their convergent evolution or widespread transmission.     

Quantifying 3D Micro‐Surface Changes on Experimental Stones Used to Break Bones and Their Implications for the Analysis of Early Stone Age Pounding Tools

We present a new method to assess use‐wear formation processes of pounding tools used to break bones based on a combination of conventional microscopy, optical 3D surface measurements obtained with a confocal microscope and GIS analysis. The method involves 3D alignment and 3D surface change inspection techniques along with a surface morphometric characterization and 2D spatial pattern analysis, to measure the spatital distribution of significant changes in surface topography of pounding tools. Our results show that microscopic changes can be detected in the surfaces of hammers and anvils after bone breakage activities are performed. Use‐wear on the active elements (hammers made on basalt and quartzite) occurred over a larger area than was observed on the passive element (quartzite anvil), but the latter often exhibited deeper modifications. Tool surfaces generally developed smoother topography with increased use, but grain microfracture also appeared with greater frequency over time. This methodology offers highly accurate and statistically robust analyses of microscopic use‐wear traces that can be applied to the analysis of archaeological pounding tools.     

Flint and Quartzite: Distinguishing Raw Material Through Bone Cut Marks

Since the 1980s, several experimental analyses have been able to differentiate some lithic tool types and some of their raw materials according to the morphology of cut marks imprinted by such tools when used for butchering activities. Thus, metal tool use has been differentiated in contexts with an abundance of lithic tools, or even the use of hand axes has been documented in carcass processing, in contrast with simple unretouched or retouched flakes. As important as this information is, there are still other important aspects to be analysed. Can cut marks produced with different lithic raw material types be differentiated? Can cut marks made with different types of the same raw material type be characterized and differentiated? The objective of this study is to evaluate if cut marks resulting from the use of different flints and different quartzites are distinguishable from each other. In the present work, an experimental analysis of hundreds of cut marks produced by five types of flint and five varieties of quartzite was carried out. Microphotogrammetry and geometric–morphometric techniques were applied to analyse these cut marks. The results show that flint cut marks and quartzite cut marks can be characterized at the assemblage level. Different types of flint produced cut marks that were not significantly different from each other. Cut marks made with Olduvai Gorge quartzite were significantly different from those produced with a set comprising several other types of quartzites. Crystal size, which is larger in Olduvai Gorge quartzites (0.5 mm) than Spanish quartzites (177–250 μm), is discussed as being the main reason for these statistically significant differences. This documented intra‐sample and inter‐sample variance does not hinder the resolution of the approach to differentiate between these two generic raw material types and opens the door for the application of this method in archaeological contexts.