How flakes shatter: a critical evaluation of quartz fracture analysis

Despite its worldwide use as a stone tool raw material, quartz is known to be a difficult material for archaeologists. The main reason for this is the tendency of quartz flakes to fragment during detachment, which complicates the use of traditional lithic analyses. In this article we present an experimental study of quartz flake fragmentation. We evaluate the method called fracture analysis that has been developed and used explicitly for the study of quartz assemblages. The method assumes high predictability of quartz flake fragmentation, but our experiments show that there is significant variation in fragmentation that fracture analysis does not take into account. Our results indicate that this variation is partly explained by indenter hardness, the relative thickness of the detached flake, as well as individual knapper-related factors. These results undermine the applicability of quartz fracture analysis in its current form. In addition, we discuss the effects of flake fragmentation on the technological organisation of prehistoric quartz users and suggest that it has affected reduction strategies as well as blank and tool dimensions. We also suggest that there should be mobility-related differences in archaeological assemblages in terms of the quality of the quartz raw material and that the curation of quartz should be low in relation to better quality raw materials used parallel with it.     

Prehistoric population history in eastern Fennoscandia

In this article, prehistoric population history in eastern Fennoscandia is modelled using summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates. In addition, radiocarbon date distribution is compared with other proxy data. Different proxies seem to produce similar distributions, which enhances the overall reliability of the pattern. The results indicate that there was a very pronounced peak in the hunter–gatherer population slightly after 4000 cal BC. This peak seems to be linked to increased environmental productivity. The subsequent population decline culminated just before the local appearance of farming economies in different sub-areas, which is an interesting result in the wider northern and central European context. Along with the adoption of agriculture, new population growth began in eastern Fennoscandia.