Rots Prehension and Hafting Traces on Flint Tools

A Methodology
01. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-94-6166-006-0
Verlag: Leuven University Press
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 298 Seiten

The capacity to mount stone tools in or on a handle is considered an important innovation in past human behaviour. The insight to assemble two different materials (organic and inorganic) into a better functioning entity indicates the presence of the required mental capacity and technological expertise. Although the identification of stone tool use based on microscopic analysis was introduced in the 1960s, distinguishing between hand-held and hafted tool use has remained a more difficult issue. This volume introduces a methodology, based on a systematic, in-depth study of prehension and hafting traces on experimental stone artefacts, which allows their recognition in archaeological assemblages. The author proposes a number of distinctive macro- and microscopic wear traits for identifying hand-held and hafted stone tools and for identifying the exact hafting arrangement. Tested hafting arrangements vary according to the articulation between stone tool and handle, and to the raw materials and fixation agents used. Tool uses include various motions and worked materials. This largely experimental investigation concludes in a blind testing of the reliability of the method itself, showing that a wider application of the designed method has the potential to contribute significantly to our understanding of technological changes and evolutions and past human behaviour.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rots, Veerle

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements
List of figures
List of plates
List of tables (CD-rom)
Glossary

1. Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Importance for archaeological interpretation

2. Research Methodology
2.1 Research Strategy
2.2 Hafting Arrangements: terminology and classification
2.3 Hafting Materials
2.4 Experimentation
2.5 Method of Analysis

3. Prehension and Hafting Traces: dream or reality?
3.1 Are prehension and hafting traces formed?
3.2 At which stage are hafting traces formed?
3.3 Can hafting wear be distinguished from wear produced by external factors?
3.4 Can hafting wear be distinguished from use-wear?
3.5 Can hafting wear be distinguished from other prehensile wear?
3.6 Does hand-held use result in prehension wear with a recurrent pattern?
3.7 Does hafted use result in hafting wear with a recurrent pattern?
3.8 Are prehension and hafting traces interpretable?
3.9 Conclusion: are prehension and hafting traces a reality?

4. Prehension Traces - Dominant Variable: material worked
4.1 Schist working
4.2 Fire making
4.3 Hide working
4.4 Conclusion

5. Hafting Traces - Dominant Variables I: use motion and material worked
5.1 Influence of use motion on the formation process of hafting traces
5.2 Influence of the material worked on the formation process of hafting traces
5.3 Discussion
5.4 Conclusion

6. Hafting Traces - Dominant Variables II: hafting material and hafting arrangement
6.1 Influence of haft material on the process of hafting trace formation
6.2 Influence of binding material on the formation process of hafting traces
6.3 Influence of hafting arrangement on the formation process of hafting traces
6.4 Influence of use of wrapping on the formation process of hafting traces
6.5 Influence of use of resin on the formation process of hafting traces
6.6 Discussion
6.7 Conclusion

7. Hafting Traces - Secondary Variables
7.1 Raw material coarseness
7.2 Tool morphology
7.3 Retouch
7.4 Use duration
7.5 Tool protrusion from the haft
7.6 Experimenter
7.7 Conclusion

8. Indirect Evidence of Hafting
8.1 Use-wear traces
8.2 Fractures

9. Blind Test
9.1 Results
9.2 Discussion: interpretative potential per method
9.3 Conclusion

10. Discussion
10.1 Relevance of functional studies including hafting
10.2 Examining prehensile wear in practice
10.3 Traits important to include in any wear recording system

11. General Conclusions

ANNEX I: trace attributes
ANNEX II: general table of experiments

References
Plates

Über Autor(innen)

Rots, Veerle
Veerle Rots is Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders and an invited lecturer at the Prehistoric Archaeology Unit of KU Leuven.