Controlled experiments in lithic technology and function

From the earliest manifestations of tool production, technologies have played a fundamental role in the acquisition of different resources and are representative of daily activities in the lives of ancient humans, such as hunting (stone-tipped spears) and meat processing (chipped stone tools) (Lombard 2005; McPherron et al. 2010; Lombard and Phillipson 2010; Brown et al. 2012; Wilkins et al. 2012; Sahle et al. 2013; Joordens et al. 2015; Ambrose 2001; Stout 2001). Yet many questions remain, such as how and why technological changes took place in earlier populations, and how technological traditions, innovations, and novelties enabled hominins to survive and disperse across the globe (Klein 2000; McBrearty and Brooks 2000; Henshilwood et al. 2001; Marean et al. 2007; Brown et al. 2012; Režek et al. 2018).Projekt DEALinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Applied force as a determining factor in lithic use-wear accrual: an experimental investigation of its validity as a method with which to infer hominin upper limb biomechanics

The advent of flake technology represented a fundamental shift in the capability of hominins to effectively access and process animal food sources. As such, the efficiency with which these tools were utilized is often widely implicated in palaeoanthropological debate, most pertinently, with regards to the evolution of upper limb biomechanics. Hence, it would then be of significance if the force, and by association efficiency, with which these tools were used is able to be determined. Presented here is the first attempt to correlate the force with which flaked tools are used to the associated microwear polish accrued on the lithics worked edge. This would potentially allow biomechanical inferences to be taken from stone artifacts and subsequently be applied to the populations that were using them. Twenty five participants of varying strength carried out a simple cutting task using small, unhafted flakes made from English chalk flint. Both maximum and mean applied force was recorded during these tasks by a sensor placed under the worked material while all other variables, including stroke count and flake size, were controlled for. Lithic polish was quantified through seven textural analyses of SEM micrographs. Results indicated that there were no statistically significant relationships between lithic polish and both maximum and mean applied force at low levels of variation. It is, however, suggested that given more archaeologically inferable experimental conditions then polish accrual may have displayed higher developmental distinctions, thus allowing lithic wear to differentiate between applied forces