Characterization of the use-wear and residues resulting from limestone working. Experimental approach to the parietal art of La Viña rock shelter (La Manzaneda, Asturias, Spain)

The Palaeolithic rock engravings that are located along the Nalón river basin in Northern Spain (central area of Asturias) have been studied from various perspectives (morphology, depth, style, manual range), but no use-wear studies on the stone tools used to produce such engravings have ever been undertaken. This paper aims to explore a new approach to this type of incisions based on use-wear analysis of experimental lithic tools used to engrave limestone blocks and slabs. Our results show that the use-wear traces generated by engraving limestone are well-developed and can be defined with specific criteria. The principal objective of this study was to provide the first experimental reference collection of use-wear resulting from engraving limestone using flint and quartzite experimental tools to compare with the traces that appear on tools in the archaeological record in contexts with parietal and portable art and, more specifically, to add a new approach to the multidisciplinary study of the La Viña rock shelter