scholarly journals Grey zones of production: Discussing the technology of tools at the Lojanik quarry in west-central Serbia

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Bogosavljević Petrović ◽  
Anđa Petrović ◽  
Jovan Galfi ◽  
Divna Jovanović ◽  
Đorđe Radonjić
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
West Central ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Initial Extraction

Flaked stone artefacts found on the quarry Lojanik in west-central Serbia are good examples of how the function of non-diagnostic pieces could be determined through technological and use-wear analysis. In this study, we present the examples of surface clusters and artefacts from stratigraphic layers. Our attention is focused on the prevailing category of fragmented raw materials in the initial phase of knapping, preforms, debris, shattered pieces of anthropogenic origin and an immense number of artefacts and geofacts. The study of mines and quarries, as well as distribution of the raw materials that come from the central Balkans is an understudied phenomenon. Flaked stone artefacts found on the outcrops of the Lojanik hilltop is a good example of how we can apply technological, petrological and use-wear analysis on this type of site. Keeping in mind the loose context of the finds, as well as the lack of any datable material, this issue has to be approached with a lot of caution, since the locality itself seems to show human presence during Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The main focus of the study was put on the prevailing categories linked to the initial extraction of raw material on the site, as well as initial steps of shaping the raw material into cores. Samples were collected from several outcrops and so-called workshops from two localities of the hilltop: Lojanik 1 and Lojanik 2. The focal points of interest are categories that include waste, shatter, technical or shaping flakes. Worked pieces of raw material are now in the central position, and the study of these pieces have opened new grounds for this and similar occurrences - the study of so-called “grey zones” of production.

scholarly journals Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Treatment and Use of Non-flint Stone Raw Materials: Material Collection From Site 17 at Nowogród, Golub-Dobrzyń District, Poland

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 103-125
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Osipowicz ◽  
Piotr Chachlikowski ◽  
Justyna Orłowska ◽  
Zsolt Kasztovszky ◽  
Rafał Siuda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Crystalline Rocks ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Petrographic Analysis ◽  
Rock Crystal ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Geological Source ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

The aim of the article is to present the results of a multifaceted analysis of a collection of non-flint stone artefacts obtained during excavations of the complex of Late Palaeolithic camps at site 17 in Nowogród, Golub-Dobrzyń district. It included an obsidian artefact and objects made of crystalline rocks (quartzite, quartzite sandstone, quartz, coarse sandstone and diorite), which were created as a result of knapping the raw material using techniques similar or identical to those used during the processing of flint. The results of petrographic analysis confirmed that these raw materials had come from natural resources located near the site. Most of the analysed artefacts are represented by large flakes. In addition, one chip and two tools, a multiple burin and a pebble tool, were distinguished. Use-wear analysis showed signs of use on two artefacts, including the pebble tool. The obsidian artefact is currently the northernmost Late Palaeolithic find of this type. In order to determine the geological source of the raw material, the artefact was subjected to PGAA and XRF analysis. PGAA analysis confirmed that the obsidian originated from a source in northern Slovakia (Carpathian 1 type), probably from the Cejkov or Kašov deposits, Trebišov district. The article also describes a rock crystal and a probable concretion of quartz of this type originating from site 6 in Ludowice, Wąbrzeźno district

scholarly journals An experimental case of wood-working use-wear on quartzite artefacts

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Ying Liu ◽  
Hong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Functional Study ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear

Use-wear analysis has become an essential method for the functional study of lithic artefacts from prehistoric archaeological assemblages. On the basis of earlier research, this article discusses experiments and analyses of use-wear on quartzite artefacts caused by wood-working. The raw materials of the artefacts were collected from the Wulanmulun Site, Inner Mongolia. The woodworking techniques include scraping, drilling, and chopping. Scarring sizes are mostly medium and small. Scarring terminations are mainly feathered; stepped terminations are caused by scraping and chopping wood. Scarring mainly appears as run-together distributions. Medium and heavy rounding is found on the edges of the artefacts.

Percussive-Abrasive Stone Tools from Chagyrskaya Cave: Results of Functional Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
M. V. Seletsky ◽  
A. Y. Fedorchenko ◽  
P. V. Chistyakov ◽  
S. V. Markin ◽  
K. A. Kolobova
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Abrasive Stone ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Reference Samples ◽  
Comprehensive Study

This article presents a comprehensive study of percussive-abrasive active stone tools from Chagyrskaya Cave, using experimental use-wear and statistical methods, supplemented by 3D-modeling. Experiments combined with use- wear analysis allowed us to determine the functions of these tools by comparing the working surfaces and use-wear traces in the Chagyrskaya samples with those in the reference samples. As a result, we identified 19 retouchers, four hammerstones for processing mineral raw materials, and one hammer for splitting bone, which indicates the dominance of secondary processing over primary knapping in the Chagyrskaya lithic assemblage. Using statistical analysis, we traced the differences in the dimensions of the manuports and lithics under study. These artifacts are a promising and underestimated source of information for identifying working operations associated with stone- and bone-processing; moreover, they can provide new data on the functional attribution of sites and the mobility of early hominins.

scholarly journals Primary reduction technology in the Sukhaya Mechetka site assemblage

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-99
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Kolesnik ◽  
◽  
Aleksandr Otcherednoy ◽  
Kseniia Stepanova ◽  
Aleksei Danilchenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Complete Sequence ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Small Series ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Primary Reduction ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Geological Position

The Sukhaya Mechetka site in the Lower Volga region being widely known due to the unique preservation of cultural remains, their clear geological position and a rich set of tools has long become a kind of icon of the Middle Paleolithic of Eastern Europe. Improtantly the site was excavated over a wide area (about 650 square meters). During the excavation an assemblage of stone items including more than 350 tools, cores and about 10,000 flint and quartzite flakes of various types was collected. The neogene flint and the paleogene quartzite were used as raw materials approximately equally. According to our observations almost all available and suitable for processing stone rocks that were carried to the site as nodules, blocks, fragments and flakes were intensively used. Raw materials were collected in the immediate vicinity of the site. The signals of raw materials shortage and significant depth of its processing were detected. The distribution of the products of flint and quartzite raw materials on the site is irregular. Primary knapping was carried out according to typical Middle Paleolithic technologies. A small series of stone hammers display specific patterns of their use-wear. The cores and the flakes produced with these hammers were found. The complete sequence of preparation and flaking from the pre-cores to the residual forms has been documented. The shortage of high-quality raw material resulted in extremely complete usage of the most cores. Additionally many residual forms have been used for making tools. The cores can be divided into radial, cuboid and Levallois samples.

scholarly journals Recycling in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age: evidence of flint recycling at Ein-Zippori, Israel

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoni Parush ◽  
Richard Yerkes ◽  
Bar Efrati ◽  
Ran Barkai ◽  
Gopher Avi
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Separate Paper ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear

This paper presents a new techno-typological analysis of a sample of small flakes that were produced through recycling from discarded blanks at the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age site of Ein-Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel. This study shows that the systematic production of small flakes from previously discarded blanks was not related to a scarcity in raw materials, but rather to specific decisions concerning the types of tools needed to complete necessary tasks. These results are supported by use-wear analysis noted briefly here and presented in more detail in a separate paper. The results indicate that recycling was a significant lithic production trajectory during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Recycling also contributes to the variability in lithic assemblages from those cultural periods.

scholarly journals Personal adornments from the Eneolithic necropolis of Chirnogi-Suvita Iorgulescu (Romania):

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 398-413
Author(s):  
Monica Margarit ◽  
Madalina Dimache
Keyword(s):  
Sus Scrofa ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Technological Transformation ◽  
Perforated Plates ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
High Terrace ◽  
The One ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Over Time

The Necropolis of Chirnogi – Suvita Iorgulescu (Calarasi county) was located on the high terrace of the Danube and was investigated by Done Serba˘nescu (in 1989) by means of the archaeological excavations carried out for the construction of the Danube-Bucharest Channel. For this study, we analysed the archaeological assemblage preserved in the Museum of Gumelnita civilization from Oltenita (Calarasi county) coming from 10 graves, out of a total of 58, which are attributed to the Gumelnita culture (the second half of the 5th millennium BC). The personal adornments are mainly bracelets made of Spondylus valve (16 specimens) which appear in most of the graves, along with an equal number of perforated plates made of Sus scrofa canine, this time the pieces being grouped into two graves. The funeral inventory is complemented by small cylindrical, tubular or biconvex beads, made of various raw materials: Spondylus valve, bone, malachite, cooper and green slate. At the technical level, attention is drawn towards the technological transformation scheme of the raw material, which is extremely uniform for the two main categories of ornaments. Also, the analysed pieces showed different degrees of use-wear, demonstrating on the one hand that they were worn before the deposition in graves, and on the other that the accumulationof these items took place over time.

scholarly journals Bone and antler implements of the Early Neolithic Dnepr-Dvina interfluve settlements: technological and functional features, context

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-247
Author(s):  
Anna Andreevna Malyutina
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Neolithic Culture ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
First Time ◽  
Neolithic Cultures

In this paper we consider the results of the use-wear analysis of the bone and antler implements received as a result of excavation of the Early Neolithic settlements on the territory of Dnepr-Dvina interfluve. This kind of research is conducted for this category of archaeological material for the first time. For the analysis we have selected 27 bone, antler and teeth items occurring from two settlements of the Serteysky microregion - Serteya X and Rudnya Serteyskaya. The good preservation of items has allowed us to study macro- and microtraces connected with technology of processing of raw materials and receiving products, ways of usage of finished utilitarian and not utilitarian character items. The following categories of implements have been marked out: knives, awls, pendants, spear-heads, arrowheads, barbed points, preforms, fragments of items with processing traces. The obtained information is correlated to other materials of settlements - ceramics, stone artifacts, economic and cultural characteristic of settlements in general. Ceramic traditions in upper courses of the Western Dvina belong to 7 millennium BC. The earliest ceramic traditions are combined in Serteyskaya archaeological culture. Later, in materials of the Early Neolithic sites influence of Early Neolithic cultures of East Baltics is traced. As a result, on the territory of Podvinya the Rudnyanskaya Early Neolithic culture is formed.

scholarly journals Personal adornments from the Eneolithic necropolis of Chirnogi-Suvita Iorgulescu (Romania):

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 398-413
Author(s):  
Monica Margarit ◽  
Madalina Dimache
Keyword(s):  
Sus Scrofa ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Technological Transformation ◽  
Perforated Plates ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
High Terrace ◽  
The One ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Over Time

The Necropolis of Chirnogi – Suvita Iorgulescu (Calarasi county) was located on the high terrace of the Danube and was investigated by Done Serba˘nescu (in 1989) by means of the archaeological excavations carried out for the construction of the Danube-Bucharest Channel. For this study, we analysed the archaeological assemblage preserved in the Museum of Gumelnita civilization from Oltenita (Calarasi county) coming from 10 graves, out of a total of 58, which are attributed to the Gumelnita culture (the second half of the 5th millennium BC). The personal adornments are mainly bracelets made of Spondylus valve (16 specimens) which appear in most of the graves, along with an equal number of perforated plates made of Sus scrofa canine, this time the pieces being grouped into two graves. The funeral inventory is complemented by small cylindrical, tubular or biconvex beads, made of various raw materials: Spondylus valve, bone, malachite, cooper and green slate. At the technical level, attention is drawn towards the technological transformation scheme of the raw material, which is extremely uniform for the two main categories of ornaments. Also, the analysed pieces showed different degrees of use-wear, demonstrating on the one hand that they were worn before the deposition in graves, and on the other that the accumulationof these items took place over time.

scholarly journals Ocher in Late Paleolithic Contexts at the Kovrizhka IV Site, the Baikal-Patom Highlands (Eastern Siberia, Russia)

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-42
Author(s):  
A. V. Tetenkin ◽  
E. I. Demonterova ◽  
E. V. Kaneva ◽  
A. Henry ◽  
E. Gauvrit Roux
Keyword(s):  
Diffraction Analysis ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Eastern Siberia ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Paleolithic Site ◽  
Large Piece ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Cultural Layers

This paper deals with numerous ocher remains found in cultural layers 6, 2G, and 2B of the Paleolithic site Kovrizhka IV on the Vitim River, in the Baikal-Patom Highlands (Eastern Siberia). These layers are dated by radiocarbon to the interval of ~19.2–18.3 ka cal BP. In cultural layers 2B and 2G, ocher colored the living fl oors and combustion areas. Stratigraphic observations indicate that this was done at the very beginning of the occupation. In layer 6, traces of ocher were present on an anthropomorphic fi gurine made of mammoth ivory, and pieces of ocher were found near the head of another such fi gurine. In layer 2B, a large piece of ocher was unearthed at the edge of the hearth. Ocher residues were also detected by use-wear analysis on certain artifacts. This variety of patterns suggests different functions of ocher, possibly both symbolic and utilitarian. The mineral composition of ocher was assessed by X-ray diffraction analysis. In all three layers, hematite is associated with quartz. In layer 2G, an additional type of ocher was identifi ed, containing impurities, such as calcite and chlorite. Known sources of ocher are located in the distribution areas of magnetite and hematite ores, over 500 km southwest and southeast of Kovrizhka IV. The importance of ocher in the life of these societies is discussed in light of the archaeological evidence and the longdistance raw material acquisition patterns of ocher.

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