Experimental programmes with retouchers: where do we stand and where do we go now? (original) (raw)
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2022
When studying bone retouchers, researchers pay close attention to the morphological characteristics of the tool's active zone, and the lithic raw material processed. In our research, we found that the orientation of the bone retoucher in the hand and the grip employed to retain and manipulate it are crucial factors that affect the morphological characteristics of the retoucher's active zone. By examining two alternative grips for manipulating bone retouchers ((1) Using all the fingers of one hand in a power grip; (2) Using only the first three digits of one hand in a pinch grip), we found that when the retoucher is held in the first manner, the active area is larger, as is the amount of bone removed by the retoucher. When the retoucher was pinched with only three fingers in a precision grip, retouch damage was more densely concentrated and less bone was removed. The orientation of the retoucher in the hand and the grip employed have a greater influence on the active area than the extent of retoucher use, which we assessed by measuring the number of stone tool edges processed. By gripping the retoucher with all the fingers of one hand, the knapper automatically applies greater force, which results in the removal of more bone. Comparison of experimental bone retouchers with those recovered from Middle Paleolithic archaeological contexts in Cha-gyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia) revealed that Altai Neanderthals practiced two methods of grasping bone retouchers, with a three-finger pinch grip being dominant.
Bone retouchers fromLower Palaeolithic sites...
Bone retouchers are more common during the Middle Palaeolithic (from MIS 7 to 3) and are now considered as a part of the tool kit of Neanderthals. In Middle Pleistocene and Lower Palaeolithic assemblages, they are few in number and attest to the scarcity of use of bones as material for shaping tools. Some MIS 11 to MIS 9 sites allow the description of the onset of bone use and its multiplication after the MIS 9 attests of another functional relationship between bones and hominins.
Experiments in bone technology: a methodological approach to functional analysis on bone tools
Traceology today. Methodological issues in the Old World and the Americas, 2014
The study of bone tools represents a key-element for the investigation of many hunter-gatherer-fisher societies. In the case of those that inhabited the extreme south of America, bone technology had a particular importance considering both the frequency and the diversity of tools design. Consequently, the identification of the uses to which bone artifacts were devoted constitutes a fundamental problem in order to understand their socio-economical dynamics. On this goal, we started a research project oriented towards functional analysis of bone instruments. The experimental program aimed at characterization of microscopic traces produced by three different processes: manufacturing of various types of bone artifacts, their utilization, and the alterations resulting from taphonomical processes. Microwear analysis was developed by means of different optical devices and magnifications (stereomicroscope, reflected light microscope and scanning electron microscope). In this paper we present the methodology and results obtained and discuss their implications for microwear analysis of bone tools.
Knapped bones used as tools: experimental approach on different activities
Quaternary International, 2020
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Experimental series and use-wear in bone tools
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2010
This paper presents an experimental program and microscopic patterns identified in the analysis of five worked bone morpho-functional groups: harpoon heads, drilled points, bipoints, awls and smoothers.
This volume is a collection of papers from the conference titled “Retouching the Palaeolithic: Becoming Human and the Origins of Bone Tool Technology” held in October 2015 at Schloss Herrenhausen in Hannover, Germany. With major funding from the Volkswagen Foundation’s Symposia and Summer School initiative, the conference brought together an international group of scientists from an array of research backgrounds to explore the origins and development of bone tool technologies in prehistory, specifically retouchers, compressors and percussors used in various lithic knapping activities. The diverse conference attendance generated an assortment of perspectives on bone tool use covering western Europe to the Levant, from the Lower Palaeolithic to Neolithic times. Collectively, these papers provide an overview on how the integration of bone tools with other Palaeolithic technologies influenced human subsistence and other socio-economic behaviours over time and space. In the end, this volume is not just about bone tools. Rather, this compilation is intended to stimulate broader ideas on technology and innovation, for the ability and desire to create new tools truly lies at the core of what makes us human.
Orthopedics
Reaming products taken during intramedullary nailing were examined to identify possible differences in their composition depending on the reaming percentage. Reaming products were taken from 39 fresh closed tibial and femoral diaphyseal fractures in patients with an average age of 29 years. According to histology, reaming products mainly consisted of bone trabeculae, viable or nonviable, and bone marrow stroma. A statistically significant reverse correlation exists between viable bone mass percentage and reaming progress. Reaming 1 mm less than the minimum canal diameter provides a higher viable bone mass percentage, which might be an important factor in the bone healing process.