Lithic Replication Studies Research Papers (original) (raw)

FLAKING-OFF THE LITHIC EVOLUTIONARY TIMELINE
Highlighting by lithic experiments the main evolutionary steps in stone flaking, conventionally divided into 4 main “modes”, each one representing a flaking project as behavioral adaptations, which had to be matched with specific environmental resources, conditions and human contacts.
Didactic approach with Lessini Mountains (Verona/Italy) flint outcrops are briefly introduced.

In addition to archaeologists who make stone tools for experimental purposes, there is a growing number of flintknappers who make lithic artifacts for fun and for profit. The scale of non-academic knapping is little known to archaeologists, and is connected to a flourishing market for antiquities.fakes, replicas, and modern lithic art. Modern stone tools are being produced in vast numbers, and are inevitably muddling the prehistoric record. Modern knappers exploit some material sources heavily, and their debitage creates new sites and contaminates old quarry areas. Modern knapping is, however, a potential source of archaeological insights, and a bridge between the professional community and the interested public. Modern knapping also is creating a "twentieth-century stone age,'' and archaeologists working with lithic artifacts need to be aware of the problems and potentials.

There is consensus that the modern human lineage appeared in Africa before 100,000 years ago 1, 2. But there is debate as to when cultural and cognitive characteristics typical of modern humans first appeared, and the role that these had in the expansion of modern humans out of Africa 3. Scientists rely on symbolically specific proxies, such as artistic expression, to document the origins of complex cognition. Advanced technologies with elaborate chains of production are also proxies, as these often demand high-fidelity ...

- by Curtis Marean
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- Ancient History, Archaeology, Experimental Archaeology, Paleoanthropology

Barbed and tanged points (BTP) are one of the specific elements which characterizes extracantabrian Solutrean. Its
morphology contributes to fix the hypothesis that its possible function can be arrowheads propelled by a bow. However, until date there are not specific studies to contrast the idea. In this sense, we have carried out an experimental program to characterise the arrows from a technological, functional, ballistic and hunting qualities point of view. Some of the results show that barbed and tanged points of the Spanish Solutrean are morphologically and metric well suited to be thrown by a bow. The replicas had a perfect ballistic behaviour, so we can think that the origin of bow can be earlier than traditionally thought.

- by Arturo de Lombera-Hermida and +1
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- Experimental Archaeology, Use Wear Analysis, Lithic Technology, Quartz industries
- by David Nash and +1
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- Experimental Archaeology, Use Wear Analysis, Middle Stone Age (Archaeology), Silcrete
- by Mathias Mehofer
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- Experimental Archaeology, Ethnomusicology, Use Wear Analysis, Archaeometallurgy

We report our attempts to experimentally replicate 25 fine-grained basalt Hawaiian quadrangular adzes using freehand percussion. We
document the techniques, stages and distinctive debitage resulting from each stage of the reduction process. While the later experimental
adzes in our series reproduced the Hawaiian quadrangular adze with accuracy, we were unable to achieve the level of finesse seen in
some finished archaeological specimens. Our experiments, and the gap between our own results and the finest examples seen in some
archaeological collections, indicates the very high levels of skill needed to make the most refined Hawaiian adzes, and supports the
notion that some adze makers were undoubtedly specialists. Our experimental work complements another study of archaeological adzes
that examines the technological strategies and the cumulative addition of morphological elements to adzes during manufacture. We hope
this study will serve as a useful benchmark for objectively and systematically comparing quadrangular adze technology across Hawai‘i
and throughout Polynesia, leading to a better understanding of regional and temporal variation in adze technology.

- by Christopher Clarkson and +1
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- Lithic Technology, Lithic Technology (Archaeology), Stone tools, Adzes

An emphasis on socially orientated approaches to studying the Palaeolithic has become commonplace in current research. As a result, a “bottom up” approach to interpreting the material record has developed, which emphasises the individual as the appropriate analytical unit. However, this approach often reduces discussion to “theoretical storytelling”, and there is currently no suitable methodology in place to enable the hypotheses brought about by such discourse to be adequately tested. This paper presents research designed to investigate whether the individual is truly a viable unit of analysis within the Lower Palaeolithic. Using an innovative form of analysis centred around the study of flake scar patterning on Acheulean handaxes, the possibilities of tracing individual knappers through the Lower Palaeolithic tools from the site of Caddington are explored. The results indicate that a suite of factors collaborate to continually redefine lithic reduction, resulting in any idiosyncrasies present being subsumed within a flexible approach to the knapping of stone tools. However, the possibilities of variable group traditions are detected. The implications of this bring into question our ability to produce meaningful dialogues regarding the study of individuals and emphasises that we still do not fully understand how groups influenced Palaeolithic society.

Cloud computing is a concept of providing user and application oriented services in a virtual environment. Users can use the various cloud services as per their requirements dynamically. Different users have different requirements in terms of application reliability, performance and fault tolerance. Static and rigid fault tolerance policies provide a consistent degree of fault tolerance as well as overhead. In this research work we have proposed a method to implement dynamic fault tolerance considering customer requirements. The cloud users have been classified in to sub classes as per the fault tolerance requirements. Their jobs have also been classified into compute intensive and data intensive categories. The varying degree of fault tolerance has been applied consisting of replication and input buffer. From the simulation based experiments we have found that the proposed dynamic method performs better than the existing methods.

The classification of stone tool debitage features as right- or left-oriented has become an increasingly common method for assessing knapper handedness in experimental and archaeological lithic assemblages. Replication attempts using these published methodologies, however, have been unsuccessful. We tested the validity of eight flake feature categories, from Bargallo et al. (2017) and Dominguez-Ballestros & Arrizabalaga (2015), assessing their predictive accuracy with an inter-rater reliability analysis on an experimental assemblage of Oldowan flakes produced by 18 knappers (9 left-handed). Three experienced raters independently made blind predictions of knapper handedness using directional skew for each of the eight features, on 344 complete flakes from 43 isolated knapping events. Inter-rater reliability measures (Fleiss’ Kappa) showed fair agreement for only two flake features (eraillure scar and impact point locations), with moderate (hackles, ripples, parabolic crack) to poor (ridge, extraction axis, platform inclination) agreement for all other features. All three raters failed to perform significantly better than chance for predicting handedness. These results suggest not only that these flake features are unreliable predictors of a knapper’s handedness, but also, that some of these features do not represent objective categories. We therefore urge caution in applying this method to archaeological assemblages pending further independent replication.

- by Lana Ruck and +1
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- Handedness, Lithic Technology, Hominin evolution, Lithic Analysis
- by Manuel Will and +3
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- Archaeology, Paleoanthropology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Human Evolution
- by Stewart Ullyott
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- Evolutionary Biology, Archaeology, Experimental Archaeology, Algorithms

Researchers in experimental replication of lithic artifacts are faced with a common problem of standardization and control. The issue is not only of standardization but assessing skill and learning in experimental studies. The problem is how to accurately sample the population being studied and how to allow sampling from specific stages in the knapping process. As most stone is unpredictable due to inclusions, cracks, and differences in size, texture, and fracture toughness, it is necessary to create knappable facsimiles of either artifacts or knapped replicas by experts at specific stages. This allows for observation of specific behaviors at critical stages during production; such as notching, fluting, pressure flaking, or late stage bifacial thinning.

This presentation introduced my current PhD research, focusing on the rock-cut sites' distribution in the visible landscape and at the scale of the study area, e.g. the Southern edge of the Sichuan Basin.
Transitional shapes between rock-cut sculpture and rock art were insisted upon, as they are of particular interest to the growing field of rock art studies in China, were parietal interventions occur in contested landscapes between highland/forest populations and plain societies, or in port-of-trade zones of intense circulation.

- by Lia Wei
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- Rock Art (Archaeology), Sculpture, Rock Art, Rock art research