Lithic Exploitation and Usewear Analysis
Publication Name
Handbook of Archaeological Sciences, Volume 1, Second Edition
Abstract
Lithic artefacts span millions of years in the archaeological record and provide evidence for how tools were made and used at various analytical scales – from determining local tasks to understanding subsistence economies, behavioural adaptations, origins of human culture, and evolution. The procurement and production of stone tools are central to many interpretations of past human behaviours in the landscape. There are many analytical techniques available for geochemical characterizations with differing precision and accuracy. Information about the movement of stone material, often in combination with technological lithic analyses that identify tool-manufacturing techniques and function, may be interpreted in studies of trade and exchange. Usewear analysis has been the main approach for identifying lithic artefact use and tool function, and commonly involves actualistic experiments and reference collections comprising many kinds of tools, worked materials, associated microscope images, and a variety of qualitative and quantitative data.
Open Access Status
This publication is not available as open access
First Page
819
Last Page
832