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Formal variation in lithic projectile armatures
Title
Formal variation in lithic projectile armatures: re-interpreting points from Tabun Cave, Israel.
Creator
Leslie, David E., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
Abstract/Description
Lithic projectile armatures represent a significant innovation over thrusted spears in the subsistence strategies of hominins. Previous researchers have disagreed over the timing of the appearance of projectile weapons in the archaeological record (Brooks 2006; Shea 2006). To discover when projectile technology first appears in the Levant, I have compared tip cross-sectional areas, weights, and tip penetrating angles (three variables useful for discriminating between projectile and thrusting...
Show moreLithic projectile armatures represent a significant innovation over thrusted spears in the subsistence strategies of hominins. Previous researchers have disagreed over the timing of the appearance of projectile weapons in the archaeological record (Brooks 2006; Shea 2006). To discover when projectile technology first appears in the Levant, I have compared tip cross-sectional areas, weights, and tip penetrating angles (three variables useful for discriminating between projectile and thrusting weapons) of pointed Blades, Levallois points, and Mousterian points with analogs from known and suspected chipped stone projectile points. Results indicate that pointed Blades from Tabun and Skhul caves are statistically indistinguishable from other suspected projectile point types. Levallois and Mousterian points from Tabun and Skhul are also statistically indistinguishable from suspected projectile types when the lower halves of the populations are compared. Consequently, I conclude that points from Tabun and Skhul caves fall within the known and suspected range of variation of projectile point morphology.
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Date Issued
2008
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/172670
Subject Headings
Tools, Prehistoric, Analysis, Stone implements, Classification, Projectile points, Analysis, Paleoanthropology, Excavations (Archaeology), Fossil hominids
Format
Document (PDF)
Analysis of chert artifacts from residential households at Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico
Title
Analysis of chert artifacts from residential households at Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico.
Creator
Gregory, Katherine Winifred., Florida Atlantic University, Brown, Clifford T.
Abstract/Description
This thesis describes a macroscopic analysis of the chert artifacts from several households at Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico, in order to determine whether or not there was behavioral variation among the households. The chert artifacts were excavated during the 1992 field season during Dr. Clifford T. Brown's dissertation research and this thesis expands upon his findings. The presence of behavioral variation would provide evidence of a social organization at Mayapan and support Brown's findings...
Show moreThis thesis describes a macroscopic analysis of the chert artifacts from several households at Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico, in order to determine whether or not there was behavioral variation among the households. The chert artifacts were excavated during the 1992 field season during Dr. Clifford T. Brown's dissertation research and this thesis expands upon his findings. The presence of behavioral variation would provide evidence of a social organization at Mayapan and support Brown's findings that the prehistoric Yucatec Maya government was a segmentary state. Two analyses were performed on the chert artifacts: a general chert analysis and an informal tool analysis. The general chert analysis was performed on 3,777 artifacts from nine households, while the informal tool analysis was performed on 1,151 artifacts from four households. The informal tool analysis was conducted on artifacts that were observed to have use wear during the general chert analysis.
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Date Issued
2006
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13333
Subject Headings
Social archeology--Yucatán (Mexico : State), Stone implements--Analysis., Stone implements--Social aspects., Tools, Prehistoric--Analysis.
Format
Document (PDF)
new method to achieve lithic use-wear discrimination using laser scanning confocal microscopy
Title
A new method to achieve lithic use-wear discrimination using laser scanning confocal microscopy.
Creator
Farber, Elliott, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
Abstract/Description
My study sought to acquire quantitative data from the surface of lithic tools and use that data to discriminate tools used on different contact materials. An experimental archaeological wear production method was conceived, whereby I and several volunteers produced wear on chert, heat-treated chert, and obsidian flakes by using those flakes on several contact materials. The flakes were then analyzed using a laser scanning confocal microscope, which recorded three-dimensional surface data from...
Show moreMy study sought to acquire quantitative data from the surface of lithic tools and use that data to discriminate tools used on different contact materials. An experimental archaeological wear production method was conceived, whereby I and several volunteers produced wear on chert, heat-treated chert, and obsidian flakes by using those flakes on several contact materials. The flakes were then analyzed using a laser scanning confocal microscope, which recorded three-dimensional surface data from each tool. The data was analyzed using cluster analysis to find the ideal combination of parameters which correctly discriminated the flakes based on use-wear data. After finding acceptable parameters which grouped flakes appropriately through cluster analysis, those groups were subjected to a discriminant analysis. Each analysis returned a p-value under .05, meaning that the clustering based on the parameters Sq and Sfd produced by the cluster analysis was not random, but indicative of these variables' ability to discriminate lithic use-wear. The major advantage of the approach developed in this study is that it can quantitatively discriminate use-wear produced by different contact materials on flakes with no a priori information at all.
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Date Issued
2013
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362342
Subject Headings
Archaeology, Methodology, Archaeological surveying, Laser use in, Topographical surveying, Laser use in, Nanostructured materials, Tools, Prehistoric, Analysis
Format
Document (PDF)