Comparing stone tool resharpening trajectories with the aid of elliptical fourier analysis

Radu Ioviţǎ

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    Resharpening has long played a confusing role in the history of research on lithic variability. In this chapter, I argue that, far from confounding issues of variability, resharpening can be used as a classificatory principle because it reflects human technical choices related to repeated uses of a tool. The advantage that resharpening offers is that of a mathematically suitable study object, through the investigation of shape change along the continuum of size reduction. Building upon a rich history of research in both biology and prehistoric archaeology, I present a variant of a new method for comparing resharpening trajectories, using elliptical Fourier analysis (EFA) and principal components analysis to compare the slopes of allometric regressions. The theoretical presentation is followed by a worked example using bifacial tools from two European Middle Paleolithic sites: Pech de l'Azé I (France) and Buhlen III (Germany).

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Title of host publicationNew Perspectives on Old Stones
    Subtitle of host publicationAnalytical Approaches to Paleolithic Technologies
    PublisherSpringer New York
    Pages235-253
    Number of pages19
    ISBN (Print)9781441968609
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 2010

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Social Sciences
    • General Arts and Humanities

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