| Term Paper Title | An Experiment In Edge Damage |
| # of Words | 992 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 3.97 |
An Experiment in Edge Damage
When a stone flake is used in specific applications, such as sawing or whittling, distinct wear patterns are formed. In addition, unique patterns are also formed by the surface on which the tool is used. Wood, meat, hide, and bone all leave dissimilar scars on a lithic device. Modern archaeologists have devised a method, called use-wear analysis, in which attributes from archaeological remains are compared to modern examples whose function is known. This allows archeologists to determine the function of a prehistoric tool by its wear patterns. The purpose of this experiment is to note the wear patterns caused by sawing wood, and to ultimately decide if use-wear analysis is indicative of the function of past tools.
A small obsidian flake would be used in this experiment. It was approximately forty-eight millimeters long, thirty-four millimeters wide, and seven millimeters thick. From the ventral view, the left side was serrated. This seemed like the most appropriate side to use as a saw. A small round twig, a centimeter thick, from a local deciduous tree was used as the wood subject. The exact species of the tree is unknown; however, it was a very hard wood and a light brown/tan color.
Initially, medium pressure was used on the flake and it was moved in bi-directional strokes across the stick. After about thirty strokes, the use edge angle prohibited the flake from cutting further in to the stick. The cut was roughly three millimeters deep and three quarters millimeters wide. It could be determined that a tool, in this particular shape, could not be used as an effective saw. However, use-wear patterns could still be inferred. The flake was moved to another portion of the stick and the same process was repeated. This time the cut was only about two millimeters deep, before termination. Also, small pieces of obsidian were left in the cut and many more small pieces were mixed with sawdust on the table. The flake seemed to be deteriorating quite quickly. In addition, the pressure required to make the second cut was far more than the force needed for the initial cut. The gradual increases in pressure continued in this manner until nine cuts were made. After this, the saw had been dulled to the point of being ineffective. In all, the procedure required roughly four hundred strokes, and wore about four millimeters of the left side of the flake.
The most prominent change to the flake occurred on the serrated edge. Not only had it lost nearly four millimeters, but also the serration was rounded and no longer sharp. Furthermore there were many places on the flake were fairly sizeable pieces had come off. This is not surprising because obsidian is known for being brittle. Many of the pieces had fallen off do to the heavy pressure the flake was enduring, and were not a result of the sawing itself.
What was most interesting about the wear pat...Read entire document
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