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Experimental and Archaeological Verification of an Index of Retouch for Hafted Bifaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William Andrefsky Jr.
William Andrefsky Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4910 ([email protected])
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Abstract

The relative amount of retouch on stone tools is central to many archaeological studies linking stone tool assemblages to broader issues of human social and economic land-use strategies. Unfortunately, most retouch measures deal with flake and blade tools and few (if any) have been developed for hafted bifaces and projectile points. This paper introduces a new index for measuring and comparing amount of retouch on hafted bifaces and projectile points that can be applied regardless of size or typological variance. The retouch index is assessed initially with an experimental data set of hafted bifaces that were dulled and resharpened on five occasions. The retouch index is then applied to a hafted biface assemblage made from tool stone that has been sourced by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). Results of both assessments show that the hafted biface retouch index (HRI) is effective for determining the amount of retouch and the degree to which the hafted bifaces have been curated.

Résumé

Résumé

La cantidad relativa de retoque en las herramientas de piedra es central para muchos estudios arqueológicos que ligan colecciones de herramientas de piedra a aplicaciones más amplias de estrategias sociales y económicas humanas en la utilización del suelo. Desafortunadamente la mayoría de medidas de retoque se enfocan en la escama y el filo, y pocas se han desarrollado para el mango de los bifaces y puntas del proyectil. Este trabajo introduce un nuevo índice útil para medir y comparar la cantidad de retoque en los mangos de los bifaces y en las puntas de proyectil que se puede aplicar a pesar del tamaño o variación tipológica. El índice de retoque se determina inicialmente con un conjunto experimental de datos controlados de los mangos de bifaces que se desgastaron y afilaron de nuevo en cinco ocasiones. El índice de retoque entonces es aplicado a una colección de bifaces de piedra cuya procedencia ha sido ubicada por XRF. Los resultados de ambas demostraciones muestran que el índice del mango de biface (HRI) es una medida eficaz para determinar la cantidad de retoque y el grado en el cual los mangos de los bifaces han sido conservados.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 4 , October 2006 , pp. 743 - 757
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2006

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