use wear analysis

Scraping Seal Skins with Mineral Additives

Author(s)
Lasse van den Dikkenberg 1 ✉,
Diederik Pomstra 1,
Annelou van Gijn 1
Publication Date
Neolithic scrapers from the Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BC) display a variety of hide-working traces, amongst which traces interpreted as being the result of contact with dry hide. It has been suggested that, potentially, some of these implements were used to scrape fatty hides with mineral additives. Therefore, a series of experiments...

Book Review: Pots and Practices: An experimental and microwear approach to Early Iron Age Vessel Biographies by Annelou van Gijn et al (ed)

Author(s)
Linda K Anderson 1
Publication Date

New or not new to experimental archaeology and microwear methodology in archaeology? Pots and Practices presents a succinct methodology to the analysis developed by archaeologists and a practicing ceramic artist, an investigation into working together on the relationship between two sites, their similarities and differences...

Roman Bone Artefacts – First Steps Towards a New Approach

Author(s)
Hildegard Müller 1 ✉,
Sabine Deschler-Erb 1,
Dorota Wojtczak 1
Publication Date
To date, archaeologists often use a typological approach to assess the functions of bone artefacts from the Roman period. In some of these assigned typological groups, certain artefacts do not have a clear definition. This study aimed to assess whether use-wear analysis combined with experimental archaeology could be applied to bone artefacts from the Roman period as ...

Hoes or Adzes? Experimental Reproduction and Uses of Deer Antler Tools from the Bronze Age Terramara of Pragatto (Italy)

Author(s)
Arianna Durante 1, 2 ✉,
Sara Maria Stellacci 3,
Alessio Pellegrini 1, 2,
Antonella de Angelis 1, 2,
Federico Scacchetti 3
Publication Date
#EAC12 World Tour 2021
***This research aimed to evaluate the hypotheses related to the production and possible uses of a class of deer antler tools from the Bronze Age Terramara of Pragatto (Italy). These bevel-ended instruments are traditionally considered handled hoes...

Traces of Manufacture, Use, Repair and Modification Observed on Ethnographic Throwing Sticks and Boomerangs

Author(s)
Luc Bordes 1
Publication Date
Throwing sticks and boomerangs are present in the collections of many French and international museums. Collected mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries by travelers, they were mainly analyzed from a stylistic point of view, to relate them to their region of origin. Some of these objects were made by the indigenous populations especially to be exchanged with Europeans and only bear...

Hunting for Use-Wear

Author(s)
Matilda Siebrecht 1 ✉,
Diederik Pomstra 2
Publication Date

Harpoons are an essential part of the hunting toolkit amongst Inuit and have been integral to the material culture assemblage of Arctic groups for thousands of years. The pre-Inuit population known as the Dorset cultures (app. 800 BC–1300 AD) - also sometimes referred to as Tuniit - were highly dependent on a maritime subsistence with harpoon heads as one of the dominant artefact categories at Dorset sites...

Enhancing the Accuracy of Use Interpretation: The Discovery of a New Wear Formation with the Complementary Methods of Experimental Archaeology and Use-Wear Analysis

Author(s)
Amber Roy 1
Publication Date
11th EAC Trento 2019
***Experimental archaeology and use-wear analysis are methods used together to understand aspects of an object’s life, such as manufacture and use. This paper demonstrates the benefits of analysing use-wear through experiments. It presents the results of experiments which were carried out to test the use of battle-axes and axe-hammers...

Hafted Tool-use Experiments with Australian Aboriginal Plant Adhesives: Triodia Spinifex, Xanthorrhoea Grass Tree and Lechenaultia divaricata Mindrie

Author(s)
Veerle Rots 1 ✉,
Elspeth Hayes 2,
Kim Akerman 3,
Philip Green 6,
Chris Clarkson 4,5,
Christian Lepers 1,
Luc Bordes 7,
Conor McAdams 2,
Elizabeth Foley 8,
Richard Fullagar 2
Publication Date
Hafted stone tools commonly figure in Australian archaeology but hafting traces and manufacture processes are infrequently studied. The Aboriginal processing of resin from Xanthorrhoea (Sol. Ex Sm.) grass tree, Triodia (R.Br.) spinifex and Lechenaultia divaricata (F.Muell.)...

Experimental Study of Byzantine Chafing Dishes

Author(s)
Georgia Vakasira 1
Publication Date
This article sets out to examine the production, function, and use of Byzantine chafing dishes, which have been largely neglected by academic literature. As no practical engagement with chafing dishes has been previously attempted, experimental archaeology was chosen as a methodological tool capable of testing hypotheses associated with these wares and generating new research questions...

The Contribution of Experimental Archaeology in Addressing the Analysis of Residues on Spindle-Whorls

Author(s)
Vanessa Forte 1 ✉,
Francesca Coletti 1,
Elena Ciccarelli 2,
Cristina Lemorini 3
Publication Date
11th EAC Trento 2019
***This contribution focuses on residues developing on spindle-whorls during spinning. Such a kind of tools is largely diffused in archaeological contexts where spindle-whorls were used in textile activities or deposited in burials as grave goods. Scholars recently approached...