Proceedings of the International Workshop, Rome, March 5th-7th, 2012

This volume provides the reader with a multifaceted overview of the study of stone tools used by humans in the past. Including case studies from various geographic regions and different continents, and covering a wide range of chronologies, the contributions here are centred on the study of human communities based on a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. A number of essays in this volume focus on tool production and use, and address major paleoanthropological questions related to past human economic and social behaviour. The book also includes detailed and careful studies of human technology during Prehistory.

An accessible and wide-ranging introduction to the exciting and expanding field of archaeological science, for students, professionals and academics.

Quartzite is a particularly frequently used lithology for knapping stone tools throughout all stages of human evolution. Despite this, however, there is a surprising lack of detailed methodological research on the formation and appearance of use-wear on this type of rock. As such, this book fills in a gap in the research, and proposes a new method to analyse use-wear on quartzite, by evaluating the variability of use-wear appearance on different rock varieties. This book is conceived as a handbook for the application of microwear analysis on quartzite, and is addressed to both students and lithic use-wear analysists. The extreme surface irregularities of quartzite, mainly due to its microcrystalline structure and the diverse orientation of quartz crystals surfaces, have always been regarded as a major obstacle when applying use-wear analysis. As shown here, the use of scanning electron microscopy allows this and other obstacles when observing highly reflective surfaces, such as quartzite, to be overcome.

‘Archaeology is for people’ is the theme of this book. Split between the academic and commercial sectors, archaeological investigation is also deeply embedded in the needs of local communities, making it simultaneously an art, science and social science. Such a multi-disciplinary discipline needs special methods and creative freedom, not repetitive responses. Carver argues that commercial procedures and academic theory are both suffocating creativity in fieldwork. He’d like to see us bring much more diversity and technical ingenuity to every opportunity, and maintains this is more a matter of getting ourselves free of dogma than needing more time and money. This has many implications for the way archaeology is designed and procured – moving archaeologists up the professional ladder from builder to architect, with contracts based on quality of design, not the price.

Annotated bibliography of published works and theses on Pleistocene archaeology in Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia; compiled by author; subject and locality indexes.

This book describes the fundamental principles and methods of using ancient starch molecules to elicit plant use, environmental conditions, and social relations in the ancient world.

Not everyone bought into the Bronze Age right away, and Rosen describes and classifies the stone tools that continued to be made and used in the Middle East for the next two thousand years. He considers subtypes, function, distribution, chronology, the organization of production, styles, the relationship between lithic and metal technology, and other aspects. Over 100 drawings and maps provide archaeologists with a guide to identifying finds. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This volume investigates a technique for the functional analysis of obsidian tools and a small archaeological case study: the lunates from the Bronze Age Sardinian site of Ortu Comidu is examined using the technique and approach. It reviews the current state of flint use wear studies and applies the theories generated there to obsidian. The experimental programme shows the potential success of the technique, which can allow the use action and use material to be interpreted, and demonstrates the limitations. Residues play an important role as they are more easily seen on obsidian than flint. The discussion includes an assessment of wear formation theories and the role of functional information within archaeology. The technique and approach is brought to bear on a small archaeologucal case study: the lunates from the Bronze Age Sardinian site of Ortu Comidu.