ARCS1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Acheulean, Relative Dating, Folsom, New Mexico

• School: UQ
• Department: Archaeology Science
• Course: ARCS1001
• Professor: Glenys McGowan

Document Summary

What are lithics? (cid:858)lithi(cid:272)(cid:859) (cid:272)o(cid:373)es f(cid:396)o(cid:373) the g(cid:396)eek (cid:858)lithos(cid:859) (cid:373)ea(cid:374)i(cid:374)g (cid:396)o(cid:272)k. I(cid:374) a(cid:396)(cid:272)haeolog(cid:455), (cid:858)lithi(cid:272) te(cid:272)h(cid:374)olog(cid:455)(cid:859) (cid:373)ea(cid:374)s sto(cid:374)e tool te(cid:272)h(cid:374)olog(cid:455: refers to stone tools rather than stone containers. Some properties of raw materials commonly used for chipped stone tool manufacture: Isotropic = will fracture in any direction so the fracture can be controlled by the knapper a(cid:374)d (cid:449)ill (cid:374)ot follo(cid:449) (cid:858)the g(cid:396)ai(cid:374)(cid:859) of the (cid:396)o(cid:272)k. Homogeneous = the stone is relatively free of impurities, inclusions and holes . Cryptocrystalline = the grains and crystals in the stone are fused- very fine grained, or grains are invisible (eg. obsidian) Raw materials- cores: core = a piece of stone that possesses only negative fracture features (ie the reverse of those seen on a flake) that result from striking flakes from a piece of stone. Fracture mechanics refers to the physics of fracture in brittle solids.