ANTHR206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Knapping, Stone Tool, Mousterian
8 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Other animals use tools too (chimpanzees) but people relied on them for survival: social change can be inferred from technological change. Show a slower rate of change: synthetic, pottery, metal, textiles, easier to work with. Synthetic materials: textiles: low preservation, oldest known example - 9000 years ago, highly malleable, good at showing changes through time. Synthetic materials: pottery: depended on the ability to control fire, good preservation, earliest evidence of fire (see slides, pottery making, clay. Find clay, form into shape, surface finishing, decoration, drying and firing. Small particle size (to survive firing: most important raw material, primary context - in the earth. Firing: 550 - 600 degrees c, tl dating can be used, oxidation (amount of oxygen affects end result, 3 stages, dehydration, oxidation - iron oxidizes, vitrification - clay particles fuse together (rare to achieve this. Synthetic materials: metals (archaeometallurgy) stage - 1000 degrees c: advances in metallurgy depended on being able to control higher temperatures, preserve well.
