ARH312Y1 Lecture : ARH312 2nd Sem Lecture 1-3
Document Summary
We learn a people"s: cognitive abilities, mobility patterns, subsistence practices, technological production. Lithic manufacture understood through: symbolic artifacts, learning communities, range of activities, ethnoarchaeology observing people making stone tools, experimental archaeology replicating stone tools to answer archaeological questions, knap-ins replication for interest and hobby. Popular raw materials used for stone tool manufacture: flint/chert, quartzite, obsidian (volcanic glass, chalcedony, quartz, basalt, even limestone, marble, etc. One of the principal limitations to lithic manufacture. Any sedimentary rock composed mainly of microcrystalline quartz can be. Applications that require an extremely sharp edge or great control over fracture mechanics obsidian (brittle but can hold sharp edges) Quartz tools often small and irregular, and holds a sharp edge common in places where fine-grained cherts and obsidian are not available. Masons use flaking techniques to shape limestone for building material. Variation in trace elements in the material can tell us where they come from using x-ray fluorescence and other spectroscopic techniques.