Journal
ARCHAEOMETRY
Volume 65, Issue 1, Pages 36-48Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12803
Keywords
cutting edge; slicing efficiency; experimental archaeology; stone tools
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Separating different aspects of an object through cutting is an important factor in the origin and evolution of flaked stone technology. Experiments have shown that the curvature and length of stone flakes can affect the efficiency of cutting tasks. These findings have implications for understanding the emergence of tool forms and reduction sequences during the Pleistocene.
Separating two or more aspects of an object via cutting was likely an important factor in the origin and evolution of flaked stone technology. In recent years experiments have demonstrated that several stone tool attributes can influence different kinds of cutting behaviour: slicing, cleaving, scraping, sawing, drilling, piercing and abrading. Here we experimentally assessed the role of stone flake plan- and profile-view gross-edge curvature in a controlled slicing task. We also assessed the role of edge length. A total of 21 participants, using 252 stone flakes with distinct gross-edge curvatures and edge lengths, were asked to cut through a standardized substrate, and their efficiency in the task was measured over time. Flakes with longer edge lengths increased the efficiency of the cutting task, but increasing either plan- or profile-view edge curvature decreased the efficiency of the cutting task. These results have implications for the emergence of particular tool forms or reduction sequences throughout the Pleistocene, and may in part explain why certain forms were favoured by Paleolithic people, leading to their convergent evolution or widespread transmission.
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