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Grosman L, Muller A, Dag I, Goldgeier H, Harush O, Herzlinger G, Nebenhaus K, Valetta F, Yashuv T, Dick N. Artifact3-D: New software for accurate, objective and efficient 3D analysis and documentation of archaeological artifacts. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0268401. [PMID: 35709137 PMCID: PMC9202890 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual artifacts are recorded, analyzed, and compared within and between contextual assemblages. Here we present and make available for academic-use Artifact3-D, a new software package comprised of a suite of analysis and documentation procedures for archaeological artifacts. We introduce it here, alongside real archaeological case studies to demonstrate its utility. Artifact3-D equips its users with a range of computational functions for accurate measurements, including orthogonal distances, surface area, volume, CoM, edge angles, asymmetry, and scar attributes. Metrics and figures for each of these measurements are easily exported for the purposes of further analysis and illustration. We test these functions on a range of real archaeological case studies pertaining to tool functionality, technological organization, manufacturing traditions, knapping techniques, and knapper skill. Here we focus on lithic artifacts, but the Artifact3-D software can be used on any artifact type to address the needs of modern archaeology. Computational methods are increasingly becoming entwined in the excavation, documentation, analysis, database creation, and publication of archaeological research. Artifact3-D offers functions to address every stage of this workflow. It equips the user with the requisite toolkit for archaeological research that is accurate, objective, repeatable and efficient. This program will help archaeological research deal with the abundant material found during excavations and will open new horizons in research trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leore Grosman
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- * E-mail:
| | - Antoine Muller
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Itamar Dag
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Hadas Goldgeier
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ortal Harush
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Gadi Herzlinger
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Keren Nebenhaus
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Francesco Valetta
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Talia Yashuv
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Nir Dick
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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Mechanical properties of lithic raw materials from Kazakhstan: Comparing chert, shale, and porphyry. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0265640. [PMID: 35452464 PMCID: PMC9033281 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265640] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of lithic raw material quality has become one of the major interpretive tools to investigate the raw material selection behaviour and its influence to the knapping technology. In order to make objective assessments of raw material quality, we need to measure their mechanical properties (e.g., fracture resistance, hardness, modulus of elasticity). However, such comprehensive investigations are lacking for the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan. In this work, we investigate geological and archaeological lithic raw material samples of chert, porphyry, and shale collected from the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (henceforth IAMC). Selected samples of aforementioned rocks were tested by means of Vickers and Knoop indentation methods to determine the main aspect of their mechanical properties: their indentation fracture resistance (a value closely related to fracture toughness). These tests were complemented by traditional petrographic studies to characterise the mineralogical composition and evaluate the level of impurities that could have potentially affected the mechanical properties. The results show that materials, such as porphyry possess fracture toughness values that can be compared to those of chert. Previously, porphyry was thought to be of lower quality due to the anisotropic composition and coarse feldspar and quartz phenocrysts embedded in a silica rich matrix. However, our analysis suggests that different raw materials are not different in terms of indentation fracture resistance. This work also offers first insight into the quality of archaeological porphyry that was utilised as a primary raw material at various Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor from 47–21 ka cal BP.
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Stone toolmaking difficulty and the evolution of hominin technological skills. Sci Rep 2022; 12:5883. [PMID: 35393496 PMCID: PMC8989887 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09914-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Stone tools are a manifestation of the complex cognitive and dexterous skills of our hominin ancestors. As such, much research has been devoted to understanding the skill requirements of individual lithic technologies. Yet, comparing skill across different technologies, and thus across the vast timespan of the Palaeolithic, is an elusive goal. We seek to quantify a series of commensurable metrics of knapping skill across four different lithic technologies (discoids, handaxes, Levallois, and prismatic blades). To compare the requisite dexterity, coordination, and care involved in each technology, we analysed video footage and lithic material from a series of replicative knapping experiments to quantify deliberation (strike time), precision (platform area), intricacy (flake size relative to core size), and success (relative blank length). According to these four metrics, discoidal knapping appears to be easiest among the sample. Levallois knapping involved an intricate reduction sequence, but did not require as much motor control as handaxes and especially prismatic blades. Compared with the other Palaeolithic technologies, we conclude that prismatic blade knapping is set apart by being a skill intensive means of producing numerous standardised elongate end-products.
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McPherron SP, Archer W, Otárola-Castillo ER, Torquato MG, Keevil TL. Machine learning, bootstrapping, null models, and why we are still not 100% sure which bone surface modifications were made by crocodiles. J Hum Evol 2021; 164:103071. [PMID: 34635347 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2019] [Revised: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shannon P McPherron
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
| | - Will Archer
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany; Max Planck Partner Group, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Department of Geology, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
| | - Erik R Otárola-Castillo
- Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, 700 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059, USA
| | - Melissa G Torquato
- Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, 700 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059, USA
| | - Trevor L Keevil
- Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, 700 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059, USA
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