Record in Stone: A Study of Australia's Flaked Stone Artefacts

by Simon Holdaway, Nicola Stern

Overview

A comprehensive investigation into the different ways that archaeologists use flaked stone artifacts as a basis for reconstructing the distant human past, this account not only describes the range of flaked stone artifact forms recovered from Australian archaeological sites but also places Australian studies alongside the major international theories surrounding the description of stone artifacts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780855754600
Publisher:	Aboriginal Studies Press
Publication date:	07/01/2004
Edition description:	Book with CD-ROM
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	7.25(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Simon Holdaway is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Nicola Stern is a senior lecturer at La Trobe University in Australia.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	xiv
	Introduction	xvii
	Structure and content	xix
	Illustrations	xx
	Illustration numbering	xxiii
Chapter 1	Studying stone artefacts: Materials, production process and basic definitions
	Introduction	1
Section 1A	Why stone artefacts are studied	2
	Summary	4
Section 1B	What happens when stone is flaked	4
	Introduction	4
	Different techniques for making stone flakes	11
	Summary	19
Section 1C	What types of stone can be flaked?	19
	Summary	29
Section 1D	Distinguishing artefacts from naturally flaked rocks and minerals	29
	Summary	32
Section 1E	Products of flaking: Flakes, tools and cores	33
	Introduction	33
	Types of fracture	34
	Defining flakes, tools and cores	37
	Summary	42
Chapter 2	Frameworks for studying stone artefacts
	Introduction	44
Section 2A	The dimensions of artefact variability	45
	Introduction	45
	Studies emphasizing cultural idiosyncrasy	46
	Studies investigating the effects of function	50
	Studies investigating the effects of the properties of raw materials	55
	Studies of manufacturing techniques	60
	Style revisited	65
	Summary	68
Section 2B	Functionalist approaches to artefact analysis	69
	Introduction	69
	Technological organization	71
	The methods and theory of evolutionary ecology	74
	Summary	83
Section 2C	Idealist approaches to artefact analysis	85
	Introduction	85
	The chaine operatoire	85
	Summary	92
Section 2D	Formulating a research question and organizing stone artefact data	93
	Introduction	93
	The concept of research design	93
	Formulating the research problem	93
	Organizing the data	97
	Data types	102
	Analysing the data matrix	104
	Summary	105
Chapter 3	Attributes used in describing flakes
	Introduction	107
Section 3A	Flake landmarks and orientation	108
	Summary	110
Section 3B	Flake fragmentation	111
	Summary	118
Section 3C	Platform attributes	119
	Introduction	119
	Platform surface	119
	Platform angle	120
	Platform size	124
	Summary	129
Section 3D	Flake terminations	129
	Summary	135
Section 3E	Flake dimensions	135
	Introduction	135
	Flake length	137
	Flake width	139
	Flake thickness	140
	Summary	142
Section 3F	The dorsal surface of the flake	143
	Introduction	143
	Overhang removal	143
	Cortex	144
	Dorsal flake scars	145
	Regularity in the orientation, size and shape of flake scars	149
	Summary	150
Chapter 4	Attributes used in describing tools
	Introduction	153
Section 4A	Describing the retouched edge	157
	Orientation	157
	Initiation and shape	158
	Summary	168
Section 4B	Broken tools and their dimensions	168
	Summary	178
Chapter 5	Attributes used in describing cores
	Introduction	179
Section 5A	Core face and platform attributes	179
	Core face characteristics	179
	Core dimensions	186
	Platform characteristics	191
	Summary	191
Section 5B	Core shape categories	194
	Introduction	194
	Horsehoof cores	203
	Microblade cores	204
	Burin blade cores	204
	Summary	211
Chapter 6	Artefact types
	Introduction	212
Section 6A	Stone artefact typologies	213
	Introduction	213
	Defining types	221
	Summary	226
Section 6B	Scrapers, notched tools, burins and nuclear tools	226
	Introduction	226
	Scrapers	227
	Functional definitions of scrapers	228
	Utilized flakes	233
	Thumbnail scrapers	234
	Waisted blades	236
	Waisted tools	236
	Notched tools	236
	Burins	241
	Nuclear tools	243
	'Fabricators'	249
	Summary	250
Section 6C	Adzes	251
	Introduction	251
	Tula adzes	253
	Burren adzes	257
	Adze flakes	258
	Summary	259
Section 6D	Backed tools	259
	Introduction	259
	Bondi points	261
	Geometric microliths	262
	Juan knives	264
	Elouera	264
	Summary	266
Section 6E	Points	266
	Introduction	266
	Unifacial points and pirri points	267
	Engravers, drills and piercers	269
	Bifacial points	269
	Kimberley points and other forms	271
	Summary	274
Chapter 7	From artefacts to an understanding of the human past
	Introduction	275
Section 7A	A historical overview of stone artefact studies in Palaeolithic achaeology	276
	Introduction	276
	Nineteenth-century developments	277
	Artefacts as cultural markers	278
	Summary	282
Section 7B	A historical overview of Australian artefact studies	283
	Introduction	283
	Antiquarian collectors	284
	Tindale and McCarthy	287
	Mulvaney: Foundations for abandoning culture history	290
	New research possibilities	293
	Economic archaeology	295
	Further ethnoarchaeological, statistical and landscape studies	297
	New syntheses of regional sequences	299
	Summary	304
Section 7C	Recurring themes and new directions	305
	Introduction	305
	The future of Australian stone artefact studies	310
	Summary	314
Appendix	Figures (text and CD)	316
	References	340
	Index	363

Editorial Reviews

"A beautifully crafted account of the nature of Australian stone artifacts set in their intellectual and ethnographical perspective. Clear, concise illustrations, coupled with elegant summaries, make this book a must for professional archaeologists, students and enthusiastic amateurs alike."  —Carmel Schrire Rutgers, professor, State University of New Jersey

From the Publisher