Use-wear Analysis on Quartzite Flaked Tools: The Experimental Development of a Method

Quartzite is a particularly frequently used lithology for knapping stone tools throughout all stages of human evolution. Despite this, however, there is a surprising lack of detailed methodological research on the formation and appearance of use-wear on this type of rock. As such, this book fills in a gap in the research, and proposes a new method to analyse use-wear on quartzite, by evaluating the variability of use-wear appearance on different rock varieties.

This book is conceived as a handbook for the application of microwear analysis on quartzite, and is addressed to both students and lithic use-wear analysists. The extreme surface irregularities of quartzite, mainly due to its microcrystalline structure and the diverse orientation of quartz crystals surfaces, have always been regarded as a major obstacle when applying use-wear analysis. As shown here, the use of scanning electron microscopy allows this and other obstacles when observing highly reflective surfaces, such as quartzite, to be overcome.


Dr Antonella Pedergnana is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory for Traceology and Controlled Experiments at MONREPOS-Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, affiliated with the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany. She received her Master’s from the University Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and the Institute of Tomar, Portugal, and completed her PhD at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain, in conjunction with the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, France. Her research interests are focused on the study of the use-wear formation processes on coarse-grained lithologies, with particular attention to the technological behaviour of prehistoric human groups.

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ISBN: 1-5275-3661-0

ISBN13: 978-1-5275-3661-6

Release Date: 9th August 2019

Pages: 172

Price: £58.99

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