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A major problem confronting archeologists is how to determine the
function of ancient stone tools. In this important work, Lawrence
H. Keeley reports on his own highly successful course of research
into the uses of British Paleolithic flint implements. His
principal method of investigation, known as "microwear analysis,"
was the microscopic examination of traces of use left on flint
implements in the form of polishes, striations, and breakage
patterns.
The most important discovery arising from Keeley's research was
that, at magnifications of 100x to 400x, there was a high
correlation between the detailed appearance of microwear polishes
formed on tool edges and the general category of material worked by
that edge. For example, different and distinctive types of
microwear polish were formed during use on wood, bone, hide, meat,
and soft plant material. These correlations between microwear
polish and worked material were independent of the method of use
(cutting, sawing, scraping, and so on). In combining evidence of
polish type with other traces of use, Keeley was able to make
precise reconstructions of tool functions. This book includes the
results of a "blind test" of Keeley's functional interpretations
which revealed remarkable agreement between the actual and inferred
use of the tools tested.
Keeley applied his method of microwear analysis to artifacts from
three excavation sites in Britain--Clacton-on-the-sea, Swanscombe,
and Hoxne. His research suggests new hypotheses concerning such
Paleolithic problems as inter-assemblage variability, the function
of Acheulean hand axes, sidescrapers, and chopper-cores and points
the way to future research in Stone Age studies.
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