[Bonetools] Wear traces on bone tools

[Genevieve Lemoine]

Dear Kate,

I don't' know of anyone who has conducted blind tests for use wear on bone
tools - it would be great if that happened.

I did examine some ethnographic (late nineteenth and early twentieth
century) bone tools while doing my dissertation research, but only a small
number - I don't know of anyone who has systematically looked at those
either. Of course there is the problem with museum collections of accurately
documenting the uses of such tools and at least for the Arctic collections I
looked at, the issue of greasy/dirty deposits on some of them.

Genny

-- 
Genevieve LeMoine
Curator/Registrar
The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center
Bowdoin College
9500 College Station
Brunswick, Maine 04011

207-725-3304 (voice)
207-725-3499 (fax)

glemoine at bowdoin.edu

http://www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum/
http://www.ilapweb.info/

 


On 3/12/10 12:34 PM, "Katherine M. Moore" <kmmoore at sas.upenn.edu> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues:
> 
> I am seeking general insights (or perhaps opinions) on trace analysis
> of bone tools. Various studies describe characteristics of traces
> left on bone by common materials (plant material, hide, soil, etc.).
> Is there a recent reference which establishes the characteristics of
> these traces using sytematic studies of modern bone tools? Even more
> importantly, are there blind tests of identification of worked
> material on bone tools such as those conducted by Keeley and Newcomer
> for stone tools? Those blind tests and others which followed have
> shown that such identifications of worked material on stone tools are
> probably not reliable. Do bone tool studies have better foundation?
> 
> Thanks for your help and experience.
> 
> best,
> 
> Kate Moore
> Consulting Scholar
> University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
> 3260 South St.
> Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
> 
> 
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