[Bonetools] Wear traces on bone tools

[Alice Choyke]

I wish our French colleagues and their French-trained students would take
part in this debate on 'blind' testing. They, like Genny Lemoine, Sandra
Olsen, Janet Griffitts and Cristian St.Gates in North America,  have been
collectively involved in various manufacturing and use wear studies using
high magnifications (binocular and metalurgical microscopes). There is a big
difference between looking at the macro-wear at low (20X) magnifications and
the deep examination of wear patterns at high magnification in terms of the
reliability of the interpretation in my opinion (high magnification is
clearly superior). I am also standing at the side-lines in this debate
however. I do think it is important not to jump into camps about this issue
but it should be addressed for the future comfort of all  of us.

Alice

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 10:43 AM, Anne Brundle
<Anne.brundle at orkney.gov.uk>wrote:

> I don't know the answer, but I was just thinking about the same question
> this weekend. My feeling is that many interpretations of wear on bone
> tools are based on the three elements of (i)surface shine (ii)rounding
> on edges and (iii)presence and direction of striations, and then on
> whether the wear is 'light', 'normal' or 'heavy'. These value terms tend
> to change, depending what the observer is accustomed to seeing and what
> they have been looking at most recently, so it becomes difficult to make
> comparisons between sites.
>
> I tend to feel cautious if trace analysis is interpreted too positively,
> but I would love to hear from people who could make it work - it would
> be so good!
>
> Best wishes
> Anne
>
> Anne Brundle
> Curator of Archaeology
> The Orkney Museum
> Tankerness House
> Broad Street
> Kirkwall
> Orkney
> KW17 2JD
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu
> [mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu] On Behalf Of Katherine M.
> Moore
> Sent: 12 March 2010 17:35
> To: Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study
> ofobjectand waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.
> Subject: [Bonetools] Wear traces on bone tools
>
> 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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