[Bonetools] Usewear on a bone tool

Wed Jan 7 01:45:54 CET 2015

Hello Vivian,
This is definitely something worth to consider. But again I wonder why this specific wear pattern would only appear on the tip of the tool and not elsewhere? If the whole bone was buried in a specific type of soil (matrix) with water or some trampling effect, why would this wear pattern not develop somewhat more evenly on the bone surfaces? Moreover, the pits are clearly associated with some heavy polish; consequently the trampling effect would have had to be very intensive, and yet very limited in terms of affected surface, which does not fit very very well with a trampling phenomenon. I'm skeptical as much as puzzled...
Christian

      De : Vivian Scheinsohn <scheinso at retina.ar>
 À : Christian Gates St-Pierre <cgates70 at yahoo.fr>; escoffier1951 at yahoo.co.uk; "Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn." <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu> 
 Envoyé le : mardi 6 janvier 2015 17h41
 Objet : Re: [Bonetools] Usewear on a bone tool

>From somebody with also limited experimentalexperience...Could this marks be related with the matrix? May be they come froma different place than the other tools? A place where trampling and/orwater could have afected the tool?Best, Dra Vivian Scheinsohn
INAPL-CONICET/ UBA
3 deFebrero 1370
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Buenos Aires
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TE/Fax54 11 4784 3371
E-mail:scheinso at retina.ar

From: Christian Gates St-Pierre Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2015 4:58 PMTo: escoffier1951 at yahoo.co.uk ; Mailing list for archaeologists of theresearch group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory andhorn. Subject: Re: [Bonetools] Usewear on a bone tool
Hi Paul,
Well, I never though of that, but I don'tthink it could explain the phenomenon, mostly because the pits are limited tothe highly polished areas and are not present elsewhere on the surface of thetool (including the active surface, i.e. the pointed end in this case). I can'tsee why the traces of contact with an acid would not be more evenly distributed.Because the pits are so closely associated with the polish, the two kinds ofwear must be associated with (and resulting from) contact with a same and uniquematerial, probably a hard material instead of a soft one, but which one?Intriguing...
Best,
Christian
De : "escoffier1951 at yahoo.co.uk"<escoffier1951 at yahoo.co.uk>
À : Christian Gates St-Pierre<cgates70 at yahoo.fr>; "Mailing list for archaeologists of the researchgroup for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn."<bonetools at listserv.niif.hu> 
Envoyéle : mardi 6 janvier 2015 14h27
Objet : Re: [Bonetools] Usewear on abone tool

#yiv1765142434 --p.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraph, #yiv1765142434 li.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraph, #yiv1765142434 div.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraph {margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;}#yiv1765142434 p.yiv1765142434MsoNormal, #yiv1765142434 li.yiv1765142434MsoNormal, #yiv1765142434 div.yiv1765142434MsoNormal {margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;}#yiv1765142434 p.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, #yiv1765142434 li.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, #yiv1765142434 div.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, #yiv1765142434 p.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, #yiv1765142434 li.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, #yiv1765142434 div.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, #yiv1765142434 p.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, #yiv1765142434 li.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, #yiv1765142434  div.yiv1765142434MsoListParagraphCxSpLast {margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:115%;}#yiv1765142434 Hi Christian,The tiny pits remind me of those on myapple corers made by the acid in the apple juice. Could have your tool come into contact with a mild acid?
Best wishesPaul Stokes

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From: Christian Gates St-Pierre
Sent: ‎Tuesday‎, ‎6‎ ‎January‎ ‎2015 ‎18‎:‎58
To: Mailing list for archaeologists ofthe research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory andhorn.
Hello Genny,
Thanks for sharingyour thoughts. The tool has a pointed end with a wide angle (see image inattachment: it's specimen No 2). Because of that angle the pointed end seems toolarge to be used efficiently as an awl. Moreover, it does not have the "typical"leather polish, i.e. rounded polish that follows the micro-topography of thebone, with long, parallel and deep striations perpendicular to the long axis ofthe tool. What we see on this tool is different: a very intensive and domedpolish, very bright, but apparently limited to higher points of themicro-topography: it does not extend down onto the deeper surfaces, and thiscould indicate that the tool was used on a hard material. The tiny pits in themiddle of the highly polished surface are also unusuall; it kind of reminds meof comet-shaped pits visible on stone tools used on wood or silica-rich plants,but I have never seen anything like that on a bone tool (perhaps only because myexperimental experience is somewhat limited...).
Christian

De : GenevieveLemoine <glemoine at bowdoin.edu>
À : "Mailing list for archaeologistsof the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivoryand horn." <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu> 
Envoyé le : mardi 6 janvier 2015 13h02
Objet : Re:[Bonetools] Usewear on a bone tool

Hi Christian,
What sort of tool is it?Edged? Pointed? Most of my images are not digitized, but I have attached onewith a similar pattern of a fairly high polish with fine striations in multipledirections, from an awl-like tool at Gupuk (Nits-1). At the time (a long timeago now!) I thought the polish looked pretty typical for an awl, but thestriations did not. The striations are similar to those on sinew twisters fromthe Mackenzie Delta, but the polish was different.  Ultimately it ended upin the unidentified/multi-use category. Not hugely helpful I’m afraid. Time formore experiments I guess!
Genny

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From: Christian Gates St-Pierre <cgates70 at yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: Christian Gates St-Pierre <cgates70 at yahoo.fr>, "Mailing list forarchaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone,antler. ivory and horn." <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2015at 12:35 PM
To: "Mailinglist for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and wasteof bone, antler. ivory and horn." <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
Subject: [Bonetools] Usewearon a bone tool

Helloeveryone,
I have recentlyobserved some unusuall usewear on a bone tool and I would ask for some opinionas to what material/function could best explain such microwear (see attachedimages, respectiveley taken at 50x and 100x). From my experience I think itcannot originate from contact with leather, bark, or plant fibers. Anyidea?
Thanks in advanceand all the best to erveryone for 2015!
Christian

ChristianGates St-Pierre, PhD
Invited Researcher
Département d'anthropologie
Université de Montréal
christian.gates-st-pierre at umontreal.ca
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