Microwear analysis

Material Stone Tools Instrumentation Binocular Microscope Analysis Function 

Questions How were Paleolithic stone tools used What materials were they applied to How important were plants to these early human ancestors  

Keeley, L.H. 1980. Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses a Microwear Analysis. Chicago University of Chicago Press. 

Kimball, Larry R., John F. Kimball, and Patricia E. Allen.1995. Microwear as Viewed Through the Atomic Force Microscope. Lithic Technology 20 6-28. 

One of the primary questions about prehistoric stone tools concerns how they 

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Grace, R. (1989), Interpreting the Function of Stone Tools The Quantification and Computerization of Microwear Analysis, British Archaeological Reports, 474, Oxford. 

Keeley, L. H. (1980), Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses - Microwear Analysis, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago. 

Because of these problems in understanding the function of stone tools, researchers have developed new methods for learning about how these implements were used. Microwear analysis involves the use of high-powered microscopes to study the magnified edges of stone tools (Fig. 6.8). The breakthrough in microwear studies... 

Fig. 6.8 Microwear analysis and curated tools from an Upper Paleolithic site in Austria, (a) Clear...

Microwear analysis Microscopic studies of damage and polish on the edges of stone... 

Keeley, L.H. 1977. The function of Palaeolithic flint tools. Scientific American 237 108-126. Keeley, Lawrence H. 1980 Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Use A Microwear Analysis. 

Scott RS, Ungar PS, Bergstrom TS, Brown CA, Grine FE, Teaford MF, Walker A (2005) Dental microwear texture analysis within-species diet variability in fossil hominins. Nature 436(4) 693-695 Stemp WJ, Childs BE, Vionnet S, Brown CA (2009) Quantification and discrimination of lithic use-wear surface profile measurements and length-scale fractal analysis. Archaeometry 51(3) 366-382... 

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