摘要
以扫描电子显微镜为主要手段,依据Keeley的实验方法,对实验和“盲测”的燧石制品进行了微磨痕(microwear)的观察分析,验证了该方法的可行性;表明在石制品的加工方式、加工对象与其可能的残留信息——石制品的使用痕迹,如以光泽、条痕、破损疤为主要特征的微磨痕之间所具有的某种实验模式,初步掌握了微磨痕研究的实验方法,取得了一些结果,并予以检验;利用扫描电镜观察“晶体破损”与否,可能是鉴定石制品使用或未使用的一种行之有效的方法。
According to the principal theory of Keeley(1980), the microwear research of this paper (one part of a master degree thesis of the author's*) consists of analysis on experimentally used tools and a blind test.
In the use experiments of 40 flint tools, 22 use methods were adopted on 77 used edges in all. Worked materials include wood (dry, damp), fresh meat, fish, hide, and bone; motion activities are scraping, whittling, cutting, sawing, chopping, wedging, piercing, drilling and carving, Through the leading technical method of scanning electron microscope(SEM), distinguishable characteristics are identified by analyzing microwear traces produced from different use methods. It comes to some valuable results and personal understanding:
1. Using SEM for analyzing microwear on stone artifacts has its advantages, even though it exists limitations as compared with optical microscope.
2. 'Crystal damage' was discovered on used flint tools for scraping wood. Partial damage of the crystal was observed in a groove under the SEM. The position of the crystal damage depends on the mechanics resource.
3. Patterns of edge damage are possibly influenced by concrete shape of the used edge in varying degrees. For instance, in the experiments of scraping wood, on the uncontact surface of a straight edge-hollow rectangles partitioned by vertical ridges were easily observed transverse fractures occur tier upon tier closely abovt the are scars. For a c6nvex edge, sunken trapezium partitioned by vertical ridges with semilunar scars.
Moreover, scar patterns have relation to using activities. Whittling wood can produce a shell shaped depression.
4. Similar to polishes and striations, texture and micropits shown on the steep edge can reflect some characters of different motions or worked materials. On the micro-surface of an edge for sawing wood, scattered texture, deeply micropits elongate along with the edge, and the rims of the micropits can indicate the direction of using. By scraping wood, dense texture, elongated micropits with narrow ends and obviously depressed in the center of itself could also be seen in the texture, but cannot be clearly separated from the general micro-surface.
For cutting fat or scraping fresh hide, textures on the edge appear very fine and smoothly.
5. On the contact surface there are clearly radial polish lines developing in a short breadth after the edge was used for scraping wood, Polishes from whittling activity distribute longer,
* The other part-comparative studies of microwear on archaeological artifacts will appear as another article in next issue of the AAS.narrower more than scraping but similar radial character.
6. Working on hard materials, such as wedging wood or bone, there is transverse polish tape-in a certain distance away from the edge. It might be a typical feature to distinguish this activity.
In order to test the level of controlling microwear's appearance of the analyst, 9 flint samples (8 had been used among them) were chosen in the blind test. Use was correctly discerned in 100% of the cases; motion/activity in 78% of cases; and worked material in 70% of cases
In the study of microwear on stone tools, experimental planning provides crucial links for realizing the value of the experiment. Blind tests are advisable on researching archaeological artifacts.
This article also has a brief introduction about the history of microwear studies and gives further prospects in this field. When putting forth efforts to research purely direct usewear, we shouldn't neglect indirect use microwear and microwear traces from other sources. Microwear analysis is not only useful for analyzing the functions of stone artifacts, but also has other importance, for example, grasping traces could help us know the hand using habits of ancient human beings.
出处
《人类学学报》
CSCD
北大核心
1992年第3期202-215,共14页
Acta Anthropologica Sinica
关键词
石制品
微磨痕
盲测
扫描电镜
Stone artifacts
Scanning electron microscope
Microwear
Blind test
