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“All that glitters is not gold”: Evaluating the Nature of the Relationship Between Archeological Residues and Stone Tool Function

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Abstract

Among the main controversial aspects of residue analysis are the correct identification of the residue type, contamination, and the relationship between the residues and the stone tools on which they are found. This paper focuses on the third key issue: how to correctly establish a direct correlation between the micro-residues located on tools and the actions performed with the same tools? Residue analysis was applied to several quartzite flakes coming from the Middle Pleistocene TD10.1 sub-unit of the Gran Dolina site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). Bone micro-residues were identified on 10 implements based on comparison with experimental residues. Although their synchrony with the human occupations of the site was confirmed considering soil formation processes, no direct association with human activities, therefore with use, was established. Although fundamental, the correct identification of residues and their synchrony with human occupations at sites are not sufficient to provide functional information. The cause of deposition of residues is far more indicative of tool function than their correct identification, but this is hardly recognizable in the archeological record. This might be a difficult-to-surmount obstacle in residue analysis and must be identified as the major limitation of the method.

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Acknowledgments

The author wants to warmly thank Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo who designed the experiments related with the use of bone percussors and Andreu Ollé and Juan Ignacio Morales who performed the experiments. Additional thanks go to Andreu Ollé for the very useful comments during the drafting time of this manuscript. I finally would like to acknowledge the numerous anonymous reviewers who happened to comment on previous versions of this paper in different moments; all of them contributed in different ways to ameliorate it. I especially thank the two last anonymous reviewers and the Editor in Chief for their valid and constructive comments.

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO/FEDER (CGL2015-65387-C3-1P), the AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR 2017-1040), and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URVPFRB21617). The author was beneficiary of an FI-DGR predoctoral grant from the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014FI B 00539). All microscopic analyses were carried out in the Lithic Technology Laboratory at IPHES and in the Microscopy Service Unit—SRCiT—at URV (Tarragona, Spain).

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  1. TraCEr, laboratory for Traceology and Controlled Experiments, MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, Schloss Monrepos, 56567, Neuwied, Germany

    Antonella Pedergnana

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Pedergnana, A. “All that glitters is not gold”: Evaluating the Nature of the Relationship Between Archeological Residues and Stone Tool Function. J Paleo Arch 3, 225–254 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-019-00039-z

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