Archaeology: Stone Tools and Ages

Tool Production and Use

• Chaine Operatoire refers to the various stages of tool production, including raw material procurement, techniques, use, and disposal, conceptualized by Andre Leroi-Gourhan in 1966.

The Ages

• The Stone Age is dated between 3.4 million years ago to 300 BCE, encompassing the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods.
• The Copper Age existed between 5000 BCE and 3000 BCE.
• The Bronze Age existed between 3300 BCE and 1200 BCE.
• The Iron Age existed between 1200 BCE and 500 CE.

Stone Structures

• A Megalith is a large stone utilized in ancient architectural or ceremonial structures.
• A Monolith is a single, large stone that typically stands alone and can be natural or carved.
• Opus quadratum is a Roman construction method involving large, precisely cut rectangular stone blocks placed in horizontal rows without mortar, exemplified by a wall from the 3rd century BCE.

Stone Tool Manufacturing

• Knapping is the process of shaping stone by striking to create tools or weapons, such as flint knapping for arrowheads.
• Lithic types vary based on the properties of the stone used for toolmaking:
  • Flint is sharp for cutting.
  • Quartzite is tough for hammers.
  • Basalt is hard for grinding

Lithic Analysis

• Use-wear analysis of LITHICS involves studying small marks on stone tools to determine their uses, like scratches on a flint knife indicating it was used to cut meat or plants.

Metalworking

• Annealing involves heating and slowly cooling metal or stone to make shaping easier without breakage, such as annealing copper for tools and weapons.
• Smelting is the process of extracting metal from ore by heating it to high temperatures, with smelting iron ore to make iron for tools/weapons, which creates slag as a byproduct.
• Alloying involves mixing two or more metals for a stronger, more useful material, like mixing copper and tin to make bronze, or iron and carbon to make steel.

Glass Forming

• Forming and Firing of GLASS involves shaping molten glass and heating it to solidify and strengthen it, which includes core strengthening, mosaic glass, and glass blowing.

Pottery Techniques

• Paddle and anvil is a pottery forming method where a small pad or stone supports the inside while a paddle shapes the outside, commonly used by Native Americans.
• Coiling is a pottery forming method where long rolls are stacked and smoothed to build a vessel, used by ancient Greeks and Native Americans.
• Wheel throwing involves shaping clay on a spinning wheel to create ceramic bowls and vases.
• Terra Sigillata is a fine, red pottery made by Romans with glossy surface slips, mass-produced and used as tableware between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE.

Pottery Hardening

• Air Drying is a method of hardening pottery by allowing clay to dry naturally before firing.
• Firing is a method of hardening pottery which involves heating clay objects in a kiln or open fire.

Artifact Analysis

• Morphology involves studying the shape, structure, and form of objects like tools, pottery, and artifacts to determine their function and origin, such as analyzing the shape of stone arrowheads.
• Temper is material added to clay to improve its strength and prevent cracking during drying and firing.
  • Examples include sand, crushed shell, or straw mixed into clay to improve durability.
• Petrography involves studying rocks and minerals under a microscope to identify origin and composition, such as analyzing pottery sherds to determine the clay and temper used.
• Use-wear analysis of CERAMICS involves studying surface marks, residue, and wear patterns to determine uses, such as scratches or soot on a pot showing it was used for cooking over fire.

Preservation Conditions

• Preservation conditions for wood/textiles include waterlogged (anaerobic), very dry (arid), very rare mineralized, and carbonized contexts.

Garments/Clothing

• The Tarkhan dress is the world's oldest known woven garment, dating to approximately 3000 BCE from ancient Egypt.
• The Turfan man refers to a well-preserved ancient mummy found in the Turfan Basin, China, dating to approximately 1000 BCE, buried in an arid desert which naturally mummified the body and clothing.

Roman History

• Vindolanda Roman Fort was a Roman military fort in northern England, occupied from the 1st to 4th centuries BCE, with anaerobic conditions due to waterlogging, resulting in no oxygen.

Artifact Context

• Provenance refers to the history of an object’s origin, ownership, and discovery.
• Provenience refers to the exact location where an artifact was found during excavation.

Material Analysis Techniques

• Neuron Activation Analysis is a scientific technique that determines the elemental composition of materials by exposing them to neurons and measuring radiation, used to identify the geological source of ancient pottery.
• X-ray Fluorescence is a non-destructive technique that identifies the elemental composition of materials by measuring X-ray emissions, used to analyze the metal content of ancient coins.

Trade Systems

• Down-the-Line Trade involves goods passing through multiple groups, becoming rarer and more valuable further from the source, such as obsidian tools traded from volcanic regions to distant communities.
• Colonial Enclave Trade is a system where a colonial settlement engages in commerce, benefiting colonizers more than the local population.
• Port of Trade is a designated location where merchants from all regions exchange goods under regulations overseen by authorities, exemplified by Delos in ancient Greece.
• Square of the Corporations was a large plaza in Ostia, Italy, serving as a commercial center for traders during the Roman Empire, featuring over 60 mosaic inscriptions representing different trade guilds.
• The Sestius were a Roman family involved in politics and trade during the Roman Empire.
• Sestius Amphorae were tall Roman jars used by the family to transport wine across the Mediterranean, found in sites around the western Mediterranean dating back to the 1st century BCE.
• Naukratis was an ancient Greek trading settlement in Egypt, established in the 7th century BCE as a key port for Greek-Egyptian trade.

Human Migration

• The Bering Strait is a narrow waterway between Russia and Alaska, connecting the Arctic and Bering Seas, which allowed humans to migrate from Asia to North America during the Ice Age.

Early Human Evidence

• White Sands, New Mexico, contains a vast dune field where ancient human footprints dating back 23,000 years ago have been discovered, providing evidence of early human presence in North America.

Shipwrecks

• Uluburun Wreck: A late Bronze Age shipwreck (c. 1300 BCE) found off the coast of Turkey carried various trading goods, including copper, tin ingots, glass, ivory, gold and Mycenaean pottery.
• Gokstad Ship Burial: A 9th-century Viking burial found in Norway; it contained a well-preserved longship and grave goods, including an important Viking man, weapons, sleds, and remain of animals, which showcases Viking burial customs.
• L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland: A Viking settlement in Canada dating to around 1000 CE, revealing Norse-style buildings, ironworking evidence, and artifacts, representing the first known European presence in North America.

Cave Art

• Chauvet-Pont d'Arc is a prehistoric cave in France containing some of the oldest cave paintings, dating back about 30,000-32,000 years with art of lions, bison, rhinoceros, and horses and the use of carbon dating.

Scripts and Languages

• Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions on stone, metal, or pottery to understand ancient texts and languages.
• Types of Script include:
  • Ideogram/pictogram is a symbol or drawing.
  • Logogram is a symbol or character representing an idea/concept.
  • Phonogram is a symbol or character representing a specific sound.
• Cuneiform is a writing system using a wedge-shaped tool to make marks on clay tablets and is the earliest known writing system in the world.
• Behisitun Inscription is a rock inscription carved by King Darius I of Persia (c. 520 BCE) on a cliff in modern Iran, written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian, which was key to deciphering cuneiform script.
• Rosetta Stone, found in Egypt (written in 196 BCE), has the same text in Greek, Egyptian Demotic script, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs, which helped one to understand Egyptian hieroglyphs.
• Early Chinese (Oracle Bone Script) is the earliest known Chinese writing system, used during the Shing Dynasty(1200 - 1000 BCE), and employs a pictograph style.

Ancient Maps

• The Babylonian "Map of the World" is a clay tablet from the 6th century BCE, found in Babylon (modern Iraq).
• Nippur Canal Map is an ancient Babylonian clay tablet (c. 1300 BCE) showing a map of canals and fields near Nippur, using cuneiform labels to describe the land and its ownership.
• Forma Urbis Romae is a massive marble map showing streets, buildings and landmarks, of ancient Rome created during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (c. 203-211 CE) that measures 60x43 feet.
• The Catawba Map is a hand-drawn Native American map from the 18th century (1721) created by the Catawba people and depicting ribal territories, trade routes, and settlements in the Southeastern USA.

Archaeological Sites

• Ness of Brodgar is a Neolithic archaeological site in Orkney, Scotland, featuring stone buildings dating back to 3200-2300 BCE, along with massive stone walls, pottery, and animal bones, suggesting it was a ceremonial/community center.

Ritual and Religious Practices

• Archaeology of a Cult involves the study of rituals, religious practices, and sacred spaces in ancient societies using material remains such as temples, altars, offerings, and ritual objects.
• Astragalomania refers to the obsession with/or the excessive use of astragali for divination/rituals in ancient cultures, as by ancient Greeks/Romans.
• Defixiones (Curse Tablets) are thin lead sheets that are inscribed with curses(often buried or placed in sacred spaces) to invoke supernatural punishment on others, as by Roman's use of curse tablets found in England asking the gods to punish thieves/rivals.

Explore tool production stages (Chaine Operatoire) and the Stone, Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages. Learn about megaliths, monoliths, and Roman construction techniques like Opus quadratum. Understand stone tool manufacturing processes such as knapping.