The significance of use-wear studies in archaeological research plays an important role as a proxy to prehistoric techno-cultural reconstruction. The present volume, divided into five thematic sections, includes chapters discussing various different research methods, techniques, chronologies and regions. As such, this volume will be of interest to both archaeologists and anthropologists.
This book is designed to act as a readily accessible guide to different methods and techniques of use-wear and residue analysis and therefore includes a wide range of different and complementary essential topics: experimental tests, observation and record methods and techniques and the interpretation of a diversity of tool types and worked raw materials. The onset of use-wear studies was marked by the development of theory, method and techniques in order to infer prehistoric tools functionality and, therefore, understand human technological, social and cultural behavior. The last decade of functional studies, use-wear and residue analysis have been aimed at the observation, recording and interpretation of different activities and worked materials found on archaeological tools made on different types of organic and non-organic materials. This international group of contributions will be fundamental for all researchers and students of the discipline.
Quartzite is a particularly frequently used lithology for knapping stone tools throughout all stages of human evolution. Despite this, however, there is a surprising lack of detailed methodological research on the formation and appearance of use-wear on this type of rock. As such, this book fills in a gap in the research, and proposes a new method to analyse use-wear on quartzite, by evaluating the variability of use-wear appearance on different rock varieties. This book is conceived as a handbook for the application of microwear analysis on quartzite, and is addressed to both students and lithic use-wear analysists. The extreme surface irregularities of quartzite, mainly due to its microcrystalline structure and the diverse orientation of quartz crystals surfaces, have always been regarded as a major obstacle when applying use-wear analysis. As shown here, the use of scanning electron microscopy allows this and other obstacles when observing highly reflective surfaces, such as quartzite, to be overcome.
This book brings together 30 papers by leading scholars in the field of usewear and residue analysis. This publication aims to revive the debate on the role of traceology (use-wear and residues) in multidisciplinary approaches that address archaeological questions. Many studies on technological aspects of material culture deal with specific material categories (e.g. flint, ceramics, bone), often in separate or isolated ways, and this division does not really reflect the integrated nature of technical systems in which different material categories are in dynamic interaction. Hence, exploring the interaction between different chaînes opératoires is crucial for a more global concept of the toolkit with all its components and it is a precondition for paleo-ethnographic reconstructions of technical systems and economies. Starting from a functional perspective, the papers in this book explore various topics such as apprenticeship, group dynamics, social status, economy, technological evolution, spatial organization, mobility patterns and territories, or adaptations to cultural and environmental changes. This collection of papers, presented at the AWRANA conference in 2018, constitutes a major sign of the dynamism, popularity and scientific importance of our discipline in current archaeological research. AWRANA 2018 was dedicated to the memory of H. Keeley.
This book examines how business, the social sciences, science and technology will impact the future of ASEAN. Following the ASEAN VISION 2020, it analyses the issues faced by ASEAN countries, which are diverse, while also positioning ASEAN as a competitive entity through partnerships. On the 30th anniversary of ASEAN, all ASEAN leaders agreed to the establishment of the ASEAN VISION 2020, which delineates the formation of a peaceful, stable and dynamically developed region while maintaining a community of caring societies in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. In keeping with this aspiration, Universiti Teknologi MARA Perlis took the initial steps to organise conferences and activities that highlight the role of the ASEAN region. The Second International Conference on the Future of ASEAN (ICoFA) 2017 was organised by the Office of Academic Affairs, Universiti Teknologi MARA Perlis, to promote more comprehensive integration among ASEAN members. This book, divided into two volumes, offers a useful guide for all those engaged in research on business, the social sciences, science and technology. It will also benefit researchers worldwide who want to gain more knowledge about ASEAN countries
The original research papers in the volume provide a broad review of current approaches to the study of lithic technology from the Palaeolithic to the present. The contributions address both with analytical techniques and interpretive issues. Collectively, they increase our understanding of issues such as tool function, means of production, raw material sourcing and exchange systems, and the evolution of human cognition, social organization and symbolic behavior.
This volume aims to show networks of cultural interactions by focusing on the latest lithic studies from Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans, bringing to the forefront the connectedness and techno-cultural continuity of knapped and ground stone technologies.
The papers in this volume focus especially on the relationship between ground stone artefacts and foodways and include archaeological and ethnographic case studies ranging from the Palaeolithic to the current era, and geographically from Africa to Europe and Asia.
Bread contains human knowledge: from knowledge concerning fertility of the land to farming methods harvesting, and seed processing, not to mention the different possibilities of consumption of cereals and the different ways in which they are cooked. In bread, we find all those components: the transformation of the natural landscape, technological and economic development which over the centuries have led to the building of a social organization, with a precise division and distribution of tasks and roles.
