A major problem confronting archeologists is how to determine the
function of ancient stone tools. In this important work, Lawrence H.
Keeley reports on his own highly successful course of research into the
uses of British Paleolithic flint implements. His principal method of
investigation, known as "microwear analysis," was the microscopic
examination of traces of use left on flint implements in the form of
polishes, striations, and breakage patterns.
The most important discovery arising from Keeley's research was that, at
magnifications of 100x to 400x, there was a high correlation between the
detailed appearance of microwear polishes formed on tool edges and the
general category of material worked by that edge. For example, different
and distinctive types of microwear polish were formed during use on
wood, bone, hide, meat, and soft plant material. These correlations
between microwear polish and worked material were independent of the
method of use (cutting, sawing, scraping, and so on). In combining
evidence of polish type with other traces of use, Keeley was able to
make precise reconstructions of tool functions. This book includes the
results of a "blind test" of Keeley's functional interpretations which
revealed remarkable agreement between the actual and inferred use of the
tools tested.
Keeley applied his method of microwear analysis to artifacts from three
excavation sites in Britain-Clacton-on-the-sea, Swanscombe, and Hoxne.
His research suggests new hypotheses concerning such Paleolithic
problems as inter-assemblage variability, the function of Acheulean hand
axes, sidescrapers, and chopper-cores and points the way to future
research in Stone Age studies.
