A new approach to measure reduction intensity on cores and tools on cobbles: the Volumetric Reconstruction Method
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(2020) 12:222
ORIGINAL PAPER
A new approach to measure reduction intensity on cores and tools on cobbles: the Volumetric Reconstruction Method Diego Lombao 1,2
&
Arturo Cueva-Temprana 3
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Marina Mosquera 2,1
&
Juan Ignacio Morales 4
Received: 26 March 2020 / Accepted: 8 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Knowing to what extent lithic cores have been reduced through knapping is an important step toward understanding the technological variability of lithic assemblages and disentangling the formation processes of archaeological sites. In addition, it is a good complement to more developed studies of reduction intensity in retouched tools and provides information on raw material management or site occupation dynamics. This paper presents a new methodology for estimating the intensity of reduction in cores and tools on cobbles, the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM). It is based on a correction of the dimensions (length, width, and thickness) of each core from an assemblage. The median values of thickness and platform thickness of the assemblage’s flakes are used as corrections for the cores’ original dimensions, after its diacritic analysis. Then, based on these new dimensions, the volume or mass of the original blank are reconstructed using the ellipsoid volume formula. The accuracy of this method was experimentally tested, reproducing a variety of possible archaeological scenarios. The experimental results demonstrate a high inferential potential of the VRM, both in estimating the original volume or mass of the original blanks and in inferring the individual percentage of reduction for each core. The results of random resampling demonstrate the applicability of VRM to not size-biased archaeological contexts. Keywords Lithic technology . Reduction intensity . Core reduction . Volumetric Reconstruction Method . 3D scan
Introduction Each core or tool belonging to a lithic assemblage has its own life history. It begins when a specific piece of raw material is selected from a sourcing location and ends when the object is discarded for the last time (Leroi-Gourhan 1993; Odell 2001; Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01154-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Diego Lombao [email protected] 1
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evoluciò Social (IPHES), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
2
Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya, 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
3
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
4
SERP, Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques. Secció de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona, c/Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
Schiffer 1987; Sellet 1993; Shott 2003). This implies that each archaeo
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