When is a point a projectile? morphology, impact fractures, scientific rigor, and the limits of inference

Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology

Volumn , Issue 9789401776011, 2016, Pages 3-12

  Hutchings, Wallace Karl ^a  

^a THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Diagnostic impact fracture; Morphology; Projectile points; Residues; Tip cross sectional area; Use wear

Indexed keywords

EID: 85044934190     PISSN: 18779077     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7602-8_1     Document Type: Chapter

References (100)

1. Ahler, S. (1971). Projectile point form and function at Rodgers shelter, Missouri. Missouri archaeological society research series 8. Columbia: University of Missouri.
2. Ahler, S. A., & McMillan, R. B. (1976). Material culture at Rodgers shelter: A reflection of past human activities. In W. R. Wood & R. B. McMillan (Eds.), Prehistoric man and his environments: A case study in the Ozark highland (pp. 163–199). New York: Academic Press.
3. Anderson-Gerfaud, P. C. (1990). Aspects of behaviour in the Middle Palaeolithic: Functional analysis of stone tools from southwest France. In P. A. Mellars (Ed.), The emergence of modern humans (pp. 389–418). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
4. Baker, W. E., & Kidder, A. V. (1937). A spear thrower from Oklahoma. American Antiquity, 3, 51–52.
5. Barton, R. N. E., & Bergman, C. A. (1982). Hunters at Hengistbury: Some evidence from experimental archaeology. World Archaeology, 14, 237–248.
6. Bergman, C. A., & Newcomer, M. H. (1983). Flint arrowhead breakage: Examples from Ksar Akil, Lebanon. Journal of Field Archaeology, 10, 238–243.
7. Berry, M. S. (1976). Remnant cave. In G. F. Dalley (Ed.), Swallow shelter and associated sites. University of Utah anthropological papers 96 (pp. 115–127). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
8. Boëda, E., Connan, J., & Muhesen, S. (1998). Bitumen as hafting material on Middle Paleolithic artifacts from the El Kown Basin, Syria. In T. Akazawa, K. Aoki & O. Bar-Yosef (Eds.), Neandertals and modern humans in Western Asia (pp. 181–204). New York: Plenum.
9. Boëda, E., Geneste, J. M., Griggo, C., Mercier, N., Muhesen, S., Reyss, J., et al. (1999). A Levallois point embedded in the vertebra of a wild ass (Equus africanus): Hafting, projectiles and Mousterian hunting weapons. Antiquity, 73, 394–402.
10. Bordes, F. (1961). Typologie du paléolithique ancien et moyen. Bordeaux: Delmas.
11. Bratlund, B. (1996). Hunting strategies in the late glacial of northern Europe: A survey of the faunal evidence. Journal of World Prehistory, 10, 1–48.
12. Brooks, A., Yellen, J., Nevell, L., & Hartman, G. (2006). Projectile technologies of the African MSA: Implications for modern human origins. In E. Hovers & S. Kuhn (Eds.), Transitions before the transition (pp. 233–256). New York: Plenum/Kluwer.
13. Browne, J. (1940). Projectile points. American Antiquity, 5, 209–213.
14. Callow, P. (1986). The flint tools. In P. Callow & J. Cornford, (Eds.), La Cotte de St. Brelade (pp. 251–314). Norwich (UK): Geo Books.
15. Churchill, S., & Rhodes, J. (2009). The evolution of the human capacity for “killing at a distance”: The human fossil evidence for the evolution of projectile weaponry. In J.-J. Hublin & M. P. Richards (Eds.), The evolution of hominin diets: Integrating approaches to the study of palaeolithic subsistence (pp. 201–210). Dordrecht: Springer.
16. Corliss, D. W. (1972). Neck width of projectile points: An index of culture continuity and change (p. 29). Pocatello, Idaho: Occasional Papers of the Idaho State University Museum.
17. Cosgrove, C. B. (1947). Caves of the Upper Gila and Hueco areas in New Mexico and Texas (Vol. 24, No. 2). Cambridge: Papers of the Peabody museum of American archaeology and ethnology.
18. Dalley, G. F. (1976). Swallow shelter and associated sites. University of Utah anthropological papers 96. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
19. Dalley, G. F., & Petersen, K. L. (1970). Additional artifacts from Hogup Cave. Appendix X. In M. C. Aikens (Ed.), Hogup cave. University of Utah anthropological papers 93 (pp. 283–286). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
20. Debénath, A., & Dibble, H. L. (1994). Handbook of Paleolithic typology, Vol. 1: Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Europe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
21. Dockall, J. E. (1997). Wear traces and projectile impact: A review of the experimental and archaeological evidence. Journal of Field Archaeology, 24, 321–331.
22. Evans, O. F. (1957). Probable uses of stone projectile points. American Antiquity, 23, 83–84.
23. Fenenga, F. (1953). The weights of chipped stone points: A clue to their functions. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 9, 309–323.
24. Fenenga, F., & Heizer, R. F. (1941). The origins and authenticity of an atlatl and atlatl dart from Lassen County, California. American Antiquity, 7, 134–141.
25. Fischer, A., Hansen, P. V., & Rasmussen, P. (1984). Macro and micro wear traces on lithic projectile points: Experimental results and prehistoric examples. Journal of Danish Archaeology, 3, 19–46.
26. Forbis, R. G. (1962). The old woman’s buffalo jump, Alberta. Contributions to anthropology (pp. 56–123). Ottawa: Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, National Museum of Canada, Bulletin 180.
27. Frison, G. C. (1974). The Casper Site. New York: Academic Press.
28. Frison, G. C. (1978). Prehistoric hunters of the high plains. New York: Academic Press.
29. Frison, G. C., Wilson, M., & Wilson, D. J. (1976). Fossil bison and artifacts from an early altithermal period arroyo trap in Wyoming. American Antiquity, 41, 28–57.
30. Guernsey, S. J. (1931). Explorations in Northeastern Arizona: Report on the archaeological fieldwork of 1920–1923. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology (Vol. 12, No. 1). Cambridge: Harvard University.
31. Guernsey, S. J., & Kidder, A. V. (1921). Basket-maker caves of Northeastern Arizona: Report on the explorations 1916–17. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology (Vol. 8, No. 2). Cambridge: Harvard University.
32. Hardy, B., & Kay, M. (1999). Stone tool function at Starosele: Combining residue and use-wear analysis. In V. P. Chabai & K. Monigal (Eds.), The Paleolithic of Crimea II: The Paleolithic of Western Crimea (Vol. 2, pp. 197–210). Liége, Belgium: Etudes et Récherches de l’Université de Liége, ERAUL 87.
33. Hardy, B., Kay, M., Marks, A. E., & Monigal, K. (2001). Stone tool function at the Paleolithic sites of Starosele and Buran Kaya III, Crimea: Behavioral implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 98, 10972–10977.
34. Hardy, B., & Raff, R. A. (1997). Recovery of mammalian DNA from Middle Paleolithic stone tools. Journal of Archaeological Science, 24, 601–611.
35. Harrington, M. R. (1933). Gypsum Cave, Nevada. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum Papers 8.
36. Hattori, E. M. (1982). The archaeology of Falcon Hill, Winnemucca Lake, Washoe County, Nevada. Carson City: Nevada State Museum Anthropological Papers 18.
37. Heizer, R. F. (1938). A complete atlatl dart from Pershing county, Nevada. New Mexico Anthropologist, 11, 69–71.
38. Holdaway, S. (1989). Were there hafted projectile points in the Mousterian? Journal of Field Archaeology, 16, 79–86.
39. Holdaway, S. (1990). Mousterian projectile points – Reply to Shea. Journal of Field Archaeology, 17, 114–115.
40. Hughes, S. S. (1998). Getting to the point: Evolutionary change in prehistoric weaponry. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 5, 345–408.
41. Hutchings, W. K. (1991). The Nachcharini composite projectile: Design theory and the study of hunting systems technology at Mugharet En-Nachcharini in the Post-Natufian Levant. M.A. thesis, University of Toronto.
42. Hutchings, W. K. (1997). The Paleoindian fluted point: Dart or spear armature? The identification of Paleoindian delivery technology through the analysis of lithic fracture velocity. PhD dissertation, Simon Fraser University.
43. Hutchings, W. K. (2011). Measuring use-related fracture velocity in lithic armatures to identify spears, javelins, darts, and arrows. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38, 1737–1746.
44. Janetski, J. C. (1980). Wood and reed artifacts. In J. D. Jennings (Ed.), Cowboy cave (pp. 75–95). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, University of Utah Anthropological Papers 104.
45. Jennings, J. D. (1957). Danger cave. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, University of Utah Anthropological Papers 27.
46. Kay, M. (1996). Microwear analysis of some Clovis and experimental chipped stone tools. In G. H. Odell (Ed.), Stone tools: Theoretical insights into human prehistory (pp. 315–344). New York: Plenum Press.
47. Keeley, L. H. (1980). Experimental determination of stone tool uses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
48. Kidder, A. V., & Guernsey, S. J. (1919). Archaeological explorations in Northeastern Arizona. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 65.
49. Kuhn, S. L., & Stiner, M. C. (2001). The antiquity of hunter-gatherers. In C. Panter-Brick, R. H. Layton, & P. Rowley-Conwy (Eds.), Hunter-gatherers: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 99–142). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
50. Lombard, M., & Pargeter, J. (2008). Hunting with Howiesons Poort segments: Pilot experimental study and the functional interpretation of archaeological tools. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 2523–2531.
51. Loud, L. L., & Harrington, M. R. (1929). Lovelock Cave (Vol. 25). USA: University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology.
52. Mazza, P., Martini, F., Sala, B., Magi, M., Colombini, M., Giachi, G., et al. (2006). A new Palaeolithic discovery: Tar-hafted stone tools in a European Mid-Pleistocene bone-bearing bed. Journal of Archaeological Science, 33, 1310–1318.
53. McBrearty, S., & Brooks, A. (2000). The revolution that wasn’t: A new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. Journal of Human Evolution, 39, 453–563.
54. Mussi, M., & Villa, P. (2008). Single carcass of Mammuthus primigenius with lithic artifacts in the Upper Pleistocene of northern Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 2606–2613.
55. O’Connell, J. F. (2006). How did modern humans displace neanderthals? Insights from hunter-gatherer ethnography and archaeology. In N. J. Conard (Ed.), When neanderthals and modern humans met (pp. 43–64). Tübingen: Kerns Verlag.
56. Odell, G. H. (1977). The application of micro-wear analysis to the lithic component of an entire prehistoric settlement: Methods, problems, and functional reconstructions. PhD dissertation, Harvard University.
57. Odell, G. H. (1988). Addressing prehistoric hunting practices through stone tool analysis. American Anthropologist, 90, 335–356.
58. Odell, G. H., & Cowan, F. (1986). Experiments with spears and arrows on animal targets. Journal of Field Archaeology, 13, 95–212.
59. Pargeter, J. (2011). Assessing the macrofracture method for identifying Stone Age hunting weaponry. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38, 2882–2888.
60. Pendleton, L. S. A. (1985). Material culture: Artifacts of wood. In D. H. Thomas (Ed.), The archaeology of Hidden Cave, Nevada. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History (Vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 251–261). New York: American Museum of Natural History.
61. Plisson, H., & Béyries, S. (1998). Pointes ou outils triangulaires? Données fonctionnelles dans le moustérien levantin. Paléorient, 24, 5–24.
62. Rigaud, J., & Simek, J. F. (1987). “Arms too short to box with God”: Problems and prospects for Paleolithic prehistory in Dordogne, France. In O. Soffer (Ed.), The Pleistocene Old World: Regional perspectives (pp. 47–61). New York: Plenum Press.
63. Roper, D. C. (1979). Breakage patterns of central Illinois woodland projectile points. Plains Anthropologist, 24, 113–121.
64. Rots, V. (2003). Towards an understanding of hafting: The macro- and microscopic evidence. Antiquity, 77, 805–815.
65. Rots, V. (2004). Prehensile wear on flint tools. Lithic Technology, 29, 7–32.
66. Salls, R. A. (1986). The La Brea atlatl foreshafts: Inferences for the Millingstone horizon. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly, 22, 21–30.
67. Sano, K. (2009). Hunting evidence from stone artefacts from the Magdalenian cave site Bois Laiterie, Belgium: A fracture analysis. Quatär, 56, 67–86.
68. Semenov, S. A. (1964). Prehistoric technology. Bath: Adams and Dart.
69. Shott, M. J. (1997). Stones and shafts redux: The metric discrimination of chipped-stone dart and arrow points. American Antiquity, 62, 86– 101.
70. Shea, J. J. (1988). Spear points from the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant. Journal of Field Archaeology, 15, 441–450.
71. Shea, J. J. (1990). A further note on Mousterian spear points. Journal of Field Archaeology, 17, 111–114.
72. Shea, J. J. (1991). The behavioral significance of Levantine Mousterian industrial variability. PhD dissertation, Harvard University.
73. Shea, J. J. (1993). Lithic use-wear evidence for hunting by Neandertals and early modern humans from the Levantine Mousterian. In G. L. Peterkin, H. M. Bricker & P. Mellars (Eds.), Hunting and animal exploitation in the Later Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of Eurasia (pp. 189–197). American Anthropological Association Archaeological Paper 4.
74. Shea, J. J. (1995a). Behavioral factors affecting the production of Levallois points in the Levantine Mousterian. In H. L. Dibble & O. Bar-Yosef (Eds.), The definition and interpretation of Levallois technology (pp. 279–292). Madison: Prehistory Press.
75. Shea, J. J. (1995b). Lithic microwear analysis of Tor Faraj rockshelter. In D. O. Henry (Ed.), Prehistoric ecology and evolution: Insights from Southern Jordan (pp. 85–97). New York: Plenum Press.
76. Shea, J. J. (1997). Middle Paleolithic spear point technology. In H. Knecht (Ed.), Projectile technology (pp. 79–106). New York: Plenum Press.
77. Shea, J. J. (2003a). Neandertals, competition, and the origin of modern human behavior in the Levant. Evolutionary Anthropology, 12, 173–187.
78. Shea, J. J. (2003b). The Middle Paleolithic of the East Mediterranean Levant. Journal of World Prehistory, 17, 313–394.
79. Shea, J. J. (2006). The origins of lithic projectile point technology: Evidence from Africa, the Levant, and Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science, 33, 823–846.
80. Shea, J. J. (2009). The impact of projectile weaponry on late Pleistocene hominin evolution. In J.-J. Hublin & M. P. Richards (Eds.), The evolution of hominid diets: Integrating approaches to the study of Paleolithic subsistence (pp. 189–199). Dordrecht: Springer.
81. Shea, J. J. (2011). Homo sapiens is as Homo sapiens was: “Behavioral modernity” in Paleolithic archaeology. Current Anthropology, 52, 1–35.
82. Shea, J. J., Davis, Z., & Brown, K. (2001). Experimental tests of middle Paleolithic spear points using a calibrated crossbow. Journal of Archaeological Science, 28, 807–816.
83. Shea, J. J., & Sisk, M. L. (2010). Complex projectile technology and Homo sapiens dispersal into western Eurasia. Paleoanthropology, 2010, 100–122.
84. Sisk, M. L., & Shea, J. J. (2009). Experimental use and quantitative performance analysis of triangular flakes (Levallois points) used as arrowheads. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 2039–2047.
85. Smith, G. A. (Ed.). (1963). Archaeological survey of the Mojave river area and adjacent regions. San Bernardino: San Bernardino County Museum Association.
86. Smith, G. A., Schuiling, W. C., Ritner, L. M., Sayles, J., & Jillson, P. (1963). The archaeology of Newberry Cave, San Bernardino County, Newberry, California. In G. A. Smith (Ed.), Archaeological survey of the Mojave river area and adjacent regions (pp. 138–197). San Bernardino: San Bernardino County Museum Association.
87. Solecki, R. L. (1992). More on hafted projectile points in the Mousterian. Journal of Field Archaeology, 19, 207–212.
88. Taylor, W. W. (1966). Archaic cultures adjacent to the northeastern frontiers of Mesoamerica. In G. F. Ekholm & G. R. Willey (Eds.), Archaeological frontiers and external connections (pp. 59–94). Washington: Handbook of Middle American Indians 4.
89. Thieme, H. (1997). Lower Paleolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature, 385, 807–810.
90. Thomas, D. H. (1978). Arrowheads and atlatl darts: How the stones got the shaft. American Antiquity, 43, 461–472.
91. Tomenchuk, J. (1985). The development of a wholly parametric use-wear methodology and its application to two selected samples of Epipaleolithic chipped stone tools from Hayonim Cave, Israel. PhD dissertation, University of Toronto.
92. Tringham, R., Cooper, G., Odell, G., Voytek, B., & Whitman, A. (1974). Experimentation in the formation of edge damage: A new approach to lithic analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology, 1, 171–196.
93. Tuohy, D. R. (1982). Another Great Basin atlatl with dart foreshafts and other artifacts: Implications and ramifications. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 4, 80–106.
94. Villa, J., & Lenoir, M. (2006). Hunting weapons of the Middle Stone Age and the Middle Palaeolithic: Spear points from Sibudu, Rose Cottage and Bouheben. South African Humanities, 18, 89–122.
95. Villa, J., Boscato, P., Ranaldo, F., & Ronchitelli, A. (2009a). Stone tools for the hunt: Points with impact scars from a Middle Paleolithic site in southern Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 850–859.
96. Villa, J., Soressi, M., Henshilwood, C., & Mourre, V. (2009b). The still bay point of Blombos cave (South Africa). Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 441–460.
97. Witthoff, J. (1968). Flint arrowpoints from the Eskimo of northwestern Alaska. Expedition, 10, 30–37.
98. Woods, J. C. (1988). Projectile point fracture patterns and inferences about tool function. Idaho Archaeologist, 11, 3–8.
99. Woodward, A. (1937). Atlatl dart foreshafts from the La Brea pits. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, 36, 41–60.
100. Wyckoff, D. G. (1964). The cultural sequence of the Packard Site, Mayes County, Oklahoma. Oklahoma River Basin Survey Project: Archaeological Site Report, No. 2. Norman: University of Oklahoma Research Institute.