Bone tool types and microwear patterns. Some examples from hunter-gatherer assemblages, Pampean region, South America

BUC, N.; LOPONTE, D

Bones as Tools: Archaeological Studies of Bone Tool Manufacture, Use and Classification.

BAR International

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2006;

Archaeological sites located in the lower Paraná’s wetlands (South America, Argentina, Pampa region) and occupied by Late Holocene hunter-gatherers contain large quantities of specialized bone tools made with antler, mammal and fish bones. The aim of this paper is to categorize the morphological types and their microwear traces. Bone tools were observed with binocular, metallurgical and electronic scanning microscopes (SEM) in order to explore different morphological modifications on bone and antler surfaces due to manufacture and use. Properties of micro traces such as polishes and striations were recorded by taking into account their orientation, aggregation and distribution. Archaeological bone tools were compared with an experimental sample of tools previously made out of lamb bones, deer antler and fish bones.