Contributions to the interpretation of the contexts of use in archaeological sites of hunter-gatherers from image analysis (RIMAPS)

BRIZ I GODINO, I.; ALVAREZ, M.; FAVRET, E.; DOMINGUEZ, S.; PAL, N.

Paris

Congreso; 18th UISPP WORLD CONGRESS; 2018

UISPP

Since the beginning of microscopic traceological studies one of the objectives pursued by traceologists was the search of quantitative variables which allowed the identication of usewear patterns. Recently this issue has been revisited using methodologies developed in the field of Materials Science and the results are quite promising. These methodologies are based on the measurement of topographic or textural characteristics of lithic surfaces in order to identifyuse-wear patterns and to describe structural transformations produced as a consequence of specic prehistoric activities. Within this framework, the RIMAPS technique (Rotated Image with Maximum Average Power Spectrum) allows to characterize mathematically the typical topographic patterns of any surface by using digital images, independently of the optical medium used to capture these images.Following this perspective, this work is aimed to oer the results obtained by the application of image analysis by RIMAPS on experimental lithic artifacts used for working hide, wood and bone as well as to assess the robustness of RIMAPS as analytical method for studying use-wear traces and the use context of lithic tools produced by hunter-gatherers.