Teeth as raw material. Experiments and microscopic analysis.

PARMIGIANI V.; FRANCH, A.; ALVAREZ SONCINI, M. C.; DE ANGELIS, HERNÁN H.; M.E. MANSUR,

Journal of Lithic Studies

University of Edinburgh

Lugar: Edinburgh; Año: 2022

This article explores the archaeological and ethnographic evidence on the use of rodent teeth without direct modification (without manufacturing) as tools, instead of lithic raw materials. There are publications that show their direct use, extracted from the jaw, held in the hand, or hafted, but also used within the jaw itself, where it functions as a handle. Most of the teeth that appear in archaeological contexts are studied within the zooarchaeological analysis. The possibility that they may have been used as tools is considered by some experts, and discarded by others, partly because it was thought that it would not be possible to identify them among the faunal remains.In previous investigations, we have carried out a preliminary experimental work using teeth of two groups of Rodents, beaver (Castor canadensis) and capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), to process other materials. We could observe that it is possible to identify use wear traces that would let recognise such instruments in archaeological sites. To do so, we used the same equipment and methodology of microwear analysis on lithic materials.