1. ANALYSIS OF LITHIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN PREHISTORY
Laboratori d'Arqueologia
Institució Milà i Fontanals - C.S.I.C.
Barcelona

2. ANALYSIS OF LITHIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN PREHISTORY
The lithic production process is one of the processes through which the hunter gatherer communities acted on the environment in order to obtain material goods of a mineral nature.

3. ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS AND LITHIC ANALYSIS

4. NORMATIVE ARCHAEOLOGY
Switching from simple form/use analogy to generalized social analogy,
OVERRATE lithic samples (specially formalized items) using them as ethnic markers.

5. CRITICAL ETHNOGRAPHY DEMONSTRATES
THAT LITHIC ARTIFACTS DO NOT DEFINE ETHNIC GROUPS PER SE.
THAT ONLY THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF RESOURCES EXPLOITATION DISTINGUISHES ONE GROUP FROM OTHERS.

6. WE BELIEVE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY DO NOT ARRIVE TO THAT ESSENTIAL DEFINITION OF GROUPS.
THERE ARE NOT AN ADEQUATE RECORD, NOR SIGNIFICANT VARIABLES AND CATEGORIES DEFINED.

7. ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY
SHOW us that lithic implements can offer a lot of relevant social information
BUT ONLY
if we ask properly
and
if we extract the adequate categories and significant associations.

8. With Ethnoarchaeology
We can do without the direct ethnografic analogy
We can get an adequate STRICTY ARCHAEOLOGICAL methodology to obtain the record representing the significant social organization.

9. Strategies devised and applied in management of mineral resources for the production of stone tools are one of the organizational strategies that rule the biological and social reproduction dynamics of hunter-gatherer communities.
Lithic production does not constitute an aim in itself but a previous condition for the procurement of new consumption goods, that will be integer in other working processes (for management of other resources).
The specificity in the way people managed mineral resources for production and use of stone tools is conditioned by the organization of general strategies

10. THEREFORE OUR PRACTICE SUGGESTS:
ANALYSIS OF A LITHIC SET
MUST BEGIN
identifying and characterizing the real tools
analysis 1 2
macro
and
micro use wear
the raw material and original source,
the production processes
identifying and characterizing
used area ,
direction and motion of use,
worked material.
significant associations
=THEMES

11. Starting with themes we distinguish:
consumption goods/desired products
derived products generated during production
rejected elements
(voluntarily discarded remains)
residues
(unintentionally produced during work)

12. Through the different specific strategies
ALL THAT LED US
-TO CHARACTERIZE LITHIC INDUSTRIES:
Through the different specific strategies
of tool production =
of mineral resources managing
UNTIL
tool consumption =
basic subsistence and consumption goods production
-QUANTIFY THE RELATIVE SOCIAL EFFORT INVOLVED:
of stone tools
of other consumption goods=
biotic resources managing
in production

13. ALL THAT contributes TO DEFINE GLOBAL SOCIAL STRATEGIES =
SOCIAL - ECONOMIC FORMATIONS

14. OBTAINMENT OF CONSUMPTION GOODS OF MINERAL NATURE
RAW MATERIAL PROCUREMENT
LITHIC PRODUCTION PROCESS
RAW MATERIAL TRANSFORMATION INTO CONSUMPTION GOODS
INTEGRATION OF CONSUMPTION GOODS IN OTHER WORKING PROCESSES n 1 2 3 4 5

15. PHASES
METHODOLOGY
PROCUREMENT OF CONSUMPTION GOODS OF A MINERAL NATURE
1.-Procurement of lithic raw material
2.-Manufacturing lithic instruments
-conforming blocs of raw materials
-exploitation of the generated morphologies
-formatizing supports
3.-Distribution of the generated residues
1.- Petrological identification and
characterisation of the raw material
to determine the geological and geographic origin.
2.- Descriptions of morpho-technical patterns
3.- Establishment of spatial articulation
of the archaeological record
INTEGRATION IN WORKING PROCESSES USING THE FINAL FORMS AS WORKING TOOLS.
4.-Consumption of tools
5.- Distribution of residues generated in 4
4.- Use wear Analysis
5.- Study of spatial articulation of archaeological record

16. ELEMENTS REQUIRED
PRODUCTS
Raw materials
Elements that take part in these processes:
the required product
the object to be transformed
the working tool
the technique they used
the derived products.
remains and residues
stone tools

17. 1.- THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND
GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN OF VARIOUS RAW MATERIALS REPRESENTED IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
IMPLIES:
qualitative and quantitative comparison between the results obtained from the analysed samples in the archaeological
as well as in the geological contexts that could have constituted their raw materials sources.
Analytical techniques used:
polarising microscopy of thin sections,
x-ray diffraction,
x-ray fluorescence
....

18. 2.- THE SUCCESSIVE CHANGES PRODUCED
IN THE ORIGINAL MORPHOLOGY OF THE RAW MATERIAL
AND THE POSITION OF THE ITEMS IN THIS PROCESS,
can be recorded by:
The hierarchical reading of the discriminant morphotechnical attributes
contained in every material remain.
The analytical treatment of the morphotechnical characters,
We use:
Analytical Typology, proposed by G.Laplace
with some additions that led us to compare the morphotechnical description and
the use description for all lithic remains (flakes, retouched flakes, etc..).

19. 3.- STUDY THE REAL USE OF LITHIC ARTIFACTS
Use-wear analysis/ macro and microwear analysis :
We use the classic methodology, proposed by S.A. Semenov:
-Systematical use of experimentation and microscopic analysis.
-Interpretation of stone tool function through the microscopic examination
of wear traces on the surfaces of the tools.
-Metallurgical microscope; magnifications from 50x to 500x,
(normally used are 100x and 200x) with a photographic system attached)
-Cleaning (if no residues)
Results:
used area
direction of use (longitudinal.....)
motion of use (cutting...)
hardness of worked material (soft, hard, middle..)
worked material

20. USE WEAR ANALYSIS

21. WE NEED: EXPERIMENTATION OBJECTIVITY AND QUANTIFICATION
IN EVERY STAGE
WE NEED:
EXPERIMENTATION
OBJECTIVITY AND QUANTIFICATION

22. EXPERIMENTS

23. OBJECTIVITY: OBJECTIVATION OF THE OBSERVED CHARACTERS
ANALYTICAL DESCRIPTION OF
Morphotechnical characters
Use wear patterns
DIGITALISED IMAGE ANALYSIS TO QUANTIFY

24. Structure of a multilevel net with froward outputs

25. ORIGINAL PICTURE
QUANTIFIED PICTURE

26. Original image
Binary image
Preliminary 3D
Segmentation

27. Original
3 D

28. Original
Theresholded
Outlined scars
Microscarring areas

29. MICROSCARS
Quantification of area and position

31. CONCLUSIONS: RELATION BETWEEN:
SHAPE (TECHNIC) - FUNCTION - RAW MATERIAL
SPECIFIC STRATEGIES
The specificity of the intervention mode for the mineral resources chosen
by a society is reflected in the strategies that are applied in their
management.
The concept of organisational strategies refers to the development of
an articulated group of processes,socially established, regulated
and determined.
We propose that the strategies that were devised and applied in the
management of mineral for the production of stone tools belong to
the organisational strategies that rule the biological and social reproduction
dynamics of the h-g communities.

32. To remaind: Lithic production does not constitute an aim in itself,
but a previous condition for the procurement of
new consumption goods.

33. SAMPLE OF THE LITHIC PRODUCTION FROM THE EXCAVATED SETTLEMENTS

34. PALIMPSEST OF ITEMS FROM TUNEL VII

35. HAMERSTONE
Lanashuaia

36. Lanashuaia

37. Lanashuaia

38. SCRAPER FOR PIGMENTS
Lanashuaia

39. SCRAPER FOR WORKING BONE(Túnel VII)

40. WOOD KNIFE (Túnel VII)

41. RAW MATERIAL PIECE
Lanashuaia

42. Lanashuaia

43. SCRAPER
Lanashuaia

44. Lanashuaia

45. Lanashuaia

46. Lanashuaia

47. Lanashuaia

48. REFITTING
Lanashuaia

49. UNFINISHED FORMS
Lanashuaia

50. Lanashuaia

51. DAGGER
ARROW
POINT
(Túnel VII)

52. DAGGER
(Túnel VII)

53. ARROW POINTS
(Túnel VII)

54. (Túnel VII)

55. KNAPPING ERRORS
(Túnel VII)
USED ARMS

56. CHIPS PRODUCED BY USE
Lanashuaia

57. FISHING WEIGHT
(Túnel VII)

58. STATISTICAL DIFFERENCES OF THE USE ON DIFFERENT RAW MATTERS
BETWEEN TWO SETTLEMENT PHASES IN TUNEL VII SITE
0.5
Inf
0.4
Sup
0.3
0.2
0.1
-0.1
-0.2
MEAT
HIDE
BONE
FISH
PLANTS
Middle/hard

59. THE ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE LTHIC PRODUCTION PROCESSES
IMPLIES
STATING THE RECURRENCES
DEFINING THE PATTERNS OF SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS
LASTLY WE NEED TO ANALYSE THE SPATIAL
DISTRIBUTION TO UNDERSTAND LITHIC PRODUCTION
IN ITS SOCIAL CONTEXT TO