Comparing the Durability and Robusticity of Obsidian and Chert Projectile Points

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Old Technology, New Methodology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Stone weaponry and tools were fundamental to the success of past peoples. Stone weaponry varies dramatically, with both functional and nonfunctional factors contributing to this variation. The durability (whether a stone tip breaks or not) and robusticity (how much damage is incurred upon breakage) of stone weapon tips were two important functional factors that experiments have shown are influenced by different variables, such as raw material type. We present the results of two controlled experiments—one semi-static fracture and the other dynamic impact—comparing chert versus obsidian stone tip durability and robusticity. The results of the first set of experiments show that obsidian stone tips require less force to break than do chert stone tips. The second set of experiments demonstrate that obsidian stone tips are less durable and robust than chert stone tips. Our results are consistent with previous experimental comparisons of chert versus obsidian stone tips, and support the hypothesis that past peoples, when presented with different raw materials, likely weighed their costs and benefits in the process of selection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Old Technology, New Methodology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35824.0