Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology" at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Throughout much of the Holocene, humans in many parts of the world have relied on ground stone milling tools to increase the amount and breadth of edible foodstuffs. Despite the favorable preservation generally afforded these tools, and the central role they once had in processing many plant-food staples, ground stone milling tools remain an understudied and undertheorized category of technology. This poster session highlights experiments and formal modeling approaches that explore investments of time, labor, or knowledge represented by ground stone milling tools. The posters integrate experimental data on technological choices with use-wear analysis, ethnographic data, and evolutionary models.
Other Keywords
Experimental Archaeology •
Material Culture and Technology •
Subsistence and Foodways •
Human Behavioral Ecology •
Neolithic •
Paleoindian and Paleoamerican
Geographic Keywords
Arizona (State / Territory) •
United States of America (Country) •
Utah (State / Territory) •
Nevada (State / Territory) •
California (State / Territory) •
North America (Continent) •
USA (Country) •
North America: California and Great Basin •
Other
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)
- Documents (6)
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Comparing Energy Expenditures of Mortar and Pestle and Grinding Slab Technologies (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Daily activities such as grinding plant material require energy input. It is ideal to put in the least amount of work to obtain the greatest yield of product. Energetic expenditures and returns for grinding slab and mortar and pestle use remain largely unstudied. In this study, resting and grinding heart-rate...
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Comparing Technological Choices for Grain Processing at Aşıklı Höyük, an Early Neolithic Village in Turkey: Experimental Removal of Chaff from Barley (*Hordeum vulgare) (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Experimental studies can make significant contributions to understanding the function of grinding stones found in archaeological contexts. Milling technology at the early Neolithic site of Aşıklı Höyük in Turkey is dominated by querns or grinding slabs, but mortars and pestles are not uncommon. Most of the...
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Considering Women's Tech Choices: Grinding Efficiency and Performance Characteristics of Hunter-Gatherer Milling Tools (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Milling tools were a cornerstone of many plant-based hunter-gatherer economies. Women are often involved in food processing and would have used these tools, in some cases daily, to expand the breadth of foods available for consumption. Despite their important economic role, few studies have compared...
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Manufacturing Costs of Long Pestles in Late Period Central California: Results from Replicative Experiments (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The shift to mortars and pestles is associated with the acorn-based resource intensification in central California, which is also linked with decreased mobility and changes in social organization. Many long (>35 cm) and completely shaped pestles are associated with Late period California (cal AD 1265–1770)...
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Modeling Time Investment Trade-Offs for Stone and Wooden Mortars (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. California archaeology and ethnography record instances of mortars made from wood, as well as stone. Differences in raw material availability, intended uses, and mobility are major factors that could contribute to preferential manufacture of wooden mortars versus similarly shaped stone mortars. Although...
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When Mortars Speak Volumes: Assessing the Influence of Mortar Cavity Size on Processing Efficiency (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Formal Models and Experimental Archaeology of Ground Stone Milling Technology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Among the various categories of ground stone technology in precolonial California, the mortar has a celebrated role in the shift to a subsistence economy dominated by acorn processing and consumption. The size and shape of mortars, both bedrock and portable, facilitated pulverizing and grinding of these and...