Digitizing the Past: Studying Ancient Ground Stone Toolkits Using Modern Technology

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Digitizing the Past: Studying Ancient Ground Stone Toolkits Using Modern Technology" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ground stone tools (GST) provide unique insight into cultural behaviors, activities, and changes in technological traditions through time. GST research has the added potential to highlight behaviors spanning from individual manufacturers to regional insights into tool use. Our research highlights the importance of GST in everyday toolkits of the earliest North Americans from the Hell Gap National Historical Landmark, Guernsey, Wyoming, through the use of close-range photogrammetry (CRP), 3D modeling, and microscopy techniques. Utilizing these methods, our research results in the development of digital archaeological data that can be shared with others and contribute to long-term conservation and preservation in the archaeological record.This digital archaeological data can be used in the future to facilitate the interpretation and reconstruction of past lifeways and human interactions with stone tools.