THESE ARE THE FLINTKNAPPERS: A CASE STUDY CONCERNING THE ABILITY TO MEASURE FLINTKNAPPING SKILL VARIATION IN THE ANALYSIS OF DEBITAGE

Summary

One application of experimental archaeology is attempting to understand variations in flintknapping skill. These experiments often have flintknappers of varying skill levels attempt to replicate different variants of prehistoric stone tools. Previous studies of skill level in the debitage produced during flintknapping is restricted to qualitative means of analysis. To add to the expanding collection of experimental archaeology that attempts to identify flintknapping skill, this paper addresses whether quantitative analysis can be used to distinguish individual flintknapper skill levels in debitage analysis. Additionally, in an attempt to produce a more controlled flintknapping environment, the experiment reported in this paper implemented liquid porcelain biface casts as the objective pieces. Using a more controlled objective piece, this paper attempts to take the quantitative analysis that has previously been done in experimental archaeology on formal prehistoric tools and apply it to debitage to see if similar indications of skill can be identified.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

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