Measuring Gesture: Stroke Quantification in Lithic Use-wear Experiments

Summary

The saying "different strokes for different folks" is a literal truism in the realm of lithic analysis and experimentation where stone tools were and are used by individual people whose tool use gestures vary in any number of ways. Until very recently, experimental archaeologists have largely neglected aspects of gestural variation, such as how much force is applied to a tool's edge, and task-related gestures are most often glossed under the catch-all term "stroke". "Strokes" are counted and then compared to other "strokes", often without any further definition. This poster describes a method for precisely measuring tool edge loading without restricting the tool user's gestural freedom. Using a low-cost, hand-held digital force gauge made with open-source hardware and software, it is possible to precisely record and define individual strokes, and relate them to wear observed on experimental lithic tools.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17124