Large Interpretations from Small Things: The Potential and Need for Large-Scale Microwear Studies

Summary

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

Since its broad application in the 1980s, a core critique of microwear analysis of lithic tools in North America has been its examination of very small sample sizes. This has often relegated microwear to the fringes of prehistoric studies—a curiosity, or an anecdote that does not add true substance to site interpretations. While our European colleagues view microwear as an essential step in understanding and interpreting human behavior within an archaeological context, archaeologists in North America continue to rely on macrolithic analysis, and interpretations of site use based on tool morphology alone, which has been long demonstrated to be an unreliable method or understanding tool use. However, microwear studies continue to be viewed with suspicion by most North American Archaeologists, despite the widespread use and publication of blind testing to demonstrate mastery. I argue that this limits the amount of microwear completed, as projects are only willing to devote a small amount of funding to what they view as producing results of limited utility. To maximize the power this methodological technique can offer it is essential that analysts look at large collections. By creating large datasets of microwear results we will have a more complete view of the past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35899.0