Replicating Stone Tools for Use in Experimental Archaeology: The Case of End Scrapers

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This study evaluates the value of porcelain slip casting for the replication process of prehistoric end scrapers. The method when used in conjunction with 3D scanning and printing has already proven successful in making nearly exact replicas of prehistoric projectile points and their preforms. Many functionally identical copies can be made from a single mold (useful for building large sample sizes in experimental archaeology) and these copies can be resharpened or retooled in ways that mimic their stone counterparts. Due to the shrinkage of porcelain as it is fired, porcelain replicas cast in molds made directly from artifacts result in copies which are smaller than their originals. By digitally scaling and 3D printing a larger model and creating molds from the print, one can circumvent the shrinkage issue. Porcelain lithic replicas made by this method can be manufactured to similar dimensions of original artifacts, or scaled to different sizes as desired. We applied this protocol to the creation of exact porcelain replicas of prehistoric end scrapers and tested them to see if the edges of the porcelain objects behaved similarly to the originals. The results and the potential applications of the process are presented here.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39494.0