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The effects of heavy-duty machinery on the formation of pseudo-knapping debitage in Stone Age cultural landscapes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2018

Jaco van der Walt  and
Justin Bradfield
Jaco van der Walt
Affiliation:
Centre for Anthropological Research and Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa
Justin Bradfield*
Affiliation:
Centre for Anthropological Research and Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: justinb@uj.ac.za)
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Abstract

The risk to surface archaeological sites posed by heavy machinery has grown significantly, and stone-tool assemblages are particularly susceptible to alteration that may be difficult to recognise. Indeed, the impact of industrial machines on surface scatters of lithic material has not yet been explored. Here, an analytical experiment is used to explore the ways in which machine action can affect a test assemblage resembling a typical Stone Age scatter. The results demonstrate that while formal tool types are not easily replicated through machine action, the creation of assemblages that resemble archaeological debitage poses a much greater challenge for archaeologists.

Keywords

southern AfricaStone Agedebitagetaphonomy
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 366 , December 2018 , pp. 1429 - 1444
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

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