Microwear Analysis of Some Clovis and Experimental Chipped Stone Tools

Abstract

Kay examines some of the key differences between the approaches of Semenov and Korobkova and those of Keeley. The former uses the traceological approach to figure out a tool’s use and then indirectly to figure out what material the tool was used on, primarily by looking at use wear scratches (Kay, 1996: 316). The Keeley method focuses on the identification of materials worked by stone tools from the analysis of micropolishes, in which the changes are not by friction but are by nature additive (Kay, 1996: 316). Kay provides his own approach which promises to exist independently of stone materials construction by looking at microwear patterns at over 100x magnification. Some see this approach as useful, but only when other, less time-consuming alternatives have been attempted (Kay, 1996: 321).