Wear analysis

ear analysis is a powerful tool for reconstructing past human activities and toolkits as well as postdepositional processes that took place at archaeological sites. As wear formation follows universal principles, the method is applicable to all periods of prehistory, and can be applied to different tool materials such as lithics, hard animal-derived materials (bone, antler, ivory, tooth), and metals. At TraceoLab, we specialise in the analysis of stone tools.

Use-wear features are created by forces acting on a tool during use and are informative of the load conditions that occurred during work. Examining the attributes of use-wear therefore allows reconstructing aspects of tool use, including the gestures employed and worked material qualities. Recent methodological developments also allow determining whether the tool was used hand-held or hafted and gaining insights into the techniques used in stone tool production.

Key variables that affect wear formation and characteristics include stone tool raw material properties, the direction and magnitude of the force applied in tool use or production, the properties of the contact material, and the duration of contact.

Wear analysis carried out at TraceoLab relies on four main principles:

experimental reproduction of wear traces observed archaeologically,
consideration of all stages in the stone tool’s lifecycle in interpreting wear,
focus on wear patterns instead of individual features,
combination of different magnifications or scales of observation in detecting and documenting the wear.

TraceoLab hosts a unique experimental reference collection that addresses the entire life cycle of stone tools from knapping-related features to tool use to simulated taphonomic wear. We use stereomicroscopes, metallurgical microscopes, and a scanning electron microscope for observing and documenting use-wear features such as breaks, scars, edge rounding, microscopic abrasion, and linear features. Put together, the traces observed under different magnifications allow reconstructing archaeological tool use conditions and hafting systems in detail.

Stone tool raw material variability is addressed by adjusting the analytical methods to the particularities of each lithic raw material, explored through experimentation and multi-scale analysis.

Blind testing is regularly used to aid training, to evaluate analyst competence, and to identify future areas of methodological improvement.

Wear analysis

Further reading