A summary of Chapter 8: Technology, explains about the early stage of tools development.

1. Chapter 8
How Did They Make and Use Tools?
Technology
Maharani Dian Permanasari
1314011016
Graduate Program in Cultural Resource Management

2. “how were artifacts made and what were they used for?”
“are they artifacts at all?”
Approaches:
• Archaeological
• Scientific analysis of objects
• Ethnographic
• Experimental
• Advice of modern experts in
equivalent technologies
Industrial Archaeology

3. Interpreting the Evidence: Archaeological, Scientific Analysis
“how to distinguish?”
Artifacts
• shaped by humans
• purposely struck off
• characteristic bulges/ bulbs of
percussion
• regular shape
Approaches
Nature-forged
• shaped by nature/ geologically
processed (heat, frost, fall, etc.)
• natural fractures
• irregular scars and no bulb
• crude shape
Interpreting the Evidence: the Use of Ethnographic Analogy
Ethnographic Analogy in identifying tools:
• people tend to use abundantly available
materials for daily, mundane tasks.
• people will invest time and effort into making
implements they will use repeatedly.
• can be used in identifying the precise function
of a particular artifact in a specific level.
• limited to cultures with a similar subsistence
level and same ecological background.
Interpreting the Evidence: Experiments
Two classes of raw materials
used in creating objects:
• unaltered (e.g. flint)
• synthetic (e.g. pottery, metal)

4. Survival of the Evidence (Artifacts)
Timeline: Rise of Life and Artifacts
63 m.y.a
24 m.y.a
2 m.y.a
CENOZOIC ERA
PALEOGENE
QUARTERNARY
NEOGENE
dinosaurs go extinct
Hominis descend from the trees
mammals fill dinosaurs’ shoes
Ice Age begin to grip world
primates appear in the trees
modern humans are born
m.y.a : million years ago
STONE AGE
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
MESOLITHIC PERIOD
NEOLITHIC PERIOD
AROUND 8000 BC
BRONZE AGE
PYROTECHNOLOGY
AROUND 3400 BC
METALWORK
IRON AGE
OVER THE PERIOD 3000BC TO 1600-1500BC
UNALTERED
SYNTHETIC

5. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
Timeline: Stone Age (est. 2.6 m.y.a. up to 16,000BC)
m.y.a : million years ago
2.5 m.y.a
15,000 y.a
11,000 y.a
PALEOLITHIC
MESOLITHIC
NEOLITHIC
or
OLD STONE AGE
• human used stones which found
in nature and already had
cutting edge for hunting.
• they used tree branches, leaves,
and stones to make shelter for
living.
• they ate plants and meat,
gathered berries. they may have
eaten flesh of dead animals left
b e h i n d by o t h e r l a r g e r
predators.
• they used fire by rubbing stones
together and roasted meat.
or
MIDDLE STONE AGE
• human started to sharpen their
stone tools for hunting.
• they looked for stones (such as
flint) that was harder and could
be sharpened easily.
• they ate started to settle in one
place, but still remain as hunter
and gatherer of meat, fish, nuts,
fruits, and berries.
or
NEW STONE AGE
• group of hunters learned about
agriculture.
• they collected wild crops and
domesticated wild animals.
• by 10,000 years ago they
started to produce grains, fruits,
and vegetables from seeds.
• they made plow out of antlers,
stone and wood, and started to
cultivate the land with the help
of herded animals.
• they used stone mortars and
pestles to grind cereals and
grains.

6. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Extraction
Sources most visible archaeologically: mines and quarries.
1. Mines (Neolithic and later flint mines in northern Europe)
• The basic technology remained fundamentally the same for the later extraction of other materials.
• There are mixture of open-cast and shaft mining, depending on the terrain and seams position.
• There were a variety of clues to the mining techniques (i.e. Rijckholt’s antler picks which was effective against
hard rock).
• Rock faces were sometimes initially broken up by heating with a small fire.
• Some wooden tools have survived at copper mines in the Mitterberg area of the Austrian Alps.
Grimes Graves,
eastern England.
Spiennes,
Belgium.
Krzemionki,
Poland.
Rijckholt,
Netherland.
2. Quarries
• Unfinished objects or abandoned stones helps archaeologists in making technological reconstruction.
Rano Raraku, Easter Island
Unfinished Obelisk, Aswan - Egypt
Rumiqolqa, Peru

7. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Transportation (large stones)
Discoveries of slides and ramps, drag marks inquired the blocks were dragged broad-face down.
• Experiments of accomplishing the dragging:
statue or block tied to a wooden sled, and men are pulling on ropes.
experiment: dragging the obelisk.
http://www.catchpenny.org/mmbuild.html
hieroglyph showing the transportation of a statue of
Prince Djehutihetep, el-Bersheh, Egypt.

8. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
Construction Technique (large stones)
Using examples from Inca stonework (pg. 315), unfinished Greek temple at Segesta (Sicily), Apollo temple in
Didyma (Turkey), Easter Island and Stone Henge (pg. 314).
h#p://www.engineering-­‐/melines.com/how/stonehenge/stonehenge_03.asp

9. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Stone Tool Manufacture (smaller stones)
• Mostly made by removing material from a pebble or “core” until the desired shape of the core has been
attained.
• The core is the main implements, but the flakes themselves can be used as knives, scrapers, etc.
• The first recognizable tools are simple choppers and flakes made by knocking pieces off pebbles to obtain
sharp edges.

10. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
Time Period
Time Range
Technology
Lower Paleolithic
2 million – 200,000
Oldowan : stone tools, choppers, flakes.
e.g. Oldowan industry from Olduvai Gorge
5 cm
Acheulian : symmetrical shape, sharp edges.
achieved using a bone hammer.
20 cm
200,000 – 40,000
Mousterian : prepared stone cores used as
raw materials of smaller tools, including
scrapers and points for spears.
100 cm
100,000
Levallois : involved a careful preparation of a
tortoise-shaped core.
Upper Paleolithic
40,000 – 12,000
Gravettian : and later technology made it
possible to remove numerous parallel-sided
blades from a single core.
Mesolithic
12,000 – 10,000
Rise to dominance of microliths (small flints), tiny
stone tools in various shapes in barbed rods,
composite implements of arrow or spears.
Neolithic
10,000
Domestication of plants and animals, and the
rise of agricultural communities.
Bronze & Iron Ages
5,000
Beginning of technology based on metalls:
copper then bronze then iron.
Industrialization
200
Beginning of the industrial age.
Middle Paleolithic
Length of Cutting Edge Produced
300 cm
– 1200
cm

11. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
Technology/ Complexity
Time Period
Lower Paleolithic
Middle Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
Mesolithic
Neolithic
Levallois flakes
Acheulian : bifacial/symmetrical tools
Gravettian : blades from a
single core.
Microlith (small flints), tiny stone tools as
composite implements of arrow or spears.
Oldowan : flakes
2 million – 200,000
200,000 – 40,000
Time Range
40,000 – 12,000
12,000 – 10,000
10,000

12. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Some techniques of manufactures can be inferred from traces left on the tools, or observed among the few living
peoples who continue to make stone tools, or from artistic depictions.
In most other cases, there are two principal approaches in experimental archaeology:
1. Stone Tool Replication
• Making exact copies of different types of stone tool – using only the technology available to the original
makers.
• To assess the processes entailed, the amount of time and effort needed, much to the benefit of our
knowledge of ancient stone-knapping.
• Can be used to discover whether certain flint tools had been heated during manufacture.
• To narrow possibilities and points to the most likely method that is being used.
2. Refitting of Stone Tools
• Entails attempting to put tools and flakes back together again.
• Allows us to follow the stages of the knapper’s craft and movements around the site.
• Considerable vertical movement can occur through different layers of site, even where there are no visible
traces of disturbance.
• Provides a dynamic perspective on the spatial distribution of tools, and produces a vivid picture of actual
movement and activity in an ancient site.

13. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
The only direct proof of function is to study the
minute traces, or microwear patterns, that remain
on the original tools. Three ways to identify the
function of stone tools:
• microwear studies (pg. 319)
• further experiments with stone artifacts (pg.
322)
• assessing and analyzing the technology of
Stone Age art (pg. 323)
refitting
microwear
studies
a vivid picture of
prehistoric life
(pg. 322)

14. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Microwear Study (pg. 319)

15. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
CASE STUDY: Refitting and Microwear Studies at Rekem, Belgium (pg. 320-321)
TECHNOLOGY
manufac
ture
repair
aspects
related
use
types
of tool
1. site degree
2. spatial
analysis
discard
Microwear
Refitting
Experiments in
Excavation

16. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Further Experiments with Stone Artifacts (pg. 322)
Lower Paleolithic hand-axe of
Boxgrove, England.
• hand-axe, used by someone
with the relevant skills and
knowledge, is an outstanding
and versatile butchery tool.
Upper Paleolithic stone lamp of
France.
• stone lamp is used as an
ancient lamp of the Inuit
lighting systems.
• determine the amount of light
given out by the ancient
lamps.
Prehistoric minute beads of
pueblos in Arizona.
• attempt to assess the time
needed for making this
necklace.
such experiments help to asses the inherent value of an object through the
amount of work involved in its creation.

17. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Assessing the Technology of Stone Age Art (pg. 323-324)
Cave of Niaux, Pyrenees
• the use of specific mix of
pigments and mineral such as
talc improved the paint’s
adhesion to the wall and
stopped it cracking.
• not only minerals, binders
could also be organic such as
animal and plant oils.
•
•
•
scanning electron microscopy
X-ray diffraction
proton-induced X-ray emission
Cave of Pech Merle, France
• experiment results (“spotted
horse”) indicated that the
entire composition could have
been made in an hour,
supporting the fact that much
rock art was probably done in
intensive bursts by talented
artists.
•
•
infrared film to enhance the
visibility of each pigments
ethnographic observation
together with experiments

18. UNALTERED MATERIALS: STONE
How were stone artifacts extracted, transported, manufactured, and used?
Assessing the Technology of Stone Age Art (pg. 323-324)
La Marche (France)
Technology of the binocular microscope can be
used to great effect in the study of engravings on
stone:
• it can determine the type of tool and stroke
used.
• determine the differences in width and in
transverse section of the lines, and sometimes
the order in which the lines were made.
• technique of making imprint with plasticine or
silicone can shows which lines were engraved
after which.
• varnish replicas of engraved surfaces on
stones can be examined in the scanning
electron microscope, and compared further.

19. French cave of Lascaux
... many other methods of analysis used on stone artifacts have also been applied to other unaltered materials such as bone.

20. OTHER UNALTERED MATERIALS : [Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather], [Wood], [Plant & Animal Fibers]
Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather
deducing techniques
of manufacture
deducing function
archaeological process [to
reveal complexities, sequence,
and tools involved] –case study:
South African site of Kasteelberg
(pg. 324)
experimental archaeology [to
deduce the function] –case
study: antler baton of La
Madeleine, France (pg. 325)
deer shoulder-blade,
Mugharet El Wad, Israel
study of wear patterns [to
deduce efficiency and
manufacturing process
especially about the importance
of organic materials]
microwear studies combined
with experimental archaeology
[to find characteristic traits of
historical artifacts]
points of arrow, San
Bushmen, Kalahari
antler projectile points,
Lower Magdalenian,
northern Spain

21. OTHER UNALTERED MATERIALS : [Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather], [Wood], [Plant & Animal Fibers]
Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather
deducing function – replication
experiment by John Coles
The Clonbrin Leather Shield,
from the Bronze Age (about 13th
Century BC) of Ireland.
Originally made of one piece of
tanned leather (probably ox).
Experiment result stated that the
leather shield was flexible and
deflected the blows of spear or
sword, thus functioned better in
combat rather than bronze
shield.
John Coles’ woodworking experiment in the Somerset Levels (England)
can be seen in pg. 326-327.

22. OTHER UNALTERED MATERIALS : [Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather], [Wood], [Plant & Animal Fibers]
Wood
• Have been used to make tools
as long as stone and bone, if
wood survives in good condition,
it may preserve tool marks to
show how it was worked.
• Waterlogged wood has yielded
the richest information about
woodworking skills. (Experiment
by John and Bryony Coles, page
326-327).
• Can be categorized into small
(tools) and large wooden
objects (e.g. buildings, wheeled
transportation, and watercrafts).
• Investigating watercrafts: archaeological evidences is abundant in the
preserved remains of ships uncovered by underwater archaeology.
• Excavation results showed that vessels of earlier period in the
century were built with planks held together by mortise and tenon
joints.
• The best way to learn how a ship was built and function is to refit and
rebuild the vessel, either a full-size or a scale replica, preferably one
that can be tested on the water.
• Archaeology can demonstrate the presence of boats/crafts even
where no ship remains or artistic depictions exist.
wheel chariot in Assyrian
Relief, 9th Century BC
experimental archaeology:
4th Century BC Greek ship,
Kyrenia, Cyprus

23. OTHER UNALTERED MATERIALS : [Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather], [Wood], [Plant & Animal Fibers]
Plant & Animal Fibers
• These fragile materials survive in very dry
(arid regions –i.e. study of basketry and
cordage as in Egypt) or wet (waterlogged
–i.e. well-preserved workshops of Viking
York in England) condition.
analyzing textiles
how they were made
of what they were made
microwear analysis of fibers
Peruvian textile at Guitarrero Cave (www.archaeology.about.com)

24. OTHER UNALTERED MATERIALS : [Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather], [Wood], [Plant & Animal Fibers]
... how they were made ; of what they were made
Place
Peruvian
Andean
Time Period (circa)
1st Century AD
3000 BC
Technology
Weavings: big vertical loom; big horizontal loom; small loom
for clothing and bags. Material: animal fiber, dyed
Weavings, decoration, cotton textiles
Painted cotton fabrics
Chibca, Colombia
Thebes. Egypt
2000 BC
Weaving workshops in the tomb of Meketre
Kahun. Egypt
1890 BC
Weaving, slinging thread, coloring dye (madder
for red, indigo for blue)
Weaving, spindle, looms. Materials: animal fiber
Viking York, England
Hochdorf, Germany
550 BC
Weaving at Celtic chieftain's tomb
Cayonu, Turkey
7000 BC
White linen fragment made of flax clinging to
an antler tool
Pavlov, Czech
25,000 –
27,000 y.a
Weaving and textiles of flexible basketry on
fired clay
Dzudzuana, Georgia
30,000 y.a
Dyed flax fibers show the existence of colored
twine

25. OTHER UNALTERED MATERIALS : [Bone, Antler, Shell, Leather], [Wood], [Plant & Animal Fibers]
... microwear analysis of fibers
• Different kinds of fracture, damage, and wear leave diagnostic traces
on different classes of fibers.
• Cutting of fibers is easy to identify, and razor-marks are readily
distinguishable from those made by shears or scissors.
• Even where textiles do not survive, they sometimes leave an
impression behind.
• similarly useful information can be derived from the study of imprints
of fabrics, cordage, and basketry that are found on fired clay.
An insole for a child’s shoe of Vindolanda, Northern England.
Soldier’s leg bandage of Vindolanda, Northern England.

26. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
FIRING and PYROTECHNOLOGY
• The whole development of technology –related to synthetic materials- in terms of the control of fire: pyro technology.
• The introduction of the potter’s kiln in pottery-making meant higher temperatures could be achieved, also spurring on
the development of metallurgy.
Mesopotamian dome-shaped kiln
early 4th millennium BC
Egyptian kiln of c. 3000 BC
Greek kiln of c. 500 BC
• Potters’ kiln can control the air-flow and temperatures which lead to metallurgy in Bronze Age and Iron Age.
• Technology of the production of glass and faience appeared with the manufacture of bronze –since a higher
temperature and better control are needed.

27. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
Timeline of Firing Technology
Lower Paleolithic
FIRING and PYROTECHNOLOGY
Middle Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
Mesolithic
Neolithic
Teracotta (baked clay)
figurines
Lehringen, Germany
Near East:
construction of special
ovens used both to
parch cereal grains and
to bake bread
(the first construction of
a deliberate facility to
control the conditions
under which the
temperature was
raised)
1. Czech Republic:
Dolni Vestonice, the Black
Venus that may have
been used in some
special rituals
2. Pyrenees
3. North Africa
4. Siberia
Swartkrans Cave, South Africa
1.5 million years ago
200,000 – 40,000
Time Range
26,000 years ago
12,000 – 10,000
c. 8000

28. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
POTTERY
• The lack of pottery vessels before the Neolithic Period is a consequence of the mobile way of life of Paleolithic huntergatherers, for whom heavy containers of fired clay would have been of limited usefulness.
• The introductory of pottery generally seems to coincide with permanent-way-of living, for which durable tools are a
necessity.
• Archaeological field –especially Industrial Archaeology- learns a lot from this almost indestructible artifact, starts from
the pot tempers, how were they made, how were they fired, and also some evidence from ethnography.
Pot Tempers
• The inclusion in the clay –temper- added strength and workability to counteract
any cracking or shringkage during firing.
• The finer the temper, the stronger the pot.
How Were Pots Made?
• The making or ‘throwing’ of pots on a turntable introduced after 3400 BC.
Previously, pots are made by hand in a series of coils or slabs of clay.
• Wheel thrown pots usually have marks left by the fingertips as the potter draws
the outer surface of pots by flat paddles or cloth to paste a smooth finish.
How Were Pots Fired?
• The firing technique can be inferred from certain characteristics of the finished
product. (pg. 334-335)
• The extent of oxidization in a pot is also indicative of firing methods. (pg. 335)

29. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
POTTERY
... How Were Pots Fired?
• The archaeology of kiln sites has contributed much to our knowledge of firing
procedures.
• The development of kiln in design and construction –from the early, crude, clay
forms to technically advanced brick ones which allow higher firing temperaturesensure production throughout the year (reflecting the increasing demands being
made on pottery-making industry).
Evidence from Ethnography
• Pottery making by traditional methods is still widespread in the world, so it is
profitable to pursue ethnoarchaeological studies from the social and commercial
points of view.
• Archaeologists can derive many valuable insights fro ethnoarchaeological work.
• Historical sources and artistic depictions from a number of cultures provide
supplementary data.
figurines of Si Satchanalai and
Sukhothai, central Thailand

30. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
FAIENCE AND GLASS
• The earliest faience (pre-glass) was originated in Predynastic Egypt (before 3000 BC) and used for beads and pendants.
• By about 2500 BC, Mesopotamia was making the first beads of real glass, which have been made with the development
of charcoal furnaces for smelting metal.
• The first real glass vessels have been found in sites of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty, c. 1500 BC; and the earliest known
glass furnace dating to 1350 BC.
• By 700 BC all the principal techniques of making glass had been developed except for glass-blowing –that was finally
achieved in c. 50 BC by the Romans.
• Ancient glass is so rare because it is a reusable material (like metals, unlike pottery), with fragments being melted down
and incorporated into new glass. (pg. 336)

31. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
ARCHAEOMETALLURGY
Non-Ferrous Metals
• The techniques of manufacture of
artifacts made from non-ferrous
materials in archaeometallurgy
can be investigated in
composition approach and
metallographic examination. (pg.
337)
• Non-ferrous materials: copper
(the most important); tin; bronze;
lead; gold; silver; antimony.
• A basic understanding of copper
processes is fundamental to any
study of early technology.
casting by the
lost-wax process
• complicated
shapes are
produced
shaping native/
nugget copper
• hammered
• cut
• polished
annealing native
copper
• heating
• hammering
copper
smelting from
sulphide ores
• more
complicated
than from
carbonate ores
alloying with tin
• to make bronze
smelting the
oxide &
carbonate ores
• brightly colored
melting and
casting
• first: single/
open mold
• later: two-piece
mold

32. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
ARCHAEOMETALLURGY
Alloying
• Alloying can have beneficial effects and represents a great step forward in metallurgical practice. (pg. 337)
• In investigating early metallurgy, one of the most useful techniques is metallographic examination. (pg. 338)
Casting
• This “one-off” method used clay as two-piece mold. When the clay is heated, the melted wax can be poured out; thus the
clay becomes a hollow mold so that molten metal can be poured into it. After the clay casting is broken away, one is left
with a metal copy of the original model. (a great example of casting metal objects in ceramic-molds are bronze ritual
vessels from Shang dynasty, c. 1500 BC). (pg. 342)
• Molds can yield much useful information, and even the broken clay casings of the lost-wax method have occasionally
been preserved.
• Slags studies can also be informative to distinguish copper smelting process from iron production.
• Place of manufacture can also be examined to fully understand the technology of piece-molds, clay models, and cores,
i.e. Hou-Ma, Shaanxi Province, China, dating to 500 BC where extraordinary works of craftsmanship were produced by
the Chinese this way.

33. SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
ARCHAEOMETALLURGY
Silver, Lead, and Platinum
• Lead is very soft with low melting point so was not used for a wide range of purposes.
• Silver are often extracted from lead ores found in nature, this process called cupellation.
• Platinum was being worked in Ecuador in the 2nd century BC and being liked for its hardness and resistance to corossion,
and they often used it in combination with gold.
Fine Metalwork
• By the late Bronze Age of the Aegean around 1500 BC, various wide techniques in metal working were available for
working with non-ferrous metals.
• One method of metal working is plating which bond metals together, e.g. silver with copper, gold with copper, or iron and
steel armor plated in gold that have been invented in late medieval.
Iron and Steel
• Known as being used since 1000 BC, there are several techniques in iron-working, such as: smelting iron, cast iron, and
wrought iron.
• Steel is simply iron with lower percent of carbon than iron, and both are malleable and capable of hardening by cooling.
Study Case of Ethnoarchaeological Experiment of Early Steelmaking in Haya –a Bantu-speaking agricultural people living in
densely populated villages on the western shore of Lake Victoria, Africa. (pg. 345)

34. REMARKS of Chapter 8: Technology
• Stone tools and ceramics dominate the
archaeological record.
• Objects made of organic materials rarely survive,
compared with the previous materials.
• The introduction of pottery in a culture seems to
coincide with the adoption of a sedentary way of life.
• Several approaches that help researchers to
understand how artifacts were made and what they
were used for:
Ethnography; Ethnoarchaeology; Experimental
Archaeology; Microwear Study.
• A large number od stone tools can be produced
while very little raw material is wasted.
• Copper was the most important metal used in early
times.
• The alloying of copper to produce bronze
represents a significant step forward in metallurgical
practice.