[en] Despite the central role butchering tools have had in the origins and development of human technologies, they have been overlooked in technological and functional studies with few exceptions. We use new results on the Gravettian assemblage from Maisières-Canal (Belgium) to illustrate how butchering knives were integrated in lithic production sequences and how the hafting, use and maintenance of these tools have affected the characteristics of the resulting lithic assemblage. The detailed low and high magnification analysis of a sample of knives, previously characterised as “tanged points”, “Maisières points”, and “tanged scrapers”, shows that these hunting knives were nearly always used hafted and had extensive use-lives. They were therefore an important component in the toolkits of the Gravettian hunter-gatherers occupying the site and are partly responsible for some of the most idiosyncratic traits of the lithic assemblage. These results underline the importance of maintaining a broad view of different tasks and needs to which toolkits responded, and encourage future studies to approach lithic assemblages from this perspective instead of prioritising projectile armatures.
Research Center/Unit :
AAP - Art, Archéologie et Patrimoine - ULiège
Disciplines :
Archaeology
Author, co-author :
Taipale, Noora ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > TraceoLab
Rots, Veerle ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > TraceoLab
Language :
English
Title :
Every hunter needs a knife: Hafted butchering knives from Maisières-Canal and their effect on lithic assemblage characteristics
Publication date :
2021
Journal title :
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
ISSN :
2352-409X
Publisher :
Elsevier, Netherlands
Volume :
36
Pages :
102874
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
European Projects :
FP7 - 312283 - EVO-HAFT - Evolution of stone tool hafting in the Palaeolithic
Funders :
ERC - European Research Council Kone Foundation F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique EC - European Commission
scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.
Bibliography
Allington-Jones, L., The Clacton Spear: The Last One Hundred Years. Archaeol. J. 172 (2015), 273–296, 10.1080/00665983.2015.1008839.
Barham, L., Mitchell, P., The First Africans. 2008, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Boëda, E., Geneste, J.M., Griggo, C., Mercier, N., Muhesen, S., Reyss, J.L., Taha, A., Valladas, H., A Levallois point embedded in the vertebra of a wild ass (Equus africanus): Hafting, projectiles and Mousterian hunting weapons. Antiquity 73 (1999), 394–402, 10.1017/S0003598X00088335.
Bunn, H.T., Kroll, E.M., Systematic Butchery by Plio/Pleistocene Hominids at Olduvai Gorge. Tanzania. Curr. Anthropol. 27 (1986), 431–452, 10.1086/203467.
Claud, É., Le statut fonctionnel des bifaces au Paléolithique moyen récent dans le Sud-Ouest de la France : Étude tracéologique intégrée des outillages des sites de La Graulet, La Conne de Bergerac, Combe Brune 2, Fonseigner et Chez-Pinaud / Jonzac, 2008, Université Bordeaux I.
Coppe, J., 2020. Sur les traces de l'armement préhistorique: mise au point d'une méthode pour reconstruire les modes d'emmanchement et de propulsion des armatures lithiques par une approche expérimentale, mécanique et balistique. Université de Liège.
Coppe, J., Rots, V., Focus on the target. The importance of a transparent fracture terminology for understanding projectile points and projecting modes. J. Archaeol. Sci. Reports 12 (2017), 109–123, 10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.01.010.
de Heinzelin, J., L'industrie du site paléolithique de Maisières-Canal. 1973, Institut royal des sciences naturelles de Belgique, Brussels.
de Heinzelin, J., Clark, J.D., White, T., Hart, W., Renne, P., WoldeGabriel, G., Beyene, Y., Vrba, E., Environment and Behavior of 2.5-Million-Year-Old Bouri Hominids. Science 284 (1999), 625–629, 10.1126/science.284.5414.625.
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Pickering, T.R., The meat of the matter: an evolutionary perspective on human carnivory. Azania 52 (2017), 4–32, 10.1080/0067270X.2016.1252066.
Frison, G.C., Observations on the use of stone tools: dulling of working edges of some chipped stone tools in bison butchering. Hayden, B., (eds.) Lithic Use-Wear Analysis, 1979, Academic Press, New York, 259–268.
Gautier, A., Documentation paléontologique. Haesaerts, P., de Heinzelin, J., (eds.) Le Site Paléolithique de Maisières-Canal, 1979, De Tempel, Brugge, 66–68.
Haesaerts, P., Damblon, F., 2004. Les dates radiocarbone de Maisières-Canal, in: Miller, R., Haesaerts, P., Otte, M. (Eds.), L'atelier de Taille Aurigacien de Maisières-Canal (Belgique). ERAUL 110. Études et Recherches Archéologiques de l'Université de Liège, Liège, pp. 27–28.
Haesaerts, P., Damblon, F., Gerasimenko, N., Spagna, P., Pirson, S., The Late Pleistocene loess-palaeosol sequence of Middle Belgium. Quat. Int. 411 (2016), 25–43, 10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.012.
Haesaerts, P., de Heinzelin, J., Le site paléolithique de Maisières-Canal. 1979, De Tempel, Brugge.
Hayden, B., Lithic Use-Wear Analysis. 1979, Academic Press, New York.
Jacobi, R.M., Higham, T.F.G., Haesaerts, P., Jadin, I., Basell, L.S., Radiocarbon chronology for the Early Gravettian of northern Europe: new AMS determinations for Maisières-Canal, Belgium. Antiquity 84 (2010), 26–40, 10.1017/S0003598X00099749.
Jacquier, J., 2015. Approche fonctionnelle de l'outillage lithique à l'aube de l'Holocène dans le nord-ouest de la France. Université de Rennes 1.
Juel Jensen, H., Flint tools and plant working: hidden traces of stone age technology, 1994, Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Aarhus.
Keeley, L.H., Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses: A Microwear Analysis. 1980, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Klaric, L., Lev, S., Giria, Y., Polanská, M., « Couteaux de Kostienki et lames aménagées par technique de Kostienki »: retour sur un malentendu historique. Bull. la Société préhistorique française 112 (2015), 421–474.
Lacarrière, J., Goffette, Q., Jadin, I., Peschaux, C., Salomon, H., Goutas, N., in press. A review of the Gravettian collections excavated at Maisières “Canal” (Prov. of Hainaut, Belgium). A cross-study of fossil and non-fossil animal resources for food and technical exploitation. Quat. Int.
Lawrence, R.A., Experimental evidence for the significance of attributes used in edge-damage analysis. Hayden, B., (eds.) Lithic Use-Wear Analysis, 1979, Academic Press, New York, 113–121.
Levi Sala, I., Use-wear and post-depositional surface modification: a word of caution. J. Archaeol. Sci. 13 (1986), 229–244, 10.1016/0305-4403(86)90061-0.
Michel, M., Cnuts, D., Rots, V., Freezing in-sight: the effect of frost cycles on use-wear and residues on flint tools. Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci. 11 (2019), 5423–5443, 10.1007/s12520-019-00881-w.
Miller, R., 2004. Localisation et description du site de Maisières-Canal, in: Miller, R., Haesaerts, P., Otte, M. (Eds.), L'atelier de Taille Aurigacien de Maisières-Canal (Belgique). ERAUL 110. Études et Recherches Archéologiques de l'Université de Liège, Liège, pp. 7–12.
Moreau, L., Brandl, M., Filzmoser, P., Hauzenberger, C., Goemaere, É., Jadin, I., Collet, H., Hauzeur, A., Schmitz, R.W., Geochemical Sourcing of Flint Artifacts from Western Belgium and the German Rhineland: Testing Hypotheses on Gravettian Period Mobility and Raw Material Economy. Geoarchaeology 31 (2016), 229–243, 10.1002/gea.21564.
Moreau, L., Hauzeur, A., Jadin, I., La gestion des ressources lithiques dans l'ensemble gravettien de Maisières-Canal (Bassin de Mons, Hainaut, B). Nouvelles perspectives. Notae Praehistoricae 33 (2013), 105–126.
Oakley, K.P., Andrews, P., Keeley, L., Clark, J.D., A Reappraisal of the Clacton Spearpoint. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 43 (1977), 13–30, 10.1017/S0079497X00010343.
Odell, G.H., The Mechanics of Use-Breakage of Stone Tools: Some Testable Hypotheses. J. F. Archaeol. 8 (1981), 197–209, 10.1179/009346981791505120.
Odell, G.H., Butchering With Stone Tools: Some Experimental Results. Lithic Technol. 9 (1980), 39–48, 10.1080/01977261.1980.11754469.
Odell, G.H., Odell-Vereecken, F., Verifying the Reliability of Lithic Use-Wear Assessments by ‘Blind Tests’: the Low-Power Approach. J. F. Archaeol. 7 (1980), 87–120, 10.1179/009346980791505545.
Otte, M., Documentation archéologique. Haesaerts, P., de Heinzelin, J., (eds.) Le Site Paléolithique de Maisières-Canal, 1979, De Tempel, Brugge.
Otte, M., Caspar, J.-P., Les pointes de la Font-Robert: outils emmanchés?. Stordeur, D., (eds.) Le main et l'outil. Manches et emmanchements préhistoriques, 1987, Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen, Lyon, 65–74.
Pesesse, D., Flas, D., The Maisierian, at the edge of the Gravettian. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 78 (2012), 95–109, 10.1017/S0079497X00027122.
Plisson, H., Beyries, S., Pointes ou outils triangulaires ? Données fonctionnelles dans le Moustérien levantin [suivi des] Commentaires de J. Shea, A. Marks, J-M Geneste et de la réponse des auteurs. Paléorient 24 (1998), 5–24, 10.3406/paleo.1998.4666.
Rots, V., Hafting and Site Function in the European Middle Paleolithic. Conard, N.J., Delagnes, A., (eds.) Settlement Dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age, 2015, Kerns Verlag, Tübingen, 383–410.
Rots, V., Insights into early Middle Palaeolithic tool use and hafting in Western Europe. The functional analysis of level IIa of the early Middle Palaeolithic site of Biache-Saint-Vaast (France). J. Archaeol. Sci. 40 (2013), 497–506, 10.1016/j.jas.2012.06.042.
Rots, V., Trace formation, strike-a-lights, and the contribution of functional analyses for understanding Palaeolithic contexts. Niekus, M.J.L.T., Barton, R.N.E., Street, M., Terberger, T., (eds.) A Mind Set on Flint. Studies in Honour of Dick Stapert, 2012, Barkhuis, Groningen, 149–162.
Rots, V., Prehension and hafting traces on flint tools: a methodology. 2010, Universitaire Pers Leuven, Leuven.
Rots, V., 2010b. Un tailleur et ses traces. Traces microscopiques de production: programme expérimental et potentiel interprétatif. Bull. la Société R. Belge d'Etudes Géologiques Archéologiques. Les Cherch. la Wallonie hors-série, 51–67.
Rots, V., Wear traces and the interpretation of stone tools. J. F. Archaeol. 30 (2005), 61–73, 10.1179/009346905791072404.
Rots, V., Towards an understanding of hafting. Antiquity 77 (2003), 805–815, 10.1017/S0003598X00061743.
Rots, V., Hafting Traces on Flint Tools: Possibilities and Limitations of Macro- and Microscopic Approaches. 2002, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Rots, V., Are Tangs Morphological Adaptations in View of Hafting? Macro- and microscopic wear analysis on a selection of tanged burins from Maisières-Canal. Notae Praehistoricae 22 (2002), 61–69.
Rots, V., Pirnay, L., Pirson, P., Baudoux, O., Blind tests shed light on possibilities and limitations for identifying stone tool prehension and hafting. J. Archaeol. Sci. 33 (2006), 935–952, 10.1016/j.jas.2005.10.018.
Rots, V., Plisson, H., Projectiles and the abuse of the use-wear method in a search for impact. J. Archaeol. Sci. 48 (2014), 154–165, 10.1016/j.jas.2013.10.027.
Semenov, S.A., Prehistoric Technology: An experimental study of the oldest tools and artefacts from traces of manufacture and wear. 1964, Adams & Dart, Bath.
Taipale, N., Hafting as a flexible strategy: variability in stone tool use and hafting at three European Upper Palaeolithic sites. 2020, University of Liège.
Taipale, N., Coppe, J., Touzé, O., Rots, V., 2017. The weapon system behind the point: Early Gravettian hunting technologies at Maisières-Canal (published abstract), in: PESHE 6. European Society for the study of Human Evolution, p. 193. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228967.2011.556516.
Touzé, O., 2019. D'une tradition à l'autre, les débuts de la période gravettienne. Trajectoire technique des sociétés des chasseurs-cueilleurs d'Europe nord-occidentale. Université de Liège / Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Touzé, O., Aux prémices du Gravettien dans le Nord-Ouest européen. Étude de la production des pointes lithiques à Maisières- Canal (province de Hainaut, Belgique). Bull. la Société préhistorique française 115 (2018), 455–495.
Touzé, O., Flas, D., Pesesse, D., Technical diversity within the tanged-tool Gravettian: New results from Belgium. Quat. Int. 406 (2016), 65–83, 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.034.
Tringham, R., Cooper, G., Odell, G.H., Voytek, B., Whitman, A., Experimentation in the Formation of Edge Damage: A New Approach to Lithic Analysis. J. F. Archaeol. 1 (1974), 171–196, 10.1179/jfa.1974.1.1-2.171.
Vaughan, P.C., Use-wear analysis of flaked stone tools. 1985, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Similar publications
Sorry the service is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. Read more
Save & Close
Accept all
Decline all
Show detailsHide details
Cookie declaration
About cookies
Strictly necessary
Performance
Strictly necessary cookies allow core website functionality such as user login and account management. The website cannot be used properly without strictly necessary cookies.
This cookie is used by Cookie-Script.com service to remember visitor cookie consent preferences. It is necessary for Cookie-Script.com cookie banner to work properly.
Performance cookies are used to see how visitors use the website, eg. analytics cookies. Those cookies cannot be used to directly identify a certain visitor.
Used to store the attribution information, the referrer initially used to visit the website
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. Websites use cookies to help users navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. Cookies that are required for the website to operate properly are allowed to be set without your permission. All other cookies need to be approved before they can be set in the browser.
You can change your consent to cookie usage at any time on our Privacy Policy page.