[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.
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