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Excavated over two centuries ago, the Upton Lovell G2a ‘Wessex Culture’ burial has held a prominent place in research on Bronze Age Britain. In particular, was it the grave of a ‘shaman’ or a metalworker? We take a new approach to the grave goods, employing microwear analysis and scanning electron microscopy to map a history of interactions between people and materials, identifying evidence for the presence of Bronze Age gold on five artefacts, four for the first time. Advancing a new materialist approach, we identify a goldworking toolkit, linking gold, stone and copper objects within a chaîne opératoire, concluding that modern categorisations of these materials miss much of their complexity.

Reconstructing the transformation of plants based on use-wear is challenging due to the variety of technological choices available, the diverse range of plant species that could have been used, and the limited knowledge of how plant wear forms. The frequent appearance of ambiguous plant wear on stone tools from early and middle Holocene wetland contexts in Northwestern Europe provides an ideal case study to explore the complexity of plant wear formation. In this context, we present the outcomes of an exploratory experimental study which aimed to improve our understanding of plant wear formation resulting from processing activities of wetland plants. The program included the creation of a reference collection of plants available in. Particular attention was devoted to the effect of mineral plant elements, such as silica Northwestern European wetland ecosystems and a set of actualistic plant processing experiments minerals or calcium oxalates, on the development of plant polish. The elemental characterisation of wetland plants with scanning electron microscopy and the experimentally reproduced plant wear allowed us to draw comparisons between the plant composition and plant wear formation, and thus grasp the complexity of plant wear formation which depends on a large set of variables.

Summary Although previous use‐wear studies involving quartz and quartzite have been undertaken by archaeologists, these are comparatively few in number. Moreover, there has been relatively little effort to quantify use‐wear on stone tools made from quartzite. The purpose of this article is to determine the effectiveness of a measurement system, laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), to document the surface roughness or texture of experimental Mistassini quartzite scrapers used on two different contact materials (fresh and dry deer hide). As in previous studies using LSCM on chert, flint, and obsidian, this exploratory study incorporates a mathematical algorithm that permits the discrimination of surface roughness based on comparisons at multiple scales. Specifically, we employ measures of relative area (RelA) coupled with the F‐test to discriminate used from unused stone tool surfaces, as well as surfaces of quartzite scrapers used on dry and fresh deer hide. Our results further demonstrate the effect of raw material variation on use‐wear formation and its documentation using LSCM and RelA. SCANNING 35:28‐39, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A use‐wear and residue study of 56 retouched obsidian flakes from seven Lapita sites in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu confirms that they had been used for tattooing. These specialised tools all bear one or more very small points formed by alternating retouch. A detailed comparison of use traces and pigments on these and 19 additional skin piercing tools analysed previously challenges the notion of homogeneity in cultural practices across the broad geographical range where Lapita pottery was used. The existence of shared innovations together with variation in the selection of pigments and the shape of the obsidian artefacts used for puncturing skin highlight a complex pattern of similarities and differences within this community of culture. RÉSUMÉ Une étude des résidus et de tracéologie de 56 éclats retouchés d'obsidienne provenant de sept sites Lapita en Papouasie‐Nouvelle Guinée, îles Salomon et Vanuatu a confirmé qu'ils ont été utilisés pour tatouer. Ces outils spécialisés possèdent tous un ou pluseurs très petits points formés par retouches croisées. Une comparaison détaillée des traces et pigments sur ces derniers et 19 outils additionnels ayant servi à percer des peaux, analysés précédemment, conteste la notion d'homogénéité dans les pratiques culturelles à travers l’étendue géographique où la poterie Lapita a été utilisée. L'existence d'innovations partagées ainsi que la variation dans la sélection des pigments et la forme des artefacts en obsidienne utilisés pour perforer les peaux mettent en évidence un schéma complexe de similarités et différences au sein de cette communauté culturelle.

A previous use-wear and residue analysis of backed artefacts from Deep Creek Shelter showed that they had a range of functions and had been used with a variety of raw materials. Were non-backed retouched flakes at Deep Creek used for different purposes? To answer this question, 40 non-backed specimens were selected for microscopic use-wear and residue analysis. Not all of these non-backed artefacts had been used, but we identified that many were scrapers, knives, incisors and saws. These tools were used for bone-working and wood-working, and possibly skin-working and non-woody plant-processing. Some of these non-backed retouched artefacts were hafted. For the first time, these results allow comparison of the tool use of backed and non-backed artefacts in Australia. At Deep Creek, the range of functions for the non-backed component was extremely similar to that of the backed artefacts. Although both artefact categories displayed similar tool use, they are distinguished in one interesting way: non-backed specimens were often single purpose, dedicated to one function, whereas backed artefacts were often multifunctional and multipurpose. These results help us understand the structure of tool use in Australia. Une première étude de traces d’usure et de dépôts de résidus sur des outils à bord émoussé de l’abri de Deep Creek avait montré que ceux-ci remplissaient diverses fonctions et avaient été extraits de matières premières variées. Les éclats retouchés sans bord émousséde Deep Creek ont-ils été utilisés à des fins différentes? Afin de répondre à cette question, 40 outils sans bord émoussé ont été sélectionnés pour une analyse microscopique de tracéologie et de dépôts de résidus. Seule une partie de ces outils sans bord émoussé avaientété utilisés, mais nous avons constaté que beaucoup étaient des racloirs, des couteaux, des trancheurs et des scies. Ces outils étaient employés pour du travail sur l’os et sur le bois, et peut-être pour le traitement des peaux et de plantes non ligneuses. Certains de ces outils non émoussés retouchés avaient été emmanchés. Ces résultats permettent de comparer pour la première fois l’utilisation d’outils avec et sans bord émoussé en Australie. A Deep Creek l’éventail des fonctions du composant à bord émoussé était trés semblable à celui des outils sans bord émoussé. Bien que les deux catégories d’outil aient eu une utilisation similaire, ils se distinguent par un point intéressant: les spécimens sans bord émoussé étaient souvent mono-tache, dédiés à une seule fonction, alors que les artefacts à bord émoussé étaient souvent multifonctionnels et polyvalents. Ces résultats aident à comprendre le processus d’utilisation des outils en Australie.

In the past decade, the early Acheulean before 1 Mya has been a focus of active research. Acheulean lithic assemblages have been shown to extend back to ∼1.75 Mya, and considerable advances in core reduction technologies are seen by 1.5 to 1.4 Mya. Here we report a bifacially flaked bone fragment (maximum dimension ∼13 cm) of a hippopotamus femur from the ∼1.4 Mya sediments of the Konso Formation in southern Ethiopia. The large number of flake scars and their distribution pattern, together with the high frequency of cone fractures, indicate anthropogenic flaking into handaxe-like form. Use-wear analyses show quasi-continuous alternate microflake scars, wear polish, edge rounding, and striae patches along an ∼5-cm-long edge toward the handaxe tip. The striae run predominantly oblique to the edge, with some perpendicular, on both the cortical and inner faces. The combined evidence is consistent with the use of this bone artifact in longitudinal motions, such as in cutting and/or sawing. This bone handaxe is the oldest known extensively flaked example from the Early Pleistocene. Despite scarcity of well-shaped bone tools, its presence at Konso shows that sophisticated flaking was practiced by ∼1.4 Mya, not only on a range of lithic materials, but also occasionally on bone, thus expanding the documented technological repertoire of African Early Pleistocene Homo.

Backed artefacts, otherwise microliths or backed bladelets, are key indicators of cultural practice in early Australia – but what were they used for? The authors review a number of favourite ideas – hunting, scarification, wood working – and then apply use-wear analysis and residue studies to three prehistoric assemblages. These showed contact with a wide range of materials: wood, plants, bone, blood, skin and feathers. These results are unequivocal – the backed artefacts were hafted and employed as versatile tools with many functions.

Smith's Comment on our functional analysis of grinding stone fragments from Pleistocene contexts at Lake Mungo (Fullagar et al. 2015) draws attention to the low frequency of implements, uncertainties about functional interpretations and archaeological implications. He argues that Pleistocene seed exploitation at Lake Mungo was limited and probably not indicative of a seed grinding economy. We suggest that it is premature to speculate about the scale of seed grinding at Lake Mungo. We also use new data to address concerns raised about our methodology.

Fullagar et al. (2015) use microwear and residues to argue for seed grinding in the late Pleistocene at Lake Mungo. The ten Zanci/Arumpo grindstone fragments in their study represent only three grindstones when conjoined. Grindstones appear to be rare in these assemblages and are small, hand-sized implements. Traces of starch are low, of uncertain taphonomy and not from known economic taxa. The use-polish may indicate grinding of seeds, but these grindstones were used differently to ethnohistorical seed-grinders. Even if seeds were used, this was probably not a seed-based economy.