A geometric-morphometric assessment of three-dimensional models of experimental cut-marks using flint and quartzite flakes and handaxes

Abstract

Developments in methodological approaches to high-resolution morphometrical study of cut-mark morphology further our understanding of butchering activities. Identification of micro-morphological variability between different taphonomical alterations on ancient bone allows detection and comparison of bone-surface modifications and associated taphonomical agents and activities. By taking a geometrical-morphometrical approach, data from 3-D laser-scanning and micro-photogrammetrical models of experimental cut-marks enable statistical analysis to classify and distinguish between cut-marks by bifaces from those by flakes, and, in each case, between marks made by flint from those made by quartzite tools. Analysis of two tool types, each made from two raw materials as independent variables, is a methodological advance in morphometrical studies of experimental cutmarks, which hitherto have tended to focus on the respective parts played by tool types or types of raw material in morphometrical characterization of experimental and archaeological cut-marks.