Use-related or contamination? Residue and use-wear mapping on stone tools used for experimental processing of plants from Southeast Asia

• Published in: Quaternary international 2017-01, Vol.427, p.80-93
• Main Authors: Xhauflair, Hermine, Pawlik, Alfred, Forestier, Hubert, Saos, Thibaud, Dizon, Eusebio, Gaillard, Claire
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Archaeology and Prehistory; Contamination; Experimental plant processing; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mapping; Residue analysis; Use-wear analysis
• ISSN: 1040-6182; 1873-4553
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.023

Analysing residues on stone tools can reveal precise information about the activities that were conducted with the lithic tool and is a valuable technique to reconstruct past human behaviours. However, it is often difficult to assess the nature of the relationship between a residue and the artefact on which it is found. It is of great importance, therefore, to determine whether residues are use-related or a result of contamination. Here, we conducted experiments with 99 tool replicas made of red jasper, processed 15 different plant taxa and mapped the distribution of residues against the use-wear traces. Our experiments addressed several questions on the spatial relationship between use-wear and use-related residues on stone tools. In the majority of cases the residues were not spatially associated with use-wear. Therefore, it appears that residues should not necessarily be considered as non-related to use because they are not in close proximity to use-wear. On the other hand, our experiments also showed that the problem of contamination should not be underestimated and can be a serious cause for misinterpreting stone tool functions. Finally, our results showed a variability in residue distribution between tools used to process different plant taxa and revealed that the water content in the contact material has an influence on residue distribution.