The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert

Abstract Polished edges of archaeological stone tools are commonly investigated to obtain information on the tools’ uses in prehistory. Yet to this day, it remains unclear what exactly such polishes are and how they form. Answering these questions should allow the elaboration of new interpretative m...

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Autores principales:	Patrick Schmidt, Alice Rodriguez, Kaushik Yanamandra, Rakesh K. Behera, Radu Iovita
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b0d4303c35694a4c9d24420e5b6d5e8a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b0d4303c35694a4c9d24420e5b6d5e8a2021-12-02T16:18:03ZThe mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert10.1038/s41598-020-78490-02045-2322https://doaj.org/article/b0d4303c35694a4c9d24420e5b6d5e8a2020-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78490-0https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Polished edges of archaeological stone tools are commonly investigated to obtain information on the tools’ uses in prehistory. Yet to this day, it remains unclear what exactly such polishes are and how they form. Answering these questions should allow the elaboration of new interpretative methods based on objective measurements. Two major competing hypotheses of polish formation have been proposed: abrasion and the formation of a thin amorphous film on the chert or flint surface. We employ reflectance infrared spectroscopy, a technique particularly sensitive to thin amorphous films, to investigate these two hypotheses. We found no added amorphous layer that would have formed upon friction against bone, antler, ivory or wood. Our observations suggest polish formation by abrasion, notwithstanding previous claims of added amorphous surface structures. This has implications for our understanding of the physical processes taking place during friction of chert and flint against different materials. Our results also open the possibility to propose new pathways for identifying different use-wear processes, based on the degree of abrasion.Patrick SchmidtAlice RodriguezKaushik YanamandraRakesh K. BeheraRadu IovitaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Patrick Schmidt Alice Rodriguez Kaushik Yanamandra Rakesh K. Behera Radu Iovita The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert
description	Abstract Polished edges of archaeological stone tools are commonly investigated to obtain information on the tools’ uses in prehistory. Yet to this day, it remains unclear what exactly such polishes are and how they form. Answering these questions should allow the elaboration of new interpretative methods based on objective measurements. Two major competing hypotheses of polish formation have been proposed: abrasion and the formation of a thin amorphous film on the chert or flint surface. We employ reflectance infrared spectroscopy, a technique particularly sensitive to thin amorphous films, to investigate these two hypotheses. We found no added amorphous layer that would have formed upon friction against bone, antler, ivory or wood. Our observations suggest polish formation by abrasion, notwithstanding previous claims of added amorphous surface structures. This has implications for our understanding of the physical processes taking place during friction of chert and flint against different materials. Our results also open the possibility to propose new pathways for identifying different use-wear processes, based on the degree of abrasion.
format	article
author	Patrick Schmidt Alice Rodriguez Kaushik Yanamandra Rakesh K. Behera Radu Iovita
author_facet	Patrick Schmidt Alice Rodriguez Kaushik Yanamandra Rakesh K. Behera Radu Iovita
author_sort	Patrick Schmidt
title	The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert
title_short	The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert
title_full	The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert
title_fullStr	The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert
title_full_unstemmed	The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert
title_sort	mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/b0d4303c35694a4c9d24420e5b6d5e8a
work_keys_str_mv	AT patrickschmidt themineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT alicerodriguez themineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT kaushikyanamandra themineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT rakeshkbehera themineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT raduiovita themineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT patrickschmidt mineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT alicerodriguez mineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT kaushikyanamandra mineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT rakeshkbehera mineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert AT raduiovita mineralogyandstructureofusewearpolishonchert
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The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert

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