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Persistent URL http://purl.org/net/epubs/work/38927
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Record Id 38927
Title 3D lithic analysis
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Abstract Stone tools are palimpsests of ancient lifeways which left behind few material remains. They are the products of codified human behaviors which lithic analysts seek to understand by inferring the processes that lead to their design, production, usage and eventual discard. Traditional quantitative lithic analyses typically focus on describing stone tool morphology using discrete linear measurements and to examine their formal variability by descriptive statistics. This paper presents an alternative approach based on 3D modelling techniques and demonstrates its application with a case study of Middle Palaeolithic projectile points and the evolution of this technology within the period. Using 3D landmarks to quantify artifact morphology permits an objective comparison of artifact shape variations using Procrustes superimposition, a geometric morphometrics technique for studying the shape of organisms. This approach is particularly ?user-friendly? as the computed shape differences can be visualized directly to facilitate an intuitive understanding of the perceived variation.
Organisation CCLRC , ESC , ESC-DBS
Keywords Archaeology , lithics , quantitative , 3D landmarks , projectile points , Middle Palaeolithic
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Language English (EN)
Type Details URI(s) Local file(s) Year
Paper In Conference Proceedings In 35th Annual Confeence on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA2007), Berlin, 2-6 Apr 2007, (2007). CAA07Crompton_1.doc 2007