Results by title

3 books match the query 'Mechanical wear'

cover of Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses: A Microwear Analysis

Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses

A Microwear Analysis

Lawrence H. Keeley

University of Chicago Press, 1980

A major problem confronting archeologists is how to determine the function of ancient stone tools. In this important work, Lawrence H. Keeley reports on his own highly successful course of research into the uses of British Paleolithic flint implements. His principal method of investigation, known as "microwear analysis," was the microscopic examination of traces of use left on flint implements in the form of polishes, striations, and breakage patterns.

The most important discovery arising from Keeley's research was that, at magnifications of 100x to 400x, there was a high correlation between the detailed appearance of microwear polishes formed on tool edges and the general category of material worked by that edge. For example, different and distinctive types of microwear polish were formed during use on wood, bone, hide, meat, and soft plant material. These correlations between microwear polish and worked material were independent of the method of use (cutting, sawing, scraping, and so on). In combining evidence of polish type with other traces of use, Keeley was able to make precise reconstructions of tool functions. This book includes the results of a "blind test" of Keeley's functional interpretations which revealed remarkable agreement between the actual and inferred use of the tools tested.

Keeley applied his method of microwear analysis to artifacts from three excavation sites in Britain—Clacton-on-the-sea, Swanscombe, and Hoxne. His research suggests new hypotheses concerning such Paleolithic problems as inter-assemblage variability, the function of Acheulean hand axes, sidescrapers, and chopper-cores and points the way to future research in Stone Age studies.
[more]
cover of Handbook of Mechanical Wear: Wear, Frettage, Pitting, Cavitation, Corrosion

Handbook of Mechanical Wear

Wear, Frettage, Pitting, Cavitation, Corrosion

Edited by Charles Lipson and L.V. Colwell

University of Michigan Press, 1961

The quality of most metal products depends on the condition of their surfaces and on surface change caused by wear. This collection of papers by distinguished authorities examines many of the different processes (corrosion, abrasion, spalling, etc.) that result in wear, and it offers a wealth of material on such factors as material composition, environment, and history of the manufacturing operation. The papers are presented in six major groupings: Fundamental Aspects of Wear; Pitting, Scoring, and Spalling; Corrosion; Abrasion; Wear Resistance Materials; and Manufacturing Processes. Charles Lipson provides a final section that summarizes the findings of the seventeen papers.
[more]
cover of Use-Wear Analysis of Flaked Stone Tools

Use-Wear Analysis of Flaked Stone Tools

Patrick C. Vaughan

University of Arizona Press, 1985

This major contribution to archaeological method details the use-wear analysis of a set of stone tools recovered during the excavation of Cassegros Cave, in southwestern France. The study combines low-power and high-power microwear approaches and develops their potential for use on a wider range of lithic and contact materials than have been reported previously.
[more]