Archaeologica.org

Investigations of stone tool function, including microscopic use-wear and residue analyses, were performed on a sample of artifacts from the Paleolithic sites of Starosele (40,000-80,000 years BP) and Buran Kaya III (32,000-37,000 years BP). The Middle Paleolithic levels at Starosele exhibit a typical variant of the local Micoquian Industry. The artifacts from Buran Kaya III most closely resemble an Early Streletskayan Industry associated with the early Upper Paleolithic. The results of the functional analyses suggest that hominids at both sites were exploiting woody and starchy plant material as well as birds and mammals. Both sites show evidence of hafting of a wide variety of tools and the possible use of projectile or thrusting spears. These analyses were performed by using two different techniques conducted by independent researchers. Combined residue and use-wear analyses suggest that both the Upper Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic hominids at these sites were broad-based foragers capable of exploiting a wide range of resources.

Here is a photo of some wear analysis AND organic fragments, which I did not realize would last so long!
It's a large picture. Go to link at bottom for details.

Voila!

Seems like a virtually fool-proof means to refute the Club's tendency to describe any inconvenient artifact as a "geofact."

Sorry Charlie,

A late response to your requests for European lithics. One from my dig.

Oh, a cuboid hammerstone? Like this one?

Dude!

You have them too! Have you been able to find a match anywhere else? I've been looking and looking...

Any definitive knapping marks? If so, can you get us a close-up?

Sweet, dude...amazing similarities, many miles apart.

Charlie, I haven't seen another one of these anywhere on the Internet except your post. I had no idea what it was at the time so I decided to bring it back to catalog. I know there are more of them near where I located that one, but left them alone. It's a very unusual piece, very old and weathered. No percussion marks left on this one, but pockmarks all over it from use. It's easy to determine how it was made by looking at the original flaking strikes, but I couldn't figure it out on site so I stuck it away and forgot about it ... until now.

Charlie Hatchett wrote:It's hard to tell from the images, but it appears you have secondary carbonate deposits in some of the flake channels. Any chance of getting some close-ups of the carbonate, if in fact what I'm seeing is carbonate.

Picking up on what Min was saying there are some other pieces that have what look like interesting residues on them...

That it is similar in style to some of your "rocks", and mostly demonstrates expedient manufacture i.e not labour intensive...
_________________