Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The use of formally fashioned bone points as possible components in hunting \nweaponry has been seen as a marker of behavioural modernity. Unfortunately, their \ninterpretation as hunting weapons, up to now, has been based on morphological \nanalogy with recent hunter-gatherer artefacts. Many studies conducted over the last \n30 years have focused on identifying criteria that can be used to establish the function \nof stone points. There have been no similar macro-fracture studies conducted on bone \npoints thought to have been part of complex weapon systems. This study aims to \ncombine the morphological approach to studying bone points, with macro-fracture \nanalysis. Macro-fracture analysis has been successfully used to discern pointed stone \ntools that were subjected to longitudinal impact, the most likely cause of which is \nhunting. This approach was adopted to test whether the same technique is applicable \nto bone points and whether the bone points that are found in the archaeological \nrecord, as far back as c. 77 ka ago at Blombos Cave, were used as hunting weapons. \nThe study involved the replication of a range of bone points that were used in an \nexperiment designed to cause impact consistent with that of hunting scenarios. The \nexperiment tested hand-thrust and mechanically projected bone points. The results of \nthis experiment showed that macro-fractures develop similarly on bone points as on \nstone points. The morphological study of bone points from one ethnographic \ncollection and eight archaeological assemblages, spanning Middle Stone Age (MSA) \nand Later Stone Age (LSA) periods, confirmed an earlier observation made in the \nCape – that there may be some degree of patterning in the overall dimensions of bone \npoints across the landscape. Furthermore, the study showed that all the bone points \nfrom MSA assemblages, with the exception of Blombos Cave, fall within the size \nrange of ethnographic arrow tips. The results of the macro-fracture analysis on \narchaeological and ethnographic samples suggest that bone points from the MSA \nlevels at Blombos, Peers and Sibudu Caves may have been subject to longitudinal \nimpact and as such could have used for hunting purposes, but whether they functioned as part of spears or arrows remains uncertain.
Author: Justin Bradfield
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2241211355