URL (OAKTrust)
Abstract:
This thesis is a use-wear study that deals with microwear on stone
endscrapers used on one worked material: animal skins. The first part
of the study defines and describes the process of rendering freshly
skinned pelts into functional leather or rawhide products, addressing
confusing terminology found in the literature as well. Problems with
past use-wear experiments dealing with animal skins are also confronted
and explained. The second part of the study examines endscrapers used
to flesh and dehair bison hides and compares the use-wear traces left on
the tool edge by each activity. This suite of characteristics is then
compared to those found on an assemblage of Clovis-age scrapers from the
Gault site in central Texas.