TY - JOUR
T1 - Documenting natural wear on antlers
T2 - A first step in identifying use-wear on purported antler tools
AU - Jin, Jennie J.H.
AU - Shipman, Pat
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Henry Luce Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies East and Southeast Asian Archaeology and Early History Advanced Training Grant to J.J. We are grateful to Don Wagner who generously gave us information and provided the antlers for this project. Thanks to Ji Xueping, You Pingping, and the Baoshan Museum for support during the Tangzigou excavation and data collection. Many thanks to Nina Jablonski and Tess Wilson for their help during various stages of this project. We appreciate the comments from Christopher Norton and the anonymous reviewers on an earlier draft of this manuscript.
PY - 2010/1/1
Y1 - 2010/1/1
N2 - Natural behavior of the deer can leave various modifications on the antlers. Deer often rub their antlers against tree bark and bushes and use them intensively during male-male competition. All of these behaviors can leave marks on the antlers. Distinguishing these naturally-made marks from human-made marks is crucial in accurately identifying antler tools from archaeological sites. This study examined 347 white-tailed deer antlers to document the types and frequencies of the natural modifications. Scratches, polish, deformation, and fractures on the tip are the most frequently found modifications. Unless the modifications on the antlers from archaeological sites can be distinguished from these natural modifications, the nature of the purported antler tools remains questionable.
AB - Natural behavior of the deer can leave various modifications on the antlers. Deer often rub their antlers against tree bark and bushes and use them intensively during male-male competition. All of these behaviors can leave marks on the antlers. Distinguishing these naturally-made marks from human-made marks is crucial in accurately identifying antler tools from archaeological sites. This study examined 347 white-tailed deer antlers to document the types and frequencies of the natural modifications. Scratches, polish, deformation, and fractures on the tip are the most frequently found modifications. Unless the modifications on the antlers from archaeological sites can be distinguished from these natural modifications, the nature of the purported antler tools remains questionable.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.quaint.2009.06.023
DO - 10.1016/j.quaint.2009.06.023
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:71549145278
SN - 1040-6182
VL - 211
SP - 91
EP - 102
JO - Quaternary International
JF - Quaternary International
IS - 1-2
ER -