 |
|
 |
|
ASM Occasional Electronic Papers No. 1: Homol'ovi IV Chapter Eleven:
|
Analytical Techniques
Worked bone artifacts from Homol'ovi IV were analyzed using a 10X hand lens. Special attention was concentrated on examining surfaces that exhibited wear patterns. Following criteria defined by Gooding in his Durango South Project, surfaces where wear was likely to occur include the tip, shaft interior, shaft margin, shaft exterior, and articular head. Gooding (1980) notes that the tip is the worked point of the tool and is usually the most intensely modified. The shaft interior is the surface that was originally the interior of the bone, but has been exposed by splitting the bone for tool manufacture. This surface is concave and receives little or no wear. The shaft margin is the edge on either side of the shaft interior, again exposed by splitting or fracturing the bone. The shaft exterior is the original exterior surface of the bone. The articular head is the point of articulation of either the proximal or distal end of the bone. The wear at this location can range from untouched to drastically modified, to missing. It is not uncommon to find that the articular head is not present, either by manufacture design or broken off by natural causes.
To analyze the assemblage, many characteristics were assessed. The actual bone was assessed according to the animal it was part of, the bone element, the location of the bone (proximal, distal, medial, lateral), the side (left, right), and the general features (split, splinter, spiral fractured, burned). The length and width of each artifact was measured in millimeters and recorded. Six different characteristics were analyzed when considering each artifact: (1) tip alteration (trim, ground, attrition, polish, impact fracture), (2) tip striations (rotational, counter rotational, diagonal, cross hatched, longitudinal, transverse), (3) shaft interior alterations (polish, rotational, counter rotational, diagonal, cross hatched, longitudinal, transverse striations, transverse grooves), (4) shaft margin alterations (incised, ground, polish, rotational, counter rotational, diagonal, cross hatched, longitudinal, transverse striations, transverse grooves), (5) shaft exterior alterations (incised, ground polish, rotational, counter rotational, diagonal, cross hatched, longitudinal, transverse striations, transverse grooves), and (6) articular head alterations (head absent, split, ground, polish, ligament cuts, unmodified).
Each artifact was identified specifically as a certain type of tool; however, due to sample size some categories were not represented well enough to make interpretations about the assemblage. Artifacts were also grouped according to where the artifact was found, whether structure or plaza; and according to broader classificatory categories based on activities, including hide processing, weaving tools, ornaments, and stone working.
By grouping the bones into larger categories, more interpretations were possible. Grouping the artifacts according to whether found in a structure or on the plaza was helpful in determining what the area might be used for. The broader classificatory categories, according to general utilization techniques included: 1) hide processing tools such as awls, awl spatula, needles, drills, drill punches, pins, punches, reamers, beamer, and fleshers; 2) weaving tools; 3) ornaments, including tubes and pendants and such recreational items as gaming pieces, flutes, and turtle carapaces; 4) stone working tools, including antler tines and shafts, 5) stock; and 6) miscellaneous. The hide processing tools were presumed to have been used on hides, whether curing, working, or sewing them. Weaving tools were artifacts used in producing textiles. Ornaments were used in everyday or religious life, but were not imperative for survival. Stone working tools included the antler artifacts, which were excellent soft hammers or pressure flakers used in stone tool manufacture. The miscellaneous category was comprised of all unidentifiable artifacts.
Functional Attributes
Awls most commonly exhibit polished tips and shafts with diagonal and longitudinal striations. These attributes identify the twisting and piercing motion associated with the use of awls on soft material (Figures 11.1 and 11.2).
|
|
An awl spatula exhibits the same wear patterns as an awl, but the other end is spatula -shaped, perhaps making a multipurpose tool.
Needles exhibit high polish over the entire surface, have an eye, and are rather small. Needles were sewing implements used on soft materials.
Many of the weaving tools were notched artiodactyl ribs; however, some were oval shaped with a high polish and transverse grooves (Figure 11.3). These were probably used for separating and tamping down the threads on a loom.
|
The gaming piece is a flat piece of bone with incising on the surface, perhaps used as some sort of dice (Figure 11.4).
Figure 11.4 Stock, gaming piece, ring fragment, and possible hair pins |
Drills are shaped similarly to awls, but wear striations on the tip are completely different. Rotational, counter rotational, and cross-hatched striation that tend to be fairly deep and closely spaced are characteristic for drills. Drills are generally stout and round in cross sections. Drills were occasionally hafted and were used in a rotary motion. Their function was to drill a hole in a fairly soft material.
Drill punches exhibit characteristics of both tool types. Shaped like drills, they have rotational wear from being employed in a rotary motion, and longitudinal striations from being employed in a thrusting manner, probably on a soft material.
Pins are identified by a high polish over the entire surface. They are distinguished from a needle by the absence of an eye (Figure 11.4).
Punches are characterized by tip attrition, high polish at the tip, and longitudinal striation on the shaft. These tools probably served to punch holes in soft material.
Similar to awls and drills, reamers have a tip that expands rapidly to the shaft, and they have a high polish on their tips. The weakly defined striations and high polish indicated that they were probably used on soft materials, possibly for enlarging holes.
Stock is refuse from tube manufacture or tool manufacture. These are often the articular head of a long bone, marked with a deeply incised transverse groove where the bone was snapped in two (see Figure 11.4).
Bodkins are similar to needles in that they exhibit a uniform high polish over the surface. They were probably used as sewing implements, but are longer, more massive, and have larger eyes.
The miscellaneous tool category included tools that were unidentifiable due to erosion or incompleteness. The miscellaneous worked bone category was for bones that had been worked, but did not resemble a tool and had no wear (Gooding 1980, Shelley 1980).
The Homol'ovi IV Assemblage
Table 11.8 lists the frequency of bone tool types identified at Homol'ovi IV. As in other Homol'ovi assemblages, awls are the most common tool (Jones 2001; Strand and McKim 1996; Szuter 1991). The weaving tool is a notched rib of an artiodactyl, almost identical to those from Homol'ovi III (Jones 2001). A bodkin was also recovered from Homol'ovi IV, which is a tool not found in the larger Homol'ovi III assemblage.
Table 11.8 Summary of bone tool types at Homol’ovi IV
Tool Type |
No. |
Percent |
|---|---|---|
Awl |
10 |
27.1% |
weaving tool |
1 |
2.7% |
misc. tool |
3 |
8.1% |
Bodkin |
1 |
2.7% |
Drill |
4 |
10.8% |
drill punch |
2 |
5.4% |
Pin |
3 |
8.1% |
Punch |
2 |
5.4% |
Reamer |
1 |
2.7% |
Stock |
2 |
5.4% |
misc. worked |
8 |
21.6% |
TOTAL |
37 |
100.0% |
The average of 3.3 tools per structure is similar to the 3.5 figure for Homol'ovi III (Jones 1991, 2001). Just as with Homol'ovi III, the plaza has the largest and most diverse assemblage with 38% of the artifacts (Jones 1991:34). Structure 2, the ritual structure associated with surface 4 in the plaza, had the most tools at six whereas structures 301 and 404 had only one artifact each. The severe disturbance of these structures probably accounts in part for the low frequency of bone tools.
The 37 specimens of worked bone from Homol'ovi IV is too small an assemblage to be able to interpret any meaningful patterns. The most significant observation is the relatively high number of hide processing tools in contrast to other assemblages recovered at Homol'ovi (Table 11.9). This correlates with the proportionately higher number of artiodactyl remains noted in the faunal assemblage and suggests hide processing was a major activity at Homol'ovi IV. This relationship suggests that although the assemblage is small, the high frequency of hide processing tools may not be caused by the small sample size.
Table 11.9 Summary of bone tool types of category of use
Use |
No |
Percent |
|---|---|---|
hide processing |
23 |
62.2% |
weaving tools |
1 |
2.7% |
stock |
2 |
5.4% |
misc. |
11 |
29.7% |
TOTAL |
37 |
100.0% |
In this Section
Chapter
Advanced Search Site Index Help Staff Directory
Send Feedback Privacy Copyright Webmaster
©1995–2013 Arizona Board of Regents