Milky Quartz Bipolar Reduction and Lithic Miniaturization: Experimental Results and Archaeological Implications

ABSTRACT

We present experimental data examining the energetics and identification of axial bipolar reduction in contexts of lithic miniaturization on milky quartz. These experiments answer two specific questions. First, does bipolar reduction provide any benefits over freehand reduction? Second, can axial bipolar reduction be distinguished from freehand reduction? Our data show that bipolar reduction requires significantly less time to reduce a percentage unit of core mass and to produce a millimeter of cutting edge on milky quartz than freehand reduction. Milky quartz bipolar reduction surpasses even the cutting edge production efficiency of obsidian pressure blades. We outline a series of quantitative criteria for identifying bipolar cores and flakes. Our results show that bipolar cores and flakes can be distinguished from those produced using freehand reduction by quantifying platform crushing, distal flake rebound scars, bulb shearing, as well as axial, bipolar, and splintered flake terminations. Our results challenge the widely held perceptions about the wastefulness of bipolar reduction and provide clear guidelines for identifying this reduction strategy in archaeological milky quartz assemblages.

KEYWORDS:

• lithic miniaturization
• bipolar reduction
• milky quartz
• experimental archaeology
• stone age economics

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Erratum

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Morris Sutton and Dr. Dominic Stratford for helping with the milky quartz nodule collection. Thanks are also due to John Shea, three anonymous reviewers, and the editorial staff at the Journal of Field Archaeology for helpful comments and edits on an earlier draft of this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Justin Pargeter (Ph.D. 2017, Stony Brook University) is a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University and senior research fellow with the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg. His research specializes in the role of technology in human evolution. His doctoral dissertation research focuses on the proximate and ultimate causes for lithic miniaturization during the Late Pleistocene in southern Africa. Since 2012 he has led the lithics team for the P5 Pondoland project investigating the origins of marine resource use along the Wild Coast in South Africa. His other active research collaborations include working with Prof. Marlize Lombard (University of Johannesburg) on the Pleistocene antiquity of hunting technologies.

Paloma de la Peña (Ph.D. 2011, Universidad Complutense de Madrid) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Evolutionary Studies Institute and an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Her main research interests lie in understanding cultural evolution within Homo sapiens societies.

ORCID

Justin Pargeter http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6536-8568

Paloma de la Peña http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9731-7001

Additional information

Funding

The support of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Paleosciences (South Africa), the Leakey Foundation (US), Dan David Prize, and National Science Foundations towards this research is hereby acknowledged.