Using Dynamic Image Analysis as a Method for Discerning Microdebitage from Natural Soils in Archaeological Soil Samples

ABSTRACT

Unlike larger stone tools and debitage, the analysis of microdebitage (measuring less than 6 mm) allows for identifying likely areas where stone tools were manufactured at prehistoric archaeological sites. The tedious, time-consuming, and costly nature of microdebitage, however, has overshadowed its data potential, making most archaeologists wary of implementing this method. To alleviate these issues, this study introduces an experimental protocol using Dynamic Image Analysis (DIA) as a potential method for differentiating between microdebitage and natural soils within archaeological soil samples. In this study, a particle analyzer was employed to test whether microdebitage can be quantifiably identified within archaeological soil samples without the need for flotation and manual sorting. The results of the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) test demonstrate significant differences (p < 0.001) between the lithic and soil datasets, indicating that DIA is a viable and promising method for differentiating between microdebitage and natural soils within archaeological soil samples.

KEYWORDS:

• Microdebitage
• microartifacts
• dynamic image analysis
• experimental archaeology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation: [Grant Number 0514563].

Notes on contributors

Phyllis S. Johnson

Phyllis S. Johnson (MA, 2009, University of Tennessee) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, United States). Her research primarily focuses on the study of stone tool technologies, experimental archaeology, digital archaeological methods, and Cultural Resource Management (CRM), and she directed archaeological research throughout the Southeastern United States and the Maya lowlands of Guatemala.

Markus Eberl

Markus Eberl (PhD, 2007, Tulane University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University and director of the Tamarindito as well as the upcoming Tzikin Tzakan Archaeological Project. His research combines archaeology, art history, and epigraphy. He studies ancient Maya society in particular.

Michael McBride

Michael McBride (BSPhr, UT Austin; Doctor of Pharmacy (ret), State Board of Louisiana) is the President and a Principal Archeologist with the Hill Country Archeological Association, Kerrville, Texas. His main research interests lie in the ethnopharmacology of psychoactive agents in ancient cultures, and lithic studies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican and North American peoples. He has led archeological field work and lithic study projects in Texas, Belize, and Campeche, Mexico. As an experimental flintknapper for 20 years, he has researched and replicated the manufacture of stone tools produced by ancient New World peoples.

Rebecca Estrada Aguila

Rebecca Estrada Aguila (BA, 2020, California State University-Stanislaus) is an archaeologist interested primarily in Mesoamerican archaeology and the formation and development of Maya community and identity. She also has archaeological experience throughout the United States.