The Effect of Isometric Scaling on Flaked Stone Projectile Point Impact Durability: An Experimental Assessment

ABSTRACT

A variety of flaked stone projectile point attributes can affect impact durability, which is the relationship between projectile impact force and point breakage. We examine the role of isometric scaling – size – on impact durability. Using 30 experimentally knapped points that varied predominately only in size, we conducted a ballistics experiment to understand whether points of certain sizes were more likely to break, or more likely to lose length, either absolutely or as a percentage of original length. Our results suggested that points of different sizes did not differ in how much absolute length they lost, but that there is a significant relationship between point size and percentage of original length lost – namely that larger points are more likely to lose less percentage length. Our experimental results suggest that point size should be considered along with shape and other attributes in future studies of impact durability and technological evolution.

KEYWORDS:

• Projectiles
• experimental archaeology
• obsidian
• size
• durability

Acknowledgements

L.R.M. is funded in part by the Federal TRIO McNair Scholars Program of the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). M.I.E. and M.W. are supported by the Kent State University College of Arts and Sciences.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

L.R.M. is funded in part by the Federal TRIO McNair Scholars Program of the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). M.I.E. and M.W. are supported by the Kent State University College of Arts and Sciences.

Notes on contributors

Leanna Maguire

Leanna Maguire is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

Briggs Buchanan

Briggs Buchanan is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Michael Wilson

Michael Wilson is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.

Metin I. Eren

Metin I. Eren is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, and a research associate in the Department of Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio.