A Study On Obsidian Lithic Use-wear In The East Of Jilin Province

In the last few years, several Paleolithic sites, which are mainly composed of obsidian, has been explored in the east of Jilin Province. And a lot of lithic artifacts, mainly composed of obsidian, were obtained. In this paper, I'm going to study the functions of these lithic artifacts by way of'use-wear analysis', so as to get more distinct proof about it.In the first chapter of introduction, it is proved that the study of lithic use-wear is the most effective and practical way in the study of lithic artifacts."Use-wear"refers to the trace on the prehistoric lithic tools, it is the outcome of some special activities of ancient people. The study of use-wear, which started in 1930s, developed greatly in 1970s and 1980s, it experienced contradiction and negotiation between the two opposing schools of"high-power method"and"low-power method", and in 1990s the development of the study of use-wear entered a temperate stage. The study of obsidian lithic use-wear started from Semenov. In the past years, the study of obsidian lithic use-wear has been mainly done by foreign scholars. In our country, the study of obsidian in traditional and common way is very few, so not to mention the study of it in the way of use-wear.Since 1980s, people from Jilin University have been doing some systematic study and research on paleolithic relics, and the obsidian lithic artifacts have been explored very often. Since the year 2000, the research on paleolithic relics which mainly composed of obsidian has become further and more systematic, and consequently the achievement became greater. With the new discoveries and exploration of the Paleolithic sites, the study of obsidian lithic artifacts has become more systematic and intensive. Based on the affluence and improvement of these materials, it becomes possible to carry out a comprehensive study of obsidian lithic artifacts.The second chapter is about the design and production of the experimental specimens. In this chapter it introduces that the experimental material of obsidian is taken from both Hokkaido Japan and Oregon U.S.A. And the obsidian is made into 140 lithic artifacts, includes: 22 flakes; 22 blades; 35 microblades; 22 scrapers; 26 points; 13 burins.The third chapter is about the observation and analysis of the experimental specimens. In the experiment, the 140 stone artifacts are used to cut, scratch, drill and grave the worked materials, and the worked materials are bones of swine or cattle (very hard); dry pine (hard); fresh poplar (soft); dry leather of cattle (softer); fresh leather of swine (softer than the former); pork (softer than the former); vegetables (the softest). With the lithic artifacts, the actions on bones and woods are cutting, scratching, drilling and graving; the actions on dry leather are cutting and drilling; the actions on fresh leather are cutting and scratching; the action on pork and vegetables is cutting. Observations and analysis of the use-wear on the lithic artifacts are carried out after the experiments, and the analysis result and data, which are classified according to different worked materials and actions, are recorded.With these results and data, some other tests are carried out, and finally it proves that the using actions of obsidian lithic artifacts can be identified convincingly through the analysis of the use-wear on the lithic artifacts.The fourth chapter is about the observation and analysis of the use-wear on the archaeological specimens. To date, there are generally seven Paleolithic sites in the east of Jilin Province, which are mainly composed of obsidian. They are: the West Mountain of Xin Tunzi in Fusong ( in 1999); the Cave of Liu in Helong ( in 2002); the North Mountain in Hunchun ( in 2002); Shi Rengou in Helong ( in 2003); Qingtou in Helong ( in 2005); Jin Shagou in Antu (in 2006); The Cave of Chongshan in Helong ( in 2007). In this chapter, the use-wear of the 84 edges on the 55 lithic artifacts, which are discovered in the seven sites, are observed and analyzed. The working actions and working objects of these edges are concluded, and some binding and holding trace are also found on these lithic artifacts. Summaries about the result and data above are made respectivelyThe fifth chapter is the conclusion. It discusses thoroughly the researching model of this paper, studies the experimental specimens and archaeological specimens respectively and intensively, and establishes a system of identifying method, which concerns the classification of lithic artifacts, of obsidian lithic use-wear.The system of identifying method is briefly as follow: flake, blade and microblade are all second-rank tools, and their use-wear are generally similar. The use-wear caused by cutting is like this: there has trace on both sides of the edge, and the trace changes from big size to small size, from more spots to less spots and from fracture-mode to wing-mode corresponding to the changes of working materials from hard object to soft object. The use-wear caused by scratching is like this: the trace can be found on one side of the edge while has nearly no trace on the other side, and the trace changes from big size to small size, from more spots to less spots and from layer-mode to fracture-mode then to wing-mode corresponding to the changes of working materials from hard object to soft object. In the two working actions, the use-wear on the microblade is greater than the use-wear on the flake and the blade. The flake and the blade are apparently not fit to drill. And in the experiment, microblades are all broken when drilling, so it is also considered not fit to drill. Only the microblade is used to grave, and the use-wear is quite similar to the use-wear on points. The use-wear caused by cutting and scratching on the scraper is very similar to the use-wear on the flake, the blade and the microblade near it, but the trace is lighter. In the experiment of cutting, the sharpness of the points becomes varied according to different working objects. The difference between the results of cutting and grarving of the point is whether the sharp point of the lithic move or not. There has a"sharpen"progress in the action of drilling. Burins behave very bad in the action of drilling, so to conclude that they would only be used on very soft materials if they are used to drill. In the action of grarving, trace is made on one side of the edge, and the side edge becomes obtuse. The harder the working object is, the bigger and more the trace is, and the"arc"of the side edge also becomes bigger.And in the fifth chapter, the statistical analysis is made to the group of all specimens discovered in the archaeological sites, and the conclusion is made as follow: among the archaeological specimens, flakes are usually used to cut hard materials such as dry wood, but not used to drill or grarve; blades are usually used to cut soft materials such as fresh wood, but not used to drill or grave; microblades are usually used to cut very soft materials such as fresh meat, but not used to drill or grave; scrapers are usually used to scratch soft materials such as fresh wood; points are usually used to grave soft materials such as fresh wood, but not used to drill or scratch; burins are equally used to grave very hard materials such as bones, hard materials such as dry wood and soft materials such as fresh wood.At the end, the papers provide some vision and prospect about the future research of use-wear.The innovation of this paper is that the final conclusion is made through the following steps: production of obsidian lithic artifacts, experiment of the worked specimens, observation of the use-wear on the worked specimens, observation of the archaeological specimens, comparision of the results. Such a systematic research model is very rare in domestic use-wear research. And finally, based on the use-wear data, a set of identification criterion about the types and functions of obsidian lithic artifacts is established convincingly. This is the first attempt in this field in our country.