RT Journal Article
T1 Cut marks made with quartz tools: An experimental framework for understanding cut mark morphology, and its use at the Middle Palaeolithic site of the Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid, Spain)
A1 Moclán, Abel
A1 Huguet, Rosa
A1 Márquez, Belén
A1 Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel
A1 Gómez-Miguelsanz, Cristina
A1 Vergès, Josep M.
A1 Laplana Conesa, César
A1 Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Luis
A1 Pérez González, Alfredo José
A1 Baquedano, Enrique
AB The study of cut marks in archaeological contexts is of great importance for understanding the subsistence strategies of past human groups. Many authors have indicated differences to exist between the cut marks produced by different tools and when the same types of tool have been made from different raw materials. The present work examines the cut marks made during the experimental butchering of a red deer (Cervus elaphus) using simple quartz flakes, with those found on fossilised animal remains at the Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter site (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid, Spain) likely to have been made with similar flakes. The methodology followed was that of Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. (2009), which was originally designed to differentiate between cut marks and trampling marks, but which here was tested as a method of distinguishing between the raw materials from which cutting tools were made. The results were also compared to those made with other types of tool/raw material reported in the literature. The present results confirm the above ideas: the marks made experimentally by the quartz flakes are very similar to those seen on the faunal remains from the level F of Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter site, but different to those made by other tools or by flakes made from other materials. They also show, however, that different cut mark morphologies are largely independent of the size of the animal butchered, and of the anatomical element on which they appear.
PB Elsevier
SN 1040-6182
YR 2018
FD 2018-11-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/13078
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/13078
LA eng
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Museo Arqueológico Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid
NO Grupo Mahou
NO Canal de Isabel II-Gestión
NO AGAUR
NO Generalitat de Catalunya
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025