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Projectiles and Hafting Technology

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Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Stone Age Weaponry

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

Stone tool hafting has always been considered important, but its interpretative potential has not yet been sufficiently recognized. While wear studies have recently demonstrated the possibility of deriving hafting data from the stone tools themselves, it is essential that these kinds of data are now also integrated with regard to armature identifications. New experiments with spears and arrows show that armature identifications are complex and that no single feature on its own is diagnostic of projectile impact. Also the distinction between different projecting modes is still seriously hampered by the lack of a reliable reference. It is argued that hafting wear is essential for more adequate identifications of armatures and their projecting mode. The analysis of a number of archaeological Middle Palaeolithic and Late Palaeolithic assemblages in North West Europe allowed identifying the existence of hafted spear points for the Middle Palaeolithic sites and arrows armed with tips and barbs for the Late Palaeolithic sites.

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Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS and FWO) and to the research fund of KU Leuven for their financial support of this research. My sincerest thanks are due to the Chercheurs de la Wallonie and the Préhistosite de Ramioul who were involved in the experimental program. I especially want to thank Louis Baumans, Claude Bawin, Didier Cocchi, Fernand Collin, Christian Lepers, Louis Pirnay, and Philippe Pirson.

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  1. Chercheur Qualifié du FNRS, TraceoLab/Préhistoire, University of Liège, Quai Roosevelt 1B, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Veerle Rots

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  1. Veerle Rots
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Correspondence to Veerle Rots .

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  1. Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution,, MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre, Neuwied, Germany

    Radu Iovita

  2. University Museum, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsuhiro Sano

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Rots, V. (2016). Projectiles and Hafting Technology. In: Iovita, R., Sano, K. (eds) Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Stone Age Weaponry. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7602-8_12

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