image0005ANTHROPOLOGY 484: STONE TOOL ANALYSIS

 

FALL SEMESTER 2008

 

MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS 1:00-2:15; Room 276 EKH; 3 semester hours

 

INSTRUCTOR:  Peter Mills 264 EKH;  Email: millspAThawaiiDOTedu

Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 10:30-12:30, Tuesdays 11-12; or by appointment.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course exposes you to a broad range of issues surrounding the analysis of stone artifacts (lithics) from archaeological sites.  The course will involve a mix of lectures, readings, and practical experience.  Developing your own personal skills of “flintknapping” is an optional part of the course and will involve the strictest adherence to appropriate safety precautions.  Lecture topics will include the history of lithic analyses in archaeology, and cutting-edge (pun intended) techniques for analyzing source material, tool production technologies, and use-wear.

 

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

            Whittaker, John C.

                        1994 Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools.

                                 University of Texas Press, Austin.

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

There will be two midterms (25% each), a 10-page research paper (25%) and a final (25%).  The exams will be a mix of multiple choice, material identifications, short answer, and short essay.  There is no way that you will be able to miss class sessions and do well in this course.  Likewise, there is no way that you can skip the readings and expect to get a top grade.  While classes will include lectures, I expect questions and your general participation in discussions.  If you haven't asked me a number of questions by the end of the semester, I haven't done my job and neither have you.  There are no pre-requisites. Any student with a documented disability who would like to request accommodations should contact the University Disability Services Office- Hale Kauanoe A Wing Lounge, 933-0816 (V), 933-3334 (TTY), uds@hawaii.edu - as early in the semester as possible.

 

            COURSE SCHEDULE

            Introductory Readings: Whittaker- Chapters 1 and 5.

                 M- August 25- Introduction to the Course

                 W- August 27- Flintknapping Demonstration

 

 

 

Readings: Whittaker- Chapters 2 and 3.

M- Sept. 1- HOLIDAY, Labor Day

W- Sept. 3- EDXRF, Lithic Technology and Sourcing Stone tools

M- Sept. 8- Diversification of Lithic Technologies, and  Craft Specialization

 

Readings: Whittaker- Chapter 4, Mauna Kea Report on my Web page:

http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~anthro/NAR%20report.pdf

W. Sept 10- Common Raw Materials and Procurement Strategies

M- Sept. 15- The Mauna Kea Adze Quarry

W- Sept 17- Heat Treatment

M- Sept. 22-Percussion Flaking

Readings: Whittaker- Chapters 6 and 8 .

W- Sept. 24-Pressure Flaking

M- Sept. 29- some special flake types (notch flakes, alternate flakes, collateral flakes, scraper-retouch flakes)

Readings: Whittaker- Chapter 7.

W-Oct. 1- Fluting, blades, and microblades

M-Oct. 6- Midterm Review

W- Oct 8. 1st Midterm

Readings: Whittaker- Chapter 9.

M- Oct. 13- Spears, Atlatl darts, and arrows

W- Oct. 15- Atlatl Day

Readings: Whittaker- Chapter 10; Semenov reserve reading.

M- Oct. 20- Adze production and Hawaiian Quarry sites 

W- Oct. 12- attributes of adze debitage

Readings: Whittaker- Chapter 11, NOTE: SHA CONFERENCE AT UHH! OCT 17-19

M- Oct. 27- Experiments with stone tools

Readings: Mills-reserve: Whittaker- Chapter 11

W- Oct. 29- Use-wear studies

M- Nov. 3- Groundstone use-wear

Readings: Hurst-Thomas (reserve); Flenniken (reserve)

W- Nov. 5- The morphology vs. technology debates

M- Nov. 10-Stone Tool Typologies continued

W- Nov. 12- 2nd MIDTERM

M- Nov. 17- Lab projects

W- Nov. 19- Video/ Lab projects.  Mills at AAA meetings in San Francisco

M- Nov. 24- Lab projects

W- Nov. 26-presentations

M- Dec. 1 -presentations

W- Dec. 3- presentations

M- Dec. 8- presentations

W- Dec. 10--REVIEW/CONCLUSION- RESEARCH PAPERS DUE

 

WEDNESDAY,  DECEMBER 17, 11:50-1:50pm FINAL EXAM