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Paper Information:
Type: Paper
Paper Title: BONE NEEDLES AND AWLS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PERISHABLE TECHNOLOGIES: THE USE OF ETHNOGRAPHIC AND HISTORIC MUSEUM COLLECTIONS IN THE ANALYSIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL USEWEAR
Author: ELIZABETH STONE (University of New Mexico)   
Date/Time: Sat., 2:15 PM
Co-Author(s): ELIZABETH STONE (University of New Mexico) 
Abstract: Bone needles and awls are common artifacts in the archaeological record, found throughout much of the ancient and historic world. Historically, these tools have frequently been used in the manufacture of plant and animal fiber technologies, including clothing, bags, mats, and baskets – objects that are rarely preserved in the archaeological record. Our knowledge, however, regarding their identification and function is based largely on common sense and simple analogies. An extended analysis of museum collections of ethnographic and historic bone needles and awls, focused on the morphology, context, and microscopic usewear of these tools, provides a baseline for understanding the range of formal variation and wear resulting from producing fiber technologies. This information in turn, is used to identify the use of archaeological artifacts from the end of the Ice Age in Spain. This comparative approach can suggest some of the activities that are often excluded from archaeological representations of the past that often focus on young and middle-aged male big game hunters, to the exclusion of other members of society.

Program Number: 4-0665
Session Title: THEORETICAL ADVANCES IN CONTEMPORARY ARCHAEOLOGY
Session Sponsor: Archaeology Division
Session Date/Time: Sat., 1:45 PM-3:30 PM
Organizer(s): ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM COMMITTEE (AAA) 
Chair(s): AMY GAZIN-SCHWARTZ (Assumption College)  
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