TY - JOUR

T1 - Raman spectroscopy of lipid micro-residues on Middle Palaeolithic stone tools from Denisova Cave, Siberia

AU - Bordes, Luc

AU - Fullagar, Richard

AU - Prinsloo, Linda C.

AU - Hayes, Elspeth

AU - Kozlikin, Maxim B.

AU - Shunkov, Michael V.

AU - Derevianko, Anatoly P.

AU - Roberts, Richard G.

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Australian Research Council through Australian Laureate Fellowship FL130100116 to R.G.R., the Russian Science Foundation through project 14-50-00036 to A.P.D., M.V.S. and M.B.K., and the University of Wollongong through a Postgraduate Award and an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship to L.B. We thank Susan Luong for comments and Vladimir Vaneev for field support. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Elsevier Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2018/7/1

Y1 - 2018/7/1

N2 - Raman spectroscopy is a powerful method for detecting micro-residues on stone tools. To further develop techniques for determining stone tool function, we devised a methodology using Raman microscopy to analyse in situ micro-residues before conventional usewear study. We analysed 18 stone artefacts collected in situ from Denisova Cave in Siberia, where excellent organic residue preservation is expected. We report here details of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids identified on eight stone tools from the Middle Palaeolithic levels. The spatial distribution of smeared fatty acids shows strong correlation with spatial distributions of usewear (particularly use-polish, but also striations, edge rounding and scarring) on each tool, demonstrating that these micro-residues are likely associated with prehistoric tool contact with animal tissue. We compared Raman spectra and the types, abundance and distribution of micro-residues on the Denisova Cave artefacts with those on modern experimental stone tools (with known function). The results provide further support for Middle Palaeolithic processing of animal tissue and probable skin scraping at Denisova Cave.

AB - Raman spectroscopy is a powerful method for detecting micro-residues on stone tools. To further develop techniques for determining stone tool function, we devised a methodology using Raman microscopy to analyse in situ micro-residues before conventional usewear study. We analysed 18 stone artefacts collected in situ from Denisova Cave in Siberia, where excellent organic residue preservation is expected. We report here details of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids identified on eight stone tools from the Middle Palaeolithic levels. The spatial distribution of smeared fatty acids shows strong correlation with spatial distributions of usewear (particularly use-polish, but also striations, edge rounding and scarring) on each tool, demonstrating that these micro-residues are likely associated with prehistoric tool contact with animal tissue. We compared Raman spectra and the types, abundance and distribution of micro-residues on the Denisova Cave artefacts with those on modern experimental stone tools (with known function). The results provide further support for Middle Palaeolithic processing of animal tissue and probable skin scraping at Denisova Cave.

KW - Animal skin processing

KW - Fatty acids

KW - Microwear

KW - Stone artefacts

KW - Tool function

KW - Usewear

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047073846&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jas.2018.05.001

DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2018.05.001

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85047073846

VL - 95

SP - 52

EP - 63

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science

SN - 0305-4403

ER -