TRACEOLOGY ON METAL. EXPERIMENTS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ITEMS
Keywords:
archaeology, traceology, functionality, use wears, experimentation, metal tools, Palmela pointsAbstract
Traceology on metal has been one of the last specialities to join the world of functional studies of prehistoric materials. That is why its experimental base is still scarce and should be developed in the future. Its methodology corresponds to that of the Traceology on fl int or other rocks and materials such as bone, antler, shell and several others, with special interest in systematic and replicative experimental designs, taking into account all the independent variables that intervene in the experimentation and a careful characterization of the traces obtained. In the case of metal, the raw material and post-casting processes are important because they will determine that the tool is softer and ductile or more hard and brittle. Thus, a metal weapon or tool will develop traces of use that will be different qualitatively and quantitatively also in function of these technical elements. A second aspect that determines the study of traces on metal objects is the presence of various types of corrosion with different intensity that may cover some traces and limit the interpretation, as we will see in the experimental examples that we present. Traceology on metal has a very recent development, there are still few works carried out, but future experiments and new techniques of treatment, observation, and analysis of archaeological pieces will be able to increase our knowledge on it.
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