Study and replication of bone tools from Ksar Akil (Lebanon)

Abstract

Abstract The first part of this paper describes a relatively rich series of bone awls and bone points from Upper Palaeolithic layers at Ksar Akil, Lebanon. The raw materials, techniques of manufacture, and formal variation of these bone tools are considered. The second part of the paper concerns experiments in making bone tools, using flint tools similar to those from the relevant layers at Ksar Akil, as well as a grindstone. Traces of manufacture on bone tools and traces of wear on stone tools are described, and it is concluded that the traces of manufacture observed on the Ksar Akil bone tools can be replicated by scraping with any of a number of flint tools, but not by grinding.