Cultural vs Natural: Chipped Stone

Have you ever found a broken stone and wondered whether it was an ancient tool? Natural processes do interesting things to rocks, and some of them look similar to alterations made by people. Even so, chipped-stone tools show telltale signs of having been worked by human hands. In this video, Dr. Connie Arzigian looks at a variety of chipped-stone tools to see what identifies them as human made. Check the timestamps below for quick reference to parts of the video.

Dr. Connie Arzigian is an MVAC Senior Research Associate and Senior Lecturer, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, Department of Archaeology & Anthropology

Here’s what the video covers, and some links for further information:

Timecodes
00:00
00:06 - Introduction
02:01 - Systematic Cultural Flaking vs. Crushed Rock
06:45 - Edge Modification in Flakes and Unifaces
12:40 - Accidental Breakage
15:14 - Natural Waterworn Stone and Modern Grinding
17:26 - Distinguishing Between Similarly Shaped Cultural and Non-Cultural Stones
19:19 - Summary and Sources for Further Information
20:39 - Credits

Artifact Identification
Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse works mainly in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa and can provide information related to that region. If you would like information on artifacts, email a description of the item and where it was found, and attach a picture of the artifact with a scale to show its size. For more information visit MVAC’s website at: https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/contact/.

For information on other regions, we suggest contacting the appropriate state archaeologist from the following list: https://sites.google.com/view/state-a....