General Non-utilitarian Wear on the Raw Materials from Titovskaya Sopka: Experimental Data

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the results of the experiment on the transfer in a leather bag of the hornfelsed rocks, the mineral raw materials from the source Titovskaya Sopka in Eastern Transbaikalia in order to fix the total non-utilitarian wear. The experimental collection includes nine replicas of a typologically and metrically modeling appearance of the industries of the Initial Time of the Upper ‒ Middle Paleolithic Age. Carrying was in a suede bag and lasted 75 days. The result was the formation of a stable complex of traces on the artifacts, which can be characterized as total non-utilitarian wear. It includes not only micro-polishing, but also a complex of short multidirectional linear traces. The plots of non-utilitarian wear on the surface of objects have a clear dislocation. On the dorsal surface of objects, first of all the edges of negatives are modified, most intensively in the zone of intersection of three edges. On the ventral surface, areas of non-utilitarian wear are stained, mainly concentrating in the center of the surface plane. Three generations of total non-utilitarian wear are noted. The first one is short and multidirectional linear traces laid at different angles, but forming parallel directions. The second generation of wear marks is represented by a “primary”, weakly expressed micro- polishing, located on flat surface areas. The third, most illustrative stage of micro-trails in the form of the brightest micro-polishing is located in spots on the highest points of the relief on both surfaces of the replicas. The discovery of micro-traces makes it possible to investigate artifacts from any stratified sites of the Sukhotinsky geoarcheological complex for a functional component.

Keywords

• petroarcheology
• the sources of raw materials
• stone age
• transbaikalia
• titovskaya sopka