Exploring the link between plant minerals and wear formation on stone tools through experimentation: a view from the wetland

Abstract

Reconstructing the transformation of plants based on use-wear is challenging due to the variety of technological choices available, the diverse range of plant species that could have been used, and the limited knowledge of how plant wear forms. The frequent appearance of ambiguous plant wear on stone tools from early and middle Holocene wetland contexts in Northwestern Europe provides an ideal case study to explore the complexity of plant wear formation. In this context, we present the outcomes of an exploratory experimental study which aimed to improve our understanding of plant wear formation resulting from processing activities of wetland plants. The program included the creation of a reference collection of plants available in. Particular attention was devoted to the effect of mineral plant elements, such as silica Northwestern European wetland ecosystems and a set of actualistic plant processing experiments minerals or calcium oxalates, on the development of plant polish. The elemental characterisation of wetland plants with scanning electron microscopy and the experimentally reproduced plant wear allowed us to draw comparisons between the plant composition and plant wear formation, and thus grasp the complexity of plant wear formation which depends on a large set of variables.