Eren Metin I, Greenspan Aaron, Sampson C Garth
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275-0336, USA.
J Hum Evol. 2008 Dec;55(6):952-61. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.07.009. Epub 2008 Oct 2.
It is widely believed that the change from discoidal flake production to prismatic blade-making during the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe led to enhanced technological efficiency. Specifically, blade-making is thought to promote higher rates of blank production, more efficient and complete reduction of the parent core, and a large increase in the total length of cutting edge per weight of stone. Controlled replication experiments using large samples, computer-assisted measurements, and statistical tests of several different measures failed to support any of these propositions. When resharpened, the use-life of flake edges actually surpasses that of blades of equivalent mass because the narrower blades are more rapidly exhausted by retouch. Our results highlight the need to replace static measurements of edge length that promote an illusion of efficiency with a more dynamic approach that takes the whole reduction sequence into account. An unexpected by-product of our replications was the discovery that real gains in cutting-edge length per weight of stone are linked to surface area. There is now a need to test the proposition that all the perceived advantages currently bestowed upon blades only occurred during the shift from macroblade to bladelet production. If our results are duplicated in further experiments, the notion of "economical" blades will have to be rejected and alternative explanations sought for their appearance in the early Upper Paleolithic. While Aurignacian bladelet (Dufour) production could signal the advent of composite tool technology (wooden handles or shafts with bladelet inserts), this does not help to explain why macroblades were also produced in large numbers. We may need to reexamine the notion that macroblades were of more symbolic than functional significance to their makers.
人们普遍认为，欧洲旧石器时代中晚期过渡阶段从盘状石片制作到棱柱状石叶制作的转变提高了技术效率。具体而言，制作石叶被认为能够提高毛坯生产速度，更高效、完整地消耗母岩核，并且每单位重量石材的切割刃总长度大幅增加。使用大量样本、计算机辅助测量以及对几种不同测量方法进行统计测试的对照复制实验未能支持上述任何观点。重新打磨后，石片边缘的使用寿命实际上超过了同等质量石叶的使用寿命，因为较窄的石叶在修整时磨损更快。我们的研究结果凸显了需要用一种更具动态性、考虑整个石器制作过程的方法来取代那些制造效率假象的静态刃长测量方法。我们复制实验的一个意外副产品是发现，每单位重量石材的切割刃实际增长与表面积有关。现在有必要检验这样一个观点，即目前赋予石叶的所有明显优势仅出现在从大型石叶向小型石叶制作的转变过程中。如果我们的结果在进一步实验中得到重复验证，那么“经济实用”石叶的概念将不得不被摒弃，并需为其在上旧石器时代早期出现寻找其他解释。虽然奥瑞纳文化的小型石叶（杜福尔型）制作可能标志着复合工具技术（带有小型石叶嵌件的木柄或轴）的出现，但这无法解释为何也大量制作大型石叶。我们可能需要重新审视大型石叶对其制造者而言更多具有象征意义而非功能意义这一观点。
