Bello Silvia M, Verveniotou Efstratia, Cornish Lorraine, Parfitt Simon A
Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
Scanning. 2011 Sep-Oct;33(5):316-24. doi: 10.1002/sca.20248. Epub 2011 Jun 9.
Cut-marks on fossil bones and teeth are an important source of evidence in the reconstruction of ancient butchery practices. The analysis of butchery marks has allowed archaeologists to interpret aspects of past subsistence strategies and the behavior of early humans. Recent advances in optical scanning microscopy allow detailed measurements of cut-mark morphology to be undertaken. An example of this technology is the Alicona 3D InfiniteFocus imaging microscope, which has been applied recently to the study of surface modifications on bones and teeth. Three-dimensional models generated by the Alicona microscope have been used to identify cross-sectional features of experimental cut-marks that are characteristic for specific cutting actions (e.g., slicing, chopping, scraping) and different tool types (e.g., metal versus stone tools). More recently, this technology has been applied successfully to the analysis of ∼500,000 year-old cut-marked animal bones from Boxgrove (U.K.), as well as cannibalized 14,700 cal BP year-old human bones from Gough's Cave (U.K.). This article describes molding methods used to replicate fragile prehistoric bones and teeth, where image quality was adversely affected by specimen translucency and reflectivity. Alicona images generated from molds and casts are often of better quality than those of the original specimen.
化石骨骼和牙齿上的切割痕迹是重建古代屠宰行为的重要证据来源。对屠宰痕迹的分析使考古学家能够解读过去生存策略的各个方面以及早期人类的行为。光学扫描显微镜的最新进展使得能够对切割痕迹的形态进行详细测量。这项技术的一个例子是艾丽康娜三维无限聚焦成像显微镜，它最近已被应用于骨骼和牙齿表面变化的研究。由艾丽康娜显微镜生成的三维模型已被用于识别实验切割痕迹的横截面特征，这些特征对于特定的切割动作（如切片、砍剁、刮擦）和不同的工具类型（如金属工具与石器工具）具有代表性。最近，这项技术已成功应用于对来自英国博克斯格罗夫的约50万年历史的有切割痕迹的动物骨骼，以及来自英国高夫洞穴的经放射性碳年代测定为距今14700年的被食人化的人类骨骼的分析。本文描述了用于复制脆弱的史前骨骼和牙齿的成型方法，在这些骨骼和牙齿中，图像质量会受到标本半透明性和反射性的不利影响。从模具和铸型生成的艾丽康娜图像通常比原始标本的图像质量更好。
