Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
ArScAn, AnTET, CNRS, Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, Université Paris Nanterre, Nanterre Cedex, France.
PLoS One. 2019 Jun 20;14(6):e0213473. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213473. eCollection 2019.
Hafting of stone tools was an important advance in the technology of the Paleolithic. Evidence of hafting in the Middle Paleolithic is growing and is not limited to points hafted on spears for thrusting or throwing. This article describes the identification of adhesive used for hafting on a variety of stone tools from two Middle Paleolithic caves in Latium, Fossellone Cave and Sant'Agostino Cave. Analysis of the organic residue by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry shows that a conifer resin adhesive was used, in one case mixed with beeswax. Contrary to previous suggestions that the small Middle Paleolithic tools of Latium could be used by hand and that hafting was not needed since it did not improve their functionality, our evidence shows that hafting was used by Neandertals in central Italy. Ethnographic evidence indicates that resin, which dries when exposed to air, is generally warmed by exposure to a small fire thus softened to be molded and pushed in position in the haft. The use of resin at both sites suggests regular fire use, as confirmed by moderate frequencies of burnt lithics in both assemblages. Lithic analysis shows that hafting was applied to a variety of artifacts, irrespective of type, size and technology. Prior to our study evidence of hafting in the Middle Paleolithic of Italy was limited to one case only.
石器的镶嵌是旧石器时代技术的重要进步。中石器时代镶嵌的证据越来越多，而且不限于镶嵌在长矛上用于刺或投掷的矛头。本文描述了在拉齐奥的两个中石器时代洞穴——福塞尔隆洞穴和圣阿戈斯蒂诺洞穴——的各种石器上识别镶嵌用的粘合剂。通过气相色谱/质谱分析有机残留物表明，使用了一种针叶树树脂粘合剂，在一种情况下，还与蜂蜡混合。与之前的观点相反，即拉齐奥的小型中石器时代工具可以用手使用，而且由于它们没有提高其功能，所以不需要镶嵌，我们的证据表明镶嵌是意大利中部的尼安德特人使用的。民族志证据表明，树脂在暴露于空气中时会干燥，通常通过暴露在小火中而变暖，从而软化以成型并推入镶嵌位置。这两个地点都使用树脂表明经常使用火，因为在两个组合中都有中度频率的燃烧石器得到了证实。石器分析表明，镶嵌被应用于各种制品，不论其类型、大小和技术如何。在我们的研究之前，意大利中石器时代镶嵌的证据仅限于一个案例。
