Mechanical properties of lithic raw materials from Kazakhstan: Comparing chert, shale, and porphyry.

ABSTRACT: The study of lithic raw material quality has become one of the major interpretive tools to investigate the raw material selection behaviour and its influence to the knapping technology. In order to make objective assessments of raw material quality, we need to measure their mechanical properties (e.g., fracture resistance, hardness, modulus of elasticity). However, such comprehensive investigations are lacking for the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan. In this work, we investigate geological and archaeological lithic raw material samples of chert, porphyry, and shale collected from the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (henceforth IAMC). Selected samples of aforementioned rocks were tested by means of Vickers and Knoop indentation methods to determine the main aspect of their mechanical properties: t

SUBMITTER: Namen A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9033281 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature