In the mix: Replication studies to test the effectiveness of ochre in adhesives for tool hafting
Date
2006-11-16T07:29:12Z
Authors
Hodgskiss, Tamaryn Penny
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Abstract
This study was stimulated by questions that arose on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) tools
from Sibudu cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Many stone tools were found to have
ochre traces or ochre plant resin traces on their proximal ends, as well as bending
fractures on their laterals caused by hafting. This placement of ochre is unusual because it
would be expected that ochre would be found on the working edges of the tools if they
had been used to prepare ochre. A possible explanation is that the ochre is part of the
hafting process and that ochre was used as an aggregate in the adhesive that held the
stone tool to the haft.
The question this research aims to answer is why ochre was used as an aggregate in plant
resin instead of other easily acquirable substances, such as sand or ash. I have
experimented with a variety of aggregates and then performed various activities with the
hafted tools to test the strength and effectiveness of the different adhesive recipes. The
chemical and physical properties of the ingredients used in the adhesives are also
explored, together with principles of geological cementation and the methods involved in
the creation of industrial concrete.
Results of my replications are varied and they show that uncontrollable variables
influence the resultant adhesive quality. Results contribute to understanding the uses and
implications of the ochre on the MSA sites, and illuminate that people living in the MSA
had an understanding of the best physical and chemical properties needed in adhesives,
even though they could not have had an understanding of attributes like mineralogy and
pH.
Description
Faculty of Science
School of Geography,Achaeology and Enviromental Studies
9905929t
thodgskiss@yahoo.com
Keywords
Ochre, Adhesives, Halfing, Iron, Silica