Research compendium for 'The contribution of integrated 3D model analysis to Protoaurignacian stone tool design'

Abstract: Protoaurignacian foragers relied heavily on the production and use of bladelets. Techno-typological studies of these implements have provided insights into important aspects of cultural variability. However, new technologies have seldom been used to quantify patterns of stone tool design. Taking advantage of a new scanning protocol and open-source software, we conduct the first 3D analysis of a Protoaurignacian assemblage, focusing on the selection and modification of blades and bladelets. We study a large sample of complete blanks and retouched tools from the early Protoaurignacian assemblage at Fumane Cave in northeastern Italy. Our main goal is to validate and refine previous techno-typological considerations employing a 3D geometric morphometrics approach complemented by 2D analysis of cross-section outlines and computations of retouch angle. The encouraging results show the merits of the proposed integrated approach and confirm that bladelets were the main focus of stone knapping at the site. Among modified bladelets, various retouching techniques were applied to achieve specific shape objectives. We suggest that the variability observed among retouched bladelets relates to the design of multi-part artifacts that need to be further explored via renewed experimental and functional studies.

Overview of contents:

01. AGMT3-D project of the first dataset used in the study;

02. AGMT3-D project of the second dataset used in the study;

03. Raw outline data of the middle cross-section. Each specimens has a dedicate .txt file;

04. Raw outline data of the upper cross-section. Each specimens has a dedicate .txt file;

05. Angles3-D project with all files generated by the software (.mat and .xlsx formats) to quantify the mean retouch angle of retouched bladelets;

06. R project and scripts for the 1) 2D shape analysis of the middle and upper cross-sections of retouched bladelets and the 2) design of all bivariate plots and boxplots with jittered points used in the paper. All related datasets, principal components, and generated figures are included in the folder;

07. Folder with all figures published in the paper and in its supplementary materials;

08. Dataset of the first study in .csv with all attributes used to run the statistical analysis presented in the paper;

09. Dataset of the second study in .csv with all attributes used to run the statistical analysis presented in the paper;

10. Dataset for the study of the upper cross-sections in .csv with all attributes used to run the statistical analysis presented in the paper;

11. Dataset for the study of the middle cross-sections in .csv with all attributes used to run the statistical analysis presented in the paper;

12. Dataset in .csv used to study the mean retouch angles;

13. Supplementary information file in .pdf with all supplementary figures and tables.

Extra: All 3D meshes of blades and bladelets are available on Zenodo following this link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6362150.