The researchers Alfonso Benito-Calvo and Laura Sánchez-Romero, of the Digital Cartography and 3D Analysis Laboratory of the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), have just published a new method for evaluating the processes of use and wear of lithic tools, in the journal Archaeometry.

This evaluation was performed using the confocal microscope, thanks to which topographical measurements were taken, employing GIS analysis and 3D inspection of surfaces, to quantify the changes in the surface topography of impact tools after use.

The results obtained have shown that microscopic changes in the surfaces can be detected, for both active and passive tools. It has been possible to verify that for active tools, such as strikers and maces, the modifications take place over larger areas than those observed for passive elements such as anvils, although in the latter the modifications were deeper.

This methodology enables highly precise and statistically robust analyses of the marks of use and wear at a microscopic level, and opens a new approach to the analysis of archaeological tools.