Use-Wear Analysis on Quartz and Quartzite Tools Methodology and Application: Coudoulous I (Midi-Pyrénées, France)

The aim of this work is to contribute to the development of a use-wear analysis methodological framework on quartz and quartzite industries. After illustrating the main steps of the analysis, a small part is dedicated to archaeological application on a specimen from the site of Coudulous I (France). The difference lies in the different structure of quartz and quartzite, and in their response to mechanical stress. To understand the behaviour of quartz subjected to mechanical forces originated by its use on various materials (wood, horn, bone and meat), it is essential to create a comparative collection established by the experimental protocol and obtained from a series of tests by controlled parameters. This preliminary step is essential in order to comprehend and identify use-wear traces on archaeological material, which will be compared by analogy with the experimental ones. Use-Wear Analysis on Quartz and Quartzite Tools 125 In the study of use-wear traces, tribochemistry provides us with the guidelines to understand their formation. This discipline, in fact, studies the interaction with surfaces in motion and contact with each other or with a third body. The application of the tribological model to the use-wear traces of quartz and quartzite identified through structured series of experiments has proven very effective for the interpretation of the archaeological evidence.