Debitage

Quarrying activities, core reduction, biface creation, tool manufacture, and retooling are believed to leave significantly different debitage assemblages.

Others feel it is possible to effectively estimate the work-hours represented, or the skill of the workers based on the nature of the debitage.

Use of Weibull distributions and least square analysis helped Stahle and Dunn confirm that this method can be used backward to estimate reduction stages of particular debitage frequencies.

Patterson (1990) was unable to distinguish between the stages of initial edging and secondary thinning using statistical analysis of 14 experimental assemblages.

Ahler (1989) conducted an experimental replication under some technological settings and classified debitage into five groups according to their size, Discriminant analysis (by SPSS DISCRIMINANT function) was applied to compare mass analysis data sets for these five experimental data groups.

He then compared the counts and weights of experimental samples with debris from two prehistoric workshop sites in western North Dakota.

Especially in a specific function site, such as Legacy site a Late Woodland age camp in the Missouri breaks, associated with bison kill/butchering, the low frequency of cortex and a specific flake ratio (G4:Gl-3 ) data indicate that a soft hammer small flake tool production, which is similar with experiment result.

These differences indicate that individual variation can be influential in the size distribution of debitage and should be kept in mind if mass analysis is being employed.

Using discriminant analysis and Sullivan and Rozen's system to classify debitage, Austin (1997) was able to correctly distinguish between patterned tool and core reduction techniques for 93.33% of his experimental assemblages.

[10] Austin pointed out many factors that could change the characteristics of debitage (post-depositional processes, differences in raw material, etc.)

[citation needed] Debitage sourcing looks at the physical properties of the worked stone in an attempt to determine where on the earth it was obtained.

[citation needed] Obsidian, as a natural glass material, is peculiar because when it is exposed to water, the surface develops a patinated layer of hydrated perlite.

As the rate of hydration is determined by factors such as moisture content, temperature, and the chemical composition of the obsidian, this method cannot provide absolute dates.