Veerle Rots. Prehension and hafting traces on flint tools: a methodology.

Lombard, Marlize

VEERLE ROTS. Prehension and hafting traces on flint tools: a methodology, xx+274 pages, 289 figures, 204 plates, CD-ROM with tables. 2010. Leuven: Leuven University Press; 978-90-5867-801-0 hardback 69.50 [euro]

With this book Veerle Rots presents her doctoral research. It embodies the most comprehensive publication on prehension (manual grasping) and hafting (providing a stone tool with a handle or shaft) traces left on stone tools to date. The book includes 11 chapters, and many extractions or summaries of tables are included where relevant in the text. Further data are provided in the two annexes and on a CD-ROM for those interested in more detailed information. More than 200 plates, collated at the back of the book, serve to illustrate macro- and microscopic observations. The CD also includes illustrations of hafted and de-hafted tools, experimental settings and fractures on tools. Additionally, Rots provides a glossary before starting the text, guiding readers through discipline- and text-specific jargon.

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It is undoubtedly a book aimed at specialists. However, it introduces the value of the research to a wider audience by highlighting the fact that knowledge related to handling and hafting contributes to a holistic investigation of stone tools and their life cycles. As a result, it provides a better understanding of the technological repertoires and behaviours of past human societies. An extensive discussion of use-wear research methodology is provided in the second chapter. Here Rots demonstrates that, regardless of former stumbling blocks and controversies, the method became ah accepted and valid approach to explore aspects of tool function and composition. The author also explains how she uses ah integrated approach comprising experimentation, blind testing and data analysis in order to reach informed interpretations that could be applied to archaeological material.

She critically assesses the authenticity of prehension and hafting traces, asking questions such as: "At which stage are hafting traces formed?", "Can hafting wear be distinguished from wear produced by external factors?" and "Are prehension and hafting traces interpretable?". Her succinct answers, based on experimental observation, reveal that use-traces on stone tools are real, and that they can be documented and interpreted with relative accuracy (provided we take the rime to explore and understand them thoroughly). The subsequent analysis and presentation of dominant, secondary and indirect evidence of hafting and holding stone tools reveal obvious signs and subtle hints relating to the formation and interpretation of macro- and microscopic traces. In the body of the text a range of prehension modes, hafting arrangements, hafting materials and use-applications is explored with replication experiments and blind testing. The aim is to establish well-documented reference material for future comparison with archaeological samples.

Rots's experimental protocols are exemplary. Nonspecialists and students aiming to conduct experimental archaeology of any sort may all benefit from reading her work. The outcomes are clearly presented, underwritten with precise tables and illustrations. It is evident that the study and interpretation of use-traces remain an approach for those with patience, the ability to ask and explore unambiguous research questions, and the tenacity to pursue long-term research goals. Yet, even though investment in time and equipment is high, the detailed information that can be obtained is almost without archaeological parallel.

In her discussion chapter Rots provides step-by-step practical guidelines towards integrating the study of prehension and hafting traces into current functional studies on archaeological material. Till now, a sound reference for hafting traces was lacking, and, as Rots points out, "observation simply does not equal interpretation. Interpretation requires a body of theory to establish a clear link between a present observation (static fact) and a past cause (past dynamics)" (p. 203). Her research, now published in book form, provides such a reference; a theory that allows for observation and interpretation of traces. The long-term goal aspired to is the application of this body of work to archaeological material. This goal has already been partly reached in the author's and other researchers' ensuing work. My criticisms are minor, but refraining from incorporating a few archaeological case studies in the book is a drawback. Inclusion of such examples would have exponentially increased the potential readership. Furthermore, printing the plates at the end of the book makes this book less user-friendly to those who want to refer to the visual material. The hardcover book is, however, beautifully produced and I have no doubt that it will become a key reference (a must-have) for use-trace specialists interested in exploring composite technologies of Stone Age societies.

MARLIZE LOMBARD

Department of Anthropology and Development

Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

(Email: mlombard@uj.ac.za)