Classification of Palaeolithic Flake Tools in Malaysia
(Klasifikasi Alat Repeh Berperimping Zaman Paleolitik di Malaysia)
Abstract
During the Palaeolithic Age-the Early Stone Age-flake tools that could be used like knives were made of stone flakes. These tools can be divided into two, based on the edges of the tool, namely edges that are used directly and edges that have been retouched. A flake tool that has been retouched before being used is known as retouched flake tool. In addition, these two types of stone tools are also known as scrapers. They are named based on their functions because they do not have any particular shape, and are thus called 'amorphous'. Therefore, a classification analysis needs to be carried out to understand the technology produced and its relationship to the function of the tools. This illustrates the strategy of adaptation among the Palaeolithic society in the Early Stone Age. This study will also answer the issue on environmental exploitation such as how this nomadic society used its environment to produce stone tools. Moreover, the classification study will also encourage us to know more about the organization of technology and adaptation strategies of the Palaeolithic societies in Malaysia.
Keywords: flake tools, amorphous, classification, technology, retouch
References
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Andrefsky, W. (2005). Lithics: Macroscopic approaches to analysis (p. 301). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Andrefsky, W. (2008). Lithic technology: Measures of production, use and curation (p. 360). Cambridge University Press.
Andrefsky, W. (2009). The analysis of stone tool procurement, production, and maintenance. Journal of Archaeological Research, 17(65 - 103).
Ashton, N. M., & White, M. (2003). Bifaces and raw-materials: Flexible flaking in the British Early Paleolithic (p. 115). University Museum Monograph, 115. In Soressi, M., & Dibble, H. (Eds.). Multiple Approaches to the Study of Bifacial Technology (pp. 109 – 124). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Bamforth, D. B. (1986). Technological efficiency and tool curation. American Antiquity, 51, 38 - 50.
Brantingham, P. J. & Kuhn, S. L. (2001). Constraints on levallois core technology: A mathematical model. Journal of Archaeological Science, 28, 747 - 761.
Carr, P. J. (Ed.). (1994). The Organization of North American Prehistoric Chipped Stone Tool Technologies (pp. 87 - 98). International Monographs in Prehistory: Ann Arbor, MI.
Callahan, E. (1979). The basics of biface knapping in the eastern fluted point tradition: A manual for flintknappers and lithic analysts. Archaeology of Eastern North America, 7(1) , 1-180.
Capaldo, S. D., & Blumenschine, R. J. (1994). A quantitative diagnosis of notches made by hammerstone percussion and carnivore gnawing on bovid long bones. American Antiquity (pp. 724 - 748).
Chase, P. G. (1990). Tool-making tools and Middle Paleolithic behavior. Current Anthropology (pp. 443 - 447).
Clarkson, C. (2002). An index of invasiveness for the measurement of unifacial and bifacial retouch: A theoretical, experimental and archaeological verification. Journal of Archaeological Science, 29, 65 - 75.
Clarkson, C., Haslam, M., & Harris, C. (2015). When to retouch, haft, or discard? Modeling optimal use/maintenance schedules in lithic tool use. In Lithic Technological Systems and Evolutionary Theory (p.117). Tempat: Penerbit.
Davis, Z. J., & Shea, J. J. (1998). Quantifying lithic curation: An experimental test of Dibble and Pelcin's original flake-tool mass predictor. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25(7), 603 -610.
Dibble, H. (1995). Middle Paleolithic scraper reduction: Background, clarification, and review of the evidence to date. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2(4), 299 - 368.
Eren, M. I. et al. (2013). Refuting the technological cornerstone of the Ice-Age Atlantic crossing hypothesis. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(7), 2934 - 2941.
Eren, M. I. et al. (2005). Defining and measuring reduction in unifacial stone tools. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(8), 1190 - 1201.
Grace, R. (2012). Interpreting the Function of Stone Tools. Ikarus Books: United Kingdom (p.174).
Hamid Mohd. Isa. (2007). Bengkel alat batu zaman pleistosen pertengahan (70,000 tahun dahulu) di Kota Tampan, Lenggong, Perak (Unpublished masters thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Hiscock, P., & Clarkson, C. (2007). Retouched notches at Combe Grenal (France) and the reduction hypothesis. American Antiquity, 72(1), 176 - 190.
Hiscock, P., & Clarkson, C. (2005). Experimental evaluation of Kuhn's geometric index of reduction and the flat-flake problem. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(7), 1015 - 1022.
Jeffrey Abdullah. (2013). Sabah dalam prasejarah Asia Tenggara. Siri Arkeologi Perdana ( p.105), Lembah Mansuli, Lahad Datu: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Jeffrey Abdullah. (2014). Bukti Kebudayaan Paleolitik 17,000 - 8,000 Tahun Dahulu. In Mokhtar Saidin, & Jeffrey Abdullah. (Eds.). Sumbangan Sabah kepada Arkeologi Asia Tenggara. Hasil Penyelidikan 20 Tahun (1993 - 2013). Monograf Muzium Sabah, 12.
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Keeley, L. H. (1980). Experimental determination of stone tool uses (p. 212). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lerner, H. (2014). Intra-raw material variability and use-wear accrual: A continuing exploration. Journal of Lithic Studies, 1(1), 165 - 186.
Mokhtar Saidin. (1997). Kajian perbandingan tapak paleolitik Kampung Temelong dengan Kota Tampan dan sumbangannya terhadap zaman pleistosen akhir di Asia Tenggara. Malaysia Museum Journal, 32.
Mokhtar Saidin. (1998). Kebudayaan paleolitik di Malaysia. Sumbangan tapak Lawin, Perak dan Tingkayu, Sabah (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Mokhtar Saidin. (2014). Urutan kronologi prasejarah Sabah. In Mokhtar Saidin, & Jeffrey Abdullah (Eds.). Sumbangan Sabah kepada arkeologi Asia Tenggara: Hasil penyelidikan 20 Tahun (1993 - 2013) . Monograf Muzium Sabah, 12.
Monnier, G. (2006). Testing retouched flake tool standardization during the middle paleolithic. In Transitions Before the Transition (pp. 57 - 83) . Springer US.
Morales, J. I., & Vergès, J. M. (2014). Technological behaviors in paleolithic foragers. Testing the role of resharpening in the assemblage organization. Journal of Archaeological Science, (49), 302 - 316.
Movius Jr., & H. L. (1955). Palaeolithic archaeology in Southern and Eastern Asia. Exclusive of India. Journal of World History, 11(2/3), 257 - 282.
Movius Jr., & H. L. (1948). The lower palaeolithic cultures of southern and eastern Asia. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, 38(4), 330 - 420.
Nor Khairunisa Talib. (2013). Ekskavasi tapak Bukit Bunuh, Lenggong, Perak: Sumbangan kepada pemahaman kebudayaan paleolitik (Unpublished masters thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Odell, G. H. (2001). Stone tool research at the end of the millennium: Classification, function, and behavior. Journal of Archaeological Research, 9(1), 45 - 100.
Odell, G. H. (2003). Lithic analysis: Manuals in archaeological method, theory, and technique. Springer, NewYork. Odell, G. H., & F.
Odell-Vereecken. (1980). Verifying the reliability of lithic use-wear assessments by ‘blind tests’: The low-power approach. Journal of Field Archaeology, 7, 87 - 120.
Pawlik, A. (2001). Microscopic use-wear analysis: A basic introduction on how to reconstruct the functions of stone tools. Hukay, 3(1).
Roth, B. J., & Dibble, H. L. (1998). Production and transport of blanks and tools at the french middle paleolithic site of combe-capelle bas. American Antiquity, 47 - 62.
Semenov, S. (1964). Prehistoric Technology. (p. 211). (M. W. Thompson, Trans.) London: Cory, Adams & Mackay). Publisher.
Siti Khairani Abd. Jalil. (2016). Klasifikasi dan teknologi alat repeh batuan impak Bukit Bunuh serta fungsinya melalui eksperimen kesan guna (Unpublished masters thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Shott, M. J. (1989). Bipolar industries: Ethnographic evidence and archaeological implications. North American Archaeologist, 10, 1 - 24.
Shott, M. J. (1994). Size and form in the analysis of flake debris: Review and recent approaches. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 1, 69 - 110.
Shott, M. J. et al. (2000). Flake size from platform attributes: Predictive and empirical approaches. Journal of Archaeological Science, 27(10), 877 - 894.
Tringham R. et al. (1974). Experimentation in the formation of edge damage: A new approach to lithic analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology, 171 - 196.
Weedman, K. J. (2002). On the spur of the moment: Effects of age and experience on hafted stone scraper morphology. American Antiquity, 67, 731 - 744.
Wenzel, K. E., & P. H. Shelley. (2001). What put the small in the arctic small tool tradition: Raw material constraints on lithic technology at the mosquito lake site, Alaska. In William Andrefsky. (Ed.). Lithic Debitage: Context, Form, Meaning (106 - 123). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press,
Whittaker, J. C. (1994). Flintknapping: Making and understanding stone tools. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Zuraina Majid. (1996). Prasejarah Malaysia: Sudakah Zaman Gelap Menjadi Cerah? Pulau Pinang: Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Zuraina Majid. (1997). The discovery of Bukit Jawa, Gelok. A middle-late palaeolithic site in Perak, Malaysia. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 49 - 52.
Zuraina Majid. (1998). Radiocarbon dates and culture sequence in the Lenggong Valley and beyond. In Zuraina Majid (Ed.). Archeological Research and Museums in Malaysia. Special Volume Published in Malaysia Museums Journal, 241 - 249.
Zuraina Majid. (2003). Archaeology in Malaysia. Pulau Pinang: Pusat Penyelidikan Arkeologi Global.
Andrefsky, W. (2005). Lithics: Macroscopic approaches to analysis (p. 301). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Andrefsky, W. (2008). Lithic technology: Measures of production, use and curation (p. 360). Cambridge University Press.
Andrefsky, W. (2009). The analysis of stone tool procurement, production, and maintenance. Journal of Archaeological Research, 17(65 - 103).
Ashton, N. M., & White, M. (2003). Bifaces and raw-materials: Flexible flaking in the British Early Paleolithic (p. 115). University Museum Monograph, 115. In Soressi, M., & Dibble, H. (Eds.). Multiple Approaches to the Study of Bifacial Technology (pp. 109 – 124). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Bamforth, D. B. (1986). Technological efficiency and tool curation. American Antiquity, 51, 38 - 50.
Brantingham, P. J. & Kuhn, S. L. (2001). Constraints on levallois core technology: A mathematical model. Journal of Archaeological Science, 28, 747 - 761.
Carr, P. J. (Ed.). (1994). The Organization of North American Prehistoric Chipped Stone Tool Technologies (pp. 87 - 98). International Monographs in Prehistory: Ann Arbor, MI.
Callahan, E. (1979). The basics of biface knapping in the eastern fluted point tradition: A manual for flintknappers and lithic analysts. Archaeology of Eastern North America, 7(1) , 1-180.
Capaldo, S. D., & Blumenschine, R. J. (1994). A quantitative diagnosis of notches made by hammerstone percussion and carnivore gnawing on bovid long bones. American Antiquity (pp. 724 - 748).
Chase, P. G. (1990). Tool-making tools and Middle Paleolithic behavior. Current Anthropology (pp. 443 - 447).
Clarkson, C. (2002). An index of invasiveness for the measurement of unifacial and bifacial retouch: A theoretical, experimental and archaeological verification. Journal of Archaeological Science, 29, 65 - 75.
Clarkson, C., Haslam, M., & Harris, C. (2015). When to retouch, haft, or discard? Modeling optimal use/maintenance schedules in lithic tool use. In Lithic Technological Systems and Evolutionary Theory (p.117). Tempat: Penerbit.
Davis, Z. J., & Shea, J. J. (1998). Quantifying lithic curation: An experimental test of Dibble and Pelcin's original flake-tool mass predictor. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25(7), 603 -610.
Dibble, H. (1995). Middle Paleolithic scraper reduction: Background, clarification, and review of the evidence to date. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2(4), 299 - 368.
Eren, M. I. et al. (2013). Refuting the technological cornerstone of the Ice-Age Atlantic crossing hypothesis. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(7), 2934 - 2941.
Eren, M. I. et al. (2005). Defining and measuring reduction in unifacial stone tools. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(8), 1190 - 1201.
Grace, R. (2012). Interpreting the Function of Stone Tools. Ikarus Books: United Kingdom (p.174).
Hamid Mohd. Isa. (2007). Bengkel alat batu zaman pleistosen pertengahan (70,000 tahun dahulu) di Kota Tampan, Lenggong, Perak (Unpublished masters thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Hiscock, P., & Clarkson, C. (2007). Retouched notches at Combe Grenal (France) and the reduction hypothesis. American Antiquity, 72(1), 176 - 190.
Hiscock, P., & Clarkson, C. (2005). Experimental evaluation of Kuhn's geometric index of reduction and the flat-flake problem. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(7), 1015 - 1022.
Jeffrey Abdullah. (2013). Sabah dalam prasejarah Asia Tenggara. Siri Arkeologi Perdana ( p.105), Lembah Mansuli, Lahad Datu: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Jeffrey Abdullah. (2014). Bukti Kebudayaan Paleolitik 17,000 - 8,000 Tahun Dahulu. In Mokhtar Saidin, & Jeffrey Abdullah. (Eds.). Sumbangan Sabah kepada Arkeologi Asia Tenggara. Hasil Penyelidikan 20 Tahun (1993 - 2013). Monograf Muzium Sabah, 12.
Jeffrey Abdullah. (2015). Kebudayaan paleolitik di Lembah Mansuli semasa pleistosen tengah hingga pleistosen akhir (235,000 - 11,000 tahun dahulu) (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Keeley, L. H. (1980). Experimental determination of stone tool uses (p. 212). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lerner, H. (2014). Intra-raw material variability and use-wear accrual: A continuing exploration. Journal of Lithic Studies, 1(1), 165 - 186.
Mokhtar Saidin. (1997). Kajian perbandingan tapak paleolitik Kampung Temelong dengan Kota Tampan dan sumbangannya terhadap zaman pleistosen akhir di Asia Tenggara. Malaysia Museum Journal, 32.
Mokhtar Saidin. (1998). Kebudayaan paleolitik di Malaysia. Sumbangan tapak Lawin, Perak dan Tingkayu, Sabah (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Mokhtar Saidin. (2014). Urutan kronologi prasejarah Sabah. In Mokhtar Saidin, & Jeffrey Abdullah (Eds.). Sumbangan Sabah kepada arkeologi Asia Tenggara: Hasil penyelidikan 20 Tahun (1993 - 2013) . Monograf Muzium Sabah, 12.
Monnier, G. (2006). Testing retouched flake tool standardization during the middle paleolithic. In Transitions Before the Transition (pp. 57 - 83) . Springer US.
Morales, J. I., & Vergès, J. M. (2014). Technological behaviors in paleolithic foragers. Testing the role of resharpening in the assemblage organization. Journal of Archaeological Science, (49), 302 - 316.
Movius Jr., & H. L. (1955). Palaeolithic archaeology in Southern and Eastern Asia. Exclusive of India. Journal of World History, 11(2/3), 257 - 282.
Movius Jr., & H. L. (1948). The lower palaeolithic cultures of southern and eastern Asia. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, 38(4), 330 - 420.
Nor Khairunisa Talib. (2013). Ekskavasi tapak Bukit Bunuh, Lenggong, Perak: Sumbangan kepada pemahaman kebudayaan paleolitik (Unpublished masters thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Odell, G. H. (2001). Stone tool research at the end of the millennium: Classification, function, and behavior. Journal of Archaeological Research, 9(1), 45 - 100.
Odell, G. H. (2003). Lithic analysis: Manuals in archaeological method, theory, and technique. Springer, NewYork. Odell, G. H., & F.
Odell-Vereecken. (1980). Verifying the reliability of lithic use-wear assessments by ‘blind tests’: The low-power approach. Journal of Field Archaeology, 7, 87 - 120.
Pawlik, A. (2001). Microscopic use-wear analysis: A basic introduction on how to reconstruct the functions of stone tools. Hukay, 3(1).
Roth, B. J., & Dibble, H. L. (1998). Production and transport of blanks and tools at the french middle paleolithic site of combe-capelle bas. American Antiquity, 47 - 62.
Semenov, S. (1964). Prehistoric Technology. (p. 211). (M. W. Thompson, Trans.) London: Cory, Adams & Mackay). Publisher.
Siti Khairani Abd. Jalil. (2016). Klasifikasi dan teknologi alat repeh batuan impak Bukit Bunuh serta fungsinya melalui eksperimen kesan guna (Unpublished masters thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
Shott, M. J. (1989). Bipolar industries: Ethnographic evidence and archaeological implications. North American Archaeologist, 10, 1 - 24.
Shott, M. J. (1994). Size and form in the analysis of flake debris: Review and recent approaches. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 1, 69 - 110.
Shott, M. J. et al. (2000). Flake size from platform attributes: Predictive and empirical approaches. Journal of Archaeological Science, 27(10), 877 - 894.
Tringham R. et al. (1974). Experimentation in the formation of edge damage: A new approach to lithic analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology, 171 - 196.
Weedman, K. J. (2002). On the spur of the moment: Effects of age and experience on hafted stone scraper morphology. American Antiquity, 67, 731 - 744.
Wenzel, K. E., & P. H. Shelley. (2001). What put the small in the arctic small tool tradition: Raw material constraints on lithic technology at the mosquito lake site, Alaska. In William Andrefsky. (Ed.). Lithic Debitage: Context, Form, Meaning (106 - 123). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press,
Whittaker, J. C. (1994). Flintknapping: Making and understanding stone tools. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Zuraina Majid. (1996). Prasejarah Malaysia: Sudakah Zaman Gelap Menjadi Cerah? Pulau Pinang: Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Zuraina Majid. (1997). The discovery of Bukit Jawa, Gelok. A middle-late palaeolithic site in Perak, Malaysia. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 49 - 52.
Zuraina Majid. (1998). Radiocarbon dates and culture sequence in the Lenggong Valley and beyond. In Zuraina Majid (Ed.). Archeological Research and Museums in Malaysia. Special Volume Published in Malaysia Museums Journal, 241 - 249.
Zuraina Majid. (2003). Archaeology in Malaysia. Pulau Pinang: Pusat Penyelidikan Arkeologi Global.
Published
2018-07-01
How to Cite
ABD JALIL, Siti Khairani; ABDULLAH, Jeffrey; SAIDIN, Mokhtar.
Classification of Palaeolithic Flake Tools in Malaysia.
Melayu: Jurnal Antarabangsa Dunia Melayu, [S.l.], v. 11, n. 2, p. 218-230, july 2018.
ISSN 2682-8049.
Available at: <https://jurnal.dbp.my/index.php/Melayu/article/view/3330>. Date accessed: 04 may 2024.
Section
Articles
