Affiliation:
1. Institute of Archaeology University of Wrocław Wrocław Dolnośląskie Poland
2. Institute of Geography and Regional Development University of Wrocław Wrocław Dolnośląskie Poland
3. MONREPOS Archaeological Research Unit and Museum of Human Behavioural Evolution Germany
Abstract
AbstractArchaeologists use a method of evaluating the characteristics of flakes, called scoring, to distinguish geofacts (pseudo‐artefacts or eoliths) from artefacts. Lower total scores are considered indicative of a natural source of the finds, while higher ones support the opposite. However, this method has some limitations. The most important are the small quantity of assemblages subject to such an analysis and the unclear boundary drawn by a ranking within a point‐based score evaluation between collections with finds of cultural and anthropic origin. Here, we present a method that minimizes these limitations. It consists of a statistical approach using scoring percentages, a new method of visualizing them and the application of clustering. This way, we obtained clear differences between pseudo‐artefacts and artefacts by considering flakes from six flint assemblages from Central Europe as well as an experimental assemblage.