Chapter 44—Bone tool technology
Résumé
The chapter presents the main bone and antler tool types used in the daily activities of populations during the Mesolithic, along with the technical principles and concepts underlying their manufacture and utilization. Three industrial systems are recognized as distinct templates used in animal-based material exploitation (including sea shell). Their identification indicates that the regular production of tools made from animal carcasses resulted from technical choices derived from, linked to, or embedded in subsistence strategies. The emergence of compound tools appears to be specific to the Mesolithic period and is discussed based on evidence found on the hunting and fishing gear with non-detachable heads as well as on the socketed heavy-duty tools. The diverse hafting and gripping (including different kinds of engraving) systems point to distinct chronological periods. Mesolithic hunters and gatherers also used their equipment as a means of expressing symbolic thoughts through a tangible relationship in their art of decorating certain bone points and bevel-ended tools and, even, of covering the body of the deceased with osseous materials in the tombs.