Functional Analysis of the Lithic Assemblages from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites of Khorramabad Valley (Western Iran), with special reference to Kaldar Cave

Identifier:  TDX:3020

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3020

Authors:  Tumung, Laxmi

Abstract:
This thesis faces the functional analysis of Middle and Upper Paleolithic lithic assemblages of the Khorramabad Valley (Western Iran), with special attention to Kaldar Cave. It is framed in a multi-disciplinary research project focused on the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition in the Zagros Mountains. In methodological terms, there is a twofold perspective, use-wear and residues analyses, which are always considered from a non-invasive and eminently and multi-technique perspective. To the commonly used optical and scanning electron microscopy (OM and SEM), we added the use of the 3D digital microscopy (3D DM). For the chemical characterisaiton of the residues, we used SEM with microprobe EDX, FTIR and μXRD. All these techniques were applied to both experimental and archaeological samples. The thesis embodies seven publications. Four of them were articles published in SCI journals, and aimed to present the archaeological, chronological and paleoenvironmental context of the studied assemblages. Another is an accepted manuscript for a monograph which deals with the preliminary functional analysis result of the Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblage of Kaldar Cave. Finally, we include two prepared manuscripts based on the multi-analytic approach for the functional analysis results to identify the archaeological use-wear and residues.