Experimental Study for Detecting Morphological Effects of Thermal Alteration on Obsidian Artifacts and Quantitative Examination in an Obsidian Assemblage

摘要

In order to detect the effects of thermally altered obsidian on lithic assemblage, promi- nent morphological characteristics of obsidian artifacts, which include craxing and breakages, were classified in examining a Meboshigawa 2 assemblage at a late upper Paleolithic site in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Observations made using a light microscope discerned six prominent morphological charac- teristics: crazing like a fingerprint, squamous craxing, tiny cracks, vesiculation, breakage with flat surface, and breakage with irregular surface.