旧石器时代残留物分析:回顾与展望

残留物分析是1970年代在西方发展起来的一项功能学分析技术, 即借助自然科学的多种手段, 对工具表面加工对象残存物的提取和鉴定分析。本文对西方石制品残留物分析研究史做了回顾和综述, 简要介绍此种方法的概念、原理及相关技术问题, 同时对中国旧石器时代石制品残留物分析的前景进行了展望, 希望对相关理论和方法的引进和应用起到铺垫和促进作用。我国旧石器时代考古资源非常丰富, 残留物分析在石器功能解读、遗址环境重建、古人类行为复原和食谱分析等方面都会起到重要的作用, 成为破解很多学术疑点和难题的钥匙。

Stone Tools Residue Analysis: Review and Prospect

The interpretation of the stone tools plays an substantially important role in the reconstruction of prehistoric society. Nowadays, the functional research of stone tools is considered as an indispensable field in archeology besides the materials procurement, knapping technology, assemblage analysis and human behaviour. Residue analysis is a technique of functional analysis developed in the West on 1970s which for the extraction and identification of the residues on the surface of artifacts with modem technologies. Through more than forty-years development and improvement, the residue analysis has become an essential part of stone tools function research which has attracted plenty of researchers to set foot in. From Lower to Upper Paleolithic, there are abundance of sites including cave sites and open air sites in China. Over the years, the studies were almost focused on the typological and technological attributes of the stone artifacts, however, to most of the materials, we have not extracted all the information possessed by artifacts jet. The residue analysis could make up and improve the situation at a great extent and give huge contribution to the functional studies and the paleoenvironmental reconstruction. This article focuses on the review and prospect of residue analysis research history in the West and explains some of the methods and technologies at the same time. These methods and technologies should be introduced to Chinese paleolithic archeology at present and certainly could have profound impacts to the future research.