new method to achieve lithic use-wear discrimination using laser scanning confocal microscopy

My study sought to acquire quantitative data from the surface of lithic tools and use that data to discriminate tools used on different contact materials. An experimental archaeological wear production method was conceived, whereby I and several volunteers produced wear on chert, heat-treated chert, and obsidian flakes by using those flakes on several contact materials. The flakes were then analyzed using a laser scanning confocal microscope, which recorded three-dimensional surface data from each tool. The data was analyzed using cluster analysis to find the ideal combination of parameters which correctly discriminated the flakes based on use-wear data. After finding acceptable parameters which grouped flakes appropriately through cluster analysis, those groups were subjected to a discriminant analysis. Each analysis returned a p-value under .05, meaning that the clustering based on the parameters Sq and Sfd produced by the cluster analysis was not random, but indicative of these variables' ability to discriminate lithic use-wear. The major advantage of the approach developed in this study is that it can quantitatively discriminate use-wear produced by different contact materials on flakes with no a priori information at all.