Complementariedad entre análisis de residuos y trazas de uso para la determinación funcional de los instrumentos macrolíticos: su aplicación a un ejemplo etnográfico del país Dogón (Mali)

Abstract

This paper aims to offer an alternative approach to conventional (and often even non-existent) studies of macrolithic or ground stone tools found in archaeological contexts. The analysis of a unique artefact, a “mano”, from an ethnographic context (Dogon country, Mali), is used to develop a methodological model for the daily archaeological research of this type of material. From the standpoint that labour processes (which are mat mainly as tools and finished products) are the key elements in the understanding of prehistoric societies, we propose a methodology which integrates use-wear analysis (addressing the participation of the tool in the productive cycle) and residue analysis (allowing an understanding of the processed good). The combination of both techniques should allow us to make evident a series of materials and working processes that have hardly been documented in the archaeological record until now, or even remain unknown.