Multivariate evaluation of criteria for differentiating cut marks created from steel and lithic implements

The identification of cut marks has been integral to expanding the understanding of hominin behavior ranging from the origins of meat consumption to the role of human hunting in megafaunal extinctions and the timing of the peopling of the Americas. Paleoanthropological and archaeological research demonstrates cut mark placement can be indicative of activity, but cut mark morphology is more complex and influenced by multiple variables such as raw material, tool shape, and bone density. Significant overlap in the 'classic' features of cut marks, such as V-shaped cross-sections, has also been recognized in numerous processes including carnivore gnawing and trampling. Before researchers can refer to modified animal remains as proxies for a hominin presence, diagnostic patterns representative of past human behavior in the archaeological record must first be identified and distinguished from modern cultural processes. This paper develops an empirical multivariate and probabilistic approach for differentiating cut marks created by lithics from those by steel. The results identify no single diagnostic attribute of cut marks produced by lithics. However, an approach which includes excavation history, stratigraphic context, location, orientation, and mark color significantly improve the likelihood with which cut marks are identified accurately.