TRACES OF WOOD AND BONE PROCESSING ON THE VOLCANIC FLINT OF THE DUNDA-AGA PALEOVOLCANO: THE PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTAL DATA
The article is a description of an experiment on planing the raw and dry wood, as well as boiled bone, which was carried out by flakes from volcanic flint from the raw material source of the Dunda-Aga paleovolcano, located in the Aginsky Buryat district of the Transbaikal region. In its course, changes in the working edge of the tools were monitored using binocular and metallographic microscopes, as well as photographic recording of these results using digital cameras and Helicon Focus v. 5.3. During the experiment, it was possible to identify a tendency for the formation of macro and micro wear of the surface of the working edge of objects, depending on the material processed by planing. It was found that on volcanic flint, in places of the most intense contact with a hard surface to be treated, micropolishing in individual microsections is formed already within the first 30 minutes of operation. Then these areas expand and close along the length of the working edge. Over time, tools that work dry wood show a fine micro-polish line, while wet wood forms a more discontinuous line of different widths. Bone processing showed the strongest modification of the tool. After an hour of work, it became dull due to intense rounding, and after two hours it almost completely lost its effectiveness. The results of this experiment clarify the dynamics of the formation of macro and micro wear on tools made of volcanic flint when processing dry and damp wood, as well as bone.