Abstract
We carried out an experiment on felling trees with two types of stone axes which either have a straight haft or a knee haft. The purpose of this experiment was to reveal the effect of polished stone axes and to clarify how damage is formed on the edge of stone axes by cutting Castanea crenata and other broad-leaved trees. This usage experiment showed that edge damages such as microflakings and abrasions concentrated on the back angle of the stone axes attached to a knee type haft, while edge damages occurred uniformly from the back to front angles in the stone axes attached to a straight type haft. Moreover, usewear was more marked on the edge of stone axes when used on broad-leaved trees than on Castanea crenata. These results indicated that the strength of wood and the type of stone axes affect the formation of usewear on the edge of stone axes.
