Topographic multi-scale surface analysis for the study of stone celts’ polishing techniques

A. Boleti, H. Procopiou, H. Zahouani, R. Vargiolu & S. Mezghani Στο E. Photos-Jones, Y. Bassiakos, E. Filippaki, A. Hein, I. Karatasios, V. Kilikoglou & E. Kouloumpi (eds), 2016. Proceedings of the 6th Symposium of the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry (Bar International Series 2780), Oxford: 65-71.

This paper presents applied tribological surface analysis for the study of polishing techniques for manufacturing stone celts. A comparative study of archaeological and experimental data has been conducted applying observation under low magnification with a microscope and a digital camera (microscope), interferometry and finally, a multi-scale analysis of surfaces using a mathematical tool developed in the field of tribology, the method of continuous wavelets transform (CWT). These methods of analysis have been applied to diasporite celts from late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Aegean contexts. Comparative analysis aimed more precisely at evaluating abrasives’ performance, isolating their morphological signature on polished surfaces and in this way, identifying their use. The first results showed that multiscale analysis by CWT is an efficient tool and can successfully contribute at reconstituting prehistoric polishing techniques and evaluating parameters involved.