Michelle Bebber
Biographic Data
| ID | 191973 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michelle Bebber |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michelle |
| FAMILY NAME | Bebber |
| SIGNATURE | BEBBER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Kent State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6084-8420 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 63 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 378 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 63 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
The Joshua Cache: Salvage, description, and analysis of a possible Early Woodland (Adena) biface cache from Sugarcreek, Ohio, USA
The Joshua cache was discovered by accident in 2021 during modern development of a golf course in Ohio. It contains 11 beautifully flaked stone lanceolate bifaces, two of which archaeologists excavated. Carbonized wood samples with unclear association to the cache were dated via radiocarbon to the mid-twelfth to mid thirteenth centuries AD. However, the Joshua cache bifaces strongly resemble those from caches affiliated with the Early Woodland “A…
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance VI: An Experimental and Analytical Assessment of Javelin and Atlatl Dart Oscillation Frequency, Mode Shape, and Shaft Spine
Lithic Miniaturization and Technological Innovation on the Southern Dispersal Route Out of Africa
Over the past fifteen years, the Dhofar Archaeological Project has mapped 272 Middle Stone Age/Middle Palaeolithic sites in southern Oman, each exhibiting some extent of Nubian Levallois technology. This study describes a representative sample of 15 such assemblages and conducts quantitative analyses to explore variability in core reduction strategies, metric proportions, and post-depositional surface modifications. Lithic taphonomy provides insi…
What can lithics tell us about hominin technology's ‘primordial soup’? An origin of stone knapping via the emulation of Mother Nature
The use of stone hammers to produce sharp stone flakes—knapping—is thought to represent a significant stage in hominin technological evolution because it facilitated the exploitation of novel resources, including meat obtained from medium‐to‐large‐sized vertebrates. The invention of knapping may have occurred via an additive (i.e., cumulative) process that combined several innovative stages. Here, we propose that one of these stages was the homin…
Controlled comparative tensile tests of backed versus non‐backed edges’ adhesion: Inferences into stone tool functional properties
Backing is a procedure for retouching a stone tool edge to an angle of or near 90°. Archaeologists have recorded backed lithic specimens in the Pleistocene and Holocene around the world. One prominent hypothesis for the occurrence of backing is that it increases a stone tool's adhesion relative to what it would have otherwise been with unmodified, sharp edges. We conducted a highly controlled semi‐static tensile test in which we assessed lithic s…
Description, Microwear, and Morphometrics of Clovis and Possible-Clovis Lithic Artifacts from the Kasten Site, Erie County, Ohio, USA
The Kasten Site is a multicomponent plowzone site in Erie County, Ohio that possesses a Late Pleistocene Clovis lithic assemblage. Here, we describe the late Pleistocene Clovis, and possible-Clovis, lithic artifacts via technological descriptions, illustrations and images, morphometrics, and microwear. The lithic artifacts are made from cherts which appear to outcrop between 94.7 and 356.8 km from the site. Based on our descriptions, we suggest t…
Experimental bison butchery using replica hafted Clovis fluted points and large handheld flakes
Late Pleistocene Clovis fluted points and stone flake tools have been found in association with bison at several archaeological sites in western North America. To gain insight into how these tools may have functioned in bison butchery, as well as to assess the assumptions or interpretations of these implements by archaeologists, we conducted a bison-processing experiment. We examined the relative efficacy in the butchering process of hafted flute…
Hit or miss: Do microscopic linear impact traces (MLITs) form on Clovis stone tips launched via atlatl into foliage and sediment
Stone weapon tips can exhibit microscopic linear impact traces (MLITs), as a result of the tip impacting abrasive materials, including stone fragments from the tip itself that detached upon impact. Experiments have demonstrated that MLITs can form via the use of a variety of weapon systems, stone point types, and targets. MLITs found on North American Late Pleistocene Clovis points in association with proboscideans at the Colby and Lange/Ferguson…
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance IV: An Experimental Assessment of Knife Edge Effectiveness and Wear
This study is an assessment of Clovis knife edge effectiveness and wear. This work is the fourth contribution in a series of experiments aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis “point” forms. Here, we used both edges from 14 replica Clovis point forms in a wood slicing task: the first seven forms represent the average and extremes of observed Clovis points; the second seven represent length-standardized versions. …
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance V: An Experimental Assessment of Spear Thrusting Penetration Depth and Entry Wound Size
This study is an assessment of Clovis spear thrusting penetration depth and entry wound size. This work is the fifth contribution in a series of experiments aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis point forms. Here, using highly controlled and standardized procedures, we had a participant who had previously trained with bayonets and hand-to-hand combat thrust seven spears, each tipped with a distinct Clovis point …
The gravity of Paleolithic hunting
Topographic relief likely played a role in Stone Age hunting. • Hunters may have been able to hunt from on high. • We experimentally assessed the interaction of projectiles with launch height. • As launch height increased, javelin velocity and kinetic energy increased. • Atlatl dart velocity and kinetic energy did not. Topographic relief potentially played an important role in Stone Age hunting from the Middle Paleolithic onwards. Natural physica…
Mapping lateral stratigraphy at Palaeolithic surface sites: A case study from Dhofar, Oman
Open-air accumulations of chipped stone debris are a common feature in arid landscapes, yet despite their prevalence, such archives are often dismissed as uninformative or unreliable. In the canyonlands of Dhofar, southern Oman, lithic surface scatters are nearly ubiquitous, including extensive, multi-component workshops associated with chert outcrops. These sites typically display chronologically diagnostic features that correspond to distinct t…
Examining the distribution of Middle Paleolithic Nubian cores relative to chert quality in southern (Nejd, Dhofar) and south‐central (Duqm, Al Wusta) Oman
Lithic raw material properties are often invoked to explain the presence, absence, form, or ontogeny of Paleolithic stone tools. Here, we explore whether the frequency of the Middle Paleolithic Nubian core form and core‐reduction systems co‐varies with toolstone quality in two neighboring regions in Oman: the southern region of Nejd, Dhofar, and the south‐central region of Duqm, Al Wusta. Specifically, we predicted that if raw material difference…
On the evolution of limestone-tempered pottery in the American Midwest: An experimental assessment of vessel weight and its relationship to other functional/mechanical properties
During the Middle and Late Woodland periods in the American Midwest some small-scale societies transitioned from grit to limestone as the primary clay temper. Limestone offers experimentally demonstrated benefits to vessel manufacture, including decreased wall thickness, but given the society-wide changes in mobility and exchange that also occurred, we investigated whether the use of limestone temper resulted in a different vessel weight relative…
Description, Morphometrics, and Microwear of Two Paleoindian Fluted Points from Nebraska and Illinois
Principles of Modern Artistic Design in Late Pleistocene Clovis Stone Biface Technology
For nearly a century, scholars and avocationals alike have been fascinated with Late Pleistocene North American Clovis lithic technology. Of interest here is that, although a magnitude of research has been devoted to understanding the performance characteristics of Clovis lithic technology, less scholarship has been devoted to evaluating the aesthetic characteristics of Clovis stone tools despite the fact that many scholars have commented – often…
Clovis bone versus stone weapon tip penetration: Thinking about relative costs and benefits, experimental assumptions, and archaeological unknowns at Sheriden Cave, Ohio, U.S.A
Identifying accurate artefact morphological ranges using optimal linear estimation: Method validation, case studies, and code
A fundamental goal of archaeologists is to infer the behaviour of past humans from the attributes of the artefacts they left behind. The archaeological record is, however, fragmented and often provides a partial record of the total artefacts produced by a given population. In turn, there is potential for population-level morphometric data, and therefore behavioural inferences, to be biased relative to the trends realised in the past. This include…
Comparison of four ballistic and thrusting target materials: An experimental and Bayesian approach using static testing of stone and steel arrow tips
Researchers use a variety of target materials, and sometimes combinations of materials, in their archaeological experiments to examine thrust‐spear or projectile penetration, impact angle, durability, and other issues involving prehistoric hunting weaponry. This variety of target materials is beneficial to archaeological science in several ways, but it may also hinder the comparison of results because many of these target materials do not necessa…
Antarctica as a 'natural laboratory' for the critical assessment of the archaeological validity of early stone tool sites
Lithic technologies dominate understanding of early humans, yet natural processes can fracture rock in ways that resemble artefacts made by Homo sapiens and other primates. Differentiating between fractures made by natural processes and primates is important for assessing the validity of early and controversial archaeological sites. Rather than depend on expert authority or intuition, the authors propose a null model of conchoidally fractured Ant…
The Injury Costs of Knapping
For at least three million years, knapping stone has been practiced by hominin societies large and small, past and present. Thus, understanding knapping, knappers, and knapping cultures is fundamental to anthropological research around the world. Although there is a general sense that stone knapping is inherently dangerous and can lead to injury, little is formally, specifically, or systematically known about the frequency, location, or severity …
Relative Heating Effectiveness and the Decline of the Soapstone Cooking Vessel in Eastern North America
During the North American Late Archaic Period, people produced ceramic vessels from clay and stone vessels from soapstone. While both ceramic and soapstone vessels proliferated across eastern North America, the former evolved and endured into the subsequent periods, while the latter declined. Here, we conducted an experiment to assess heating effectiveness between soapstone and ceramic vessels. We examined heating rate, ability to boil, heat rete…
Not just for proboscidean hunting: On the efficacy and functions of Clovis fluted points
Our article “On the efficacy of Clovis fluted points for hunting proboscideans” (Eren et al., 2021), sought to assess whether these stone points were, as conventional wisdom had it, highly effective weapon components for inflicting lethal wounds on proboscideans. Although Clovis points had been used to bring down proboscideans, we observed that their penetrating ability had limits that reduced their ballistic effectiveness. That, combined with th…
Experimental assessment of lanceolate projectile point and haft robustness
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance II: An Experimental Assessment of Point, Haft, and Shaft Durability
This study presents the results of an experimental assessment of Clovis projectile durability, or the ability of Clovis point forms and their hafts to withstand impact damage. This work is the second contribution in a series of experimental studies aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis point forms. For this experiment we fired seven replica Clovis point forms, representing the average and extremes of observed Cl…
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance: An Experimental Assessment of Penetration Depth
In Late Pleistocene North America colonizing hunter-gatherers knapped and used Clovis fluted projectile points. During their expansion the size and shape of Clovis points changed significantly. Archaeologists know that cultural drift contributed to this variation, but is it possible that this single source could alone generate so much variation so quickly? We present the first of several experimental studies exploring whether Clovis size and shap…
On the efficacy of Clovis fluted points for hunting proboscideans
Clovis fluted points are deemed efficient weapon tips for hunting large game, including Pleistocene proboscideans. However, experimental and archaeological studies cast doubt on their effectiveness as hunting weapons. Owing to the broad and thick tip geometry of Clovis points, their penetration depth into a carcass would have been relatively limited, which would have rendered them unlikely to reach the well-protected vital organs of a proboscidea…
Hunter-gatherer gatherings: Stone-tool microwear from the Welling Site (33-Co-2), Ohio, U.S.A. supports Clovis use of outcrop-related base camps during the Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas
During the Pleistocene Peopling of North America, the use of stone outcrops for forager gatherings would have provided Clovis colonizing hunter-gatherers with several advantages beyond that of toolstone procurement. Stone outcrops would have been predictable and immovable places on an emerging map of a landscape for a thinly scattered colonizing population needing to find one another, as well as ideal teaching locales where novice flintknappers c…
Experimental assessment of proximal-lateral edge grinding on haft damage using replicated Late Pleistocene (Clovis) stone projectile points
Toward a functional understanding of the North American Old Copper Culture “technomic devolution”
Nine-thousand years of optimal toolstone selection through the North American Holocene
The Black Diamond Site, Northeast Ohio, USA: A New Clovis Occupation in a Proposed Secondary Staging Area
Tempered strength: A controlled experiment assessing opportunity costs of adding temper to clay
Knapping quality of local versus exotic Upper Mercer chert (Ohio, USA) during the Holocene
Stone that fractured conchoidally was an important resource for prehistoric hunter‐gatherers. In recent years, archaeologists have come to realize that rather than defining stone “quality” simply and implicitly as “high” or “low,” a stone's quality can be best defined in several different explicit and often quantitative ways involving production, function, or social benefits. Here, we examine the stone quality—defined as “fracture predictability”…
Not just for proboscidean hunting: On the efficacy and functions of Clovis fluted points
Our article “On the efficacy of Clovis fluted points for hunting proboscideans” (Eren et al., 2021), sought to assess whether these stone points were, as conventional wisdom had it, highly effective weapon components for inflicting lethal wounds on proboscideans. Although Clovis points had been used to bring down proboscideans, we observed that their penetrating ability had limits that reduced their ballistic effectiveness. That, combined with th…
Plains Paleoindian Projectile Point Penetration Potential
The iconic Paleoindian projectile points of the northern portion of the North American Great Plains—Clovis, Folsom, Agate Basin, Plainview (Goshen), Hell Gap, Alberta, Scottsbluff, and Eden—span nearly 4,000 radiocarbon years. Here, we apply recent findings from experimental archaeology to a database of 343 Paleoindian points to better understand how well these point types potentially functioned relative to each other in terms of penetration. Giv…
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance II: An Experimental Assessment of Point, Haft, and Shaft Durability
This study presents the results of an experimental assessment of Clovis projectile durability, or the ability of Clovis point forms and their hafts to withstand impact damage. This work is the second contribution in a series of experimental studies aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis point forms. For this experiment we fired seven replica Clovis point forms, representing the average and extremes of observed Cl…
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance III: An Experimental Assessment of Knife Cutting Efficiency
This study is an experimental assessment of Clovis knife use. This work is the third contribution in a series of experiments aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis “point” forms. Here, we used seven replica Clovis point forms, representing the average and extremes of observed Clovis form, in two cutting tasks: rope cutting and clay cutting. Statistical comparison of cutting time, our measure of cutting efficiency…
The non-invention of the ceramic arrowhead in world archaeology
Mapping lateral stratigraphy at Palaeolithic surface sites: A case study from Dhofar, Oman
Open-air accumulations of chipped stone debris are a common feature in arid landscapes, yet despite their prevalence, such archives are often dismissed as uninformative or unreliable. In the canyonlands of Dhofar, southern Oman, lithic surface scatters are nearly ubiquitous, including extensive, multi-component workshops associated with chert outcrops. These sites typically display chronologically diagnostic features that correspond to distinct t…
Another tool in the experimental toolbox: On the use of aluminum as a substitute for chert in North American prehistoric ballistics research and beyond
Experimental archaeology continues to mature methodologically and theoretically. Around the world, practitioners are increasingly using modern materials that would have been unavailable to prehistoric people in archaeological experiments. The use of a modern material substitute can offer several benefits to experimental method, design, control, replicability, feasibility, and cost, but it should be directly compared to its “traditional” analogue …
Experimental assessment of lanceolate projectile point and haft robustness
Stone tool backing and adhesion in hunting weaponry: First results of an experimental program
Experimental assessment of obsidian versus chert lanceolate projectile point durability and robusticity: Semi‐static fracture strength and dynamic impact
Stone‐tipped weaponry was important for the survival of past peoples, and many functional and non‐functional factors likely influenced their design. Two functional factors that past peoples likely considered in the design of their stone tips are durability (whether or not a stone tip breaks) and robusticity (how much damage is incurred upon breakage). Many factors have been shown experimentally to influence stone tip influence durability and robu…
The Role of Functional Efficiency in the Decline of North America’s Copper Culture (8000–3000 BP): An Experimental, Ecological, and Evolutionary Approach
Description, Geometric Morphometrics, and Microwear of Five Clovis Fluted Projectile Points from Lucas and Wood Counties, Northwest Ohio, USA
Controlled experiments support the role of function in the evolution of the North American copper tool repertoire
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance IV: An Experimental Assessment of Knife Edge Effectiveness and Wear
This study is an assessment of Clovis knife edge effectiveness and wear. This work is the fourth contribution in a series of experiments aimed at shedding light on the functional performance of distinct Clovis “point” forms. Here, we used both edges from 14 replica Clovis point forms in a wood slicing task: the first seven forms represent the average and extremes of observed Clovis points; the second seven represent length-standardized versions. …
Clovis bone versus stone weapon tip penetration: Thinking about relative costs and benefits, experimental assumptions, and archaeological unknowns at Sheriden Cave, Ohio, U.S.A
The Mielke Clovis Site (33SH26), Western Ohio, USA, Geochemical Sourcing, Technological Descriptions, Artifact Morphometrics, and Microwear
The Mielke site (33SH26) is a multicomponent locality in western Ohio, in an upland portion of the state that forms a drainage divide between the Great Lakes and Ohio River watersheds. The site possesses a prominent Clovis component that we describe here and assessed via test excavations, geochemical sourcing, technological descriptions, geometric morphometrics, microwear, and GIS analysis. Five different raw materials, whose outcrops are located…
Tracking Trafficked Antiquities
The primary aim of this paper is to relate the results of a test conducted by the authors designed to evaluate an idea proposed by Alexander (2008). He suggested creating facsimiles of archaeological artifacts and embedding them with tracking devices such as Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID). The duplicates would then be stolen or otherwise given to looters thinking them the genuine articles. By moving the tracked artifacts with genui…
The morphometrics and microwear of a small Clovis assemblage from Guernsey County, Southeastern Ohio, U.S.A
Description and microwear analysis of Clovis artifacts on a glacially-deposited secondary chert source near the Hartley Mastodon discovery, Columbiana County, Northeastern Ohio, U.S.A
Developing a stable point: Evaluating the temporal and geographic consistency of Late Prehistoric unnotched triangular point functional design in Midwestern North America
Tempered strength: A controlled experiment assessing opportunity costs of adding temper to clay
Description, morphometrics, and microwear of Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene artifacts from Southwestern Kentucky, U.S.A
Toward a functional understanding of the North American Old Copper Culture “technomic devolution”
Description and Thermoluminescence (Tl) Dating of An Alleged Hopewell Mobiliary Clay Human Figurine from Hopeton Earthworks, Ross County, Ohio
During a reorganization of the collections at Kent State University (KSU), a fired-clay human figurine was discovered. Beyond the fact that KSU obtained the specimen from a collector, and the alleged origin was the Ohio Hopewell site of Hopeton Earthworks, information on the specimen’s provenience and chain of custody was lacking or ambiguous. To determine whether the artifact was consistent in style and age with Hopewell, we conducted a comparat…
Hunter-gatherer gatherings: Stone-tool microwear from the Welling Site (33-Co-2), Ohio, U.S.A. supports Clovis use of outcrop-related base camps during the Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas
During the Pleistocene Peopling of North America, the use of stone outcrops for forager gatherings would have provided Clovis colonizing hunter-gatherers with several advantages beyond that of toolstone procurement. Stone outcrops would have been predictable and immovable places on an emerging map of a landscape for a thinly scattered colonizing population needing to find one another, as well as ideal teaching locales where novice flintknappers c…
Controlled experiments support the role of function in the evolution of the North American copper tool repertoire
Experimental replication shows knives manufactured from frozen human feces do not work
The ethnographic account of an Inuit man manufacturing a knife from his own frozen feces to butcher and disarticulate a dog has permeated both the academic literature and popular culture. To evaluate the validity of this claim, we tested the basis of that account via experimental archaeology. Our experiments assessed the functionality of knives made from human feces in controlled conditions that provided optimal conditions for success. However, t…
Toward Recognizing the Prehistoric Butchery of Frozen Meat: An Archaeological Experiment and Stone Tool Microwear Analysis
Prehistoric humans occupied cold environments for more than one million years without the controlled use of fire. Processing frozen meat may have been a regular occurrence. In order to explore whether this behavior is present in the archaeological record, archaeologists must first understand whether the butchery of frozen meat leaves diagnostic traces of microwear on stone tools. We present an experiment that investigates what sorts of micro-trac…
The Effect of Heat on Lithic Microwear Traces: An Experimental Assessment
Despite decades of study of post-depositional surface modification by lithic use-wear analysts, the impact of heat remains underexplored. In this paper, we present the results of an experiment designed to test the effects of heat on chert tools with well-developed wood polish. We placed 50 flakes at varying positions in and around a wood fueled hearth. Visual examination of the wood polish before and after exposure to the fire identified no disce…
The Black Diamond Site, Northeast Ohio, USA: A New Clovis Occupation in a Proposed Secondary Staging Area
Invention or diffusion: On the appearance of limestone temper in the late Holocene archeological record of southern Ohio, USA
Experimental assessment of proximal-lateral edge grinding on haft damage using replicated Late Pleistocene (Clovis) stone projectile points
The Cerutti Mastodon site and experimental archaeology's quiet coming of age
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Nine-thousand years of optimal toolstone selection through the North American Holocene
Experimental assessment of Neo-Assyrian bronze arrowhead penetration: An initial study comparing bilobate versus trilobate morphologies
The non-invention of the ceramic arrowhead in world archaeology
Antelope Springs: A Folsom Site in South Park, Colorado
The Antelope Springs Folsom locality is located near Trout Creek Pass, which connects South Park, a high elevation basin in the Rocky Mountains, with the headwaters region of the Arkansas River. The pass is also the source of an eponymous jasper that dominates the small, surface collection of Folsom points, preforms, tools, and debitage we report on here. The Antelope Springs assemblage was focused on the reduction and replacement of a stone tool…
Description, Geometric Morphometrics, and Microwear of Five Clovis Fluted Projectile Points from Lucas and Wood Counties, Northwest Ohio, USA
Human behavior or taphonomy? On the breakage of Eastern North American Paleoindian endscrapers
North American Clovis Point Form and Performance: An Experimental Assessment of Penetration Depth
In Late Pleistocene North America colonizing hunter-gatherers knapped and used Clovis fluted projectile points. During their expansion the size and shape of Clovis points changed significantly. Archaeologists know that cultural drift contributed to this variation, but is it possible that this single source could alone generate so much variation so quickly? We present the first of several experimental studies exploring whether Clovis size and shap…
The Nelson stone tool cache, North-Central Ohio, U.S.A: Assessing its cultural affiliation
The Nelson stone tool cache was discovered in 2008 in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The cache does not include any diagnostic materials, and independent age control is unavailable. Although aspects of its 164 bifaces are suggestive of a Clovis affiliation – including the occasional occurrence of unmistakable flute scars – nearly all are in the early- to mid-stages of production, there are no definitive finished Clovis fluted points that would make it possi…
Archaeology (52 works) · Geology (46 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (45 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (45 works) · Geography (38 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (24 works) · History (22 works) · Paleontology (21 works) · History (16 works) · Materials Science (16 works)