Custom flakes of polymerised bone cement (PMMA) were used as control debris.
In this, a short, pointed instrument of bone, antler, or wood was used to pry, not strike, off tiny flakes in order to leave the smallest scars.
The baton was a light "hammer," an almost foot-long piece of bone, antler, or even wood, whose gentler blows detached only quite small flakes that left smooth, shallow scars.
Behrensmeyer (1978) described six weathering stages (Stages 0 5) based on the progressive pattern of linear cracking and flaking of the cortical surface, followed by formation of a rough fibrous texture, and eventual collapse of bone integrity and structure (i.e., greasy bone with tissue is designated as Stage 0, and splintered fragile bone falling apart in situ is designated as Stage 5).
Other contemporary finds, now held at the Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales, Cardiff, include collared urn pottery, flaked knives, a scraper, flint flakes, a bone spatula, a needle and bead, and animal bones – the remains of domesticated animals, including cat and dog.
Bone mineral density, estimate of bone mass.
Modifications of bone surfaces were recorded as slicing cut-marks [71] and percussion marks: percussion pits, lunate scars, anvil striae, anvil fractures and adhering flakes [36] [37], [72].
Bone tools were indicative of modern behavior, Dr. Brooks said, because their production required a "higher level of planning and conceptualization than just knocking off flakes of stone".
There were hundreds of fragments of animal bone, each of which had been cleaned and numbered and placed in its own little plastic bag, and hundreds of flakes of flint.
Long, thin flakes of stone were notched and snapped to make smaller tips, and then blunted on one side so they could be fixed into lengths of wood or bone to make a spear or dart.
