Editing Lithic analysis (section)

===Function===
Functional analysis of stone tools – a term given to a variety of approaches designed with the aim of identifying the use of a stone tool – is based on the argument that the uses to which tools were put in antiquity leave diagnostic damage and/or polish on their working edges. This type of analysis is also known as [[use-wear analysis]]

Experiments have been conducted in order to match up the microwear patterns on actual artifacts with experimental artifacts. At the site of Nausharo, the use-wear analysis conducted on the flint artifacts showed a match to the experimental use-wear of a potter using the flint blades as trimming tools for pottery placed on a potter's wheel. This is significant because it gives direct evidence for the use of the blades and for the presence of a potter's wheel.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Méry |first1=S. |last2=Anderson |first2=P. |last3=Inizan |first3=M. L. |last4=Lechevallier |first4=M. |last5=Pelegrin |first5=J. |year=2007 |title=A pottery workshop with flint tools on blades knapped with copper at Nausharo (Indus civilisation, ca. 2500 BC) |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=34 |issue=7|pages=1098–1116 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.002|bibcode=2007JArSc..34.1098M}}</ref>

Although there are debates concerning the physics of both edge polishes and edge damage which draw on the science of [[tribology]], modern [[microwear]] analysis usually depends on the comparisons of the edge wear of modern experimentally produced samples with [[archaeological]] and/or [[ethnographic]] tools. The ability of a microwear analyst has been tested in the past by presenting them with a set of experimentally produced and utilised tool in a [[blind experiment]]. The overall purpose is to provide an accurate, and precise, analytical instrument for the identification of stone tool function. The precision of functional identifications may range considerably, from "scraping soft material" to "scraping fresh hide for 10 minutes" with a corresponding drop in accuracy as precision increases. Macrowear studies relying on 3D modelling are also increasingly common.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Wyatt-Spratt |first=Simon |date=2022-11-04 |title=After the Revolution: A Review of 3D Modelling as a Tool for Stone Artefact Analysis |journal=Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=215–237 |doi=10.5334/jcaa.103 |issn=2514-8362|doi-access=free|hdl=2123/30230 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Ethnographic research is another way to figure out the use of stone tools by observing the modern communities which still have stone tool traditions. A research of the Wola society in Papua New Guinea shows that stone tools have a wide range of uses, but a short lifespan. They use stone tools to make weapons, utensils, clothing, and musical instruments. However, the lithic materials might be less important than wooden tools in their material culture when considering other resources in the Wola. It shows that studying both people and environment as a whole can provide a better understanding of the function and role of stone tools.<ref>Sillitoe, P. and K. Hardy 2003 "Living lithics: ethnoarchaeology in highland Papua New Guinea". ''Antiquity'' 77:555-566.</ref>