The BaTEx project successfully developed a robust and innovative methodological framework for analysing use-wear on basalt. It notably advanced a comprehensive understanding of basalt’s physical and chemical properties, providing critical insights into how its petrological characteristics influence functional behaviour and wear formation. Moreover, a major achievement of BaTEx was the creation of a dedicated experimental reference collection for basalt. This collection integrates a diverse range of basalt varieties, activities (e.g. butchery, hide and bone working, plant processing), actions, and worked materials. This comprehensive dataset provides the essential groundwork for understanding wear development patterns over time and across various experimental scenarios, establishing a solid foundation for comparative studies of archaeological basalt assemblages. In addition, the project pioneered a multi-technique approach to basalt wear analysis, incorporating stereomicroscopy, metallographic, 3D digital, and scanning electron microscopy. This combination of methods was validated as essential for capturing the full spectrum of wear features.
Additionally, the project also initiated one of the first efforts to quantify wear on basalt tools, employing advanced systems such as a 3D profilometer with focus variation, confocal microscopy, and interferometry techniques. While in the testing phase, this initiative produced high-resolution surface texture measurements, yielding a valuable dataset for characterizing wear patterns. The integration of these quantitative methods with traditional qualitative studies proved particularly promising for enhancing the precision and depth of basalt wear analyses.
The project’s methodological advancements were successfully applied to archaeological basalt assemblages from Olduvai Bed 2 FC East and West (Tanzania; Lower Pleistocene; paleo-lake), Abri du Maras (France; Middle to Upper Pleistocene), and Bagratashen 1 (Armenia; Upper Pleistocene). These applications demonstrated the reliability of the multi-technique microscopic approach developed by BaTEx for identifying use-related wear on basalt tools. Furthermore, the validity of the methodology was confirmed across different chronologies, geo-archaeological conditions, and geographic contexts. Finally, the study highlighted the significance of basalt tools within the technological repertoires of hominins at the studied sites, likely due to the material’s local availability. While further analysis of entire lithic assemblages is necessary to fully understand the specific activities associated with basalt tools, BaTEx concluded that basalt was integral to hominin behavioural, technological, and adaptive strategies at the studied sites.
