Butchery Experiments with Reading University

Anna Machin (Reading University) is currently running experiments in animal butchery using bifacial stone tool. This week Matthew Pope helped in these experiments by systematically using bifaces to skin, quarter and joint a number of deer carcasses. The resulting video and transcriptions will be used to analyse the effectiveness of different bifacial edges and to test the overall significance of symmetry in the process.





The work looks set to provide some important insight into the way in which these tools were used in the past. Certainly it has already changed some of our perceptions and assumptions on the tool.