Quartz Microwear in a Mesolithic Wetland Context

This paper evaluates the potential of high-power use-wear analysis for quartz artefacts from the Mesolithic wetland site of Dagsmosse (Jussberg) in eastern central Sweden. A selected sample of 20 quartz artefacts from the 2018–2019 excavations was analysed using an inverted metallurgical reflected-light microscope. The study focuses on preservation, surface condition and the interpretability of microwear traces rather than on providing a comprehensive functional reconstruction of the site. During the study, four artefacts were identified showing use wear traces. These results indicate that use-wear can survive on quartz in the formerly waterlogged and later anoxic sediments at Dagsmosse. They also suggest that the broader quartz assemblage has considerable potential for future functional analysis and that wetland contexts may offer favourable conditions for microwear studies of quartz artefacts.