Review Article Use‐wear Analysis: The State of the Art

This paper is a review of the recent developments in use‐wear analysis. The focus is on some key issues: polish formation, quantification of use‐wear, residue analysis and the way these related themes have affected methods of use‐wear analysis. A brief history of the development of use‐wear analysis is presented and a discussion of blind tests, expert systems (explained at length in the ‘Appendix’) and how use‐wear analysis can be incorporated into the chaîne opératoire approach to the interpretation of Stone Age sites.