Recovering prehistoric woodworking skills using spatial analysis techniques

Abstract. Recovering of ancient woodworking skills can be achieved by the simultaneous documentation and analysis of the tangible evidences such as the geometry parameters of prehistoric hand tools or the fine morphological characteristics of well preserved wooden archaeological finds. During this study, altogether 10 different hand tool forms and over 60 hand tool impressions were investigated for the better understanding of the Bronze Age woodworking efficiency. Two archaeological experiments were also designed in this methodology and unknown prehistoric adzes could be reconstructed by the results of these studies and by the spatial analysis of the Bronze Age tool marks. Finally, the trimming efficiency of these objects were also implied and these woodworking skills could be quantified in the case of a Bronze Age wooden construction from Austria. The proposed GIS-based tool mark segmentation and comparison can offer an objective, user-independent technique for the related intangible heritage interpretations in the future.