Ancient Woodworking

Per quel che riguarda le operazioni di trasformazione del legno, il generico utilizzo di un unico attrezzo arcaico è condizione insufficiente per poter dichiarare di rappresentare in maniera adeguata e compiuta lo strumentario delle maestranze artigiane di una qualunque epoca passata.
Gli utensili adoperati un tempo hanno avuto una loro precisa evoluzione così come le tecniche di lavorazione e gli scopi per i quali venivano impiegati.
Nel testo, non solo si ripercorre la storia, contraddistinta da specifici passaggi evolutivi, dei principali attrezzi in uso nelle botteghe dei falegnami, ma vengono altresì illustrate le funzioni alle quali essi erano preposti, chiarendo nel dettaglio il loro funzionamento, alla luce delle fonti pervenute.
Si tratta, da un lato, di una guida utile a comprendere meglio quale fosse la configurazione di una falegnameria nei diversi periodi storici e le mansioni alle quali i vari arnesi presenti erano preposti; dall’altro, risulta essere anche un prontuario d'uso destinato principalmente al Rievocatore Storico e a tutti coloro che volessero intraprendere manualmente la lavorazione artigianale del legno secondo l’originario modus operandi dei nostri progenitori.

As for the wood transformation operations, the generic use of a single archaic tool is an insufficient condition to be able to declare to represent in an adequate and complete manner the instruments of the artisans of any past era.
The tools used once had their precise evolution as well as for the processing techniques and the purposes for which they were used.
In the text, is not only drawn the history of the main tools used in the carpenters' workshops, but also the functions to which they were responsible, and is clarify their operation in detail, in the light of the sources received.
On the one hand, it is a useful guide to better understand what was the configuration of a joinery in the different historical periods and the tasks to which the various tools present were in charge; on the other hand, it also appears to be a handbook intended primarily for the historical re-enactor and for all those who wish to manually undertake the handcrafting of wood according to the original modus operandi of our ancestors.

Burins are a geographic and time-transgressive tool type, found in lithic industries throughout the world. The defining feature of a burin is the administration of a precisely placed blow (i.e., burin blow) on a natural or prepared striking platform at the edge of a blank. Burins were used for various activities, such as fashioning hunting equipment, figurines, musical instruments, or other decorative objects manufactured from wood, antler, or bone. In other settings, researchers have observed burins that were also used as cores, demonstrating the flexibility and utility of this tool type. Here we present the results of technological, typological and functional analyses of three burin assemblages from the Late Paleolithic of Dhofar, southern Arabia. Technological analysis indicates a significant degree of standardized production. Functional analysis suggests that these tools have been used in woodworking activities. Traceological studies suggest that the function of the burin blow was not the creation of an active working face, as often seen in the Southwest Asian and European Upper Paleolithic; rather, the burin blow functioned to stabilize the truncation and working edge of the tool. Traces of use have been identified mainly on the wide truncations, indicating that the artifacts were likely used to plane broad wooden surfaces. From these observations, we infer that woodworking was a significant component of Late Paleolithic human activity in Dhofar.