Abstract: Use-wear analysis has become an essential method for functional study of lithic artifacts from archaeological assemblages, however study of use-wear multi-stage formation is poorly developed. In this paper, we report on an experimental study focusing on scarring patterns and rounding/polish formation found in multiple stages. The paper starts with an extensive review of use-wear experiments. The objective of this experiment is to understand the formation of use-wear in scarring patterns as well as development of rounding and polish. For comparsion, nine cases of single working tasks were undertaken on bone scraped with Onondaga chert. Each case ?was ?observed ?in? three ?different? working? stages,? S1? represents ?the ?first ?three ?minutes,? S2? the? next six to nine minutes, and S3 working for an additional 12 minutes. Thus all nine scraping bones were worked a total of 21 minutes. Appearance of attributed scarring and abrasion were observed separately in each stage and a photomicrograph was taken and compared for the visual of changing trajectory of use-wear formation.
This experiment clearly demonstrates that scarring formation does not correspond to rate of usage over time, thus formation of scarring pattern and rounding become diagnostic attributes for use-wear ?observation,? at ?least ?for? scraping ?bone ?in ?this ?case.? Scarring ?fractures ?occur? most ?frequently? in early stages (S1 and S2). At the later stage (S3) scarring fractures stopped developing while rounding and polish steady grew to be apparent. This study also examines the changing trajectory of the rate of scarring invasiveness and length of use. The results are informative as they suggest that invasiveness grew as use time extended at a given working angle. This experiment provides detailed data on how use-wear scarring and rounding/polish are formed, as well as relationships between various attributes related to scarring patterns over the multi-stage observations of use- wear? experiments,? which? offers ?lines? of ?inquiries ?for ?future ?study.

Key words: Use-wear; Experimental studies; Multi-stage formation; Scarring patterns; Rounding