In Paleolithic archaeology, there are two dichotomous perspectives on so-called splintered pieces, or pieces esquillées, in which, depending upon archaeological context and the availability and quality of lithic of raw material, such pieces are considered bipolar cores or tools for processing organic materials. Here, we discuss for the first time functionality, reduction models, and modes of using Upper Paleolithic pièces esquillées from two Central Asian regions: the Tian Shan Mountains of eastern Uzbekistan and the Yenisey Valley of Siberian Russia. By applying attributive, experimental, scar-pattern, and use-wear analyses, we determined that these artifacts derived from two widely separated regions are tools for processing hard organic materials, which were rotated often during use. Reconstructed reduction sequences indicate that the morphological appearance of the implements was affected by the working processes associated with contact between the hammer and the organic material being processed. Our results demonstrate that the formation of the chisel or wedge is not significantly affected by the raw material of the blank, the type of hammer utilized, or the nature of the material being processed. To the contrary, chisel tools from the two regions demonstrated the same reduction processes affecting their lengths and widths due to having been employed in similar physical operations. On the other hand, pièces esquillées from the two study regions demonstrated the same reduction processes in length and width due to the application of similar work operations, which seems applicable to all splintered pieces used as tools.

在旧石器时代的考古学中，对所谓的碎片或埃斯奎尔碎片有两种截然不同的观点，其中，根据考古背景以及原始石料的可用性和质量，这些碎片被视为双极核或用于加工有机材料的工具。在这里，我们第一次讨论了功能，简化模型和使用上旧石器时代壁画的方式来自两个中亚地区：乌兹别克斯坦东部的天山山脉和俄罗斯西伯利亚的叶尼西河谷。通过应用归因，实验，疤痕模式和使用磨损分析，我们确定这些来自两个广泛分离区域的人工制品是用于加工硬有机材料的工具，这些有机材料在使用过程中经常旋转。重构后的还原顺序表明，工具的形态外观受到与锤子和被加工有机材料之间的接触相关的工作过程的影响。我们的结果表明，凿子或楔子的形成不会受到毛坯的原材料，所用锤子的类型或所加工材料的性质的明显影响。相反的，由于已在相似的物理操作中使用，来自两个地区的凿子工具显示出相同的压下过程，影响了它们的长度和宽度。另一方面，来自两个研究区域的鱿鱼在长度和宽度上表现出相同的减少过程，这是由于应用了相似的工作操作，这似乎适用于所有用作工具的碎片。