PONE-D-21-05963

Vectorial application for the illustration of archaeological lithic artefacts using the “Stone Tools Illustrations with Vector Art” (STIVA) Method

PLOS ONE

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript report a protocol which is of utility to the research community and adds value to the published literature?

Reviewer #1: Yes

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2. Has the protocol been described in sufficient detail?

Descriptions of methods and reagents contained in the step-by-step protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample sizes and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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Protocols should already have been demonstrated to work in the published literature. There should be at least one original research article referenced in the manuscript in which the protocol was used to generate data.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Is the article presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please highlight any specific errors that need correcting in the box below.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This paper presents a step-by-step guide outlining a novel method of illustrating lithic artifacts using Adobe Illustrator (STIVA Method). The guide is clear and easy to follow, allowing a wide range of archaeologists to digitally draw their own lithic artifacts. The capacity to illustrate in this manner is not new, but it is useful in that it makes people aware of the full functionality of programs such as Adobe Illustrator and makes it accessible to people who may not be familiar with the program. It also provides a framework for others to build upon to illustrate other objects found in archaeological contexts.

While the step-by-step guide is nicely put together (see minor comments below), the remainder of the manuscript needs a bit of editing and elaboration. The Introduction would be greatly improved if the author added further discussion of where the STIVA method fits in with other ways of representing lithic artifacts. For example, the author juxtaposes photography with hand illustrations, arguing that photography is often not detailed enough to capture the relevant nuances present on lithic artifacts. However, morphometrics and 3-D scanning are a growing field, and this deserves further attention. A brief discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of various methods of illustration and representation, replete with expanded references, would be welcome. The manuscript also suffers from a number of grammatical and wording issues, and I would suggest systematic copyediting to improve its flow and readability.

Specific Comments:

• Line 47: Divulgation is perhaps the wrong word. The first sentence of the introduction should be reworded.

• Line 57-58: The following is too informal: “…has been used for the longest time in human prehistory.”

• Line 102: Change “whilst” to “while”

• Can steps 22 and 23 be combined?

• Based on your discussion in step 27, the cutting of ripple marks seems to be rather subjective. This should be made clearer in step 27.1, perhaps stating why the cutting of ripple marks is needed. Any other suggestions on the best way to do this would also be welcome.

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Reviewer #1: No

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Vectorial application for the illustration of archaeological lithic artefacts using the “Stone Tools Illustrations with Vector Art” (STIVA) Method

PONE-D-21-05963R1

Dear Dr. Cerasoni,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements, including the staff editor request below my signature.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Peter F. Biehl, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Staff Editor Comments (optional):

PLOS ONE has a requirement that published Lab Protocols link, in the Introduction section, to at least one supporting peer-reviewed publication in which the protocol was applied to generate data (see the guidelines at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-lab-protocols). We noted that the citation below (meeting this requirement) was included in a previous version of this manuscript but it was removed in the revised version. Can you please re-include the citation, or a citation to another paper in which the protocol was used, and also comment on why the citation was removed? If you have any questions about this requirement, please email Senior Editor Joseph Donlan at jdonlan@plos.org 

Scerri EML, Niang K, Candy I, Blinkhorn J, Mills W, Cerasoni JN et al. Continuity of the  Middle Stone Age into the Holocene. Sci Rep. 2021; 11, 70. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79418-4

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript report a protocol which is of utility to the research community and adds value to the published literature?

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

2. Has the protocol been described in sufficient detail?

Descriptions of methods and reagents contained in the step-by-step protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample sizes and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

3. Does the protocol describe a validated method?

Protocols should already have been demonstrated to work in the published literature. There should be at least one original research article referenced in the manuscript in which the protocol was used to generate data.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

4. If the manuscript contains new data, have the authors made this data fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

5. Is the article presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please highlight any specific errors that need correcting in the box below.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The article and description of the method is greatly improved, and I would recommend acceptance for publication.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No