What are toolmarks?

• A. The chemical composition of metals used.
• B. Impressions, cuts, gouges, or abrasions caused by a tool coming into contact with another object.
• C. The visible wear on glass.
• D. Marks left by animal teeth.

Answer: (B)

Toolmarks are impressions, cuts, gouges, or abrasions created when a tool comes into contact with another object. This includes the variety of physical imprints a tool can leave on surfaces such as wood, metal, glass, or bone, from edge-induced scratches to gouges produced by the tool’s point or edge. These marks carry information about the tool’s shape and wear, allowing examiners to compare a recovered toolmark with a suspected tool using casting and microscopy to assess whether the tool could have made the mark. The described option captures this definition precisely. Other options describe things that are not toolmarks—for example, the tool’s chemical composition is about what the object is made of, not the marks it leaves; general wear on glass isn’t necessarily toolmark evidence; and marks from animal teeth are bite marks, not toolmarks.