Ground Stone Tools and Vessels

Abstract

Use-wear and residues analysis on ground stone tools and vessels are approaches that in recent decades have witnessed considerable development and attention by researchers. While they are based on scientific assumptions and methodological principles established in the 1970s, they have benefitted from recent technological developments in the fields of microscopy, spectrometry, photogrammetry and geographic information systems. Ground stone tools and, more generally, lithic macro-tools have long been neglected; however, renewed attention on these artifacts has started to reveal a considerable amount of data regarding the use and processing of wild plants in hunter-gatherer societies, the emergence of food production, together with the “multipurpose” use of these artifacts, often utilized to process shell fruits, animal bones, mineral pigments, shells and metals. On the other end, while pottery has always been an object of great interest for scholars, studies on stone vessels are not as common. The increasing interest in food production and storage among Epipalaeolithic societies has recently shed light on a wide variety of topics related to food production, processing and storage, preservation and long-distance trade of organic matter, etc., among which stone vessels play an important role.