Abstract
Many stone tools were found on a hill south of the Hor Al-Dalmaj which is located in the central part of the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The types of rocks from which the studied stone tools were made are not found in the alluvial plain, because it consists of friable sand, silt, and clay. All existing sediments were precipitated in riverine environments such as point bar, over bank, and floodplain sediments. The collected stone tools were described with a magnifying glass (10 x) and a polarized microscope after they were thin sectioned. Microscopic analysis showed that these stone tools are made of sedimentary, volcanic igneous and metamorphic rocks, such as: sandstones, limestones, chert, conglomerate, rhyolite, basalt, mica schist, and quartzite. The current studied stone tools were used by ancient humans as pestles, querns, scrapers, and knives. The present study showed that these tools were transported from outside the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia. A stone tool at the archaeological site of Al-Dalmaj indicates that there were some trade routes that connected this site with its surrounding; in addition to the economic, and that might occurred cultural exchanges during the Neolithic Period.
Highlights
IntroductionMost of the stone tools are related to the prehistoric cultures in particular the Stone Age that are extinct nowadays (Davidson and Nowel, 2010)
A stone tool is any tool that is made either partially or entirely out of stone
The present study showed that these tools were transported from outside the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia
Summary
Most of the stone tools are related to the prehistoric cultures in particular the Stone Age that are extinct nowadays (Davidson and Nowel, 2010). Archaeologists often study the stone tools as lithic. Petrology and provenance of the natural stone analysis, whereas Ethno archaeologists study the cultural implications of using and manufacturing of stone tools (Paul and Karen, 2015). Stone tools of chipped type can be made from aphanocrystalline materials like chert, flint, chalcedony, obsidian, basalt and quartzite (Al-Ani, 1986). More complex forms of reductions are blades that can be changed to different types of tools like scrapers, knives, sickles and microlith (Internet data, 2020)
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