Current Analytical Frameworks for Studies of Use–Wear on Ground Stone Tools

2014 ◽  
pp. 105-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laure Dubreuil ◽  
Daniel Savage ◽  
Selina Delgado-Raack ◽  
Hugues Plisson ◽  
Birgitta Stephenson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Analytical Frameworks

scholarly journals Functional analysis of sandstone ground stone tools: arguments for a qualitative and quantitative synergetic approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Zupancich ◽  
Emanuela Cristiani
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Test Surface ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Quantitative Analyses

Abstract In the last few years, the application of quantitative methods in the field of use wear analysis has grown considerably, involving the use of different techniques. A development in surface measurements approaches has become necessary as standard assessments based upon qualitative functional analysis are often affected by a degree of subjectivity and a limited reproducibility. To advance the current methodological debate on functional analysis of ground stone technology, we present a combined methodological approach, including qualitative and quantitative analyses, applied to the study of experimental sandstone ground stone tools. We test surface quantification at a macro and micro-scale, paired with the observation and description of residue and use wear connected to the processing of plant, animal and mineral matters. Our results provide an exhaustive quantitative dataset concerning surface modifications associated with different uses and suggest an analytical workflow for the functional analysis of both experimental and archaeological ground stone assemblages. We also highlight the limitation and pitfalls of an exclusive adoption of quantitative methods in the study of ancient tool use demonstrating how a synergetic approach can enhance the quality, reproducibility and comparability of functional data.

A functional study of ground stone tools from the Bronze Age site of Dingjiacun in South China: Based on use-wear evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 103215
Author(s):  
Hong Chen ◽  
Liping Xue ◽  
Ran Chen ◽  
Hongwei Si ◽  
Yao Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
South China ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Functional Study ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
The Bronze Age

Economic Implications of Mano and Metate Use at Cerro Maya, Belize

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa G. Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Primary Function ◽  
Use Wear

This chapter examines use wear on the Cerro Maya collection of manos and metates to investigate what materials were processed on them. Maize processing is generally presumed to be the primary function of ancient Maya manos and metates; however, analysis suggests that these implements were also used to prepare a variety of other products. Use wear analysis documents that a reciprocal, back-and-forth grinding motion is the most efficient way to process maize. However, nonreciprocal rotary movements are also associated with some types of ground stone tools used for nonmaize products. Results of the analysis indicate that a broader range of foods were processed in the Late Preclassic era while maize grinding was the use for manos and metates in Terminal Classic and Postclassic times.

Food-processing ground stone tools in the Greek Neolithic and Bronze Age. A synthesis of the published data

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tasos Bekiaris ◽  
Danai Chondrou ◽  
Ismini Ninou ◽  
Soultana-Maria Valamoti
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Ground Stone

A Classification System for Ground Stone Tools from the Prehistoric Levant.

Paléorient ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Wright
Keyword(s):  
Classification System ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Ground Stone

Ground-Stone Tools and Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence in Southwest Asia: Implications for the Transition to Farming

1994 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine I. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Food Processing ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Plant Food ◽  
Southwest Asia ◽  
Processing Methods ◽  
Plant Foods ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Wild Cereals

Ground-stone tools and hunter-gatherer subsistence in late Pleistocene southwest Asia are examined in light of ethnographic and experimental data on processing methods essential for consumption of various plant foods. In general, grinding and pounding appear to be labor-intensive processing methods. In particular, the labor required to make wild cereals edible has been widely underestimated, and wild cereals were unlikely to have been “attractive” to foragers except under stress conditions. Levantine ground-stone tools were probably used for processing diverse plants. The earliest occurrence of deep mortars coincides with the glacial maximum, camp reoccupations, the onset of increasingly territorial foraging, and the earliest presently known significant samples of wild cereals. Two major episodes of intensification in plant-food processing can be identified in the Levant, coinciding respectively with the earliest evidence for sedentism (12,800-11,500 B.P.) and the transition to farming (11,500-9600 B.P.). The latter episode was characterized by rising frequencies of grinding tools relative to pounding tools, and suggests attempts to maximize nutritional returns of plants harvested from the limited territories characteristic of sedentary foraging and early farming. This episode was probably encouraged by the Younger Dryas, when density and storability of foods may have outweighed considerations of processing costs.

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