Groundstone Tools

מכלול כלי האבן של תל צף הוא המכלול הראשון השייך לתקופת הכלקולית התיכון אשר התגלה בחפירה מסודרת ורחבת היקף, תועד ונחקר. העבודה מציגה ניתוח מורפולוגי של מעל 300 פריטי אבן שהתגלו באתר בחפירות האוניברסיטה העברית, בראשותו של פרופ' יוסף גרפינקל שנערכה בין השנים 2004-2007

Recycling practices among ancient societies are rarely systematically explored.  When such practices are considered, they are often examined in dichotomous terms as either an elite artisanal capacity for producing meaning or as part of practical logics of rationality and efficiency in confronting scarcity.  The study of groundstone tool, ceramic, and architectural recycling at the Maya site of Ucanal, Peten, Guatemala challenges this false dichotomy in highlighting the varied ways meaning and value are produced.  Diachronic and contextual analyses reveal that recycling practices of quotidian materials, such as groundstone and ceramics, did not increase during periods of crisis nor were they more common among modest households as compared to higher-status households. Likewise, evidence of substantial efforts to recycle elite and monumental building materials during the Terminal Classic period (ca. 830-950 CE) did not coincide with a scarcity of labor or building materials. Such findings underscore the need to consider the role of abundance as it relates to recycling, a factor that also drives much contemporary recycling.

ÖZET Maydos Kilisetepe'de MÖ 3. binyıl sonundan MÖ 2. binyıl sonuna kadar devam eden beş farklı tabaka boyunca küresel formlu taş aletler dikkat çekici sayıda ele geçmiştir. Yapılan ilk değerlendirmelerde ezme veya vurma gibi işlerin yapılabileceği basit vurgu taşı oldukları düşünülse de detaylı incelemelerde mermer gibi kırılgan yapıya sahip olmaları sebebiyle vurma, kırma gibi ağır işlere uygun olmadıkları anlaşılmıştır. Kaba yüzeyli küresel formlu bu taşların büyük bir kısmının karşılıklı kutuplarında iç bükey sığ oyukların yer alması ve bilinçli delme izlerinin olması buluntuların tamamlanmamış taslak aletler olabileceğini düşündürmüştür. Dönemsel sürekliliği yansıtan ve mekânsal kullanımı hakkında bilgi üretebildiğimiz bu buluntu grubunun işlevi ve buluntu mekânlarının bu aletlerin üretim işlikleri olup olmadığı merak konusu olmuştur. Üretimde tercih edilen andezit, bazalt ve çoğunlukla mermerden oluşan hammadde seçimi ve morfolojik özellikleri ile fonksiyonel bir alet grubundan çok bir çeşit prestij ve statü nesnesinin üretimleri olduğunu gösteren ve topuz başı taslağı olarak sınıflandırılan buluntuların, üretim süreçlerinde kullanılması olası taş aletler ile aynı mekanlarda ele geçmesi, mekânsal dağılım analizleri ile açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. Ayrıca bu çalışmada bir yandan topuz başlarının Anadolu'daki gelişimi özetlenirken diğer yandan farklı kültürlere açık bir yerleşim özelliğine sahip Maydos'ta binyılı aşkın bir süre boyunca aynı özellikteki bir çeşit prestij ve statü nesnesi olan topuz başlarının üretiminin nedeni sorgulanmıştır.

The very Late Chalcolithic sites of the Fazael Valley exhibit changes in settlement patterns and material culture. This paper presents the analysis of the ground stone tool assemblages of these sites, and includes the combination of attribute analysis, functional typology, and spatial and contextual analyses, allowing comparisons both between the different sites and between different phases within the sites. The assemblages of the late sites of Fazael 2 and Fazael 7 show similar use of raw materials and tool design, which is clearly different from the assemblage of the earlier typical Ghassulian Chalcolithic site of Fazael 1. In Fazael 2, two phases revealed a shift from the use of large grinding tools to mortars and small grinding tools. In both the earlier and the later phases, the separation of activity areas within the site is clear. Grinding activity in both phases is restricted to the western side of the site, while mortars and spindle whorls were found only in the southeastern part. Finally, a comparison with Fazael 1, as well as with other Late Chalcolithic sites, such as Gilat, 'Ein Hilu and 'En Esur, show that the large number of mortars found in Fazael 2 and Fazael 7 is unique, and may hint at a shift to different subsistence strategies appearing in this region in the latest phases of the Chalcolithic period.

Bedrock ground stone features are ubiquitous along the canyons of the Chaquaqua Plateau in southeastern Colorado, U.S.A, however, we know very little about their distribution, function or relationship to the regional archaeology. While some argue that prehistoric inhabitants of southeastern Colorado constructed permanent milling spaces to process local food resources, others think they may have processed corn. Most assume they were used by groups of women to process food resources together. Recent research suggests that the bedrock ground stone features differ depending on where they occur on the landscape, but may also vary because of socio-cultural ideals, as yet unknown. Sub-features are used as heuristic categories to discuss ways in which bedrock ground stone features are indicative of social processes such as group work or social reproduction of knowledge through collective labor. In this paper, we use close-range photogrammetry to examine the use of the sub-feature category as a means to refine the archaeology of bedrock ground stone surfaces in the region. Results illustrate that CRP offers an objective means to critically analyze the relationship of ground stone surfaces on bedrock features.

This paper presents the results of a multi-disciplinary provenance study of querns and millstones during the Roman period (1st-4th century CE) in the northern part of the Roman Empire (provinces of Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior). Comparative petrographical, mineralogical and geochemical analysis allowed an international team of archaeologists and geologists to identify the different raw materials used for the manufacturing of querns and millstones. As a result, (litho-) stratigraphic assignments as well as geological-geographical provenances are suggested or corroborated for the broad spectrum of these natural geo-materials. We give evidence for the exploitation of at least seven different rock types. They include sedimentary rocks (fine- to coarse-grained quartzitic and arkosic sandstones, conglomerates, limestones) and volcanic rocks (vesicular lavas) derived from different geological strata in the following geological-geographical settings: the volcanic Eifel area (Pleisto...

In this paper we focus on the technology related to wild plant food processing. In the course of the last ten years, the production of flour from wild plants has been unequivocally documented starting from the Upper Palaeolithic. This has opened up new prospects for studying both the nutrition and the technological skills of Homo sapiens in Europe from 30,000 years ago (Aranguren et al. 2007; Revedin et al. 2010, 2015; Mariotti Lippi et al. 2015). The first discovery of tools used for grinding plant material dating to the Gravettian was made at Bilancino in Tuscany (Aranguren et al. 2007; Aranguren and Revedin, 2008). A grindstone and pestle-grinder were found, which conserved on their surfaces numerous starch grains largely referable to cattail (Typha sp.) rhizomes and to caryopses of grasses (Poaceae), representing the first documentation in Europe of the production of flour from wild plants datable to the Gravettian.
These discoveries stimulated the systematic search for vegetal remains in Palaeolithic sites, in particular on artefacts that could have been used in the processing of plant material, such as tools made of bone and flint, grindstones, hearthstones etc. (Revedin et al. 2009, in press).
The experimental archaeology activities carried out to produce different kinds of flour allowed to reconstruct the processing phases, define new sampling methods, obtain flour samples to be used for morphological and chemical-nutritional analyses. The research is part of the project of the Italian Institute of Prehistory and Protohistory PLUS_P - Plant use in the Palaeolithic. The project is based on the hypothesis that plant resources with high energy content, such as complex carbohydrates, were part of the diet of the hunter-gatherers of the Upper Palaeolithic and that processing plant food and production of flour were common activities in Europe for at least 30,000 years.
An interdisciplinary research team was thus formed, composed of specialists from different countries and different disciplines: archaeology, experimental archaeology, archaeobotany, use-wear analysis, food science.