Flexible Stones: Ground Stone Tools from Franchthi Cave [With CDROM]

Despite their ubiquitous presence among prehistoric remains in Greece, ground stone tools have yet to attract the same kind of attention as have other categories of archaeological material, such as pottery or lithics. Flexible Stones provides a detailed analysis of the material discovered during the excavations at Franchthi Cave, Peloponnese, Greece. Approximately 500 tools, the raw material used for their manufacture, as well as the byproducts of such manufacture were found. Most of this collection comes from the Neolithic component of the site--including a small number of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cases--with a large number of the studied tools indicating multiple uses. Anna Stroulia sees the multifunctional character of these tools as a conscious choice that reflects a flexible attitude of tool makers and users toward tools and raw materials. A CD-Rom with 209 additional plates is included.

"[This series makes] an exceptional contribution to the hitherto very inadequate knowledge of this period in Greece." --Antiquity Indiana University Press Indiana University Press

Anna Stroulia is an archaeologist and social anthropologist who teaches at the University of Southern Indiana. She is author (with Susan Buck Sutton) of the forthcoming Archaeology in Situ: Sites, Archaeology and Communities in Greece.

Acknowledgments

Chapter One Introduction

Introduction to the site and assemblage

Classification

Describing the material

Why not a ground stone tool stratigraphy?

Tool names

Structure of the study

Abbreviations used in the text

Chapter Two The Pre-Neolithic Material

Introduction

The Palaeolithic period

The Mesolithic period

Lower Mesolithic

Upper Mesolithic

Final Mesolithic

Possible Pre-Neolithic specimens

Chapter Three The Neolithic Material (1)

Introduction to the Neolithic period

Passive tools

Introduction

1. Passive open tools (Popen)

Introduction

Raw material

Aspects of manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

Discussion

2. Passive tools with cavity (Pcav)

3. Passive miscellanea (Pmisc)

Chapter Four The Neolithic Material (2)

Active tools

Introduction

1. Active cutting edge tools (Acut)

Introduction

Raw material

Aspects of manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

Epilogue

2. Active discoidal tools (Adisc)

Introduction

Raw material and manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

3. Active rectangular tools (Arect)

Introduction

Raw material and manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

4. Active square or circular tools (Asquare-circ)

Introduction

Raw material and manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

5. Active tools used with ends (Aend)

Introduction

Raw material and manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

6. Active globular tools (Aglobe)

6.1 Active globular tools with stains (Aglobe-stain)

Introduction

Raw material and manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

6.2 Active globular tools without stains (Aglobe-nostain)

Introduction

Raw material and manufacture

Technomorphological characteristics

Aspects of use

7. Active miscellanea (Amisc)

Introduction

7.1 Active miscellanea 1 (Amisc-1)

7.2 Active miscellanea 2 (Amisc-2)

Epilogue

Chapter Five Summary and Conclusions

Raw material

Manufacture

Use and discard

Chronological distribution

Spatial Distribution

References

Appendixes

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Figures

Index

Plates (CD-ROM)