The Archaeology of the Daily Grind: Ground Stone Tools and Food Production in the Southern Levant

Few people in the world today work with stone tools that they, or their immediate community, manufactured. But this is a recent development, as stone tools have played a central role in daily life for many millennia, for hunter-gatherers, settled agriculturalists and pastoralists. As a fundamental component of the food-production tool kit, these are the most visible artifacts to provide information about a daily activity necessary to human survival. Ground stone tools can offer insights into such diverse phenomena as changes in diet and food processing techniques, mobility and residence patterns, division of labor, and specialized activities related to cultic practices.

[1]  Nancy C. Kraybill.  Pre-Agricultural Tools for the Preparation of Foods in the Old World , 1977 .

[2]  Y. Rowan.  Ancient distribution and deposition of prestige objects : basalt vessels during late prehistory in the southern Levant , 1998 .

[3]  C. Xenophontos,et al.  Archaeology, geochemistry, and trade of Igneous Rock millstones in Cyprus during the late bronze age to Roman periods , 1991 .

[4]  D. Piperno,et al.  Processing of wild cereal grains in the Upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch grain analysis , 2004, Nature.

[5]  Dolores R. Piperno,et al.  The presence of starch grains on prehistoric stone tools from the humid neotropics : Indications of early tuber use and agriculture in Panama , 1998 .

[6]  P. D. Miroschedji.  Yarmuth: The Dawn of City-States in Southern Canaan , 1999 .

[7]  Ian Kuijt,et al.  Foraging, Farming, and Social Complexity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant: A Review and Synthesis , 2002 .

[8]  R. Przybylski,et al.  No Bones About It: Using Lipid Analysis of Burned Rock and Groundstone Residues to Examine Late Archaic Subsistence Practices in South Texas , 2001 .

[9]  C. Xenophontos,et al.  Major and Trace-Element Geochemistry Used in Tracing the Provenance of Late Bronze Age and Roman Basalt Artefacts from Cyprus , 1988 .

[10]  J. A. Callaway.  A Review of "Arad" I , 1982, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

[11]  Z. Saliternik.  English abstract , 2018, Kielentutkimuksen menetelmiä I-IV.

[12]  R. Frankel.  The Olynthus Mill, Its Origin, and Diffusion: Typology and Distribution , 2003, American Journal of Archaeology.

[13]  R. Thorpe,et al.  Geochemistry and trade of eastern Mediterranean millstones from the Neolithic to Roman periods , 1993 .

[14]  Jennie R. Ebeling.  Why Are Ground Stone Tools Found in Middle and Late Bronze Age Burials? , 2002, Near Eastern Archaeology.

[15]  T. Molleson.  The eloquent bones of Abu Hureyra. , 1994, Scientific American.

[16]  Matthew Spriggs,et al.  Direct evidence for human use of plants 28,000 years ago: starch residues on stone artefacts from the northern Solomon Islands , 1992, Antiquity.

[17]  Ki Wright.  The Origins and development of ground stone assemblages in Late Pleistocene Southwest Asia , 1991 .

[18]  T. Molleson,et al.  Dental evidence for dietary change at Abu Hureyra , 1991 .

[19]  Jenny L. Adams.  Use-Wear Analyses on Manos and Hide-Processing Stones , 1988 .