Interdisciplinary Study of Neolithic-Early Bronze Age Macro Tools (Based on Grinding Stones from Georgian National Museum)
Interdisciplinary Study of Neolithic-Early Bronze Age Macro Tools (Based on Grinding Stones from Georgian National Museum)

Summary/Abstract: The grinding stone is a significant tool for agricultural purposes, as supported by numerous archaeological sites from Transcaucasia. It's worth noting that grinding stones have received less attention compared to other artifacts like flaked industry, pottery, and metal artifacts. This theoretical and methodological gap has resulted in a lack of crucial information concerning the definition of prehistoric socio-economic activities. The objective here is to illuminate the type, raw material, and function of grinding stones, as well as the plants processed by the inhabitants of Kvemo and Shida Kartli regions in Eastern Georgia during the Neolithic (second half of the 6th millennium BC) to the Early Bronze Age (second half of the 4th millennium BC). This research aims to contribute both qualitative and quantitative data to address questions pertaining to the techno-typological and functional aspects of stone macro tools. The research involves the study of Grinding Stone Tools (GSTs) from several archaeological sites: Gadachrili Gora, Shulaveri Gora, Imiri Gora, and Kvatskhelebi, Eastern Georgia. The chosen artifacts for this study are preserved in the archaeological collections of the National Museum of Georgia. The typological study of stones has revealed various shapes of grinders and querns, including oval, saddle-shaped, and quadrangular ones (concave and flat working surfaces). Petrographic analysis encompassed the study of eight different rock types utilized in the production of GSTs, including Rhyolite (porphyry), rhyolitic hyaloclastite, rhyodacite, tuff (rhyolitic), vesicular basalt, basalt, sandstone (carbonatic), and diorite. The use-wear analysis, conducted using Omax (40X magnification) and Dino-lite digital microscopes (50X magnification), identified smooth, glossy surfaces, occasionally displaying linear traces. This suggests that GSTs were primarily used for plant processing. Additionally, palynological analysis was employed to specify the types of plants that were processed, revealing a variety of plant usage for both dietary (sowing cereals, walnuts, hazelnuts, grapevine, and chenopodium) and medicinal (Tilia, oak, Artemisia, plantago, and urtica) purposes.

• Details
• Contents