Retouching tools from the post-Palaeolithic period in Southeast Europe

Abstract

One of the earliest confirmed uses of osseous raw materials was for retouching, sharpening and repairing stone tools, dating from the Lower Palaeolithic and throughout the Pleistocene period. Considerable changes to subsistence strategies, technology, and overall lifeways occurred among European hunter-gatherer communities during the Holocene. In turn, the role of retouching tools was also modified. Although less common, retouching tools were still present among the Mesolithic and Neolithic communities across Europe. This paper provides an overview of the available evidence for the presence of retouching tools in the Mesolithic and Neolithic, focussing on southeast Europe. Their technological traits, distribution, functions and their significance within Mesolithic and Neolithic societies will be discussed.