Abrasive stone tools in the Neolithic of Serbia : from recognition to publication

Abstract

Abrasive stone tools are artifacts with abrasive features, due to the petrographic characteristics of the raw materials from which they were made, those being various types of sandstone, conglomerate and magmatic rocks. What is common in the majority of tools with abrasive properties is that their final form was created during long-term use and was not formed by intentional grinding in the process of production as seen with tools with a cutting edge. Abrasive tools encompass various kinds of grindstones, whetstones, handstones, querns and mortars. These stone tools had an important role in the daily life of Neolithic populations. They were used in production of stone, bone, antler, ceramic and wooden objects, as well as in food preparation. At the end of the Late Neolithic and the beginning of the Early Eneolithic, i.e. in the final stages of the Vinča culture, abrasive stone tools were also used in the processing of metal objects. Nevertheless, these tools, mostly massive and relatively unattractive, have been somewhat neglected in earlier archaeological research in Serbia. Explorations of Neolithic sites in the last decades have yielded an enormous number of abrasive artifacts. After analyzing assemblages from several Neolithic sites in Serbia – Vinča, Pločnik, Ilića Brdo, Crkvine, Masinske Njive, Jaričište, Aria Babi, Bataševo etc. – a remarkable quantity of new information on technology, traceology and raw material acquisition was collected. Abrasive stone tools are definitely not luxurious items but they represent such a category of artifacts that researching them is of great importance for understanding the organization of everyday life, economic structure and the functioning of agricultural communities in the Neolithic of Serbia.