The use of polished stone axes and adzes in the Neolithic of Serbia - experimental research.

Abstract

The polished stone tools with cutting edge, in addition to other polished stone objects with practical and symbolic use, represent a peak of stone processing in prehistory. The main types of these tools are polished stone axes, adzes, and chisels, which in the Neolithic, we can assume, to the greatest extent have practical use in woodworking. It is also reasonable to assume that some of these tools were used in a number of other activities in the Neolithic, such as butchering, hide processing, digging, making bone/antler tools, or as a battle or symbolic tools, as evidenced by numerous ethnoarchaeological examples. The use of polished tools with cutting edge, and their efficiency at work, is one of the least researched aspects of the polished stone industry, therefore the reconstruction of their use was a significant and very inspiring segment within a much wider archaeological experiment conducted between 2016 and 2019. One of the goals of this phase of the experiment was to offer answers to various research questions from a functional-technological point of view, among which the following stands out: what is the reason for the noticeable predominance of adzes in relation to axes at Neolithic sites in Serbia? Based on previous analyzes of the materials, we know that adzes are much more represented than axes, so we were interested in whether such quantitative disproportionality is a consequence of the greater functionality, efficiency, or applicability of adzes. We wanted to determine how much time and physical effort are required to carry out each segment of the operational chain in the life cycle of these tools, as well as to examine the dynamics of their damage and repairs. One of the main focuses was on determining the effectiveness of axes and adzes when performing various woodworking tasks. The presentation shows the preliminary results of the experiment which will be expanded in the future to other abovementioned activities and materials.