New approaches to old stones : recent studies of ground stone artifacts / edited by Yorke M. Rowan and Jennie R. Ebeling.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Rowan, Yorke M.

Ebeling, Jennie R.

Louis A. Duhring Fund.

Series:

Approaches to anthropological archaeology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stone implements.

Stone implements--Analysis.

Physical Description:

xvi, 379 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; Oakville, CT : Equinox, 2008.

Summary:

This volume expands archaeological understandings of the past by using a neglected database - ground stone artifacts - to stretch the boundaries of our comprehension of the ancient world. Ground stone artifacts, long recognized as part of the essential domestic tool kit for food production and other activities, have received little methodical attention in the archaeological community until relatively recently. A trend of increasing focus on ground stone artifacts in the archaeological literature over the past two decades, particularly in the New World, indicates the need to integrate such analyses with larger theoretical and methodological issues. The editors bring together for the first time a detailed, comprehensive view of the variety of approaches to the archaeological analyses of these artifacts melding together archaeological data and innovative analyses of the most recent research.

Contents:

Introduction : the potential of ground stone studies / Yorke M. Rowan and Jennie R. Ebeling

Geological constraints on ground stone production and consumption in the southern Levant / Joan S. Schneider and Philip C. LaPorta

Discovery of a medieval Islamic industry for steatite cooking vessels in Egypt's eastern desert / James A. Harrell and V. Max Brown

Beyond the Mohs scale : raw material choice and the production of stone vases in a late Minoan context / Tristan Carter

Stones on stone : assessing the use of handstones as tools to process stone artifacts at PPNB Ba'ja in southern Jordan / Philipp M. Rassmann

A chip off the old millstone : grinding stone production and distribution in the early Bronze Age of the Negev / Yael Abadi-Reiss and Steven A. Rosen

The exchange of ground stone tools and vessels during the early Bronze Age in the southern Levant / Ianir Milevski

Craft production and the organization of ground stone technologies / Katherine I. Wright

Maize-grinding tools in prehispanic central Mexico / Martin Biskowski

Grinding stones and seeds of change : starch and phytoliths as evidence of plant food processing / Richard Fullagar, Judith Field and Lisa Kealhofer

Identifying lightly used polishing stones : experiments and implications / Martha Trenna Valado

Wear patterns on ground stone implements from Tel Yin'am / Harold A. Liebowitz

Variation in the organization of prehistoric milling technologies of the northern Mojave Desert, North America / Mark E. Basgall

Beyond the broken / Jenny L. Adams

Ground stone tools, refuse structure, and the life histories of residential buildings at Ayn abū Nukhayla, southern Jordan / Seiji Kadowaki

The changing face of ground stone studies in the American Great Basin / Renee Corona Kolvet

Basalt bowls in early Bronze IA shaft tombs at Bab edh-Dhra' : production, placement and symbol / R. Thomas Schaub

Stone alabastra in western Anatolia / C.H. Roosevelt

Carving luxury : late classic white stone vase traditions in Mesoamerica / Christina Luke

Stone vessel production caves on the eastern slope of Mount Scopus, Jerusalem / David Amit, Jon Seligman and Irina Zilberbod

Beyond provenance analysis : the movement of basaltic artefacts through a social landscape / Graham Rutter and Graham Philip

New insights from old stones : a survey of ground stones studies / Jane Peterson.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Louis A. Duhring Fund.

ISBN:

1845530446

9781845530440

OCLC:

67374936