EAA 2025 BELGRADE Intertwined Pasts (3-6 September)
Use-wear and residue analyses of stone artefacts found at prehistoric sites are usually viewed as additional insight, that provides details on how the processes in the past looked like. However, it needs to be considered that, in some cases, use-wear traces, besides the technology of how the tools were made, are unique proof of hominin existence and the activities that took place. The perception of an ancient economy based on sole production gains value when it is combined with the functional analysis as it attains a social aspect – a valuable entity of any archaeological interpretation.
The session aims to tackle cases from early prehistory with scarce organic materials preserved, or when either the context or the found material culture are inconclusive and we can only rely on stone tools. Many of the stone artefacts recovered at Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites, but also from later periods, have been affected by the post-depositional surface modifications, which are sometimes treated as a limitation of the method. These alterations should be carefully studied and classified as they can reveal data on site formation, as it has been done at various sites in Africa, Asia and Europe. The functional analysis supplies a better understanding of the adaptations that happened in less striking periods, as the Mesolithic, or even later ones, when metal became a primary raw material, and stone tools were considered to be of symbolic value.
Finally, we strongly ponder the role of functional analysis in observing the technology. The application of microscopy can recover many details on tool production, such as the use of specific hammers or the signs of reparation, which can be well hidden by consecutive reduction sequences.
Organizers:
Anđa Petrović (University of Belgrade, Serbia), Cristina Lemorini (Sapienza University of Rome)