Flexible Stones

Despite their ubiquitous presence among prehistoric remains in Greece, ground stone tools have yet to attract the same kind of attention as have other categories of archaeological material, such as pottery or lithics. Flexible Stones provides a detailed analysis of the material discovered during the excavations at Franchthi Cave, Peloponnese, Greece. Approximately 500 tools, the raw material used for their manufacture, as well as the byproducts of such manufacture were found. Most of this collection comes from the Neolithic component of the siteincluding a small number of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic caseswith a large number of the studied tools indicating multiple uses. Anna Stroulia sees the multifunctional character of these tools as a conscious choice that reflects a flexible attitude of tool makers and users toward tools and raw materials.

Anna Stroulia is an archaeologist and social anthropologist who teaches at the University of Southern Indiana. She is author (with Susan Buck Sutton) of the forthcoming Archaeology in Situ: Sites, Archaeology and Communities in Greece.

Acknowledgments

Chapter One Introduction
Introduction to the site and assemblage
Classification
Describing the material
Why not a ground stone tool stratigraphy?
Tool names
Structure of the study
Abbreviations used in the text

Chapter Two The Pre-Neolithic Material
Introduction
The Palaeolithic period
The Mesolithic period
Lower Mesolithic
Upper Mesolithic
Final Mesolithic
Possible Pre-Neolithic specimens

Chapter Three The Neolithic Material (1)
Introduction to the Neolithic period
Passive tools
Introduction
1. Passive open tools (Popen)
Introduction
Raw material
Aspects of manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
Discussion
2. Passive tools with cavity (Pcav)
3. Passive miscellanea (Pmisc)

Chapter Four The Neolithic Material (2)
Active tools
Introduction
1. Active cutting edge tools (Acut)
Introduction
Raw material
Aspects of manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
Epilogue
2. Active discoidal tools (Adisc)
Introduction
Raw material and manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
3. Active rectangular tools (Arect)
Introduction
Raw material and manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
4. Active square or circular tools (Asquare-circ)
Introduction
Raw material and manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
5. Active tools used with ends (Aend)
Introduction
Raw material and manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
6. Active globular tools (Aglobe)
6.1 Active globular tools with stains (Aglobe-stain)
Introduction
Raw material and manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
6.2 Active globular tools without stains (Aglobe-nostain)
Introduction
Raw material and manufacture
Technomorphological characteristics
Aspects of use
7. Active miscellanea (Amisc)
Introduction
7.1 Active miscellanea 1 (Amisc-1)
7.2 Active miscellanea 2 (Amisc-2)
Epilogue

Chapter Five Summary and Conclusions
Raw material
Manufacture
Use and discard
Chronological distribution
Spatial Distribution

References
Appendixes
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Figures
Index
Plates (CD-ROM)