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A ‘Family of Wear’: Traceological Patterns on Pebbles Used for Burnishing Pots and Processing Other Plastic Mineral Matters

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Abstract

The development of technologies related to plastic mineral matters (PMM), including clay, mud, and plaster, represents a major step in cultural evolution because of their important repercussions for food processing, storage, transportation, construction, and symbolic expression in past human societies. This paper aims to illuminate the chaînes opératoires employed in the transformation of PMM and highlight early evidence for these technologies in the archaeological record. Our focus is ‘ad-hoc’ (or non-manufactured) ground stone tools used in finishing operations. Specifically, we discuss pebbles and cobbles employed to regularize, smooth, or burnish clay and mud-based products. Because these tools consist of unmodified rocks, recognizing and understanding the traces developed through use is essential for their identification. This is a pilot study that draws on experiments, ethnographic studies and quantification via confocal microscopy to assess the variability of use-wear developed on mud and clay processors. Extra attention is placed on micro-polish, not only because this type of wear has been seldom described before for such tools, but also because it appears to be highly diagnostic. We suggest that the variability observed can be described as a family of wear, that is, a range of recurrent use-wear characteristics associated with the processing of PMM. We analyze two collections associated with different chrono-cultural contexts: the Late Natufian site of Hilazon Tachtit in the Southern Levant and the Late Neolithic site of Kremasti-Kilada in Greece. At both sites, the identification of processors of PMM provides pivotal data to understand the relevant chaînes opératoires, assess the emergence and development of these technologies, and also explore symbolic behaviors.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [LD], upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Dorze and Konzo potters as well as those of the Jebala Mountains for sharing their ceramic knowledge and traditions and for letting us examine their tools. We are grateful to the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Schrader Endowment for Classical Archaeology of Indiana University whose generous grants made the study of the Kremasti and Hilazon macrolithics possible. We would like to thank Areti Chondroyianni-Metoki and Leore Grosman for allowing us to study the Kremasti and Hilazon material, respectively. This research also greatly benefitted from the help of Vasilios Melfos in the identification of the raw materials of the Kremasti pebbles; Atsumi Ishida, who participated in some of the experiments and analysis of the experimental tools, and Amelia Rodriguez Rodriguez, who provided us extensive documentation of her own analysis of pottery processors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trent University, Peterborough, Canada

    Laure Dubreuil

  2. Laboratory for Traceology and Controlled Experiments (TraCEr), MONREPOS – Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, RGZM, Neuwied, Germany

    Jérôme Robitaille & Joao Marreiros

  3. Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC), Universidad de Cantabria, Gobierno de Cantabria, Santander, Spain

    Jesús Gonzalez-Urquijo

  4. ICArEHB, Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour, FCHS, Universidade Do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Joao Marreiros

  5. University of Southern Indiana, IN, Evansville, USA

    Anna Stroulia

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Correspondence to Laure Dubreuil.

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Dubreuil, L., Robitaille, J., Gonzalez-Urquijo, J. et al. A ‘Family of Wear’: Traceological Patterns on Pebbles Used for Burnishing Pots and Processing Other Plastic Mineral Matters. J Archaeol Method Theory 31, 144–201 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09597-z

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