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The materials of many Paleolithic sites in Eurasia contain large stone objects. As a rule, they retain their natural shape without any signs of artificial modification. However, the presence of characteristic use-wear features (polishing, linear traces, micro- and macrodeformations) unambiguously indicates that these stones served as tools. Multidisciplinary research, including an experimental and traceological approach, as well as analysis of organic micro-residues, make it possible to distinguish among the unmodified stone tools those that were used for processing plant raw materials. One of such tools is a large stone found in the lower layer of the Upper Paleolithic site Suren I** (Crimea). The results obtained in the course of the study suggest that the inhabitants of the site used plant materials in their household activities, as well as allow us to describe in detail the ways of adaptation of ancient people to the natural environment of the Crimean peninsula.

The results of traceological study of the tools used in the domestic production of early farmers of Azerbaijan (6th–4th millennium BC) are represented in the paper. The functions of stone and bone/antler tools from the settlements of Alikemek, Shomutepe et al. were identified. In the course of the study, it was found that in the traditional industries (the manufacture of tools and household items, jewelry, wood, hides and leather treatment), technological improvements were made, and new tools emerged. The differentiation of tools, as well as the appearance of new types of production: weaving, pottery, indicate the progressive development of the economy of this time. The authors conclude that production spectrum which has been revealed in the system of agricultural and cattle breeding economy, was the basis of life support of Azerbaijan ancient population.

Recent advances in the role played by dietary carbohydrates in human food webs during the Palaeolithic highlight that starchy foods were part of the diet well before crop domestication. Although certain plants can be eaten raw, intentional processing such as mechanical reduction using stone tools and thermal treatment readily increases the assimilation of nutrients for metabolic functions and for storing. We present a multi-techniques approach designed to combine micro to nanoscale analyses applied to percussive stones to identify their function using micro-wear traces and use-related biogenic residues. The starch grains extracted from functionally active areas of the ground stone tools were scanned using optical microscopy (OM) down to the nanoscale (SEM) and by applying different spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques like FTIR, ToF-SIMS, and IRMS. The combined analyses carried out at different resolutions–morpho-structural and molecular levels–contribute to an unprecedented methodological refinement regarding the intentional processing of starch-rich plants as early as 40,000 years ago at the boreal latitudes. Our preliminary data on pestles and grinding stones from Early Upper Palaeolithic sites of the Pontic steppe (Moldova and Russia) show the suitability of the analytical techniques involved and also the difficulties encountered in detailing authentication procedures of ancient starch candidates.

The stone industry of Gissar culture is one of the most striking phenomena of the Neolithic of Tajikistan. The production inventory of the Gissar sites is presented by tools composed of two types of raw materials: pebbles and flint. According to typological and traceological studies, pebble and flint tools are not fully interchangeable. They refer to different types and applied for various purposes. At the same time, the quantitative ratio of these groups of artifacts varies geographically: on several sites of the Yavan valley (a local version of Gissar culture) the flint inventory prevails. The paper describes briefly the Gissar culture and provides an overview of old and new data on various aspects of the typology and traceology of Gissar production equipment.

The application of stone to create a various household and sacred products is widely known in many Eurasian Bronze Age sites, but the manufacturing technology remains poorly understood. This fully applies to the materials of Southern Turkmenistan where large multilayer settlements are investigated. These include Gonur Depe administrative and religious center of Ancient Margiana. Among its materials, the so-called “columns” were revealed, which are most often discovered in sacred complexes. Their shape resembles a chess piece—a rook—the upper part of some artifacts has a mushroom-shaped hat. Many details of their manufacture were examined only due to their surface studying with a microscope. These are areas with traces of pecking and preliminary marking for cutting grooves or gutters: narrow strips formed from friction. Also, we observed the particles of metal oxide on the surface of several columns that confirms the use of metal tools in the manufacturing process. The depth of the grooves does not exceed 0.2 cm, they have arched or rectangular profiles. In our collection, the variability of the columns sizes, location of the grooves on their bases and body are not caused by the different forms of these artifacts. Further, an experimental reconstruction of their manufacturing technology is expected to detail their production process.

The geographical location, natural and climatic features were the reason why North-East Bulgaria non-uniformly colonized which resulted in a variety of manifestations of archaeological cultures in this comparatively small area (late 7th – 5th Millennium B.C.). For a long period of time it was considered to be unpopulated in the Neolithic due to the fact that the area was understudied. An early Neolithic settlement of Ovcharovo-gorata was discovered in the course of the scheduled exploratory works. The paper considers the results of comprehensive research of flint production inventory from this site. The authors conducted a comprehensive research which resulted in the characterization of the technical-morphological and functional features of the flint articles. They were compared with the materials of coexisting settlements in Bulgarian and the neighbouring regions, and the structure of the monument's utilization was identified and described in detail.

This study is applied to the unique grinding stone from Surein I retrieved in the Aurignacian layers of the rockshelter located in the south of the Crimea Peninsula. Our research enables us (i) to make reliable inference on the agency establishing the functional modification on the surface of the Surein I grinding stone, (ii) to demonstrate this grinding stone served as steady surface (Face A) to mechanically process plant materials including roots and tubers (under surface storage organs, USOs) and (iii) to set a chrono-cultural framework for starchy plants tenderization, also responding to key issues relating to the dietary breadth of early waves of Homo sapiens at the northern latitudes. We present a pilot research design which integrates data derived from macro and micro-scales techniques, by coupling use-wear traces analysis and use-related starch granules observation. The multi-scale approach allows distinctive resolutions for surface texture analysis thanks to the combined use of stereo, metallographic and digital microscopes; whereas transmitted and polarized light microscopes were used to observe use-related biogenic residues (U-RBR), namely starch granules, and SEM provided resolution down to the nano-scale. Our data suggest that Homo sapiens was exploiting the rich environment of the Pontic steppe-grassland since its earliest presence in south-eastern Europe by processing starchy plants to obtain calorific food. Moreover, this study brings fresh lines of evidence to the broadening of dietary strategies during late MIS 3 (40–25 ka calBP) by analysing ground stones from the poorly investigated non-flaked industry, and opens new scenarios for the reasoning on Homo sapiens successful colonization of Eurasia.

The article analyses one of the primary categories of the implement complex discovered at Arukhlo I Neolithic settlement (Georgia, Kvemo Kartli Region). The stone implements discovered at the site are characterized by their great variety. Comprehensive functional research conducted by the authors demonstrated that the typological and morphological characteristics of the various categories of stone implements do not always correspond to their functions. Thus, the shapes and functions of the hide-scrapers were fully identical for 18 of 39 implements only, whereas the other tools were used for different purposes and did not feature traces of utilization. A microanalysis of their working parts allowed to determine the types of processed raw material, means of processing, and in certain cases the type of obtained articles as well. The authors made a conclusion on the importance of the comprehensive research of production inventory for the reconstruction of the characteristic features of prehistoric economy.

Methods of experimentation are nowadays widely used in archaeological research. Some authors consider this an independent field and call it “Experimental Archaeology”. A systematic approach to experimental research in close connection with studies of tool functions and technology of their manufacture was developed by S.A. Semenov. A number of main principles should be followed in the course of experimental works to receive objective results: a clear setting of the aim, a stable logical-empirical base, controlled conditions in the course of the experiment, a repetitive character of the experiment, and the verification of data in the existing database of archaeological finds and reference collections. The results of our research on materials of the unique flint working site Bodaki (Ukraine) can serve as an example for the employment of an experimental-traceological method. The use of a complex experimental-traceological analysis of the productive inventory of a site allows the reconstruction of technology of flint knapping, and recognition of tools used in various branches of this Eneolithic economy. The results show that settlements-workshops specialized in mining and the treatment of flint emerged near sources of raw material during that period and that all productions needed for normal subsistence of population were also functioning in such sites. This example shows, furthermore, that the close connection of traceology and experiments gives substantial evidence not only for determining the purpose of ancient tools and the character of ancient productions, but also provides new sources for the identification of the peculiarities of an ancient economy.

This paper analyses a collection of bone tools from Classical sites (cities, villages and the necropolis) of the Northern Black Sea region (excavations of 2002–2016 were conducted by archaeologists from the State Hermitage Museum, the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg and the Demeter Non-Profit Foundation, Kerch). According to archaeozoology, the main sources of raw materials for these tools were bones of domestic large ungulates: sheep/goat bones were used less often, and there are only isolated examples of items made from red deer antlers. Thanks to experimental and use-wear analyses, it was possible to describe the technology for processing bone by craftsmen of the Classical period and also to establish the functional purpose of these artifacts. Special attention should be paid to such artifacts as rasps for hard limestone or marble, anvils for fashioning denticulated working edges of iron sickles and a grinding tool for ochre. For the first time in the academic literature their specific use-wear traces are described, and the work process itself has been reconstructed with the help of written sources and ethnographic data. This study provides new sources for the description of the Classical time production complexes.

Half a century after the publication of Sergej Semenov's fundamental work “Prehistoric Technology” (1964), traceology or microscopic use-wear analysis continues to be the major method for the identification of prehistoric tool use and function. The recognition of macroscopic and microscopic wear traces as well as use-related residues contributes to various important aspects of archaeological research. Among them are relevant questions on site functions and activities carried out in prehistoric settlements or the reconstruction of archaeologically invisible components of complex tool technology, for example hafting and composite tool design. Traceology has significantly contributed to the debate on human behavioural complexity and cultural and cognitive advancement as well as other aspects of the evolution of the human cognitive capacity.

European Paleolithic subsistence is assumed to have been largely based on animal protein and fat, whereas evidence for plant consumption is rare. We present evidence of starch grains from various wild plants on the surfaces of grinding tools at the sites of Bilancino II (Italy), Kostenki 16–Uglyanka (Russia), and Pavlov VI (Czech Republic). The samples originate from a variety of geographical and environmental contexts, ranging from northeastern Europe to the central Mediterranean, and dated to the Mid-Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian and Gorodtsovian). The three sites suggest that vegetal food processing, and possibly the production of flour, was a common practice, widespread across Europe from at least ~30,000 y ago. It is likely that high energy content plant foods were available and were used as components of the food economy of these mobile hunter–gatherers.

Les sites du sud de la Turkménie, à l 'époque Enéolithique, ont livré des têtes de flèches en silex ainsi que des hampes. A l 'âge du Bronze, elles sont présentes à Altyn-Depe. Leurs formes non seulement répondent à des types variés, mais, comme l'indiquent les analyses tracéo logiques, témoignent d'une utilisation secondaire.

Le Néolithique final. Les faits. Les matériaux organiques et minéraux.

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