Social and economic implications of the life histories of ground stone at Neolithic Catalhoyuk
Ground stone studies have been dominated by a typological approach to artefact interpretation that has relied on the basic description of the appearance of an artefact in the condition in which it entered the archaeological record. Such a methodology has led to stagnation in understanding of ground stone artefacts because, unlike chipped stone and ceramic technologies, they display very little chronological change in typology. Ground stones were an important element in the development of settled life, large items such as querns could not be easily transported by nomadic groups, sedentary life and the adoption of agriculture and herding resulted in changes in the way that tools were designed and used. The Neolithic period saw an intensification in the everyday use of many forms of ground stone tool and the adequate description of the way this came about is a necessary step in the study of ground stone artefacts. The methodology that has been used in this thesis discards the previous static 'snapshot' view of artefacts in favour of an approach which takes into account the dynamic processes that each artefact underwent from initial sourcing of raw material to final discard and including episodes of breakage,
Baysal, Adnan
Social and economic implications of the life histories of ground stone at Neolithic Catalhoyuk. Ground stone studies have been dominated by a typological approach to artefact interpretation that has relied on the basic description of the appearance of an artefact in the condition in which it entered the archaeological record. Such a methodology has led to stagnation in understanding of ground stone artefacts because, unlike chipped stone and ceramic technologies, they display very little chronological change in typology. Ground stones were an important element in the development of settled life, large items such as querns could not be easily transported by nomadic groups, sedentary life and the adoption of agriculture and herding resulted in changes in the way that tools were designed and used. The Neolithic period saw an intensification in the everyday use of many forms of ground stone tool and the adequate description of the way this came about is a necessary step in the study of ground stone artefacts. The methodology that has been used in this thesis discards the previous static 'snapshot' view of artefacts in favour of an approach which takes into account the dynamic processes that each artefact underwent from initial sourcing of raw material to final discard and including episodes of breakage,
social_economic implication life_history grind_stone neolithic catalhoyuk ground stone study dominate typological artefact interpretation rely basic description appearance artefact condition enter archaeological_record lead stagnation ground stone artefact unlike chip_stone ceramic_technology display little chronological_change typology ground stone important_element development settle life large item quern could easily transport nomadic group sedentary life adoption agriculture herd result change way tool design use neolithic_period saw intensification everyday use many form grind_stone tool adequate description way come necessary step study ground stone artefact use_discard previous static snapshot view artefact favour take_account dynamic_process artefact underwent initial source raw_material final discard include episode breakage