Stone Artifacts

Abstract

This chapter reviews the production and interpretation of chipped- and ground-stone tools, including the chaînes opératoires that describe processes from the acquisition of raw materials through the manufacture and recycling of these types of tools. It describes the conventional terms for the “anatomy” of lithic flakes and some of the main types of ground-stone tools, and outlines some of the attributes and methods that archaeologists commonly study in their attempts to infer lithic technology and tool use. There are brief reviews of use-wear and non-use alteration of tools, of style in tools, and ways to ensure the validity and reliability of stone-tool analyses.