Microwear and Metric Analysis of Threshing Sledge Flints from Greece and Cyprus

• Published in: Journal of archaeological science 1996-09, Vol.23 (5), p.657-666
• Main Authors: Kardulias, Nick P., Yerkes, Richard W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: FARMING TECHNOLOGY; Lithic industry; MEDITERRANEAN AGRICULTURE; Methodology and general studies; MICROWEAR ANALYSIS; Prehistory and protohistory; THRESHING SLEDGE; Typology, technology and attribute analysis
• ISSN: 0305-4403; 1095-9238
• DOI: 10.1006/jasc.1996.0062

Flaked stone implements formed an important part of the agricultural tool assemblage in the Eastern Mediterranean from the origins of domestication to the 20th century. The identification of specific tool function commonly has depended on morphological and macroscopic traits visible on these lithics. Over the past two decades, examination of lithics using the high power (up to 500×) incident light microscopy technique has revealed the presence of use–wear traces (striations, polish, and edge damage) that are diagnostic of direction and duration of motion, and material worked. The present study analyses a collection of threshing sledge flints collected from several areas of Greece to isolate the wear patterns that are unique to these lithics and that distinguish them from other tools, such as sickle elements, used to cut plants. These ethnographic examples provide the experimental control sample against which pieces collected from a survey in Cyprus can be compared. The paper also considers the implications for agricultural production of the introduction of threshing sledges in the Eastern Mediterranean.