This volume introduces a methodology, based on a systematic, in-depth study of prehension and hafting traces on experimental stone artifacts. The author proposes a number of distinctive macro- and microscopic wear traits for identifying handheld tools.

Qesem Cave (Israel) acts here as a case study to explore two important topics from the Middle Pleistocene: the practice of recycling old discarded flakes for the production of new objects by means of recycling, and the production of flakes and tools of small dimensions—topics that have not gained sufficient attention from the scientific community.

The functional analysis of flint tool edges using High Power Microscopy has allowed a great increase in the information that can de derived from stone tools. Founded on this method, this study concerns stone tool functions in the Danish Late Mesolithic Ertebolle culture, as well as in the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (the TRB). It focuses on evidence of prehistoric plant working, and the lacquer-like sheen or use wear known as `gloss'. The first part of the book discusses the methodology and some problems of interpretation, whilst the second discusses the manufacturing of implements, and the analysis of use wear on TRB sickles. A resume in Danish is also included.

Quartzite is a particularly frequently used lithology for knapping stone tools throughout all stages of human evolution. Despite this, however, there is a surprising lack of detailed methodological research on the formation and appearance of use-wear on this type of rock. As such, this book fills in a gap in the research, and proposes a new method to analyse use-wear on quartzite, by evaluating the variability of use-wear appearance on different rock varieties. This book is conceived as a handbook for the application of microwear analysis on quartzite, and is addressed to both students and lithic use-wear analysists. The extreme surface irregularities of quartzite, mainly due to its microcrystalline structure and the diverse orientation of quartz crystals surfaces, have always been regarded as a major obstacle when applying use-wear analysis. As shown here, the use of scanning electron microscopy allows this and other obstacles when observing highly reflective surfaces, such as quartzite, to be overcome.

The significance of use-wear studies in archaeological research plays an important role as a proxy to prehistoric techno-cultural reconstruction. The present volume, divided into five thematic sections, includes chapters discussing various different research methods, techniques, chronologies and regions. As such, this volume will be of interest to both archaeologists and anthropologists.

This volume provides the reader with a multifaceted overview of the study of stone tools used by humans in the past. Including case studies from various geographic regions and different continents, and covering a wide range of chronologies, the contributions here are centred on the study of human communities based on a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. A number of essays in this volume focus on tool production and use, and address major paleoanthropological questions related to past human economic and social behaviour. The book also includes detailed and careful studies of human technology during Prehistory.