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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Showing the Invisible: The Economic Cycle of Stone Tools

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description

This contribution takes place in a broader theme, that of “the invisible economy of recyclable materials”. It aims to illustrate the phenomena of recovery of materials from lithic tools and their consequences. The classification of tools by material, although classic, is not relevant from a technical point of view. The material of a tool, in particular its mechanical properties, is to be taken into consideration in its technical analysis, but it cannot constitute a determining criterion in a classification system. Function should come first, as most functional categories use multiple materials. The most striking example, if one can say so, is that of the striking supports, where one finds, among the tools still used today, materials as varied as steel, bronze (jewelers’ and watchmakers’ anvils), lead (mar- tyrs), stone (traditional African anvils) or wood (salt shakers). However, in the particular case of the analysis of furniture study meth- ods, the approach by material takes on its full meaning, because the latter will condition the possible treatments. Before addressing the furniture itself, it is interesting to address the terms of the problem posed by the theme mentioned above. Like all words belonging to everyday language, their definition seems obvious and does not call for long developments a priori. Yet putting two terms, “invisible” and “recyclable”, into perspective shows that they cover a complex reality. From the analysis of this problem, we will approach the economic cycle of the lithic material in order to evaluate the possible influence of recycling on the “invisibilization” of the lithic tools. Because the latter, apart from the grinding tools, is a piece of furniture still too often invisible to archaeologists. The reason for this is not so much the particular nature of the material as methodological problems which are not specific to lithic tools.