Replicate Plant Processing REVEALs Ground Stones complex Biography

Investigating plants processing in archaeological records is not an easy task, since they are perishable and unlikely to be preserved. We focused on the tools used to grind and pound different parts of the plants, such as roots, tubers, bulbs, seeds and kernels, which need tenderization prior to consumption. My PhD project -Retrieve a novel: new multi-scale surface texture analysis of ground stone tools (REVEAL)- is developing an integrated multi-scale methodological approach to investigate the wear traces left on stone surfaces by the different parts of plant processing. The case-study is the cave site of Brînzeni I (Moldova), where 114 putative ground stones were retrieved in the Aurignacian cultural layer III. Such a high number of macrolithic tools was never recorded in any acknowledged Early Upper Palaeolithic site of the Pontic steppe. The methodological approach is tested on ongoing replication experiments, according to a standardized protocol: selection of plants to be tenderized, compatibles with the biome of Moldova during the Upper Palaeolithic and/or attested as used plants for nutrition by ethnography; selection of cobbles and pebbles for tools with similar characteristics to the archaeological samples (by means of petrographic analysis); detailed protocol to document the wear formation process and the stone geometry modification during the use, of the different plants, at given time (T0, T1, T2, etc.); application of techniques with increasing magnification power, from macro to micro and nano scale. The creation of a reference collection of use-wear traces will be used to compare the feature occurring on Brînzeni’s ground stones and to make inference on their biography.