Rubbing Stones
Rubbing Stones Fig. 16. Rubbing stones. Other unshaped informal tools include the grinding slabs made using boulders selected for their broad, flat surface or surfaces (if bifacial), which performed the same basic function as the more formally shaped querns defined as a curated tool type (cf. Frankel and Webb 1996: 72; 2006: 229). Rubbing stones (fig. 16) represent the dominant tool type (Kassianidou 2007: 278–79, pl. 80). These tools demonstrate the careful selection of small-to medium-sized cobbles with flat surfaces used with little or no formal shaping. Such tools, while variable in terms of plan view, are very consistent in terms of tool profile, which was sometimes enhanced by pecking along the lateral edges, probably to facilitate the user’s ability to grip the tool. The work faces of such tools frequently demonstrate the resharpening of the work face by pecking, and favorite tools were utilized bifacially. These tools, in spite of their simple form which can be cat...