STONE TOOLS FROM THE CIRCULAR-PLAN BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT OF ULAK‑1 (SOUTHERN URALS, RUSSIA)
Abstract
The article presents the results of a study of stone tools from the 2015 excavation of the circular Bronze Age settlement Ulak‑1 in the Bashkir Trans-Urals. The primary research method employed was use-wear analysis of the stone tool assemblage. Examination of the wear traces indicates that most of the artifacts were used as tools for crushing and grinding mineral raw materials. It has been established that the stone implements served both for producing coarse fractions and for grinding rock to a powder-like state. The most plausible interpretation is that the majority of the tools were associated with ceramic production, particularly with the preparation of crushed stone temper used as an additive in forming clay masses. The 2015 assemblage also includes flakes and a massive core, whose technical and morphological characteristics are comparable to the Lower Paleolithic stone industry of the Southern Urals.
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References
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