First Insights into the Use-wear Analysis of Polished and Bevelled Stone Artefacts from the Eneolithic Cham Culture, Czech Republic

Use-wear studies of polished and bevelled stone artefacts (PBAs) remain relatively scarce, despite their considerable potential for reconstructing past human activities. This paper aims to contribute to this still developing area of research through a functional analysis of the Eneolithic PBA assemblage from the Cham culture, Czech Republic. The study combines macroscopic observation with low- and high-magnification microscopic analysis in order to document and interpret surface alteration related to production, use, hafting, and post-depositional processes. A total of five artefacts were selected from a larger PBA assemblage and examined in detail. Subsequently, their surface traces were compared with wear patterns documented on experimental replicas produced from comparable raw materials. The experimental programme comprised controlled activities in which replicas were used as axes and adzes to work wood and antler. The experimental results allowed the identification of distinct wear patterns as those related to tool kinematics, contact materials, hafting, and resharpening practices. The application of these reference data to archaeological artefacts indicated that the studied tools were versatile and multifunctional, and often subjected to repeated rehafting, reorientation, and resharpening. The results highlight both the interpretative potential and the methodological challenges of use-wear analysis of Eneolithic PBAs

Assemblage (archaeology) · Bevel · Chalcolithic · Czech · Identification (biology) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology