The Ground Stone Assemblages of the Natufian and Neolithic in the Levant - A Brief Review

The term 'ground stone', although sometimes declared a misnomer, is used widely to encompass a large variety of tool types. Of these, four types, commonly perceived as two sets of complimenting utensils, have received special attention. These are mortars-and-pestles (often referred to as pounding utensils), and lower-and-upper stones (i.e. querns and handstones respectively, commonly referred to as grinding stone). Bedrock cup-holes, which vary in depth from shallow to very deep, constitute a group of their own. Large numbers of these specimens occur in Natufian and Neolithic sites dated to the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Sizes of all four tool types are variable; as a rule the heaviest items are found among the Natufian pounding tools (specifically mortars), for which there are no Neolithic equivalents. The exceptions are the unusual large flat basins known from mid-PPNB Beidha or PN Munhata.