Use-Wear Analysis of Chipped Stone Assemblages from Neolithic Burial Caves in Portuguese Estremadura: The Case of Bom Santo (Lisbon)

Abstract

Modern lithic studies are a very recent acquisition among Portuguese prehistorians working on the earliest farming societies in the country. This is why use-wear analysis is not a systematic procedure nor was it applied in the analysis of funerary offerings. Bom Santo Cave is a Middle Neolithic burial site undergoing an interdisciplinary research project including use-wear analysis of its lithic components (flint blades and geometrics). In spite of quite severe alterations observed on the flint tools, the outcome of this analysis points to a clear ritual/cultural option of selecting unused or still intact artefacts as offerings. The few tools with wear marks were used as projectile points (in the case of geometrics) or for cutting non-ligneous plants (in the case of blades), among which there are a couple of sickle implements.