Changes in use flint to metal tools on bone/antler objects in Bronze Age Poland
We studied manufacturing traces observed on bone/antler objects from various contexts (settlement, cemeteries) dated to Bronze and early Iron Age (2300-550 BC) from Polish sites. Our main focus was not on the objects themselves, but the tools used to manufacture them. These tools are difficult to trace –they almost never occur together with the finished objects– flint tools (e.g. scrapers, perforators) have been not collected in course of excavations for years while metal ones (e.g. knives, axes) are deposited in completely different contexts (mostly hoards).
The results of recently studied collections of both flint and metal artefacts show that the link tool-object is not direct in Bronze/early Iron Age evidence. Although there are more questions than answers we are fully convinced the problem is worth further studies.
