Fourteen papers explore a range of issues relating to prehistoric extraction sites, including ethnography, geochemical signatures, the application of neutron activation analysis, exploitation of erratics, excavation, survey and conservation.



Topics include quernstone extraction, use of hammers, stages of extraction, geographical and social contexts, changing social regimes, the ritualised nature of journeys to quarry sites, study of petrofabrics, and the effects of joint and cleavage on quarrying practice. Two contributions are in French with extended summaries in English.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• 1: Geoarchaeological Prospecting and Palaeolithic Exploitation Strategies of the Bajocien Flints in Haut-Quercy, France: (Prospection géoarchéologique et stratégies d’exploitation paléolithiques des silex bajociens du Haut-Quercy, France)
• 2: Chalosse Type Flint: Exploitation and Distribution of a Lithologic Tracer during the Upper Palaeolithic, Southern France: (Diffusion et exploitation d’un traceur lithologique au cours du Paléolithique supérieur dans le sud de la France: l’exemple du type Chalosse)
• 3: Neolithic Axe Quarries and Flint Mines: Towards an Ethnography of Prehistoric Extraction
• 4: Systems of Raw Material Procurement and Supply in the Neolithic of Northern Thrace During the Seventh to Fifth Millennia BC
• 5: Conservation of Ancient Stone Quarry Landscapes in Egypt
• 6: Dorset Palaeoeskimo Quarrying Techniques and the Production of Little Pots at Fleur de Lys, Newfoundland
• 7: Geochemical Signature of Mistassini Quartzite and Ramah Chert Artefacts and Quarries, Québec/Labrador, Canada
• 8: Extraction, Reduction, and Production at a Late Paleoindian Chert Quarry in Eastern Québec
• 9: Why did Palaeo-Indians select the Sheguiandah site? An Evaluation of Quarrying and Quartzite Material Selection Based on Petrographic Analysis of Core Artefacts
• 10: The Life and History of Prehistoric Quarry Extraction Tools Excavated from the Skene Motion and Workshop, Hartford Basin, Champlain Valley, New York, USA
• 11: Subsistence Activities at Quarries and Quarry-related Workshops: Testing the Holmes and Bryan Alternatives with Blades from the Gault Site, Central Texas, USA
• 12: The Organisation of Lithic Procurement at Silver Mound, Wisconsin: Source of Hixton Silicified Sandstone
• 13: Close to Home? Pipestone Quarry Utilisation in the Mid-continental United States
• 14: Pen Pits, New Grange and Progress in the Archaeology of Extraction
• References