A preliminary analysis of basal grindstones from the Carnarvon Range, Little Sandy Desert
22nd January 2014
Peter Veth and Sue O’Connor
Introduction*
Australian prehistorians have devised morphological categories for grindstones in order to separate those assumed to be of a generalised function from those used more specifically for grinding seeds (cf. Cane 1984; Smith 1985, 1986). This division is a functional one, with grindstones, or ‘amorphous grindstones’, being multipurpose tools used to grind not only plants but also other materials such as animals and minerals. In contrast, seed-grinding implements are described as being more specialised tools. Their primary, if not exclusive, function is to process edible seeds. Amorphous grindstones are characterised as having a flat grinding surface, while formal grindstones used in the wet milling process have one or two deeper grooves.
*Note that an abstract was not included with this paper, and so the introductory paragraph has been included here instead of the abstract.
Veth, P. and S. O'ConnorA preliminary analysis of basal grindstones from the Carnarvon Range, Little Sandy Desert
December 1996
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20–22
Article
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