• Ground stone tools
• coloured rocks
• 3D documentation
• microscopy
• XRF
• Raman

Stones were used since early stages of humankind as tools for pounding and grinding processes of raw resources. Identifying this type of instruments and distinguishing them from manuports is not a simple task. Good results can be achieved studying the entire surface of the material with traditional microscopic methods; however, this is very time consuming and usually these analyses focus on specific areas of the surface only. The objective of this study is to set up an effective and efficient multidisciplinary approach for visual analysis of the tool’s surface at various levels of resolution. The methodology is applied on a sample of eleven ground stone tools from the late Pre Pottery Neolithic A archaeological site of Ayia Varvara Asprokremnos, in central Cyprus. The site was in a strategic position for raw material exploitation especially connected to coloured rocks, as demonstrated by numerous traces of these materials processing, as well as an abundant number of ground stone tools most likely used for this purpose.
The approach relies on high-resolution 3D documentation of the stone’s surfaces with a structured light scanner and their following post-processing. The latter includes the application of various approaches for the calculation of surface curvatures and roughness of the stone surfaces. Irregularities in the surface rugosity are used as first evidences for the identification of potential functional areas, interpreted as human inflicted anomalies. The identified potential functional areas are analysed with the use of a digital microscope to confirm the presence of use-wear traces and residues. The study of the residues is performed using different elemental analytical techniques, namely X-Ray florescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy. The results from XRF measurements of the colored residues are compared with the spectra acquired from colored rock samples collected during a survey of the region around Ayia Varvara Asprokremmos to locate the source area of the grinded materials.