Ancient Mines and Quarries. A Trans-Atlantic Perspective, 2010, 224 p. -

This volume derives from a meeting on prehistoric mines and quarries held at the Society for American Archaeology Annual Symposium in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2006. 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. Essays include: Geoarchaeological Prospecting and Palaeolithic Exploitation Strategies of the Bajocien Flints in Haut-Quercy, France (L. Bruxelles et al.); Chalosse Type Flint: Exploitation and Distribution of a Lithologic Tracer during the Upper Palaeolithic, Southern France (P. Chalard et al.); Neolithic axe quarries and flint mines: towards an ethnography of prehistoric extraction (P. Topping); Systems of raw material procurement and supply in the Neolithic of northern Thrace (I. Gatsov); Conservation of Ancient Stone Quarry Landscapes in Egypt (P. Storemyr et al.); Dorset Palaeoeskimo Quarrying Techniques at Fleur de Lys, Newfoundland (J. C. Erwin); Geochemical Signature of Mistassini Quartzite and Ramah Chert, Québec/Labrador, Canada (D. LeBlanc et al.); Extraction, Reduction, and Production at a Late Paleoindian Chert Quarry in Eastern Québec (A. Burke); Why did Palaeo-Indians select the Sheguiandah site? An evaluation of quarrying and quartzite material selection based on petrographic analysis of core artefacts (P. J. Julig, D. Long); The life and history of prehistoric quarry extraction tools excavated from the Skene Motion and Workshop, Hartford Basin, New York, (P. LaPorta et al.); Subsistence activities at quarries and quarry-related workshops: testing the Holmes and Bryan alternatives with blades from the Gault site, central Texas, (S. A. Minchak); The organisation of lithic procurement at Silver Mound, Wisconsin: source of Hixton Silicified Sandstone (D. Carr, R. Boszhardt); Pipestone quarry utilisation in the mid-continental United States (Sarah U Wisseman et al); Pen Pits, New Grange and progress in the archaeology of extraction (D. Field).