Ground Stone Tools

Making stone tools by pecking, grinding and polishing is a defining technology for the new stone age, or Neolithic period. Stone tools are often divided into two groups according to the technique used to make them: chipped stone and ground stone. Ground stone tools found at Çatalhöyük include axe heads, mace heads, querns for grinding grain, ornaments such as pendants, and mirrors of obsidian. These artifacts were made by pecking - slowly crushing away the surface by tapping with another rock, then grinding - wearing away the surface by abrading it with or against another rock, and then sometimes finishing by polishing - grinding using fine sand or silt and water. This would be like filing or sanding something to shape it.