Archaeological objects (finds)<\/strong> are all the possible remains of all past human activity that come in different materials, forms, shapes and sizes (Fig. 1). As such they can be categorized in various ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Microscopic and\/or molecular <\/strong>(e.g. starch granules from plant processing, lipid residues from animal fat cooked in pottery), and <\/span>macroscopic<\/strong> (e.g. house remains, ancient field systems, cave paintings).<\/span><\/p><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n Many of those categories are crosslinked, often found and studied in relation to each other, sometimes even found as composite objects<\/strong> (e.g. iron sword found in a leather sheath decorated with bronze ornaments). However, considering find conditions<\/strong> (wet, arid, frozen, etc.), the character of the material<\/strong>, and the time passed<\/strong>, which may vary from several hundred years<\/strong> (Modern Period archaeology) to several thousands of millennia<\/strong> (early hominids), the preservation of different objects in archaeological contexts varies remarkably. It is obvious that stone objects are more durable to environment and time in comparison with e.g. wooden items or textiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most common way to categorise archaeological objects is by major object types<\/strong>.\u00a0The following text is mostly based on European archaeological material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Lithics<\/strong> is a large find group consisting of various mineral (stone)<\/strong> objects<\/strong>, and it is the best and longest preserved<\/strong> archaeological material surviving over the millions of years<\/strong>. Stones have been used throughout prehistory for building various structures, ramparts, houses, hearths, stone-graves, field systems, etc. Considering stone-artefacts, the vast majority of lithics material is from the Stone Age<\/strong> (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, i.e. old, middle and new Stone Age respectively) and contain very different tools from hand<\/strong>\u2013 and other axes<\/strong>, adzes<\/strong>, various cutting blades<\/strong>, micro inserts<\/strong> (small lithic flakes inserted into organic material handle), burins<\/strong> and scrapers<\/strong>. In addition to actual artefacts, a large number of archaeological finds include production remains of stone objects such as knapping debris<\/strong> and cores<\/strong>. Furthermore, sometimes even ornaments<\/strong> (beads, pendants) or figurines<\/strong> can be made of stone. Besides the Stone Age material, lithics objects are found in later periods<\/strong> \u2013 mainly as various grinding stones<\/strong> and stands<\/strong>, whetstones<\/strong>, strike-a-light-stones<\/strong>, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most widely spread material used in Europe for stone objects in Stone Age is flint<\/strong> (consist of over 95% SiO2<\/sub>, plus various other trace\u00a0elements)\u00a0<\/span><\/span>found naturally in many places across the world. However, other siliceous<\/strong> rocks<\/strong>, like quartz<\/strong> and obsidian<\/strong>, but other materials such as porphyry<\/strong> and metatuf<\/strong> have been also used for making different tools [1]. Additionally, various stone materials unsuitable for lithic (cutting) tools due to their physical characteristics can be used for building<\/strong> and other purposes (lime-stone<\/strong>, sandstone<\/strong>). Very often locally available stone material has been used, but there are also several examples of long-distance trade of lithic objects covering thousands of kilometres [2].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The vast majority of ceramic items<\/strong> is formed by ceramic vessels<\/strong> i.e. pottery<\/strong>, usually found as pot sherds <\/strong>(Fig. 3). Pottery, which is by far the dominant find group in archaeology, was used for various food procurement practices, cooking and storage. Other and considerably rarer clay-made objects<\/strong> include clay figurines. Clay<\/strong> has been also widely used as a building material<\/strong> found in the forms of various daubs<\/strong> (from building remains, ovens), clay walls<\/strong> and floors<\/strong>, etc. In later periods also quite different objects such as Modern Period clay pipes<\/strong> can be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The earliest evidence of pottery is from around the 20,000 \u2013 12,000 cal BC<\/strong> from East Asia<\/strong>. It has been proposed that the innovation of pottery production spread from there towards west over several millennia [3]\u00a0and pottery is indeed closely connected to hunter-gatherer societies [4]. In different regions of Europe <\/strong>the arrival of pottery<\/strong> varies in time from 7th<\/sup> to 5th<\/sup> millennium cal BC <\/strong>and different cultural names have been associated with the evidence of first pottery (e.g. Linear Band Ceramics in western Europe, Erteb\u00f8lle in Scandinavia, Nemunas and Narva ware in the eastern Baltic etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the arrival of ceramics in the second half of the Stone Age there has been a continuous use and development of various vessel types<\/strong> up to nowadays. The forms and shapes vary in time and range from large pointed base vessels to small bowls<\/strong>, large storage vessels<\/strong> to drinking cups<\/strong>. Vessels have been formed from clay coils<\/strong> (mostly Stone Age) or larger lumps of clay<\/strong>. For many millennia<\/strong> the pots<\/strong> have been hand-made<\/strong>, whilst from in later periods, usually Iron Age, also wheel-thrown pots<\/strong> emerge [5]. Locally<\/strong> available clay sources<\/strong> have been mostly used as a raw material, to which various binding material<\/strong> and debris<\/strong> (organic plant remains, shells, stone debris, crog etc. depending on the location and time period) were added to improve various physical properties incl. the heat-persistence of the vessels. In later historical periods the amount of imported pottery including e.g. stoneware increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two main strands of studying archaeological pottery. First is the analysis of technological aspects<\/strong> including the study of clay material<\/strong> and additives<\/strong> for provenance<\/strong> and production techniques<\/strong>.\u00a0The other approach is to study the function<\/strong> and use of the vessels<\/strong> via analysing microscopic plant and animal remains preserved in pottery-related food-crust \u2013 charred food remains on the surface of the vessel [6-8].\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the discovery and invention of various metallurgical techniques<\/strong>, a turn from the Stone Age (Neolithic as the final, neo = new Stone Age period) to the Metal Ages<\/strong> (including Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages with their numerous sub-periods) takes place brining along various metal objects<\/strong>. The major artefact groups made from different metals include weapons<\/strong>, tools<\/strong> and ornaments<\/strong>. The most widely spread materials are various copper alloys<\/strong> (Cu mixed with Sn, Pb, Zn<\/strong> etc.) and iron<\/strong> (from the Iron Age, ca 500 BC, onwards), but precious metals such as silver<\/strong> and gold<\/strong> also occur. Ornaments<\/strong> are mostly made of copper alloys<\/strong> and precious metals<\/strong>, whilst weapons<\/strong> and tools<\/strong> are usually made of iron<\/strong>, in earlier periods sometimes also copper alloys<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
![\"Fig1_archaeological_objects\"](\"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/285\/fig_1_archaeological_objects.png\" "\\"fig_1_archaeological_objects.png\\"")
\u00a0Lithics<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fig_2_stone_artefacts\"](\"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/285\/fig_2_stone_artefacts.jpg\" "\\"fig_2_stone_artefacts.jpg\\"")
Ceramic objects<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fig3_Kukruse_pots\"](\"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/285\/fig_3_kukruse_pots.png\" "\\"fig_3_kukruse_pots.png\\"")
Metal objects<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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