Variability of lithic tools used in the process of making hand-made pottery in Pre-European Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain)

Abstract

This article presents a group of unintentionally modified stone tools that served in different phases of the chaînes opératoires of pottery manufacture on the Island of Gran Canaria. The tools were recovered in the cave of La Cerera, a part of a pre-Hispanic settlement spanning the 7th to 12th centuries cal CE. Tool classification was carried out by morphological and use-wear analyses. Data from these observations were contrasted with the ethnoarchaeological results of a project carried out in collaboration with Gran Canaria's last traditional potters. The results identify a series of technical actions undertaken in the different phases of recent pottery manufacture. Furthermore, the project singles out certain indigenous ceramic traditions that have survived until the 20th century, as well as exogenous methods adopted by local productions after Gran Canaria's colonisation in the 15th century. Moreover, the results of this study serve as a reference to assist identifying this category of stone tools in other archaeological contexts.