How to finish your Neolithic axe? Experimental archaeology and optical microscopy, a study of grinding and polishing traces on flint axes from Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BCE) settlements

The ubiquitous flint axes of the Dutch Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BCE) were not locally produced, but imported from flint mining areas in Belgium and Dutch Limburg. At present a systematic study of grinding and polishing traces on these axes is lacking. This study presents a series of experiments which created a suitable reference collection for studying grinding and polishing traces on these flint axes. Four archaeological case studies from the western Netherlands are selected to investigate the variability in production traces on axes and axe fragments between these sites and between different production centres. It can be observed that marked differences exist between the sites and that these are not related to a difference in terms of flint sources, from which the axes were imported. This study revealed hidden complexities in the flint exchange networks in this period. This raised new questions as to where the polishing of these axes took place.