What were the recycled potsherds used for? Use-wear analysis of Early Neolithic ceramic tools from Bulgaria (6100-5600Â cal. BC)

Many potsherds recycled as tools have been discovered in the Early Neolithic ceramic assemblages of south-western Bulgaria (6100-5600 cal. BC). Their large quantity has raised the issue of the role of this industry in the economy of the first farming societies in the Balkans. The scarcity of use-wear analyses on the ceramic tools has required the development of an observation protocol adjusted to archaeological recycled potsherds coupled with the construction of a wide experimental reference. The study method has allowed the determination of the macro- and microscopic characteristics of use-wear that are diagnostic of worked materials, kinematics and use-time of ceramic tools. It has highlighted their technical functions which prove to be extremely diversified in the Early Neolithic of south-western Bulgaria: spindle whorls, tokens, hide scrapers or potter's ribs and smoothers. The broad use-range of ceramic tools, as well as their large quantity, shows the recycled potsherds were not occasional substitutes of bone and lithic objects. On the contrary, they were fully integrated in the Neolithic toolkits for carrying out certain technical productions.