Студии и Статии / STUDIES AND PAPERS Approaching prehistoric skills: experimental drilling in the context of bead manufacturing Maria Gurova a *, Clive Bonsall b , Bruce Bradley c , Elka Anastassova d a Maria Gurova, Department of Prehistory, National Institute of Archaeology with Museum in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Saborna Str, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria; gurovam@yahoo.fr b Clive Bonsall, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK; c.bonsall@ed.ac.uk c Bruce Bradley, Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QE, UK; B.A.Bradley@exeter.ac.uk d Elka Anastassova, Department of Prehistory, National Institute of Archaeology with Museum in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Saborna Str, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria; elka.anastasova@gmail.com * Corresponding author ABSTRACT From the very Early Neolithic in the Balkans two categories of objects are recognized as having been involved in prehistoric drilling activities. The irst is beads and other decorative and prestigious items made of bone, shell, potery and various minerals. The second comprises toolkits of micro-perforators/borers found among the lint assemblages of several sites. This paper presents experiments in drilling diferent materials with the aim of testing several practical issues. A series of micro-borers were produced and used for manual and mechanical drilling (with a pump drill). Various samples (mainly prepared thin plates) of minerals and rocks were used, ranging in hardness (on Mohs scale) from 3 (marble, limestone, calcite) to 6.5 (amazonite, nephrite). Biominerals were also used: aragonite (shells) and apatite (bones). Actual bead production was approached by manufacturing 16 delicate beads of 5 diferent materials using ine sand and water abrasion. Though not conclusive, the experimental work was instructive in many of the parameters, procedures and technical details of prehistoric drilling. KEYWORDS Prehistoric skills, micro perforators/borers, pump drill, drilling, experiments, beads, (bio)minerals, Mohs scale Introduction One of the most spectacular prehistoric artefact categories consists of various decora- tive objects, such as pendants, necklaces and beads made of minerals, shell, bone and pot- tery. They are impressive not only by the variety of colour and shape, but by the manner of manufacturing which still represents a challenge or even an enigma. The best way to understand these beautiful and sophisticated objects and the narra- tives embodied within them is to reconstruct the range of abilities and skills that had been developed by the people who produced them. The paper presents a series of experiments in drilling diferent materials that were undertaken with the aim of testing several practical issues relating to tool eiciency for drill- ing and optimal parameters for bead fashioning. The experimental programme at its initial stage did not focus on strict procedural protocols of experimentation. Rather, the purpose was to accumulate a basic empirical dataset of observations on concrete tasks – perforation Be-JA Bulgarian e-Journal of Archaeology Бе-СА Българско е-Списание за Археология http://be-ja.org ISSN: 1314-5088 vol. 3 (2013) 201–221