Flint Trade in the Protohistoric Levant offers an in-depth case study of the production and exchange of tabular scrapers. Crossing cultural and ecological boundaries and traded from the desert to the settled zone, these tools encompassed both ritual and quotidian functions over the course of well over the two millennia of the existence of the exchange system. Analyses focus on the changing nature of the production systems, dynamics of value in changing contexts of production and use, ritual contexts and meaning. Extending throughout the Levant, the tabular scraper complex is compared and contrasted to other contemporary production and exchange systems (ceramics, chipped stone, ground stone, copper, beads), offering a rich picture of the complexities of late prehistoric trade, transcending linear evolutionary frameworks, and simple models. Adopting a chaine operatoire approach to the use-life of the artifacts, the artifacts can be seen to transform over time and place, made, used, recycled, and ultimately discarded, each stage in its own cultural contexts. The rise and decline of this exchange complex reflects both the geo-political history of the region and the general role of lithic industries in these societies. Focusing on late prehistoric times in the Near East, the discussions will of relevance to all researchers interested in the role of exchange in the evolution of complex economies. It offers an analysis of exchange systems based on a matrix of factors which should be of interest to all researchers interested in the evolution of trade.

Session XXXIV-6 of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (4-9 June 2018, Paris, France): 'Stone in Metal Ages' was divided in two parts. The first, 'Late stone talks: Lithic industries in Metal Ages', was concerned with knapping. The papers dealt with lithic technology, use-wear analyses and the relation between the decline of stone and the development of metallurgy. The second, 'Let there be rock and metal: l'outillage en pierre des metallurgistes prehistoriques de la mine a l'atelier', was designed for papers focussing on stone tools used for metallurgy. This publication combines these two parts. Despite the fact that metal took the place of stone in many spheres, the analysis of lithic products created during the Metal Ages has seen progressive development. Objects and tools made of flint, chert and other stone materials remain important components of the archaeological record, and their study has offered new perspectives on ancient societies. Not only have many aspects of the everyday life of ancient people been better understood, but the socioeconomic and cultural systems associated with the production, circulation and use of stone tools have offered new information not available from other realms of material culture.