Lithic analyses of all kinds have a long history in archaeological studies. For many years, morphological studies of tool-types and elaborate discussions of relative chronologies were a primary focus, but this has changed and the past few decades have witnessed a steadily growing interest in many other aspects of lithic studies. The 12 papers in the present volume provide a variety of perspectives on lithic exploitation patterns in late glacial and early postglacial Western Europe (from Poland to Portugal). The book grew from a symposium held at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held in Anaheim in 1994, and the editors hope that the volume will stimulate more inter-regional discussions of data and ideas, as well as general interpretive problems regarding lithic raw material economy in late glacial and early postglacial.
