Stone grooved hammers from the Šumperk region in North Moravia and their possible association with metallurgical activity in the Late Bronze Age

Stone grooved hammers from the Late Bronze Age represent a residual phenomenon in the use of such implements and are primarily associated with the extraction of metal ores. The present study discusses the discovery of two stone grooved hammers at the sites of Dubicko – Za Kostelem and Police-Polanka. These artefacts were subjected to use-wear, petrographic, 3D, and SEM/EDX analyses. The combination of these methods was employed to evaluate the overall degree of wear, determine the provenance of the stone raw material, and test the hypothesis that these tools were used during a specific stage of metallurgical activity. For comparison with the examined tools, additional stone grooved hammers from the Czech Republic, broadly dated to the period of 1300–800 BC, were also analysed.