A fascination with mundane things. A retrospective of the life and career of Professor Annelou van GijnAnnemieke Verbaas & Ben ChanForty years on: Functional analysis of stone artefacts and the Annelou Van Gijn – Australian connectionRichard Fulagar &Judith FieldWear formation on shell ornaments: mechanical and actualistic experiments, two complementary approachesLeïla Hoareau & Sylvie BeyriesConifer tar in the late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of north-western EuropeGeeske H.J. Langejans, Diederik Pomstra, Thierry Ducrocq, Antony Haskins & Paul R.B. KozowykVlaardingen culture or Stein group? From object biographies to communities of practiceLasse van den DikkenbergIf flint axes were so valuable, were axe fragments used as ‘small change’? Some insights on the exchange of flint axes and axe-flint in the Vlaardingen settlements of the Dutch coastal regionRob HoukesDiverging productions or not? A preliminary exploration of the chemical composition of Neolithic Vlaardingen PotteryDennis BraekmansColouring the past. Two remarkable finds of Lousberg flint in the Low CountriesLuc Amkreutz & Leo VerhartA small camp-site of the Late Mesolithic in the Scheldt valley: results of an integrated analysisÉva Halbrucker & Philippe CrombéAsk the stones. Harvesting technologies from the Early Neolithic site of La Marmotta (Lake of Bracciano, Italy)Juan F. Escuela Gibaja, Niccolò Mazzucco, Bernard Gassin, Denis Guilbeau, Gerard Remolins & Mario MineoWhat points can tell. Artefact biographies of barbed bone and antler points from Mesolithic DoggerlandMerel Spithoven, Joannes Dekker & Alessandro AleoReconstructing the biographies of querns within Linearbandkeramik and Blicquy-Villeneuve-Saint-Germain households through technological and use-wear analysisCaroline HamonObject histories in prehistoric Britain: a stone macehead from the West Kennet Avenue occupation site, southern BritainChristina Tsoraki, Richard E Bevins, Rob Ixer, Nick Pearce, Joshua Pollard & Ben ChanFlint superblades – biography and function: A case study from BulgariaMaria GurovaThings objects can do. Taking an itinerary approach to artefact biographies for utilizing the cognitive, social and emotional magic of historical objects for contemporary societyMonique H. van den Dries & Yvonne M.J. Lammers-KeijsersThis volume has been written in honour of Professor Annelou van Gijn in order to celebrate her distinguished career as an archaeologist and, above all, as an expert in the study of material culture. Annelou started her research with the use-wear analysis of prehistoric flint from the Netherlands, and she extended her interests in every possible direction: time, space, materials and technologies. This volume has been compiled to reflect the broad oeuvre of her work. It focuses on the biographies of a wide range of artefact types made from an equally wide range of materials from Mesolithic and Neolithic Europe, but also glimpses beyond into other periods and geographic regions. The papers focus on different aspects of artefact biographies including raw material acquisition, artefact production, use, and discard, and even the afterlife of objects in our modern society. The objects in question include quotidian tools such as querns and harvesting tools, adhesives that held objects together, and elaborate objects such as maceheads, jewellery, and flint superblades.Whatever the subject of Annelou’s individual publications, at the heart of all of her work is the love of objects and the stories that they have to tell us. The stories in this bundle are a testament of her contagious enthusiasm.