Archaeology has a great deal of experience with how the misinterpretation of finds creates a false image of the past. The main reason for this is down to ideologically-conditioned stereotypes. The paper descri-bes one such case involving hundreds of thousands of finds of one type of artefact, commonly classified as whetstones, pendants, amulets, etc., from the Chalcolithic up to the Early Middle Ages. The article emphasises that although touchstones from ancient burials had already been identified using an electron microscopy half a century ago, the interpretation of these finds corresponding to the paradigm from the early 19th century remains popular to this day. For the chemical microanalysis of metal traces preserved on the surface of these stone artefacts, samples were selected from Russian, Slovakian, Swedish and Ukrainian sites, from the Hallstatt period up to the Early Middle Ages, with special regard for their previous interpretation history. However, the main aim is to point out the symbolic role of tools used to test the value of precious metals outside the grave context. Finds from wet environments in particular reveal the continuity of the behaviour of European over the millennia, regardless of the current ideology or cult, and the diversity of artefacts that were, and still are, chosen as a medium for votive behaviour. and Archeologie má mnoho zkušeností s tím, jak chybná interpretace nálezů vytváří falešný obraz minulosti. Hlavní důvod spočívá v ideologických stereotypech. Jeden z příkladů nabízí tento článek, jehož tématem jsou stovky tisíc kamenných předmětů obvykle klasifikovaných jako brousky, přívěšky, amulety apod., a to od eneolitu do raného středověku. Ačkoli byly prubířské kameny z dávných hrobů identifikovány za použití elektronového mikroskopu už před půlstoletím, interpretace dotyčných nálezů zůstává poplatná paralokalit, od doby halštatské do raného středověku. Avšak hlavním cílem je vyzdvihnout symbolickou roli nástrojů užívaných k určení hodnoty kovu mimo pohřební kontext. Zejména nálezy z mokrého prostředí odhalují tisíciletou kontinuitu v chování Evropanů, nezávislou na dobové ideologii či kultu, a také šíři škály předmětů, které byly, ba dosud jsou, voleny jako prostředek votivního jednání.
Death and funerary customs belong to the stable and conservative elements in a society. They are very slow to change and can remain almost identical for hundreds, even thousands of years, varying only with fundamental changes in the social sphere and culture. In the case of ancient Israel, changes to long-established death and funerary customs often occurred when new foreign influences were incorporated and transformed in accordance with indigenous traditions and norms. Even when a new theory within the death "ideology" appeared, it did not necessarily dictate a change in mortuary behavior towards the dead. Actually, we cannot always find a causal relationship between a doctrine or particular religious attitude and the corresponding burial practice. For nearly two millennia Jews practiced the full body treatment, including manipulation during the secondary burial, while at the same time regarding corpse handling as unclean and polluting.