A new book titled Trajectoires techniques en Préhistoire récente. L’industrie lithique du Néolithique final et du début de l’Âge du Bronze dans le Nord de la France has been published by Sidestone Press. The book is based on the doctoral thesis of Emmanuelle Martial, a specialist in lithic techno-typology at Inrap, an organization involved in archaeological research in France. It offers the first comprehensive analysis of the role and evolution of stone tool production in northern France between the third millennium and the first half of the second millennium BCE. The research is the result of 25 years of studies in the departments of Nord, Pas-de-Calais, and Somme, analyzing a collection of more than 70,000 objects made from siliceous materials—such as flint—found at sites associated with the Final Neolithic Deûle-Escaut group, the Campaniform culture, and the Early Bronze Age. The book explores both the practical and symbolic significance of these stone tools, as well as how their use changed in relation to the rise of metallurgy. It seeks to understand the societies that created these objects by connecting technical developments with broader socio-cultural changes. The work presents a detailed look at how stone tools were acquired, made, and used, considering these processes from a wide range of perspectives and scales. A key finding is that the role of stone tools changed significantly with the onset of the Bronze Age, marking a shift toward new traditions and practices. The book also offers an historical and anthropological interpretation of how technical systems evolved from stone to metal. Around the end of the third millennium and the beginning of the second millennium BCE, the spread of metal tools began to transform societies across Europe. However, in northern France, which was on the periphery of major metallurgical centers, the use of flint for daily tools persisted well into the later stages of the Bronze Age. This suggests that the transition from stone to metal was not uniform across the region. Emmanuelle Martial is a specialist in lithic techno-typology at Inrap’s Regional Direction Hauts-de-France, based in Villeneuve d'Ascq. She is also an associated member of UMR 8215 Trajectoires, a research unit focused on prehistoric and protohistoric studies. Her previous doctoral thesis, titled "The evolution of technical systems at the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age: a techno-cultural approach to the lithic industry in northern France," was completed at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.