S. Mahlstedt, The stone artefacts ofTimmendorf-Nordmole I. Bericht der RGK 88, 2007 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Neolithic axe depositions in the northern Netherlands
2008
This paper deals with Dutch flint axe depositions associated with the Middle Neolithic Funnelbeaker Culture (Trichterbecher Kultur – TRB). Large flint axes were acquired as finished products from southern Scandinavia and were deposited in specific, waterlogged places in the landscape. The application of new empirical research techniques has revealed unexpected patterns of use and treatment of these axes. Moreover, contextual analysis shows significant differences in terms of size and wear patterns compared with axes retrieved from megalithic tombs. The evidence strongly suggests that the observed differences may have been linked to completely different use-lives between the two classes of axes. Drawing on ethnographic analogy, it will be argued that the large flint axes deposited in natural places in the landscape became animated with special powers through the act of production. Given the highly ritualized treatment that accompanied their exchange, they must have played an importan...
This paper deals with the Late Neolithic Nordic Flint Daggers excavated from the gallery grave at Utbogården, Västergötland County, Sweden. Studies were undertaken in order to gain more understanding regarding the production processes and types of tools utilized during production/reduction, which can be assigned to certain specific, well preserved examples of these daggers. The results of these studies, in turn, will be able to shed light on the processes involved in producing Late Neolithic daggers in general, regardless of their individual states of preservation. This will be attempted by means of experimental flint knapping, comparative microscopic analysis, and chemical analysis.
The experienced axe. Chronology, condition and context of TRB-axes in western Norway (2011)
In Davis, V. and Edmonds, M. (eds.) Stone axe studies III. Oxbow Books: Oxford and Oakville
The early and middle Neolithic populations in western Norway can be characterised as sedentary hunter-fishers which practiced agriculture on a small scale. These groups mainly used regional stone adzes, but TRB axes are also found. For the purpose of this paper, these TRB axes have been reclassified and described. The main bulk of the axes were probably imported during the latter part of the early Neolithic and early part of the middle Neolithic (middle TRB). They were probably made in southern Scandinavia and were distributed to western Norway along the coast from the Oslo fjord. Most of the axes have been found in the southern part of the region. Although the majority of the axes are complete and typologically certain, many are atypical or had been reworked. Most of the axes have no information on context, but a few seem to have been offered. Contrary to the depositions of the regional adzes, a relatively large portion of the TRB axes were deposited in the inland. The data together indicates that new ways of perceiving the landscape were linked these axes, which eventually contributed to a major cultural change towards the end of the middle Neolithic.
Flint daggers, copper daggers and technological innovation in Late Neolithic Scandinavia
This article seeks to clarify the reason for the flourishing of daggers during the first millennia of metal use in Europe. Flint daggers, usually characterized as direct copies of contemporary metal blades, circulated widely from around 4000 cal BC to 1500 cal BC in different parts of Europe. Among the best studied and most well-known flint dagger varieties are the early second millennium cal BC fishtailhandled varieties made in southern Scandinavia which are universally described as skeuomorphs of Central European metal-hilted daggers. In this paper, their putative skeuomorphism is re-evaluated through a close technological and contextual analysis, and a new way of conceiving of the relationship between fishtail flint daggers and metal-hilted daggers is proposed. Like most of the other widely circulating flint dagger types in Neolithic Europe, fishtail and metal-hilted daggers are produced through the application of specialized/standardized production processes and demonstrate a desire to cultivate special and perhaps circumscribed technologies on the part of the people who made and used them. This shared technological background is identified as the root of the 'dagger idea' which emerges in Europe at this period. Daggers, in any material, are identified as 'boundary objects'things which bridge social boundaries, allowing people with different backgrounds to recognize similar values and ways of life in each other's cultures and which, consequently, facilitate communication and exchange, in this case of metal and of the technological concepts which were part of its adoption.
Crafting Bone Tools in Mesolithic Norway: A Regional Eastern-Related Know-How
European Journal of Archaeology, 2015
This article focuses on the production of bone tools during the seventh millennium cal BC. A large number of fishhooks and waste from fishhook production have been found at the sites of Sævarhelleren and Viste cave, in western Norway. The data have been studied by means of the chaîne opératoire concept, meaning that the artefacts are described and analysed in order to identify the different steps in the production process and to characterize the technology in a comparative northern European perspective. The result shows that bone tools and fishhooks were crafted in a similar way at these two sites, with techniques that were mastered by all makers, and in close relation to stone tool production. When compared to other contemporaneous sites, the technology resembles the Mesolithic bone technology of north-eastern Europe. It thus contradicts the hypothesis of a strong connection between western Norway and the Maglemose cultural group in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany.
Crafting Bone Tools in Mesolithic Norway: A Regional Eastern-Related Know-How (2015)
This article focuses on the production of bone tools during the seventh millennium cal BC. A large number of fishhooks and waste from fishhook production have been found at the sites of Sævarhelleren and Viste cave, in western Norway. The data have been studied by means of the chaîne opératoire concept, meaning that the artefacts are described and analysed in order to identify the different steps in the production process and to characterize the technology in a comparative northern European perspective. The result shows that bone tools and fishhooks were crafted in a similar way at these two sites, with techniques that were mastered by all makers, and in close relation to stone tool production. When compared to other contemporaneous sites, the technology resembles the Mesolithic bone technology of north-eastern Europe. It thus contradicts the hypothesis of a strong connection between western Norway and the Maglemose cultural group in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany.
Crafting axes, producing meaning. Neolithic axe depositions in the northern Netherlands
This paper deals with Dutch flint axe depositions associated with the Middle Neolithic Funnelbeaker Culture (Trichterbecher Kultur – TRB). Large flint axes were acquired as finished products from southern Scandinavia and were deposited in specific, waterlogged places in the landscape. The application of new empirical research techniques has revealed unexpected patterns of use and treatment of these axes. Moreover, contextual analysis shows significant differences in terms of size and wear patterns compared with axes retrieved from megalithic tombs. The evidence strongly suggests that the observed differences may have been linked to completely different use-lives between the two classes of axes. Drawing on ethnographic analogy, it will be argued that the large flint axes deposited in natural places in the landscape became animated with special powers through the act of production. Given the highly ritualized treatment that accompanied their exchange, they must have played an important role in TRB cosmology. Keywords: Neolithic; selective deposition; craftsmanship; cosmology; megaliths
Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2023
SummarySlate was a prominent tool material in the Scandinavian Stone Age. However, details of tool function have relied on morphology and have added little to our understanding of their role in hunting and processing. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to identify both the use‐wear traces and residues from slate knives from northern Norway. By applying a multi‐disciplinary approach incorporating experimentation, use‐wear and organic residue analyses, we identified residues, including seal hair, and use‐traces which indicate the tools were used to process fresh marine mammals.