Hoards from the Neolithic to the Metal Ages: Technical and codified practices. Session of the XIth Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (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...
Ceci N'est Pas Une Hache: Neolithic Depositions in the Northern Netherlands
As early as the 19th century discoveries of groups of large axes puzzled those confronted with them. The fact that most were found in waterlogged places in particular formed the basis of speculation as to the nature of these objects. In this Research Master thesis, the character and significance of TRB flint axe depositions are explored. The first part of this thesis is mainly concerned with the question how selective deposition was structured. By means of metrical, spatial and functional analysis, patterns are explored that can shed light on the actions performed by people in the past. The second part of this thesis deals with the meaning and significance of TRB flint axe depositions. Why did people in the past do the things they did, how were these actions meaningful and important? Using sociological theory and ethnographic evidence an interpretation is presented based on the empirically observed patterns. Book can be bought at www.sidestone.com or www.oxbowbooks.com
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
The choice of a very homogeneous corpus (typology, geographic area and chronology -Late Bronze Age (LBA) = 'Bronze final IIIb'-allows to compare the deposits which make it up through the study of forming of the objects, and of the exhaustive components analysis. These investigations highlight, beyond the traditions of bronze work, common of each deposit, an image very different from each set according to the types of objects and elementary composition. Some are heteroclite where each object results of a different operation of casting, others homogeneous, are composed of groups of objects resulting from only one operation of casting. These last observations suggest that the objects had bonds between them before the deposition and kept them. Other similarities of the metal component show bonds between various deposits and let's approach the historical level of deposition phenomenon. Thus the technical investigations represent an additional means to apprehend the hoards and to open a door to their interpretation.
Ugly, but pure! A votive deposit of as-cast axes from Emmerhout (prov. Drenthe, The Netherlands)?
LUNULA XXVIII, 2020
In 1982, a hut was being constructed in the Emmerdennen area, during which "…on a single spade, at c. 60 cm below the surface" two Bronze Age palstaves emerged. Later investigation in 1983 by the Groningen Institute for Archaeology, discovered that the axes originated from a prehistoric pit. This pit comprised a quartzite stone, four tiny fragments of quarts-tempered Bronze Age pottery and a single flint flake. The remainder of the fill consisted of soil with tiny fragments of natural granite rock and small fragments of charcoal, indicating that soil enriched with settlement debris was used to backfill the pit. In this article, we investigate the deposition of the two as-cast axes.
This article considers non-flint stone tools, including quems, hammer stones, rubbing stones, grinding stones, 'cubic stones', battleaxes and axes from two Late Neolithic sites at Kolhom in the Province of North Holland, the Netherlands. The djfferent types, their function and intra-site distribution are discussed. Finally, the raw data are presented in a catalogue.
A mind set on flint. Studies in honour of Dick Stapert, 2012
This paper describes two artefacts from Rolde and Molen van Bels in the Northern Netherlands. These fl ints typologically resemble handaxes, but lack the expected natural surface modifi cations that would prove a Middle Palaeolithic age. The suggestion is tested that these artefacts instead fi t within the group of Neolithic 'handaxes' as described in the literature. Based on a study of the technological characteristics of these axes, it is argued that artefacts previously classifi ed as Neolithic 'handaxes' should be seen as roughouts or preforms of bifacial implements, failed artefacts, unpolished axes, polished axes and even some as Palaeolithic handaxes. The artefact from Rolde is either a failed Mesolithic axe or a failed roughout of a locally produced Neolithic axe. The object from Molen van Bels is most probably a leaf point or a plano-convex knife from the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age.
Neolithic depositions in the Northern Netherlands.
British Archaeological Reports International Series (1758). p 29-43, 2008
The aim of the present paper is to explore the nature of the Dutch Middle Neolithic flint axe depositions and interpret these on a cultural level. These axes associated with the Funnel Beaker Culture are often retrieved from waterlogged places either single or as part of multiple object hoards. By means of a metrical, micro-wear and spatial analysis it will be demonstrated that these objects are remnants of a highly structured phenomenon that was practiced throughout the research area.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2024
The ubiquitous flint axes of the Dutch Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BCE) were not locally produced, but imported from flint mining areas in Belgium and Dutch Limburg. At present a systematic study of grinding and polishing traces on these axes is lacking. This study presents a series of experiments which created a suitable reference collection for studying grinding and polishing traces on these flint axes. Four archaeological case studies from the western Netherlands are selected to investigate the variability in production traces on axes and axe fragments between these sites and between different production centres. It can be observed that marked differences exist between the sites and that these are not related to a difference in terms of flint sources, from which the axes were imported. This study revealed hidden complexities in the flint exchange networks in this period. This raised new questions as to where the polishing of these axes took place.