Dynamic multiscalar approach for structuring and scaling human activities involving lithics

This paper aims to contribute to the discussion on borders and boundaries from the perspective of lithics. European archaeological and historical research has seen numerous endeavours to create an overarching definition of borders of spatial, social, political, linguistic and religious kinds. This is particularly important in the context of the modern, strongly divided European nation states, and this situation has a strong impact on the archaeological concept of culture. Lithic materials are usually not associated with the concepts of culture and group, which was and often still is the coordinate system for prehistoric communities since the Neolithic. How can we look at prehistoric societies as social units and integrate lithic studies into the overarching archaeological narrative? As a first step, we should put these artificial borders aside and take into account as many variables that can interfere with human behaviour as possible. This paper tries to create a framework (referring to some case studies) at micro-, meso-, and macro-scales for structuring spatial, temporal, social, contextual and habitual variables based solely on lithic materials to demonstrate the importance of stone assemblages and litho-scapes in archaeological narratives. By looking at activities involving lithics, we become aware that borders are very diverse and variable, thus cannot be treated as part of a static system. On the contrary, different boundaries (instead of borders) need to be treated as continuously changing units that function in different ways at different scales. Thus, we should try to use a dynamic multiscalar approach in lithic research

The querns from the Roman military camp at Hermeskeil (Rhineland-Palatinate): Bridging the gap to Caesar’s De Bello Gallico

The late-Republican military camp at Hermeskeil (Rhineland-Palatinate) is one of the few known archaeological sites from the Gallic Wars and can be linked directly to the historical record given in Caesar’s De Bello Gallico. Among the numerous finds are fragments of several badly preserved querns whose provenances can provide valuable information regarding the dating of the camp. The Hermeskeil querns are made from an unusual variety of rock types compared to material from contemporary settlements in the region. In order to determine the provenances, modal mineralogy, whole rock geochemical compositions as well as mineral chemical compositions were analysed on all fragments found until 2017. Besides vesicular lavas, the querns were made of sedimentary rocks, pebble-rich carbonates and arkoses, as well as acidic lava and plutonic rock. One volcanic rock fragment of a legionary quern is produced from lavas from Cap d’Agde in southern France. Several other querns of the Late La Tène type have their origin in Mayen in the Eifel. The plutonic rock is vaugnerite, a rare rock of granodioritic composition, which can be traced via the oppidum of Bibracte to quarries in the northern Morvan. The rhyolite comes from La Salle in eastern France. Except from the querns made of vesicular lava from the Eifel, none of these materials are known from any contemporary archaeological site in the Hunsrück area. What is more, all of them were discovered far away from their regular areas of distribution. Therefore, these querns directly reflect military supply structures as well as troop movements, because during Caesar’s campaigns damaged pieces had to be replaced by locally available products. In a time when the Roman military could not yet rely on a well-functioning supply-infrastructure this category of finds bears the potential to provide important information in connecting the Hermeskeil site with written sources. It becomes possible to prove a use of the camp during Caesar’s campaign in 51 BCE, because it was not before 52 BCE that the Roman army had moved within the distribution area of all the querns represented in Hermeskeil. Provenance studies are therefore a valuable supplement for our fragmentary picture of the Gallic War, which to date is almost completely based on historical sources

Big wheels keep on turning: Some diagnostic phenomena within knapped stone tools of the Hungarian Neolithic

Research into the Neolithic period in Hungary (between 6000 and 4600 or 4500 BCE) began at the turning of the 19th and 20th century, and the cultural frameworks that we use today were coined relatively early. In the last hundred years, Hungarian prehistoric research has done much to delineate these cultures\u27 spatial and temporal boundaries. On this basis, the territory of present-day Hungary can be divided into two major regions - one in the west and one in the east - and three major chronological phases. Although systematic research on Neolithic knapped stone tools in Hungary does not have a long history, the lessons of the last thirty years are sufficient to compare the experience with other elements of material culture and to draw further conclusions by integrating them at a higher level. It is generally agreed that the expedient nature of Neolithic stone tools does not allow for the kind of sophisticated typologies that we know from the Palaeolithic or Mesolithic. However, we are not necessarily lacking general phenomena that could be used to distinguish one region, period, or archaeological culture from another. These phenomena may be differences in the choice of raw materials, differences in typology sets, or technological changes, which are exhaustively discussed with numerous examples from the last decades in this paper. Utilizing Fernand Braudel’s tripartite system, we can reconstruct the processes that influenced the choice of raw material as relatively rapid and frequent changes in both areas, thus reflecting short-term cycles. Typological changes were much less frequent and had an impact in both the eastern and western parts of the region. However, if we look at the broadest period, only one detectable change can be observed, which is in the field of technology, and it occurred at the end of the Early Neolithic. For the rest of the Neolithic, we almost exclusively encounter debitage products and tools derived from indirect percussion applied to regional raw materials, largely using a prismatic or orthogonal core strategy

The impacts of lateral obliqueness and edge angle on Levallois point morphology

The study of Levallois points is important as it combines themes relating to Levallois technology in general (such as cognitive evolution, standardisation, and cultural transmission) with discussions on the specific function of stone tools (for example, the notion of points as spear tips). Many Levantine Middle Palaeolithic assemblages feature a strong focus on Levallois point production. Traditionally, this phenomenon has been studied from a typological perspective, while more recent technological approaches have added layers of understanding, such as the recognition of the frequently recurrent Levallois character of point production in the area. Likewise, use-wear and residue analyses have led to changing perceptions of the function of Levallois points. Here we explore how two quantifiable aspects of Levallois points - cross-section angles and lateral angles - relate to the morphology of Levallois points. By combining experimental knapping with an analysis of Levallois points from Yabroud I, Syria, we show that the obliqueness of lateral preparatory removals has a significant impact on the morphology of Levallois points, particularly in terms of the feature of a Concorde-shaped profile. Likewise, we show that the lateral edge angle influences the length of the points produced. Not only does this study improve of our understanding of Levallois points, but it highlights the importance of angles in studying lithic technology. We emphasize that this study aims to investigate the impact of oblique preparatory removals on the morphology of Levallois points generally, through an initial case study of one assemblage, allowing future multivariate analysis of multiple assemblages to test our hypotheses

From axe to grooved stone: Evidence of recycling practices in the Neolithic

This paper examines the recycling and reuse of Neolithic stone tools, with a focus on a modified shaft-hole axe fragment discovered at Wierzbie, southwestern Poland. The study involved technological and use-wear analysis, supported by 3D modelling, to trace the life cycle of this tool and its transformation into a grooved stone. Stone tool recycling in prehistoric times often involved practices like edge resharpening and the adaptation of damaged tools, reflecting a pragmatic approach to resource management. The modified axe from Wierzbie illustrates a shift in tool function, highlighting a broader trend of reusing Neolithic implements, particularly in Late and Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age contexts. The tool\u27s chronology was determined through detailed morpho-typological analysis and 3D model comparisons with complete Corded Ware culture (CWC) shaft-hole axes, confirming its origins within the CWC. The axe made from diabase was modified after it was damaged. The unusual nature of its modification suggests it was likely recycled during the Final Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, possibly linked to the Bell Beaker culture. This is supported by similar grooved stones used as shaft straighteners in Central Europe, particularly within Bell Beaker contexts. Microscopic analysis of the tool\u27s surface reveals wear patterns consistent with its new function, including polishing and striation marks associated with shaping plant-derived material. The results of this study highlight the adaptive strategies employed by prehistoric communities to prolong the lifespan of tools and materials, influenced by cultural and economic factors. This study highlights the complex life cycle of stone tools, demonstrating that recycling was not merely a functional necessity but also a culturally ingrained practice that helped maintain valuable resources within specific social and economic spheres. Through this lens, the Wierzbie artefact offers important insights into the technological ingenuity and material culture of prehistoric societies in Central Europe

Modes of chipped stone tool production: the early farming societies in the North-Western Pontic region

The chipped stone assemblages of early farmers in the south of the Eastern Europe take several forms. 1) They can have a developed laminar component, with production wastes underrepresented, with a high percentage of retouched items (mostly blades with lateral retouch and endscrapers on blades), an exploitation of a high-quality long-distance imported raw material. These assemblages usually are numerically small. 2) Others demonstrate a “simplified” technical set (wide use of hard-hammer), many wastes of production, relatively low percentage of formal tools, most retouched tools on flakes (mostly retouched flakes and endscrapers on flakes), an exploitation of medium quality local chert. These assemblages are relatively larger in numbers. The latter complexes are often explained via the interaction with a local hunter-gatherer population. An alternative explanation can be sought via the notion of social organisation of flintworking. The early farmers were able to develop a complex system of flintworking based on intra- and inter- communal specialization and constant exchange of blanks and tools. The complexes of the first type result from an inclusion of a settlement into its exchange network. The complexes of the second type represent domestic production of households, satisfying its needs on its own, being excluded from its exchange network. So, early farmers’ flintknapping existed in two modes: “domestic” and “exchange”. “Exchange” mode is a common way of chipped stone tools production in early farming societies. “Domestic” mode is common in “borderline situation” under conditions of on-going Neolithisation of new terrain. Every early farming lithic assemblage can be treated as composed of products of these two modes to varying degree

Lithic industries and stylistic entities during the Early Neolithic (LBK) in the Rhine-Meuse-Seine basins

The study of the decorated ceramics of the Rubané or Linearbandkeramik (LBK) has long structured the construction of the chronological sequence of the Early Neolithic of northwestern Europe. Recent contributions make it possible to individualize regional stylistic groups. Examination of the different regional corpuses shows that, following the break-up of a common stylistic stage known as the Flomborn entity, the decorative elements of each region evolved differently giving rise to individualised entities that sometimes seem very homogeneous in terms of the style of decorations used (e.g., the Rhine-Meuse ensemble of the Middle Rubané). This contribution aims to compare the results obtained from the ceramic corpus with those of the lithic industry. It shows that out of a common base, regional differences emerged that are also quite significant, whether from the point of view of the procurement of raw materials, reduction process or tool typology. For example, the geographical networks of raw material circulation reveal preferential axes between certain regions (such as the northern and southern parts of the Ardennes Massif) or, on the contrary, border effects that must be compared and contrasted with the entities previously defined on the basis of decorated ceramics. The theoretical significance of these initial observations and the contribution that the techno-economic analysis of lithic industries can drive to the understanding of the relations between communities in the Early Neolithic of the Rhine-Meuse-Seine basins will be examined through network analysis

La Evolución en la tecnología de cosecha: Un estudio de la diversidad a partir de restos líticos y botánicos en el Neolítico Ibérico (8th-7th milenio cal. BP)

Pioneer farming groups arrived in the Iberian Peninsula in the first half of the eighth-millennium cal. BP. Since then, the spread of new populations continued, and the highly diverse material culture of the Neolithic has been interpreted as a reflection of multiple origins and as the regionalisation that followed. In the past few decades, the study of different lithic tools has served to explore cultural Neolithic patterns. In particular, changes in harvesting technology have provided helpful information about the diffusion of Neolithic groups, proposing possible transfers in technology or even cultural adaptation to agricultural changes as explanatory factors for subsequent shifts. Here, we investigate how the initial diversity in harvesting technology changes or remains over time and in different regions according to crop harvesting preferences. Also, we test whether the diversity of harvesting tool dynamics is related to technological factors. Thus, we characterise the crops, blade production, and harvesting tools associated with different areas from 7600 to 6400 cal. BP on a large and refined chrono-cultural scale. As a result, we confirm that using one sickle type is independent of the crop harvested, and at least until the Middle Neolithic, we observe that it does not limit the incorporation of the new agricultural system into the region. By including glossy and no glossy blade measurements in the analysis, we discard the effects of technological limitations as an obstacle for replicating the parallel type in those contexts where it is not documented. Moreover, we found significant differences between the coefficients of variation in blade samples inserted differently, likely influenced by the hafting system. Whenever possible, we discuss how this adapts to blade production. Incorporating a filter in selecting the sample in favour of dated assemblages made it possible to situate these patterns on a comparative scale of two hundred years through the entire time framework. En la península Ibérica, grupos de agricultores pioneros llegaron hacia la primera mitad del 8th milenio cal BP. Desde entonces, continuó la expansión de nuevas poblaciones, y la diversidad de la cultura material que nos proporcionan los contextos neolíticos se ha interpretado como un reflejo tanto de los múltiples orígenes de estos grupos como de la regionalización que siguió a su llegada. En las últimas décadas, el estudio de diferentes herramientas líticas ha servido para explorar patrones culturales del periodo. En particular, la detección de cambios en la tecnología de recolección ha proporcionado información útil sobre la difusión de los grupos neolíticos, proponiéndose como factores explicativos de los cambios posteriores posibles transferencias en la tecnología o incluso la adaptación cultural a cambios agrícolas. Este trabajo busca comparar continuidades y discontinuidades entre los factores económicos, sociales y técnicos caracterizando el cultivo cereal, la producción de láminas y los elementos de hoz según distintas áreas entre el 7600 y el 6400 cal. BP en una escala cronocultural amplia. Como resultado, se confirma que el uso de un tipo de hoz es independiente del cultivo cosechado y, al menos hasta el Neolítico Medio, observamos que no limita la incorporación del nuevo sistema agrícola en la región. Al incluir en el análisis las medidas de láminas con pátina y de producciones laminares, descartamos limitaciones tecnológicas en aquellas áreas donde no se introdujo el tipo de inserción paralela. Además, encontramos diferencias significativas entre las variaciones de las láminas insertas de diferentes maneras, probablemente relacionadas con restricciones de enmangue y, cuando los datos lo permitieron, discutimos la forma en que la producción laminar se adaptó a ellas. La incorporación de filtros en el proceso de selección de la muestra a favor de conjuntos datados permitió situar estos patrones en una escala comparativa de doscientos años

Outside the box: Lithic raw material analysis as an indication of crossing cultural borderlines by the earliest Linear Pottery Culture?

Southern Bavaria marks a marginal area of the earliest Linear Pottery Culture in Central Europe. It is adjacent to the Southern Alpine Foreland, which represents an area for potential interaction with other cultural entities. Neolithic research in this region has largely focused on pottery analysis as a basis for answering chrono-cultural questions, leaving lithic analysis as a proxy for spatial processes at a lower resolution. For comparisons with the preceding Mesolithic however, the study of lithic finds is essential as they are the common denominator between the two periods. To confront this gap in the empirical data, a lithic assemblage from an earliest LBK site in the Isar valley of southern Bavaria was studied with a special focus on raw material analysis and typo-technological aspects of the Knappable Siliceous Sedimentary Rocks (henceforth, KSSR). The objective was to generate high-resolution raw material data obtained by sorting and determination of sedimentary microfacies. Results show that the main raw material components originate from two different regions of Bavaria, the Ortenburg district and the Donau-Altmühl region. Additionally, they reveal bridges across the Alps and into Switzerland, which supports the idea that clear-cut archaeological borders were in fact more permeable and that long-distance importation occurred from non-LBK regions. This opens up a discussion about the agents and processes of long-distance raw material transport, relations between cultural entities as well as the mobility of the earliest LBK itself across its archaeological distribution. Set in a diachronic perspective, it is shown that Southern Bavaria can be viewed as a transitional zone during the earliest phase of the LBK, with mobility occurring for different motives

Investigating non-flint lithic resources management during the Upper Palaeolithic in the Aquitaine Basin using an integrated approach: A Late Solutrean case application (Landry, Dordogne, France)

As opposed to areas with a crystalline substratum, the Aquitaine Basin in southwestern France is a territory where flint and chert resources are abundant. The exploitation of those cryptocrystalline, silica materials prevailed in this region throughout prehistory, especially during the Upper Palaeolithic, but other rock types frequently account for a noticeable proportion of the archaeological record. In such context, the choice to rely partly on non-flint lithic materials cannot be seen as an alternative strategy to compensate for an absence of flint. However, poor documentation is currently available for discussing the economic role of these resources. We take here the example of Landry, an open-air site in the Isle Valley showing a single occupation level providing mobile art and characteristic Late Solutrean (24-23 ka cal. BP) flint productions. This site yielded non-flint lithic remains in considerable number, some of which related to flake production or macro-lithic implements. The documentation of this component was considered essential, both to understand the site in a more comprehensive way and to provide first insights into the economic role of such resources in the Late Solutrean. In order to explore several phases of the exploitation of non-flint lithic resources (thus leading to a comprehensive documentation of this component), we relied on a set of complementary methodologies classical for lithic analysis but adapted to the peculiarities of non-flint rocks according to recent developments of the field. Determination of raw material lithology and procurement areas was achieved through a petrographic analysis (macro and mesoscopic scales) coupled with a field survey. A technological analysis led to the identification of blank production methods and objectives. An observation of macroscopic use-wear traces coupled with an analysis of techno-functional units allowed a first approach of tool diversity, especially concerning non-manufactured tools. Edged tools were further investigated through a use-wear study (Low and High Power Analyses). Analysis of the planimetric distribution of non-flint lithic artefacts revealed the spatial organisation of related processes and activities. At Landry, non-flint raw materials relate to a wide petrographic spectrum (quartz-quartzite, dolerite, ignimbrite, etc.) originating from local alluvial deposits. Edged tools result from short flaking production sequences (unmodified flakes) or partial shaping (worked pebbles), while non-manufactured blanks (pebbles, fragments) constitutes a multi-purpose toolkit (percussion, friction, work surfaces, etc.). Blank production or selection occurred on the spot, as the need arose. By comparing these results with available data on the flint component, this study reveals the complementarity between a highly mobile flint toolkit (anticipating future needs) and a local expedient but diversified toolkit (for immediate requirements). This dichotomy goes beyond the flint versus non-flint duality. Despite some limitations, the approach presented in this paper gives a global and integrated vision of the processes related to non-flint lithic resources exploitation at the site, allowing comparison and combination with other available data (e.g., flint production) and preparing additional analyses