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

Abstract

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