Enigmatic plant-working tools and the transition to farming in the Rhine Meuse Delta

Material Culture Studie

Understanding preservation and identification biases of ancient adhesives through experimentation

Abstract: Adhesive production is one of the earliest forms of transformative technology, predating ceramics and metallurgy by over 150,000 years. The study of adhesive use by Neandertals and early modern humans currently plays a significant role in debates about human technological and cognitive evolution. Depending on the type of adhesive used, different production sequences were required. These can vary in complexity, and would have needed different knowledge, expertise, and resources to manufacture. However, our knowledge of this important technological development is severely hampered by poorly understood taphonomic processes, which affect the preservation and identification of adhesive materials, and leads to a research bias. Here we present the results from a three year field preservation experiment. Flint flakes hafted and non-hafted with replica adhesives were left to weather naturally on and below the surface at two locations with different soils and climatic conditions. Differential preservation was recorded on a variety of natural adhesives by digitally measuring the surface area of each residue before and after the elapsed time. Residues were further assessed and photographed using metallographic optical microscopy. Results show that certain adhesives preserve to a significantly higher degree than others, while some materials may be more easily overlooked or visually misdiagnosed. We must therefore be aware of both taphonomic and identification biases when discussing ancient adhesive technology. This research provides a first look that will help us understand the disparities between which adhesives were used in the past, and what we find in the archaeological record today

Studying vessel biographies from the Heuneburg: an experimental approach

In the context of the BEFIM project (“Meanings and Functions of Mediterranean Imports in Early Iron Age Central Europe”) the life history of (drinking) vessels from the Early Celtic hillfort settlements of the Heuneburg was examined, studying the way of production and use. In order to do so, we set up an extensive experimental program of dozens of experiments directed at a better understanding of the way this pottery was made and used. The participation of an experienced potter allowed us to reproduce exact replicas of the supposed drinking ware and explore in detail the traces of production and the effect of temper, baking temperature and so forth on the development of production traces and wear. Especially variations in the temper material, like the frequently observed addition of calcite in the archaeological pottery, strongly affected the characteristics of the use-wear marks that developed from the preparation of different products (grape wine, honey wine, different kinds of porridge etc.). The influence of alcohol production, including fermentation, on the pottery was explored. We also tested the effect of different gestures of preparing food and drink (mixing, stirring, pounding), different ways of storage and handling, and the manner of consumption like decanting using various kinds of utensils. The traces we observed on the experimental vessels, using an integrated low and high power approach, formed the basis for our interpretation of the archaeological vessels from the Heuneburg

Putting life into Late Neolithic houses

Investigating Domestic Craft and Subsistence Activities through Experiments and Material Analysis. Leiden University currently coordinates the project “Putting Life in Neolithic Houses”. Th is will take until 2025 and is funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO. Besides EXARC, other partners are: BIAX Consult Biological Archaeology & Environmental Reconstruction, Stichting LAB (Leids Archeospecialistisch Bureau), Woud en Beek, York University, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, Masamuda, Studio Kelvin Wilson, Het Stenen Tijdperk, and TGVideo

Call for information: Recycling in the Late Neolithic at the Vlaardingen site of Den Haag-Steynhof

The Putting life into Late Neolithic houses project looks at all the different aspects of what life could have been like for “the people in the Rhine/Meuse delta at about c. 2900 – 2500 BC.” (www.puttinglife.com). This is not only done by academic research, experiments, and material analysis, but also through illustrations produced by archaeological reconstruction illustrator Kelvin Wilson

The Use of Exotic Flint and the Neolithisation of the Lower Rhine Basin (NL)

More than a millennium passed between the arrival of the first Bandkeramik farmers in Limburg, in present-day Netherlands, and the gradual incorporation of an agricultural way of life by the indigenous hunter-gatherers. During this time flint from further south found its way to the wetlands. Use-wear analysis of these imported flints shows a distinct difference in the way these objects were treated during the earlier and the later phase of the Michelsberg culture. In the earlier phase, tools were brought to the wetlands in an already used state, perhaps as a token of the affiliation with the farmers in the south-east. In the later phase, exotic tools were appropriated by the wetland communities and given a place in the technological system, albeit a very special one. It is argued that studying the hidden biography of objects gives us an 'inside' view of the neolithisation process and sheds light on how a new agricultural identity was negotiated

Domestic activities at the Linear Pottery site of Elsloo (Netherlands): a look from under the microscope

Use-wear analysis of a sample of flint tools from the site of Elsloo, situated in the Graetheide cluster (NL), has shed light on the domestic activities carried out within the settlement. It was shown that hide processing predominates. The extent and character of the wear on the hide working implements indicates that different processing stages took place, including dehairing and currying. It is suggested that the quality of the end product, the processed hide, must have been very high. Other craft activities are woodworking and the task responsible for polish 23, possibly flax processing. A large number of sickle blades were found as well, displaying a considerable variation in polish attributes. A possible explanation is that different crops were harvested with the same sickle. Spatial analysis of the demonstrated activities has suggested that hide processing was concentrated in one area, possibly supporting the hypothesis that in addition to a domestic mode of production, a loose mode of production was practiced as wellPeer reviewe