2 research outputs found
Harvest time: Crop-reaping technologies and the Neolithisation of the Central Mediterranean
Neolithic societies were defined by the development of agricultural economies not only
because part of their diet was obtained from cultivated plants, but also because crophusbandry practices strongly affected people’s lifestyles in a variety of ways. It is therefore
unsurprising that the development and diffusion of agriculture can be studied from diverse
perspectives and with different approaches, by analysing, for example, the macro- and
micro-botanical remains of fruits and grains for morphometric and taxonomic variation
(Colledge & Conolly 2007) and genetic history (Mascher et al. 2016). Conversely,
agriculture can be indirectly assessed through its impact on the environment and subsequent
landscape modifications (Zanchetta et al. 2013; Mercuri 2014). Yet another approach
explores crop-husbandry practices as reflected in changing technology. New agricultural
tasks required the adaptation of existing technologies and the adoption of new tools and
practices, including querns, millstones and other grain-grinding equipment, as well as
artefacts and structures for grain storage, cooking and processing.
The most evident innovation in flaked stone technology associated with the
Neolithisation phenomenon concerns the so-called ‘glossy blades’. Early experimental and
use-wear studies of these blades fed debate about the mechanisms responsible for polish
formation (Anderson 1982; Unger-Hamilton 1984). More recently, however, renewed
attention towards these tools and their technological, functional and geographic variability
(Ibáñez et al. 2008; Maeda et al. 2016) has considered their significance in relation to
economic organisation, cultural boundaries and processes of technological innovation
Harvest time: crop-reaping technologies and the Neolithisation of the Central Mediterranean
Neolithic societies were defined by the development of agricultural economies not only because part of their diet was obtained from cultivated plants, but also because crop-husbandry practices strongly affected people's lifestyles in a variety of ways. It is therefore unsurprising that the development and diffusion of agriculture can be studied from diverse perspectives and with different approaches, by analysing, for example, the macro- and micro-botanical remains of fruits and grains for morphometric and taxonomic variation (Colledge & Conolly 2007) and genetic history (Mascher et al. 2016). Conversely, agriculture can be indirectly assessed through its impact on the environment and subsequent landscape modifications (Zanchetta et al. 2013; Mercuri 2014). Yet another approach explores crop-husbandry practices as reflected in changing technology. New agricultural tasks required the adaptation of existing technologies and the adoption of new tools and practices, including querns, millstones and other grain-grinding equipment, as well as artefacts and structures for grain storage, cooking and processing.Peer reviewe