Special Issue on THE EARLY NEOLITHIC OF EUROPE, edited by F. Borrell, I. Clemente, M. Cubas, J. J. Ibáñez, N. Mazzucco, A. Nieto-Espinet, M. Portillo, S. Valenzuela-Lamas, & X. Terradas, 2021
Technological analysis of variations in blade production and the flow of siliceous raw materials ... more Technological analysis of variations in blade production and the flow of siliceous raw materials revealed new understandings of different types of socioeconomic functioning on a supra-regional scale. In this article, we are focusing on supra-regional relationships between technical groups and the social dynamics involved in early Neolithic mobility within the communities of East Belgium. A detailed technological analysis was done to highlight discrete characteristics that permit the identification of distinct technical groups within the village of Vaux-et-Borset. Four technical groups have been identified in the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain village, whereas two technical groups have been highlighted for the previous Linear Pottery culture (LPC) occupation. The search for the origin of the different technical groups was to understand the micro-processes of Neolithization in East Belgium. A central area with a high-density population during the pioneer LPC colonization, Hesbaye became a peripheral occupation area of the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture. This fringe territory seemed to attract neighbouring communities in different ways. Multidirectional dynamics seems to characterize this small territory leading to the coexistence of a high diversity of technical groups.
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Papers by Solène DENIS
De 2015 à 2017, les fouilles préventives menées par l’Agence wallonne du Patrimoine à Ath ont mis au jour un site du Néolithique
ancien exceptionnel à plus d’un titre. D’abord, il s’agit de la plus vaste occupation de cette période explorée dans la
région d’Ath (1,2 ha). Ensuite, il constitue aussi le premier établissement découvert le long du bras oriental de la Dendre. Enfin,
le site des « Haleurs » présente surtout la particularité de voir des vestiges des deux cultures du Néolithique ancien, répartis
à moins de trois mètres : trois unités d’habitation attribuées au Rubané et deux bâtiments datés du Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-
Germain. Cette spécificité nous a alors permis d’engager une analyse spatiale et morphologique des structures et un examen
des activités productives des deux communautés pour apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les relations entretenues entre ces
deux implantations du Néolithique ancien. Notre étude démontre de profondes ruptures qui témoignent d’une discontinuité
de peuplement entre les deux périodes. On ne peut cependant nier une forme globale de continuité dans la connaissance
des environnements propices, dans les répertoires des formes et décors céramiques, dans l’ambiance technique générale ou
dans les activités artisanales. Cette double composante alimenterait l’hypothèse d’une transition culturelle caractérisée par un
processus endogène qui s’est déroulé en dehors de l’aire géographique étudiée.
Abstract
From 2015 to 2017, the preventive excavations carried out by the Walloon Heritage Agency in Ath have brought to light an Early
Neolithic site that is exceptional in more ways than one. The village extends over approximately 1.2 ha and, as such, it is the largest
village of this period studied in the Ath region. It is the first settlement along the eastern branch of the Dender. The ‘Haleurs’ site
has the particularity of seeing the remains of two Early Neolithic cultures cohabiting within three metres of each other: three
houses attributed to the LBK and two buildings dated to the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain. This specificity allowed us to undertake
a detailed study of the architecture and productive activities of the two communities in order to shed new light on the relationship
between these two Early Neolithic settlements. Our study shows deep breaks that testify to a discontinuity in settlement
between the two periods. However, we cannot deny an overall form of continuity in the knowledge of suitable environments, in
the repertoires of ceramic forms and decorations, in the general technical atmosphere or in the craft activities. This double component
would feed the hypothesis of a cultural transition characterised by an endogenous process that occurred outside the studied
geographical area.
Keywords: North-Western Europe, Belgium, Early Neolithic, pottery, lithic industry, grinding tools, cultural transition
Abstract
The Walloon Heritage Agency led a preventive excavation operation at Ath “Les Haleurs” between 2015 and 2017. This operation allows the discovery of two Early Neolithic – one LBK and one Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain- villages. But the study of the lithic industry revealed the existence of a small corpus of pieces related to the Mesolithic. About sixty pieces, discovered in the Neolithic pits, show the characteristics of the techno-complex “Rhein-Meuse-Schelde” type A (RMS-A). The LBK and Blicquians communities of Ath therefore settled in the same place and passed through this Mesolithic deposit during their respective occupations.
The Moulin Neuf enclosure is located on the edge of a plateau above the Èvre River, in the Mauges Valley, with the Loire confluence located about twenty kilometres north of the site. The site was discovered by G. Leroux (Inrap) during aerial prospections in 1999. The three-year excavation program focused on two entrances. Based on the archaeological objects and radiocarbon dates, all the structures date to the Recent Neolithic. This site contributes to our knowledge of the Neolithic territory of the valley, which has still been rather poorly studied for this period. On a wider scale, it contributes to research into enclosures in the west of France.
Mots-clés : Néolithique, industrie lithique, Belgique, technologie lithique, débitage laminaire, minières.
Abstract: This paper proposes an insight into the technology of blade production carried out in the area of Petit-Spiennes from the neolithic mining complex of Spiennes (Hainaut, Belgium). the blade production seems globally quite standardized. the blocks are shaped by the setting of two postero-lateral crests. the debitage aimed at obtaining large blades of more than 130-140 mm in length and 27-30 mm in width. two techniques seem to be used in conjunction for the blade detachment: indirect percussion and lever pressure.
Full article in open access: https://biblio.naturalsciences.be/associated_publications/anthropologica-prehistorica/anthropologica-et-praehistorica/ap-129/ap129_033-060_denis-et-al-spienne-301120-600-cmjn.pdf
"This paper focuses on the intercultural contacts between the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain and the Grossgartach/Planig-Friedberg cultures. At the turn of the sixth to the fifth millennium BC, a historic rupture in the Linear Pottery Culture colonisation movement is palpable. At that time, the Linear Pottery Culture breaks up into a mosaic of cultural entities like Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain (BQY/VSG) which occupies the northern half of France and Belgium, while in the Rhine basin and the surrounding regions, the Hinkelstein (HK), Grossgartach (GG) and Planig-Friedberg (PF) cultures follow in sequence. These different entities are partially contemporaneous. We thus attempt to track the origin of these populations using an original method of lithic artefact analysis including the study of exogenous raw materials and technical traditions."
http://www.prehistoire.org/515_p_55320/bulletin-de-la-spf-2020-tome-117.html
This study explores the technical diversity of blade production in the village of Vaux-et-Borset located in Hesbaye (Belgium), where two settlements have been excavated. The first dates to the Linear Pottery Culture and the second is dated to the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture. The Linear Pottery Culture settlement comprises of five houses and an enclosure. Stratigraphic observations, combined with the different orientations of the farmsteads suggest two or three occupation phases. The Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain village also comprises of five houses. This paper will focus on the flint industry from these settlements or more precisely on the blades, the study of which underlines a large technical diversity. The objective is to propose a new interpretation of these lithic industries aimed at defining technical traditions, based on the identification of technical processes acquired through learning. By studying both Linear Pottery culture and Blicquian productions, based on 755 Linear Pottery blades and 1186 Bliquian blades, we aim to understand the relationship between continuity and innovation in these two cultural groups from the unprecedented perspective of the transmission of technical expertise. Linear Pottery knappers and Blicquian knappers from Vaux-et-Borset do not select the same siliceous materials to produce their blades, as the former has clearly oriented their selection towards local raw materials, whereas the proportion of exogenous flint blades in Blicquian contexts is extremely high and is largely preferred in several housing units. The large supply of exogenous raw materials to the Blicquian settlement does not seem to be for the manufacture of tools for a particular technical activity, but was used for the village's contemporary needs, on the same basis as local materials. The productions are similar with the manufacture of small blades (7-10 cm) with a trapezoidal section. Furthermore, all raw materials seem to have been knapped locally, raising the question of the identity of the knappers, which is highlighted by their technical diversity and expressed by the differential treatment of the striking platforms and the preparations made for the detachment of the blades. Some blades have been knapped on a flat striking platform, some on a facetted one and the preparations for the detachment seem to have been done with a punch or a stone. Within the various stages and operations of blade production, the processing of striking platforms seems to constitute a technical action relaying a strong identity. Furthermore, it is necessary to underline the technical homogeneity within the Linear Pottery context, whereas in the Blicquian context the three raw materials are processed according to three different technical modalities. There is also a difference in the skills. Several knappers know specific arrangements to obtain more regular trapezoidal section blades, with a technical
process that requires a good skill level. This underlines that it is the ideas and the technical know-how that distinguish the knapper groups. However, this distinction does not explain the technical variability observed in the processing of striking platforms and in the preparation for the detachment of the blades. The observed differences do not lead to the production of blanks for specific tools, nor are they justified by the intrinsic qualities of the raw materials. For an equivalent production context, we therefore propose that this technical variability reflects different ways of doing used by knappers in the settlements. This study distinguishes three main and two minor ways. Knappers of the Linear Pottery culture use local raw materials and the same way to manufacture blades. Only rare artefacts attest to the implementation
of a different procedure, probably introduced during one of the site later phases. Blicquian knappers use diverse ways of doing. There are two main technical traditions, the first carries on the traditions of the Linear Pottery culture, the second, involving exogenous flints, uses another method. Two new ways of doing that are absent from Linear Pottery
contexts have also been observed. There is therefore a certain technical continuity between the Linear Pottery culture and the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture, which attests to the transmission of knowledge through the generations.This transmission indicates the coexistence of at least two learning networks among Early Neolithic knappers.
Moreover, the Linear Pottery knappers of Vaux-et-Borset almost all seem to come from the same learning network, unlike the four technical groups distinguished among the Blicquian knappers. This diversity of technical practices and technical traditions used by the Blicquians is discussed. As the data currently stands, it seems that this may result from both the mobility of neighbouring populations and the syncretism of certain traditions.
Résumé Cet article présente des réflexions préliminaires sur l'organisation socio-économique de la production des outillages lithiques des populations blicquiennes du Hainaut (Belgique, Néolithique ancien). La production de ces premières communautés agro-pastorales repose sur deux groupes de tailleurs ne disposant pas des mêmes niveaux de savoir-faire. Un faisceau d'indices converge pour proposer que l'unité domestique ne soit pas totalement autonome pour sa production en supports de l'outillage lithique. La production de lames semble en e et organisée à l'échelle de plusieurs villages.
De 2015 à 2017, les fouilles préventives menées par l’Agence wallonne du Patrimoine à Ath ont mis au jour un site du Néolithique
ancien exceptionnel à plus d’un titre. D’abord, il s’agit de la plus vaste occupation de cette période explorée dans la
région d’Ath (1,2 ha). Ensuite, il constitue aussi le premier établissement découvert le long du bras oriental de la Dendre. Enfin,
le site des « Haleurs » présente surtout la particularité de voir des vestiges des deux cultures du Néolithique ancien, répartis
à moins de trois mètres : trois unités d’habitation attribuées au Rubané et deux bâtiments datés du Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-
Germain. Cette spécificité nous a alors permis d’engager une analyse spatiale et morphologique des structures et un examen
des activités productives des deux communautés pour apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les relations entretenues entre ces
deux implantations du Néolithique ancien. Notre étude démontre de profondes ruptures qui témoignent d’une discontinuité
de peuplement entre les deux périodes. On ne peut cependant nier une forme globale de continuité dans la connaissance
des environnements propices, dans les répertoires des formes et décors céramiques, dans l’ambiance technique générale ou
dans les activités artisanales. Cette double composante alimenterait l’hypothèse d’une transition culturelle caractérisée par un
processus endogène qui s’est déroulé en dehors de l’aire géographique étudiée.
Abstract
From 2015 to 2017, the preventive excavations carried out by the Walloon Heritage Agency in Ath have brought to light an Early
Neolithic site that is exceptional in more ways than one. The village extends over approximately 1.2 ha and, as such, it is the largest
village of this period studied in the Ath region. It is the first settlement along the eastern branch of the Dender. The ‘Haleurs’ site
has the particularity of seeing the remains of two Early Neolithic cultures cohabiting within three metres of each other: three
houses attributed to the LBK and two buildings dated to the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain. This specificity allowed us to undertake
a detailed study of the architecture and productive activities of the two communities in order to shed new light on the relationship
between these two Early Neolithic settlements. Our study shows deep breaks that testify to a discontinuity in settlement
between the two periods. However, we cannot deny an overall form of continuity in the knowledge of suitable environments, in
the repertoires of ceramic forms and decorations, in the general technical atmosphere or in the craft activities. This double component
would feed the hypothesis of a cultural transition characterised by an endogenous process that occurred outside the studied
geographical area.
Keywords: North-Western Europe, Belgium, Early Neolithic, pottery, lithic industry, grinding tools, cultural transition
Abstract
The Walloon Heritage Agency led a preventive excavation operation at Ath “Les Haleurs” between 2015 and 2017. This operation allows the discovery of two Early Neolithic – one LBK and one Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain- villages. But the study of the lithic industry revealed the existence of a small corpus of pieces related to the Mesolithic. About sixty pieces, discovered in the Neolithic pits, show the characteristics of the techno-complex “Rhein-Meuse-Schelde” type A (RMS-A). The LBK and Blicquians communities of Ath therefore settled in the same place and passed through this Mesolithic deposit during their respective occupations.
The Moulin Neuf enclosure is located on the edge of a plateau above the Èvre River, in the Mauges Valley, with the Loire confluence located about twenty kilometres north of the site. The site was discovered by G. Leroux (Inrap) during aerial prospections in 1999. The three-year excavation program focused on two entrances. Based on the archaeological objects and radiocarbon dates, all the structures date to the Recent Neolithic. This site contributes to our knowledge of the Neolithic territory of the valley, which has still been rather poorly studied for this period. On a wider scale, it contributes to research into enclosures in the west of France.
Mots-clés : Néolithique, industrie lithique, Belgique, technologie lithique, débitage laminaire, minières.
Abstract: This paper proposes an insight into the technology of blade production carried out in the area of Petit-Spiennes from the neolithic mining complex of Spiennes (Hainaut, Belgium). the blade production seems globally quite standardized. the blocks are shaped by the setting of two postero-lateral crests. the debitage aimed at obtaining large blades of more than 130-140 mm in length and 27-30 mm in width. two techniques seem to be used in conjunction for the blade detachment: indirect percussion and lever pressure.
Full article in open access: https://biblio.naturalsciences.be/associated_publications/anthropologica-prehistorica/anthropologica-et-praehistorica/ap-129/ap129_033-060_denis-et-al-spienne-301120-600-cmjn.pdf
"This paper focuses on the intercultural contacts between the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain and the Grossgartach/Planig-Friedberg cultures. At the turn of the sixth to the fifth millennium BC, a historic rupture in the Linear Pottery Culture colonisation movement is palpable. At that time, the Linear Pottery Culture breaks up into a mosaic of cultural entities like Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain (BQY/VSG) which occupies the northern half of France and Belgium, while in the Rhine basin and the surrounding regions, the Hinkelstein (HK), Grossgartach (GG) and Planig-Friedberg (PF) cultures follow in sequence. These different entities are partially contemporaneous. We thus attempt to track the origin of these populations using an original method of lithic artefact analysis including the study of exogenous raw materials and technical traditions."
http://www.prehistoire.org/515_p_55320/bulletin-de-la-spf-2020-tome-117.html
This study explores the technical diversity of blade production in the village of Vaux-et-Borset located in Hesbaye (Belgium), where two settlements have been excavated. The first dates to the Linear Pottery Culture and the second is dated to the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture. The Linear Pottery Culture settlement comprises of five houses and an enclosure. Stratigraphic observations, combined with the different orientations of the farmsteads suggest two or three occupation phases. The Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain village also comprises of five houses. This paper will focus on the flint industry from these settlements or more precisely on the blades, the study of which underlines a large technical diversity. The objective is to propose a new interpretation of these lithic industries aimed at defining technical traditions, based on the identification of technical processes acquired through learning. By studying both Linear Pottery culture and Blicquian productions, based on 755 Linear Pottery blades and 1186 Bliquian blades, we aim to understand the relationship between continuity and innovation in these two cultural groups from the unprecedented perspective of the transmission of technical expertise. Linear Pottery knappers and Blicquian knappers from Vaux-et-Borset do not select the same siliceous materials to produce their blades, as the former has clearly oriented their selection towards local raw materials, whereas the proportion of exogenous flint blades in Blicquian contexts is extremely high and is largely preferred in several housing units. The large supply of exogenous raw materials to the Blicquian settlement does not seem to be for the manufacture of tools for a particular technical activity, but was used for the village's contemporary needs, on the same basis as local materials. The productions are similar with the manufacture of small blades (7-10 cm) with a trapezoidal section. Furthermore, all raw materials seem to have been knapped locally, raising the question of the identity of the knappers, which is highlighted by their technical diversity and expressed by the differential treatment of the striking platforms and the preparations made for the detachment of the blades. Some blades have been knapped on a flat striking platform, some on a facetted one and the preparations for the detachment seem to have been done with a punch or a stone. Within the various stages and operations of blade production, the processing of striking platforms seems to constitute a technical action relaying a strong identity. Furthermore, it is necessary to underline the technical homogeneity within the Linear Pottery context, whereas in the Blicquian context the three raw materials are processed according to three different technical modalities. There is also a difference in the skills. Several knappers know specific arrangements to obtain more regular trapezoidal section blades, with a technical
process that requires a good skill level. This underlines that it is the ideas and the technical know-how that distinguish the knapper groups. However, this distinction does not explain the technical variability observed in the processing of striking platforms and in the preparation for the detachment of the blades. The observed differences do not lead to the production of blanks for specific tools, nor are they justified by the intrinsic qualities of the raw materials. For an equivalent production context, we therefore propose that this technical variability reflects different ways of doing used by knappers in the settlements. This study distinguishes three main and two minor ways. Knappers of the Linear Pottery culture use local raw materials and the same way to manufacture blades. Only rare artefacts attest to the implementation
of a different procedure, probably introduced during one of the site later phases. Blicquian knappers use diverse ways of doing. There are two main technical traditions, the first carries on the traditions of the Linear Pottery culture, the second, involving exogenous flints, uses another method. Two new ways of doing that are absent from Linear Pottery
contexts have also been observed. There is therefore a certain technical continuity between the Linear Pottery culture and the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture, which attests to the transmission of knowledge through the generations.This transmission indicates the coexistence of at least two learning networks among Early Neolithic knappers.
Moreover, the Linear Pottery knappers of Vaux-et-Borset almost all seem to come from the same learning network, unlike the four technical groups distinguished among the Blicquian knappers. This diversity of technical practices and technical traditions used by the Blicquians is discussed. As the data currently stands, it seems that this may result from both the mobility of neighbouring populations and the syncretism of certain traditions.
Résumé Cet article présente des réflexions préliminaires sur l'organisation socio-économique de la production des outillages lithiques des populations blicquiennes du Hainaut (Belgique, Néolithique ancien). La production de ces premières communautés agro-pastorales repose sur deux groupes de tailleurs ne disposant pas des mêmes niveaux de savoir-faire. Un faisceau d'indices converge pour proposer que l'unité domestique ne soit pas totalement autonome pour sa production en supports de l'outillage lithique. La production de lames semble en e et organisée à l'échelle de plusieurs villages.
The analyses carried out on the settlement structure and on the archaeological finds reveal hitherto unknown facets of the BVSG culture, like refining the chronological sequence for this period in its regional facies; and establishing a particularly valuable periodisation for the site itself. Comparison with nearby and distant sites has helped us to understand the relationship of this settlement to other contemporary sites. It reveals that the site looked to the east and that there was a strong cultural dynamic which was expressed by varied networks of influence and circulation, particularly for the acquisition of raw materials and finished products.
Published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence
In the north of France and Belgium, the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture marks the end of the Danube traditions (Early Neolithic Period). The eleven sites studied are all found in Belgium. Two settlement areas, separated by 100 km, are highlighted (in Hainaut and in Hesbaye). The author has performed an analysis of the technical and economical characteristics of the Blicquian lithic industry, in order to describe the socio-economic organisation relating to lithic production as well as the relationships between the different settlement areas of this culture. The study concludes that there were two distinct types of production and suggests some kind of specialisation in the laminar production in the community, or even among several communities. The study of the diffusion networks of siliceous raw materials illustrates the intensity of relations between villages, often involving the movement of knappers, demonstrating further the importance of exchanges for the socio-economical welfare of those agro-pastoral communities.
Each day will be divided into four modules: a documentary or methodological module, a tutorial module based on archaeological or experimental collections, and a practical module with guided demonstrations of flint knapping and practical initiation to knapping. The fourth module will focus on harmonizing the vocabulary. The session will be held in English.
Each day will be organized around a specific theme, providing a diachronic perspective from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic periods:
• Day 1: General introduction to technological analysis
• Day 2: Flake productions
• Day 3: Bifacial productions
• Day 4: Blade and Bladelet productions
• Day 5: Tools
Presentations will be streamed following this link: https://zoom.univ-paris1.fr/j/96335607819?pwd=OUVreDBsK3RHdDNjVTBqZ0JJQjZ1dz09
Visit the website: https://www.kielconference.uni-kiel.de/session-3/
Deadline submission: 15/10/2023
Conference dates: 13-18th March 2023
2022 will focus on introducing and updating knowledge on the
characterisation of silicites (flint, chert, silcrete, jasperoids) used
to make tools by prehistoric communities. Integrated into action
III of the GDR «Silex» (directed by C. Bressy-Leandri, French ministry
of culture and communication), its objective is to promote
the conceptual advances and the most recently developed characterisation methods, to explain them, and to encourage their
dissemination with a view to harmonising, networking and pooling
siliceous geomaterial references on a European scale. Recent
methodological advances, taking into account the concept
of the ‘evolutionary chain’ make it possible to overcome many
dead ends in terms of characterising the origins of rocks. Applied
to the Upper Cretaceous flints of the Benelux (silicites from
the Mons Basin, the Hesbaye and Limburg), the dissemination
of these new methods has the ambition of reinforcing the skills
of petroarchaeologists and archaeologists and enabling them
to develop more reliable models. These models, which concern
individual or collective behaviour, territoriality and mobility systems,
or transfers and exchanges during prehistory, are at the
heart of the research of many laboratories.
All the theoretical lessons form DAY 1 (7th February) will be online. The lesson on the introduction to the identification of foraminifera on the 10th of February also. Links are on the poster
Hybrid: Audimax CAP2 – Hörsaal C at Kiel University and on ZOOM
Exchange networks structure and development are essential for explaining social and economic inequalities. The conference aims to detect those inequalities within the distribution of sourced raw materials over time and space. It centres on large-scale exchange networks from the Neolithic to the Iron Age.
For access to the zoom conference please contact:
Linda Seifert [email protected]