Papers and Book Sections by Regine Stapfer
Mitteilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Bern, 2018
Mitteilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Bern, 2018
Palafittes Pfahlbauten Palafitte Kolišča Pile Dwellings NEWS20/1, 2020
Archäologie Bern / Archéologie bernoise, 2019
Im flachen Uferbereich von Sutz-Lattrigen am
Südufer des Bielersees wurden in der Jungsteinzeit
b... more Im flachen Uferbereich von Sutz-Lattrigen am
Südufer des Bielersees wurden in der Jungsteinzeit
bis in die Frühbronzezeit leicht zueinander
verschoben zahlreiche Siedlungen angelegt.
Zwischen 1986 und 2003 untersuchte
der Archäologische Dienst des Kantons Bern
mit Kernbohrungen und taucharchäologischen
Rettungsgrabungen mehrere Siedlungen im
Bereich der Hauptstation von Sutz-Lattrigen.
Anhand der dendrochronologisch jahrgenau
datierten Pfähle können die Häuser von vier
Siedlungen, die zwischen 3827 und 3566 v. Chr.
bestanden, rekonstruiert und ihre Siedlungsgeschichte
nachgezeichnet werden. Dabei zeigte
sich, dass jeweils die ersten Häuser der Siedlungen
in kurzer Zeit gebaut wurden. Einige Jahre
später, wurden die Siedlungen vergrössert, bevor
sie nach weniger als zwei Jahrzehnten wieder
aufgelassen wurden. Das Bauholz der Häuser
weist auf gezielten Holzschlag für den Bau
der einzelnen Häuser hin. Zudem lässt das Bauholz
unterschiedliche Baumbestände in den
Wäldern sowie gezielte Waldwirtschaft vermuten.
Der geplante Bau der Dörfer weist auf (hierarchische)
Organisation der Siedlungsgemeinschaft.
Ein Vergleich mit anderen Siedlungen
der Region zeigt, dass die cortaillodzeitlichen
Dörfer aus Sutz-Lattrigen einen für die Zeit und
Region typischen Siedlungstyp repräsentieren.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Morgane S... more This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Morgane Surdez, Gisela Thierrin-Michael, Caroline Heitz, Regine Stapfer, Albert Hafner English language editing: Morgane Surdez Layout: Designer FH in Visual Communication Susanna Kaufmann Photographs (front page): Firing Experiments to create black ceramics, Gletterens FR, CH. Gisela Thierrin-Michael 5.1. Water absorption measurements 29 5.2. X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD) 30 5.3. Characterisation of pot surfaces with binocular images 36 5.4. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) 5.4.1. Fragment of pot NLT 267 G FBK 38 5.4.2. Fragment of pot NLT 267 R FBK 38 6. Conclusion 47 7. References 47 8. Appendix 1: Diffractograms with phase identification 48 9. Appendix 2: Results of the SEM-EDS analysis 57
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , 2019
In recent decades numerous Neolithic lakeside and wetland settlements have been investigated in S... more In recent decades numerous Neolithic lakeside and wetland settlements have been investigated in Switzerland, southern Germany and eastern France. The finds from these settlements indicate that complex relationships and close contacts existed between the inhabitants of different settlements and regions. This can be seen in ceramic vessels that exhibit similarities to those from other regions based on their style, manufacturing technique and raw materials. Although the use of chemical and archaeometric analyses to determine the origin of pottery has been well established for years and despite promising investigations, such analyses have hardly ever been carried out in the study region; as a result, the topic of mobility has rarely been examined. In order to better understand mobility patterns in Neolithic societies by combining stylistic analyses with a chemical characterisation of the potter's clay used, this paper explores the use of portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis as a means of chemically characterising ceramics. Since studies on the use of pXRF to examine handmade, heterogeneous and coarsely tempered ceramics are rare, it seems necessary to evaluate the method. This paper presents the development of a strategy for the analysis of large series of handmade coarse ceramics from prehistoric settlements. Two examples illustrate the possibilities of and limitations to pXRF analysis on pottery for the detection of mobility patterns of Neolithic societies in the Northern Alpine Foreland.
This paper seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural phenomena that are often referred... more This paper seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural phenomena that are often referred to in archaeological literature as ‘foreign things’ and to criticise this notion for fostering a rather mechanical narrative: that of pure, territorially-bounded and, thus, clearly distinguishable cultures, where the dynamics are reduced to cultural contact in the course of long-term migration. Drawing on different action-theoretical approaches from material culture and mobility studies we argue that human life is fundamentally characterised by gradual shifting between stasis and movement, dynamism and stability, while we are constantly engaging with our social and material environments. Humans live in a dynamic meshwork of experienced itineraries with knots of temporarily stabilised cultural forms, such as iterated practices and made things. While being on the move, humans might transgress boundaries and appropriate new practices and things, leading occasionally to mutual transformations. Taking Neolithic pottery of the Alpine Foreland as an example—and especially the pottery of the settlement Hornstaad-Hörnle IA (D) at Lake Constance (3918–3902 BC dendro)—we approach such transforming moments. They are traceable in their different material, technological and stylistic properties. While we follow these materialised itineraries empirically we keep expanding our theoretical approach that is currently still sketchy in parts.
In recent decades, in many lakeside settlements of western Switzerland some 'special' or 'foreign... more In recent decades, in many lakeside settlements of western Switzerland some 'special' or 'foreign' pottery was identified, which seems to stylistically stand out from the usual predominant pottery set of a settlement. Often, the presence of this pottery was interpreted as the result of unspecified 'contacts' with neighbouring regions, where similar shaped pots occur. Due to the enlargement of well-stratified and partially absolutely-dated artefact assemblages that have been analysed and published in recent years, 'special pot-tery' or vessels 'built in a non-local tradition' as well as regional pottery styles and their developments are more recognisable today. By studying different aspects of these vessels, such as shape and raw material used, e.g. temper, it is possible to detect a variety of different phenomena related to entanglements and mobility between different societies. In the vessels, produced and used by members of a society, insights into everyday life can be materialised and preserved over thousands of years. The aim of this article is to provide insights into the everyday life and entanglements of the settlements' societies in western Switzerland. Also, possibilities and difficulties in the interpretation of pottery as indications of such phenomena should be addressed. Central for these reflections are the Neolithic settlements of Concise, which show a unique situation in the area of study. In addition, the first results from the settlements of Sutz-Lattrigen and Twann, which are the subject of the ongoing research project 'MET' should open the door for further research.
Mobility and Pottery Production: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives.
This edited volume deals with the mobility of humans, materials and things. Pottery studies of an... more This edited volume deals with the mobility of humans, materials and things. Pottery studies of ancient Europe and contemporary Africa are taken as examples to illustrate how pottery vessels were made in different ways. Whether they were used, sold, given away or passed on over generations, they participated in human practices and mobil-ities, ranging from everyday life to single long-term migration events. By studying the making and the mobility of pots, potters, pottery mongers and pottery users, the focus shifts from ideas of one-sided notions of stable 'cultures' to ideas of appropriations, transformations and thus the negotiation of cultural forms. In the book's first section, the relationship between anthropology and archaeology is illuminated and the disciplines' different takes on 'culture', 'practice', 'mobility' and 'things' throughout major paradigmatic shifts are addressed. The second section unites empirical, object-centred archaeological case studies in which the examination of materials and pottery styles reveals that notions of fixed cultural entities are empirically untenable. The contributions in the third part argue from more actor-centred or symmetrical perspectives. It can be shown how humans and things are intertwined through practices and various rhythms of movement and mobility. Thus, they offer alternative ways to approach the (re)production, negotiation and transformation of cultural practices and their material forms.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL & ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Mobility and Pottery Production, 2017
Archaeological concepts of structuring time and space determine and constrain the
view... more Archaeological concepts of structuring time and space determine and constrain the
views on prehistoric potteries and mobilities. In turn, these typologies of potteries are
often the basis of the same chronological and cultural concepts, especially in Neolithic
archaeology. Thus, if either of them shows any distortions, this can lead to something
similar to a vicious circle. Therefore, the only way of breaking this circle is to reconsider
these concepts in order to obtain a more open and less biased view on pottery in general.
First, a research-history approach is applied to a time-space classification of Neolithic
remains in Switzerland. Attempts to deconstruct traditional cultural concepts are dis
-
cussed and their shortcomings are highlighted by examples from my research experience,
some of which have been mentioned in the workshop. This paper emphasises that sim
-
plified concepts, outdated terminology, and false dichotomies direct our view and lead
us to ignore or manipulate facts that are adverse to our preconceptions. Moreover, tra
-
ditional time-space schemata do not take into consideration the distortion of the results
created by post hoc artefacts of human knowledge production.
Finally, the essay proposes to adopt F. Fahlander’s microarchaeological perspective as
a new approach to structuring the time and space of Neolithic remains in Switzerland
and in adjacent regions. An open set of the most representative and most accurately dat
-
ed reference sites would provide the basis for this approach. Thus, its frame would not
be rigid and categorising as in traditional time-space schemata, but flexible, dynamic,
and able to adapt to new evidence.
Keywords:
concepts of culture, Neolithic pottery, microarchaeology
A short review of the state of work.
Subject of the article is the inter- and transdisciplinary a... more A short review of the state of work.
Subject of the article is the inter- and transdisciplinary approach to our reserch. Two examples give a deeper inight: the history of the post medieval buildings of the "Staadhof" and the comparison of refubishment at the "Hinterhof" in the early 17th c with the Hotel Blume between the 1970ies to 2014.
Boschetti et al. (Hrsg.), Form, Zeit, Raum. Grundlagen für eine Geschichte aus dem Boden. Festschrift für Werner E. Stöckli zu seinem 65. Geburtstag., 2012
Books by Regine Stapfer
Mitteilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Bern, 2018
by Caroline Heitz, Regine Stapfer, Albert Hafner, Astrid Van Oyen, Loïc Jammet-Reynal, Ute Seidel, Isabel A . Hohle, Eda Gross, Nadja Melko, Daniel Albero Santacreu, Hans P Hahn, and Köhler Iris
Talks by Regine Stapfer
Pottery is one of the most common and stylistically differentiated sources in prehistoric archaeo... more Pottery is one of the most common and stylistically differentiated sources in prehistoric archaeology.
This might be the reason why it served as a vast projection surface for archaeological notions about culture, identity, and mobility in the past. As we do not have access to emic categorisations of Neolithic societies we focus on contexts of practice in which pottery was incorporated. It is the moment of production, which left some of the clearest traces on the vessels. Different ways of using raw materials, specific techniques, and characteristic pottery styles can be observed. We understand them as a result of habitus, as socially shared internalized schemes, patterns and habits in pottery production. Taking this as a starting point, two main pottery groups can be differed on the Swiss Plateau between 3900 and 3500 BC: the Mediterranean influenced Cortaillod pottery in Western Switzerland and the Danubian influenced Pfyn pottery in North-Eastern Switzerland. These pottery styles were not only entangled to some degree. Furthermore, in some settlements vessels made in “foreign” styles - Michelsberg, Munzingen, Néolithique Moyen Bourguignon - are present too. Some of them were travelling objects, as their nonlocal raw materials show. Others were locally made, indicating long-term mobility of their producers. To analyse these phenomena of mobilites and entanglements in our PhDs we plan to apply different archaeological and archaeometrical methods, thus striving for a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of moving people, objects and ideas in Neolithic societies on the Swiss Plateau.
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Papers and Book Sections by Regine Stapfer
Südufer des Bielersees wurden in der Jungsteinzeit
bis in die Frühbronzezeit leicht zueinander
verschoben zahlreiche Siedlungen angelegt.
Zwischen 1986 und 2003 untersuchte
der Archäologische Dienst des Kantons Bern
mit Kernbohrungen und taucharchäologischen
Rettungsgrabungen mehrere Siedlungen im
Bereich der Hauptstation von Sutz-Lattrigen.
Anhand der dendrochronologisch jahrgenau
datierten Pfähle können die Häuser von vier
Siedlungen, die zwischen 3827 und 3566 v. Chr.
bestanden, rekonstruiert und ihre Siedlungsgeschichte
nachgezeichnet werden. Dabei zeigte
sich, dass jeweils die ersten Häuser der Siedlungen
in kurzer Zeit gebaut wurden. Einige Jahre
später, wurden die Siedlungen vergrössert, bevor
sie nach weniger als zwei Jahrzehnten wieder
aufgelassen wurden. Das Bauholz der Häuser
weist auf gezielten Holzschlag für den Bau
der einzelnen Häuser hin. Zudem lässt das Bauholz
unterschiedliche Baumbestände in den
Wäldern sowie gezielte Waldwirtschaft vermuten.
Der geplante Bau der Dörfer weist auf (hierarchische)
Organisation der Siedlungsgemeinschaft.
Ein Vergleich mit anderen Siedlungen
der Region zeigt, dass die cortaillodzeitlichen
Dörfer aus Sutz-Lattrigen einen für die Zeit und
Region typischen Siedlungstyp repräsentieren.
views on prehistoric potteries and mobilities. In turn, these typologies of potteries are
often the basis of the same chronological and cultural concepts, especially in Neolithic
archaeology. Thus, if either of them shows any distortions, this can lead to something
similar to a vicious circle. Therefore, the only way of breaking this circle is to reconsider
these concepts in order to obtain a more open and less biased view on pottery in general.
First, a research-history approach is applied to a time-space classification of Neolithic
remains in Switzerland. Attempts to deconstruct traditional cultural concepts are dis
-
cussed and their shortcomings are highlighted by examples from my research experience,
some of which have been mentioned in the workshop. This paper emphasises that sim
-
plified concepts, outdated terminology, and false dichotomies direct our view and lead
us to ignore or manipulate facts that are adverse to our preconceptions. Moreover, tra
-
ditional time-space schemata do not take into consideration the distortion of the results
created by post hoc artefacts of human knowledge production.
Finally, the essay proposes to adopt F. Fahlander’s microarchaeological perspective as
a new approach to structuring the time and space of Neolithic remains in Switzerland
and in adjacent regions. An open set of the most representative and most accurately dat
-
ed reference sites would provide the basis for this approach. Thus, its frame would not
be rigid and categorising as in traditional time-space schemata, but flexible, dynamic,
and able to adapt to new evidence.
Keywords:
concepts of culture, Neolithic pottery, microarchaeology
Subject of the article is the inter- and transdisciplinary approach to our reserch. Two examples give a deeper inight: the history of the post medieval buildings of the "Staadhof" and the comparison of refubishment at the "Hinterhof" in the early 17th c with the Hotel Blume between the 1970ies to 2014.
Books by Regine Stapfer
Talks by Regine Stapfer
This might be the reason why it served as a vast projection surface for archaeological notions about culture, identity, and mobility in the past. As we do not have access to emic categorisations of Neolithic societies we focus on contexts of practice in which pottery was incorporated. It is the moment of production, which left some of the clearest traces on the vessels. Different ways of using raw materials, specific techniques, and characteristic pottery styles can be observed. We understand them as a result of habitus, as socially shared internalized schemes, patterns and habits in pottery production. Taking this as a starting point, two main pottery groups can be differed on the Swiss Plateau between 3900 and 3500 BC: the Mediterranean influenced Cortaillod pottery in Western Switzerland and the Danubian influenced Pfyn pottery in North-Eastern Switzerland. These pottery styles were not only entangled to some degree. Furthermore, in some settlements vessels made in “foreign” styles - Michelsberg, Munzingen, Néolithique Moyen Bourguignon - are present too. Some of them were travelling objects, as their nonlocal raw materials show. Others were locally made, indicating long-term mobility of their producers. To analyse these phenomena of mobilites and entanglements in our PhDs we plan to apply different archaeological and archaeometrical methods, thus striving for a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of moving people, objects and ideas in Neolithic societies on the Swiss Plateau.
Südufer des Bielersees wurden in der Jungsteinzeit
bis in die Frühbronzezeit leicht zueinander
verschoben zahlreiche Siedlungen angelegt.
Zwischen 1986 und 2003 untersuchte
der Archäologische Dienst des Kantons Bern
mit Kernbohrungen und taucharchäologischen
Rettungsgrabungen mehrere Siedlungen im
Bereich der Hauptstation von Sutz-Lattrigen.
Anhand der dendrochronologisch jahrgenau
datierten Pfähle können die Häuser von vier
Siedlungen, die zwischen 3827 und 3566 v. Chr.
bestanden, rekonstruiert und ihre Siedlungsgeschichte
nachgezeichnet werden. Dabei zeigte
sich, dass jeweils die ersten Häuser der Siedlungen
in kurzer Zeit gebaut wurden. Einige Jahre
später, wurden die Siedlungen vergrössert, bevor
sie nach weniger als zwei Jahrzehnten wieder
aufgelassen wurden. Das Bauholz der Häuser
weist auf gezielten Holzschlag für den Bau
der einzelnen Häuser hin. Zudem lässt das Bauholz
unterschiedliche Baumbestände in den
Wäldern sowie gezielte Waldwirtschaft vermuten.
Der geplante Bau der Dörfer weist auf (hierarchische)
Organisation der Siedlungsgemeinschaft.
Ein Vergleich mit anderen Siedlungen
der Region zeigt, dass die cortaillodzeitlichen
Dörfer aus Sutz-Lattrigen einen für die Zeit und
Region typischen Siedlungstyp repräsentieren.
views on prehistoric potteries and mobilities. In turn, these typologies of potteries are
often the basis of the same chronological and cultural concepts, especially in Neolithic
archaeology. Thus, if either of them shows any distortions, this can lead to something
similar to a vicious circle. Therefore, the only way of breaking this circle is to reconsider
these concepts in order to obtain a more open and less biased view on pottery in general.
First, a research-history approach is applied to a time-space classification of Neolithic
remains in Switzerland. Attempts to deconstruct traditional cultural concepts are dis
-
cussed and their shortcomings are highlighted by examples from my research experience,
some of which have been mentioned in the workshop. This paper emphasises that sim
-
plified concepts, outdated terminology, and false dichotomies direct our view and lead
us to ignore or manipulate facts that are adverse to our preconceptions. Moreover, tra
-
ditional time-space schemata do not take into consideration the distortion of the results
created by post hoc artefacts of human knowledge production.
Finally, the essay proposes to adopt F. Fahlander’s microarchaeological perspective as
a new approach to structuring the time and space of Neolithic remains in Switzerland
and in adjacent regions. An open set of the most representative and most accurately dat
-
ed reference sites would provide the basis for this approach. Thus, its frame would not
be rigid and categorising as in traditional time-space schemata, but flexible, dynamic,
and able to adapt to new evidence.
Keywords:
concepts of culture, Neolithic pottery, microarchaeology
Subject of the article is the inter- and transdisciplinary approach to our reserch. Two examples give a deeper inight: the history of the post medieval buildings of the "Staadhof" and the comparison of refubishment at the "Hinterhof" in the early 17th c with the Hotel Blume between the 1970ies to 2014.
This might be the reason why it served as a vast projection surface for archaeological notions about culture, identity, and mobility in the past. As we do not have access to emic categorisations of Neolithic societies we focus on contexts of practice in which pottery was incorporated. It is the moment of production, which left some of the clearest traces on the vessels. Different ways of using raw materials, specific techniques, and characteristic pottery styles can be observed. We understand them as a result of habitus, as socially shared internalized schemes, patterns and habits in pottery production. Taking this as a starting point, two main pottery groups can be differed on the Swiss Plateau between 3900 and 3500 BC: the Mediterranean influenced Cortaillod pottery in Western Switzerland and the Danubian influenced Pfyn pottery in North-Eastern Switzerland. These pottery styles were not only entangled to some degree. Furthermore, in some settlements vessels made in “foreign” styles - Michelsberg, Munzingen, Néolithique Moyen Bourguignon - are present too. Some of them were travelling objects, as their nonlocal raw materials show. Others were locally made, indicating long-term mobility of their producers. To analyse these phenomena of mobilites and entanglements in our PhDs we plan to apply different archaeological and archaeometrical methods, thus striving for a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of moving people, objects and ideas in Neolithic societies on the Swiss Plateau.
Mobility, social networks and exchange relationships in Neolithic and Bronze Age societies of the Swiss Plateau
Authors:
Ben Jennings, IPNA, University of Basel ([email protected])
Caroline Heitz, IAW, University of Berne ([email protected])
Regine Stapfer, IAW, University of Berne ([email protected])
Corresponding author:
Caroline Heitz ([email protected])
Paper abstract and outline:
When it comes to the interrelation of culture and climate, it is often assumed that climatic deterioration forced prehistoric societies to shift their settlements and to migrate to more favourable areas. It would be worth testing this hypothesis by linking archaeological and paleoclimatic data. However, we argue from an archaeological point of view, that another topic needs to be addressed first: how can we ever trace movement and mobility in the archaeological record? For example, how can subsistent-based mobility and social interactions from long-term migrations be differentiated? In our article we will suggest some ways to approach these complex questions through case studies; the well preserved and closely dated archaeological finds from prehistoric wetland sites of the Swiss Plateau offer a perfect basis. Due to the lack of written evidence, the only sources to study mobility and interactions are material culture remains. Three different levels of evidence are studied: (1.) The determination of geological origins from ground stones, flint varieties, clays and temper, (2.) the differentiation of typical local and non-local traditions in styles and production modes and (3.) the analysis of flow of finished objects across different regions by social network analysis. Preliminary results indicate various entanglements, networks and interactions between different settlements and regions during prehistoric time. The present state of research does not allow a final interpretation, but does however, clearly highlight that prehistoric societies were not entirely autonomous and enclosed but comprised a complex set of interactions along myriad routes of exchange and mobility. Although many factors contributed to the establishment of these interactions and routes of mobility, one of their effects was to enable communities to withstand periods of crisis, which may have been induced, for instance, by climatic fluctuation.
This joint lecture about Swiss pile-dwellings of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age will present two recent diploma works as example of research and cooperation between universities and government agencies for cultural heritage management. The pile dwelling settlement of Sutz-Lattringen Hauptstation innen (BE) was built between 3638-3566 BC in the bay of Lattrigen at Lake Bienne. The village contains only one occupation layer. Most of the finds belong to the late “Cortaillod Culture”, which is characteristic of the region and time. Further some foreign pottery suggests links to the middle Neolithic of eastern France (Néolithique Moyen Bourguignon). Comparisons of finds from precise dated pile dwelling settlements show the foreign impacts, the chronological positioning and development of the material culture as well as connections between different regions.
The bog settlement of Seedorf-Lobsigesee (BE) is located on a former peninsula at Lake Lobsigen, only 13 km south of the Neolithic dwellings of Lake Bienne. Its stratigraphic sequence contains three settlement phases whose cultural layers date from about 3900-3700 BC. Remains of house floors built directly on the ground and hearths have been found. The material culture can be attributed to the early and middle “Cortaillod Culture”. However, some elements show ties to Alpine regions in Switzerland an northern Italy, as also eastern and south-eastern France.
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