Manolakakis 2017 - So long blades.pdf
Laurence Manolakakis
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Abstract
With the benefit of more than 20 years of hindsight, the time is ripe for a re- examination of Chalcolithic lithic industries of the north-eastern Balkans in the light of newly published data and a more accurate chronology. In this study, we present a detailed examination of the economic and social position of the various blade productions of these hierarchized societies, following the regional chronological sequences and the various cultural groups identified on the basis of ceramics. In fact, the lithic traditions define two areas of domestic production which remained unchanged throughout the period: the first, characterized by indirect percussion, lies broadly to the south of the eastern Danube while the other, involving direct percussion, lies to the north. In addition, there is evidence for parallel specialized productions, intended for export, which comprise blades manufactured by indirect percussion on specialized mining sites, as well as blades manufactured using lever pressure debitage and blades produced using standing pressure debitage. The evolution, position and role of the various lithic productions are examined for the centuries spanning the Early Chalcolithic to the beginning of the Late Chalcolithic.
Key takeaways
- The addition of a technical criterion, such as the method of debitage, therefore allows a clearer and more homogenous definition of Balkan "long blades": in this study the term will be reserved for blades manufactured by lever pressure debitage.
- Simultaneously, blades produced using punch debitage by cultures located to the south of the Danube were exported to sites to the north of the river.
- This brief overview indicates a general rise in the frequency of long blades made by lever pressure debitage.
- Although poorly recognised on settlement sites, these blades resulting from standing pressure debitage have been identified throughout the Chalcolithic, from early period onwards, in settlement contexts and not just in a fragmentary used state; indeed, a group of complete blades has been discovered at Sava, within the Early Chalcolithic layers.
- It circulates in various forms: blades manufactured by indirect percussion and blades made by lever pressure debitage.
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Book review: Ivan Gatsov and Petranka Nedelcheva. Pietrele 2: Lithic industry. Finds from the Upper Occupation Layers. Bonn: Habelt-Verlag, 2019, ISBN 978-3-7749-4164-9
2020
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Recent investigations in the Neolithic Southern Caucasus have shed new light on the advent and development of Neolithic culture in the area, which is thought to have emerged around 6000 B.C.E., likely as a result of interaction with the Neolithic communities of bordering regions to the south. Given the geographic and environmental diversity of the Southern Caucasus, the corresponding regional variability of the culture is increasingly attracting attention. Focusing on obsidian pressure blade technology in the region, which is often treated generically so far, this paper investigates the variability in this technology and then makes comparisons among contemporaneous sites. Based on the examination of blade cores obtained from the Neolithic sites of Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe in the Middle Kura Valley, two techno-typologically distinct core types were defined—namely, unifacial and circumferential blade cores. Further, the distribution patterns of the detected technological traces on the surface of the cores, likely caused by firm immobilization for a lever or long crutch pressure debitage, appeared to correspond to the defined core types. Considering the distribution pattern of surface stigmas vis-à-vis the specific blade core type, strategies involving multiple blade production technologies, perhaps each employing different immobilization devices for pressure debitage, can be assumed to be present at the two sites studied. A preliminary comparison with contemporaneous sites on the Ararat Plain in the Araxes Valley provided the basis for considering the regional needs and tradition behind the assumed blade production strategy, probably specific to Middle Kura Valley. Nevertheless, the newly defined and potentially unique unifacial core type may provide a clue to trace technological variability among regions. By exploring the regional variability of the blade production technology through this new perspective, vital questions regarding the Neolithization process or the relationship among groups at that time can be addressed.
Long thin blade production and Late Gravettian hunter-gatherer mobility in Eastern Central Europe
The regular and systematic production of long blades (>120 mm) that maintain a thickness (<10 mm) of regular blades (<120 mm) is a particular phenomenon of the Upper Palaeolithic (40–10 ka BP) archaeological record of Eastern Central Europe. However, the mechanical underpinnings of manufacturing these long blades are still not fully understood. This paper presents experimental research that used heavy (∼800 g) and light (∼570 g) antler percussors to test the effect of percussor weight on the manufacture of Upper Palaeolithic type blades. Statistical analyses showed that a heavier percussor effectively increased the ability to achieve a fine thickness for long blades. The results are then compared to other experimental and archaeological assemblages to suggest that the use of heavy percussors may have played a role in lithic economy of Upper Palaeolithic mobile hunter-gatherers.
The selection of ceramic raw material: convenience or a technological idea? A case study of the Danubian cultures north of the Carpathians. Archeologické rozhledy 69 (2017), 261-280
This paper reconstructs the rules governing the selection of ceramic raw material and considers certain technological aspects of the production of ceramic vessels in some Danubian cultures around the Carpa-thians in the Neolithic. The analysis encompassed more than 500 samples of ceramics produced by various cultural units across different chronological horizons. The results of the analysis are used to verify several hypotheses concerning the relationships and the mechanisms of cultural change in the Carpathian region. The most important questions include: (1) evolution of the LBK ceramics, (2) influence of the ALPC on the evolution of the LBK pottery in Małopolska, (3) technology of the LBK ceramics east of the Carpathians, (4) culture change at the turn of the LBK and the MC in Małopolska and (5) culture change at the turn of the MC and the L-VC in the same region. The suitability of the pottery technological analysis to solve some prehistoric problems was confirmed. LBK – ALPC – trans-Carpathian contacts – pottery – clay raw materials – technological analysis Článek rekonstruuje pravidla ovládající výběr keramických surovin a zvažuje určité technologické aspekty výroby keramických nádob v některých podunajských kulturách neolitu v oblasti Karpat. Analyzováno bylo více než 500 keramických vzorků vytvořených různými kulturními jednotkami různých chronologických hori-zontů. Výsledky analýzy slouží k ověření několika hypotéz týkajících se souvislostí a mechanismů kulturní změny v karpatské oblasti. Mezi nejdůležitější otázky patří: (1) vývoj LBK keramiky, (2) vliv ALPC na vývoj LBK keramiky v Malopolsku, (3) technologie LBK keramiky východně od Karpat, (4) kulturní změna na přechodu mezi LBK a MC v Malopolsku, (5) kulturní změna na přechodu mezi MC a L-VC v téže oblasti. Výsledky potvrzují vhodnost analýzy technologie keramiky pro objasnění některých otázek pravěku.
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