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Neolithic

A Scheme of Evolution for Throwing Sticks

Author(s)
Luc Bordes 1 ✉
Publication Date
Prehistoric wooden projectiles likely have a complex evolutionary story in a similar way to stone tools, depending on their functions, and the cognitive and physical capabilities of hominins who used them. The technologies of some ancient projectiles (e.g., spears, arrows) can be studied more directly because they were equipped with...

Scraping Seal Skins with Mineral Additives

Author(s)
Lasse van den Dikkenberg 1 ✉,
Diederik Pomstra 1,
Annelou van Gijn 1
Publication Date
Neolithic scrapers from the Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BC) display a variety of hide-working traces, amongst which traces interpreted as being the result of contact with dry hide. It has been suggested that, potentially, some of these implements were used to scrape fatty hides with mineral additives. Therefore, a series of experiments...

The Butser Ancient Farm Horton Neolithic Building – Its Construction and Significance to the Interpretation of Buildings of Early Neolithic Britain and Ireland

Author(s)
Trevor Creighton 1 ✉
Publication Date
In 2019 a substantial building, based on archaeological evidence of early British Neolithic dwelllings, was constructed by site staff, volunteers, and staff of Wessex Archaeology at the Experimental Archaeology site, Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, England. The archaeological feature on which our building was based was excavated in 2012 by Wessex Archaeology as part of a pre-extraction programme...

Strategy of Presenting Prehistoric Sites Like an Open-air Stand. Why and How and from a Sustainable Development Perspective

Author(s)
Mona Abo Azan 1 ✉
Publication Date
Archaeological excavations have revealed important sites from the prehistoric sites, with the cultural achievements of the early lithic tools of hunters-gatherers in the Palaeolithic, to the emergence of the farmer-village societies in the Neolithic, reaching on to urbanisation and the complex societies of the Chalcolithic...

Can Experimental Archaeology Confirm Ethnographic Evidence? The Case of Aboriginal Boomerangs Used as Retouchers

Author(s)
Eva Francesca Martellotta 1, 2 ✉
Publication Date
In this article, an experimental programme is used to examine how boomerangs may be used to retouch stone tools. The programme's findings confirm ethnographic data pertaining to the employment of hardwood boomerangs in retouching activities and investigate their technological similarities to Palaeolithic bone retouchers...

Book Review: Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa, Jahrbuch 2022

Author(s)
Stefanie Ulrich 1 ✉
Publication Date
Annual Proceedings of the EXAR Tagung
***The periodical is published by Gunter Schöbel and the European Association for the Advancement of Archaeology by Experiment e. V. (Europäische Vereinigung zur Förderung der Experimentellen Archäologie) in collaboration with the Pfahlbaummuseum Unterhuldingen...

Experimental Weaving and Twining with Ceramic Crescents from the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic in Southwestern Iberia

Author(s)
Victoria Priola1 ✉
Publication Date
Ceramic crescents are a common find at Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in southwestern Iberia (late fourth – third millennium BC). These objects, which often weigh less than 100 g and are perforated on each end, are typically referred to as loom weights and thought to be associated with textile production, although their function remains uncertain...

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

Author(s)
Annelou van Gijn 1 ✉
Publication Date

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.

Pit Preserve from Ida – on the Problem of Charred Seeds from Prehistoric Pits

Author(s)
Lutz Zwiebel 1 ✉
Publication Date

Introduction

A wild seed propagator and gardener (such as myself) relies on years of close human-plant interaction. The adaptability of domesticated and many wild plants to human economy and behaviour has always thrilled me. When I first read archaeological reports of frequent and large amounts of prehistoric charred seeds that were dumped in the ground I was bemused. It contrasted starkly with the care and sensitivity I use in the processes of seed harvest, drying and selection. So I started reading more and also charring seeds myself.

Different Vessel Surface Polishing Methods and Mutual Effects of their Applications

Author(s)
Joanna Dymańska 1,
Aleksandra Cetwińska 1 ✉,
Dariusz Manasterski 1
Publication Date
The discovery of an excavated cup with a glossy surface prompted reflection on the polishing of vessel surfaces and their mutual significance. We present the results of the application of three different polishing methods along with a reflection on their function and on the skills and ability of the potter...