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Crafting Bone Tools in Mesolithic Norway: A Regional Eastern-Related Know-How

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Knut Andreas Bergsvik  and
Éva David
Knut Andreas Bergsvik*
Affiliation:
Department of AHKR, University of Bergen, Norway
Éva David*
Affiliation:
CNRS Laboratory Préhistoire et Technologie, France
*
[email: [email protected]]
[email: [email protected]]
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Abstract

This article focuses on the production of bone tools during the seventh millennium cal BC. A large number of fishhooks and waste from fishhook production have been found at the sites of Sævarhelleren and Viste cave, in western Norway. The data have been studied by means of the chaîne opératoire concept, meaning that the artefacts are described and analysed in order to identify the different steps in the production process and to characterize the technology in a comparative northern European perspective. The result shows that bone tools and fishhooks were crafted in a similar way at these two sites, with techniques that were mastered by all makers, and in close relation to stone tool production. When compared to other contemporaneous sites, the technology resembles the Mesolithic bone technology of north-eastern Europe. It thus contradicts the hypothesis of a strong connection between western Norway and the Maglemose cultural group in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany.

Cet article traite de la production d'outils en os au cours du septième millénaire av. J.-C. (en datation calibrée). À l'ouest de la Norvège, sur le site de Sævarhelleren et dans la grotte de Viste, un grand nombre d'hameçons et leurs déchets de fabrication ont été retrouvés. Les données ont été étudiées à l'aide du concept de chaîne opératoire, ce qui signifie que les objets sont décrits et analysés afin d'identifier les différentes étapes dans les processus de production et de caractériser la technologie dans une perspective comparative nord-européenne. Le résultat montre que des outils en os et des hameçons ont été fabriqués, par tous, de la même manière sur ces deux sites, et en relation étroite avec la production d'outils en pierre. Rapportée aux productions d'autres sites contemporains, la technologie s'apparente à celle, mésolithique, utilisée au Nord-Est de l'Europe. Ceci contredit ainsi l'hypothèse d'un lien fort entre les groupes culturels de l'ouest de la Norvège et ceux du Maglemose au sud de la Scandinavie et nord de l'Allemagne.

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Produktion von Knochenwerkzeugen während des 7. vorchristlichen Jahrtausends. Eine große Anzahl von Angelhaken und Abfallstücke von deren Produktion wurden in den Halbhöhlen von Sævarhelleren und Viste in Westnorwegen gefunden. Das Fundmaterial wurde in Bezug auf das Konzept der chaîne opératoire untersucht. Die Objekte wurden beschrieben und analysiert, um die verschiedenen Schritte des Produktionsprozesses zu identifizieren und die Technologie in einer vergleichenden nordeuropäischen Perspektive zu charakterisieren. Das Ergebnis zeigt, dass Knochengeräte und Angelhaken an diesen beiden Plätzen auf ähnliche Weise und mit Techniken, die alle Hersteller beherrschten und sich in enger Beziehung zur Steingeräteproduktion befanden, gefertigt wurden. Im Vergleich zu anderen gleichzeitigen Fundplätzen spiegeln die Objekte die mesolithische Knochengerätetechnologie des nordosteuropäischen Raumes wider und widersprechen daher der Hypothese einer engen Verbindung zwischen Westnorwegen und der Maglemose-Kultur in Südskandinavien und Norddeutschland. Translation by Heiner Schwarzberg.

Keywords

Norwegian Mesolithicbone toolstechnologychaîne opératoirerocksheltersMésolithique norvégienoutils en ostechnologiechaîne opératoireabris sous rochenorwegisches MesolithikumKnochengeräteTechnologiechaîne opératoireHalbhöhlen
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , 2015 , pp. 190 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 the European Association of Archaeologists 

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