Studying multiple technologies: case studies from the Neolithic of SE Europe

Abstract

Archaeological studies of technology and craft production are often limited to one type of raw material – lithic, ceramic, and so on. Even one group of raw materials, which clearly represents one technology, with shared manufacturing techniques and forms, is sometimes split into smaller groups (for example, mollusc shells are sometimes studied separately from other osseous raw materials, or obsidian is separated from other chipped stone tools). However, for comprehensive study of technology and craft production in prehistory it is necessary to study relations between different technologies – they may share same tools, activity areas, craftspersons; changes in one technology influence the changes in others, etc. The introduction of the Neolithic way of life brought also new tools, new tasks and new technologies. In this paper, we will explore the relations in production between bone and stone artefacts in the Neolithic. Not only stone tools were used for production of bone objects and bone retouching tools were involved in stone production, but we may also note the connection in technological changes (e.g., increased use of abrasion in bone technology with the increased number of stone whetstones), examples of skeuomorphism similar or identical forms in different materials) and so on. Furthermore, we tried to examine the relations of tools made from bone and stone used for the same or related tasks: for woodworking, plant processing, etc.