How to deal with an elephant in the room? Understanding “non-flint” raw materialscharacterisation and technological organisation

  1. Alejandro Prieto 1
  2. Xes Aldea-Moreira 2
  3. Marta Arzarello 3
  4. Gabriele L.F. Berrut 4
  5. Sandro Caracausi 4
  6. Sara Dafara 4
  7. Paloma de la Peña 5
  8. Julien Favreau 6
  9. Maite García-Rojas 7
  10. Eric Huysecom 8
  11. B. Janardhana 9
  12. Deepak Kumar Jha 10
  13. Lalita Lahari 9
  14. T. R. Molefyane 5
  15. Charlotte Pruvost 8
  16. Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez 11
  17. M. Thomas 12
  18. Hemant Kumar Vaishnav 9
  19. Quentin Villeneuve 13
  20. Arturo de Lombera-Hermida 14
  1. 1 Centro de Investgación Micaela Portlla Ikergunea
  2. 2 Insttut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social
  3. 3 University of Ferrara
    info

    University of Ferrara

    Ferrara, Italia

    ROR https://ror.org/041zkgm14

  4. 4 Associazione culturale 3P – Progeto Preistoria Piemonte
  5. 5 University of the Witwatersrand
    info

    University of the Witwatersrand

    Johannesburgo, Sudáfrica

    ROR https://ror.org/03rp50x72

  6. 6 McMaster University,
  7. 7 Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
    info

    Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

    Lejona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/000xsnr85

  8. 8 University of Geneva, Switzerland
  9. 9 Indira Gandhi Natonal Tribal University
  10. 10 Max Planck Insttute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
  11. 11 Universitat Rovira i Virgili
    info

    Universitat Rovira i Virgili

    Tarragona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/00g5sqv46

  12. 12 Université de Toulouse
    info

    Université de Toulouse

    Tolosa, Francia

  13. 13 University of Bordeaux
    info

    University of Bordeaux

    Burdeos, Francia

    ROR https://ror.org/057qpr032

  14. 14 . Universidade de Santago de Compostela.
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Journal:
ArkeoGazte: Revista de arqueología - Arkelogia aldizkaria

ISSN: 2174-856X

Year of publication: 2022

Issue Title: ¿Menos da una piedra? las sociedades pasadas a través de los materiales líticos

Issue: 12

Pages: 73-89

Type: Article

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More publications in: ArkeoGazte: Revista de arqueología - Arkelogia aldizkaria

Abstract

The increasing approaches to non-fint lithic raw materials are widening our understanding of the economy around lithic resources by prehistoric societes. The characterisaton of stone using geoarchaeological disciplines, the identfcaton of technological features on stone artefacts, and the spato-temporal organisaton of lithic reducton sequences are promotng new narratves in lithic studies. Although such lithic studies have gained atenton over the last decades, approaches combining diferent scientfc disciplines are stll rare. Traditonally, these raw materials, among others: quartz, quartzite, hornfels, limestone or slate, have only been considered as alternatve resources in those territories void of fint outcrops. However, they are also present worldwide, playing diferent techno-economic roles. In additon, the lack of protocol standardisaton for the understanding of these raw materials and the mainly fint-minded perspectve to understand lithic technology are promotng the underrepresentaton of research dealing with non-fint rocks but also the potental historic and human narratves that are hidden on them. This paper aims to bring to the scientfc debate the presentatons and discussions that have taken place in the session “Understanding Non-Flint Raw materials: Characterisaton and Technological Organisaton”; from the Rock and Roll: 13th Internatonal Symposium on Knappable materials. The informaton given by the nine communicatons sheds light on new methodologies to deal with diferent raw materials than fint worldwide but, especially, they contribute to the understanding of these rocks and the technological organisaton of the artefacts created on them by Pleistocene and Holocene societes. Complex technological management, varied procurement strategies, complementary management of resources, the understanding of chronocultural markers, or the comprehension of the nature of lithic assemblages are some of the topics here addressed. In additon, in this paper, we think about the so-called non-fint raw materials and suggest new directons to contnue researching them.

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