Use-Wear Analyses and Experimental Archaeology (WEAR)
Axes/adzes and grinding stones as tools of the Neolithisation in Central Europe. An integrative approach to functional analysis through Geometric Morphometrics, Use-Wear Analyses and Experimental Archaeology (WEAR).
Funding DFG-FWF (2023-2026).
PI and Speaker PD Dr. Laura Dietrich, Co-PI Dr. Michael Brandl (Austrian Archaeological Institute), Co-PI Christoph von Tycowicz (Zuse Institut Berlin)
Cooperations: State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology in Saxony-Anhalt; The Württemberg State Museum; Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austrian Archaeological Institute; Zuse Institut Berlin; Wulf Hein (https://arc-tech.de/ ).
Axes (including celts), adzes and grinding stones are the main tools of the Neolithisation process. Both tool classes undergo massive formal and functional changes at the beginning of the Neolithic. Axes become hafted cutting tools and their sizes increase. Adzes, which are hafted transversely, appear later. Both can be labeled as HCT (hafted cutting tools) in the following. Grinding and pounding tools (GPT) become more standardized. New tools are invented in order to crush a multitude of food stuffs and to cope with the steps in the chaîne opératoire of the preparation of ever more diverse meals.
Map of finds included in the project ©L. Dietrich
Thus, both tool classes can be defined as central innovations of the Neolithic. They offer a so-far unused potential for a deeper understanding of the socio-cultural and economic importance of tools during the Neolithisation and the regional adaptation strategies enabled by them. In the archaeological discourse these tools have been traditionally linked to the invention and implementation of agriculture and settled life, as tools for land clearance, for the construction of houses, and for the processing of food based on cereals (and pulses). As these functions seemed to be unambiguous, functional studies based on use-wear have been carried out more rarely than morphological or contextual analyses, while experimental studies have mainly centered on the understanding of the efficiency of certain types of tools. However, more recent work based on traceology has brought new insights into functions and the socio-economic roles of these tools. Current research considers multifunctionality for both HCT and GPT as a constant during the Neolithic of Central Europe. For HCT, uses include woodworking, butchery, working of animal hides, stone and earth while GPTs are seen as universal crushers to process foodstuffs into different products, but also for minerals. This multifunctionality touches nearly all core areas of Neolithic life. Functional analysis through traceology mostly works by identifying wear traces on archaeological finds and comparing them to wear produced experimentally on replicas. Many approaches share basic methodological shortcomings though. Between them are short-time experimental programs without statistical significance, the exclusion of important parameters in experimental settings as well as a holistic approach to the interpretation of wear - often single markers on small spots of the object surfaces are used to interpret whole functional biographies or even the function of complete find assemblages.
Experiments with stone axes replicas (Foto D. Hirako, ©OEAI)
One of the most important recent achievements in functional studies on GPT is the possibility to differentiate specific end products in addition to worked materials and to determinate use intensities by analyzing working techniques and wear extensions on tools with the help of long-term experiments and computer modelling.
The proposed project will analyze the functional dimensions of the GPT and HCT by investigating uses, working techniques, intensities of use and complete life cycles in order to determine end products, foodscapes and ranges of use by comparing two regions with different environmental settings and population dynamics during the Neolithic: the Middle Elbe-Saale region on one hand and the foothills of the Alps with the Upper Rhine Plain and the Southwest German Scarplands on the other. These regions have some of the largest collections of GPT and HCT which have not been analyzed yet through the below described methods.
The innovative methodology proposed here is focused not on single uses but reconstructs complete biographies and life cycles of tools through long -term experiments in order to secure statistical significance of the functional determination. The central idea is to understand a particular object as an assemblage composed of multiple use stages reflected in chains of successive changes of shapes and wear. Through simulations of complete biographies of replicas of representative types in long-term experiments, the parameters and consequently the functional interpretation can be objectified, measured and computer-modeled for a larger number of tools in different use stages. The method is based on the experimental production of complete wear-series for selected types from an unused stage up to a point when the tools are no longer functional, using them with different materials, motions, and for different tasks.
The mathematical modeling of these use stages will be done through the periodic measurement of changing shapes and wear with Geometric Morphometrics (Morpohomatics) on 3D-models and microscopical visualization of the mechanical deformation of the surface. This allows not only to objectify the functional determination but also to gain additional insights into time and intensity of use for the originals, which is important to understand the social dimensions of tools and their entanglement with humans in different societies.
The first central project aim is to determine and compare functions of HCT and GPT from representative excavated sites in the above-mentioned regions in order to model regional adaptation strategies through investigating a) the use of tools for the modification of the environment to adapt to the “Neolithic way of life”, and b) through the analyses of local foodways in which these tools were used. This will contribute to the understanding of the role of these tools in the Neolithic in addition to previous typological studies and analyses of raw materials supply.
The second central project aim is to create an open access reference collection of use stages and of a software tool for functional analysis by automatic pattern recognition for other similar finds.
Replicas of Neolithic stone axes (Foto W. Hein, ©W. Hein)