The Social Context of Prehistoric Extraction Sites in the UK - Pete Topping, 2017
The social context of mines and quarries is fundamental to the interpretation of
Neolithic stone extraction. Why did communities choose to exploit certain raw
materials in preference to others which were often more accessible? To address
this, 168 global ethnographic studies were analysed to identify common trends in
traditional extraction practices and produce robust statistics about the material
signatures of these sites.
Repeated associations emerged between storied
locations, social networks and the organisation of extraction practices on the one
hand, and features of the material world on the other (e.g. landforms, extraction
practices, structured deposition), suggesting that we can now probably identify
sites which were mythologised/storied locations, those owned, seasonally used,
and those practicing ritualised extraction - all leading to product objectification.
A second stage of analysis compared the ethnography to 223 global
archaeological sites which produced similar patterning in the material record,
while suggesting limits to interpretation. These constraints led to a revision of the
interpretive framework which was then used to analyse the published excavations
of 79 flint mines and 51 axe quarries in the UK and Ireland.
This analysis suggested that many extraction sites were special places,
deliberately distant from settlements. They followed common practices and
assemblages were carefully deposited which the framework suggests reflects
technical skill and ritualised practices, but also exclusivity – the sites probably
controlled by clans or technical specialists.
Previous analyses, particularly of
stone axes, demonstrates that many extraction site products travelled long
distances, were often unused and deposited in non-settlement contexts.
Conversely, artefacts knapped from expedient surface sources are generally
discovered in a domestic setting, which confirms the special nature of extraction
sites and their products.
Overall, this statistically-robust ethnographic probability analysis provides a more
confident foundation to model the social context of extraction sites through
detailed analysis of their structures and assemblages
https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/10443/3697/1/Topping%2C%20P.%202017.pdf
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