From Mine to User: Production and Procurement Systems of Siliceous Rocks in the European Neolithic and Bronze Age

From Mine to User: Production and Procurement Systems of Siliceous Rocks in the European Neolithic and Bronze Age presents the papers from Session XXXIII of the 18th UISPP World Congress (Paris, June 2018). 23 authors contribute nine papers from Parts 1 and 2 of the Session. The first session ‘Siliceous rocks: procurement and distribution systems’ was aimed at analysing one of the central research issues related to mining, i.e. the production systems and the diffusion of mining products. The impact of extraction on the environment, group mobility and the numbers involved in the exploitation phase were considered; mining products were also examined with a view to identifying local and imported/exported products and the underlying social organization relating to the different fields of activity. The second session ‘Flint mines and chipping floors from prehistory to the beginning of the nineteenth century’ focused on knapping activities. The significance of the identification of knapping workshops in the immediate vicinity of mine shafts and of their presence in villages as well as in intermediary places between the two was considered in the analysis of chaîne opératoire sequences. The potential of product quality and artefact distribution to contribute to the understanding of the social organisation of the communities being studied was also examined.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Cantacorbs: Recovering a forgotten Neolithic site in the Prades Mountains (Rojals, Montblanc, NE Iberia) – Juan Luis Fernández-Marchena, José Ramón Rabuñal, Gala García-Argudo, Diego Lombao, María Soto, Josep Vallverdú

The use of landscape and geo-resources at microregional scale during the later part of the Late Glacial in the south-eastern part of the Ryczów Upland (Polish Jura) – Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk, Maciej T. Krajcarz

‘Ostroga’ in Ruda Kościelna (Central Poland) – the oldest point of banded flint exploitation? – Janusz Budziszewski, Witold Grużdź, Michał Jakubczak, Michał Szubski

‘Chocolate’ flint mining from Final Palaeolithic up to Early Iron Age – a review – Dagmara H. Werra, Katarzyna Kerneder-Gubała

Copper Age lithic workshop on Mount Doc, Segusino-Treviso, North-eastern Italy: Preliminary report on new research – Rossella Duches, Emanuela Gilli, Marco Peresani

La minière à silex néolithique de Lisle « les Sablons » (Loir-et-Cher, France). Premiers résultats de 3 campagnes de fouille de 2016 à 2018 – Harold Lethrosne, Olivia Dupart, Clément Recq

Neolithic quarries and knapping in northern Corsica. The rhyolite deposit of Alzu Plateau – Adrien Reggio, Nadia Ameziane-Federzoni

Ateliers de taille, habitats et sites d’extraction du silex de la fin du Ve au IIIe millénaire avant notre ère dans le bassin minier Marne et Morin (Seine-et-Marne) – Véronique Brunet

Borownia upon the River Kamienna (Poland) – a prehistoric mine of striped flint in light of the first excavations – Jacek Lech

Pete Topping was head of survey for English Heritage and is an expert in landscape interpretation. Following voluntary early retirement he returned to his main subject of research, undertaking a recently awarded PhD at Newcastle University on flint and stone extraction industries. He is on Oxbow's American Landscapes Editorial Board.