Small pieces of flint : Mesolithic contact patterns on the Småland highlands in south Sweden

• This text discusses a small assemblage of flint from an excavation of a Mesolithic site in the Småland highlands dated to c. 9.200 cal BP. Flint does not occur naturally in the area and the flint assemblage was brought to the site from the coast, about 45 kilometres to the west. The ambition of the study was to analyse a Mesolithic site with few and fragmented artefacts . By means of analyses of distribution patterns and detailed analyses of reduction processes and use-wear analysis it could be established that a variety of tasks had been performed at the site. The distribution of burnt flint together with there mains of a hut demonstrate that the site was spatially organized. Even though the number of flint pieces from the site is small, there are no indications that the find material is the result of short visits on the site. Instead, it is more likely a place that was used for stays of some duration. The use of non-local raw material indicates mobility and contact patterns that links present day west coast of Halland and south-east Scandinavia (Skåne and the Danish islands), with the Småland highland and the Markaryd area at the time of the settlement. The technological analys is indicates that stays in the inland lasted long enough to force the group to use and curate the flint tools in a careful way to make them last. But the visits were not so long that locally available raw materials, as for example quartz, had to be used. A general conclusion to be drawn from the result is that the number of lithic pieces in an assemblage, is not in proportion to the interpretative potential of a site.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Flintknapping

Mesolithic period

Stone age

Sverige

Småland

Markaryd

Flintteknik

Stenåldern

Mesolitisk tid

Flinta

Archaeology

Arkeologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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