Material Principles and Economic Relations Underlying Neolithic Axe Circulation in Western Europe

Abstract

Neolithic societies produced and circulated axeheads made out of different rock types over substantial distances. These tools were indispensable to their economic reproduction, but they also demanded considerable manufacturing efforts. The material properties of the raw materials chosen to produce axeheads had a direct effect on the grinding and polishing processes, as well as on the use-life of these tools. However, surprisingly little is known about the criteria followed by these societies when it came to choosing adequate raw materials, or why certain rocks were exploited in greater volumes and circulated over larger distances than others. In order to determine the material parameters ruling axe production, circulation, and use, a range of different rock types were submitted to mechanical tests. For the first time, comparative values relating to the resistance to friction and to breakage are presented for some of the most important rock types used for the manufacture of axeheads by the Neolithic communities of Western Europe. These mechanical parameters allow us to approach hypothetical production and use values, which are then correlated with the distances travelled and the volumes of rock in circulation. This combination of petrographic, mechanical, and paleo-economic information leads to new understandings of the principles ruling Neolithic supply and distribution networks and the economic rationale behind them. It reveals how deeply the symbolic and social meanings of these outstanding Neolithic artefacts were rooted in their production and the use values.

Black adzes in the Early Neolithic of Belgium: Contribution of the Raman microspectrometry and petrography in characterization and sourcing

“…As rocks of good quality like phtanite seem to be exported over rather long distances (Mosel area, work in progress), others like silicified sandstone from Horion-Hozémont rarely leave their regional territory probably because of their complex manufacturing process, difficulty of collecting, etc. as recent studies concerning Western European axes tend to demonstrate (Delgado-Raack et al 2020)…”

Understanding money; Or, why social and financial accounting should not be conflated

“…While buried valuables clearly represent wealth, employing the content of these deposits to characterize Bronze Age Europe political economies as financialized is altogether different. It seems far more plausible that the metal in Bronze Age hoards continued to be deposited for social/ symbolic purposes, comparable to stone axes during the Neolithic (e.g., Delgado-Raack et al, 2020;Thirault, 2005), even as the scale of such interactions expanded considerably (Vandkilde, 2016). Ialongo and Lago (2021) explicitly argue that European hoards were amassed financial wealth.…”

Materialising the Social Relationships of Hunter-Gatherers: Archaeological and Geochemical Analyses of 4th Millennium BC ‘Slate Ring Ornaments’ from Finland

“…Renfrew, 1984), some individuals could have reached powerful positions through their control over the circulation of specific objects (e.g. Bradley & Edmonds, 1993;Delgado-Raack et al, 2020;Pétrequin et al, 2019). In this sense, these distribution networks can be understood as a social strategy that was used to establish and maintain important relationships by obtaining and circulating specific objects.…”

“…Indeed, even though the discussion concerning the 4th millennium BC exchange networks in Europe is more commonly associated with the agricultural societies (e.g. Bradley & Edmonds, 1993;Delgado-Raack et al, 2020;Ibáñez et al, 2016;Pétrequin et al, 2019), the giving and taking networks of the hunter-gatherer groups of north-eastern Europe seem to show evidence of a similar pattern in which local interaction was complemented by long-distance transactions by some of the participants (Herva et al, 2014;Kriiska, 2015;Tarasov & Nordqvist, 2021). For example, a recent study dealing with axes and adzes made of Lake Onega metatuff (Tarasov & Nordqvist, 2021) has suggested that these widely distributed items testify to the use of sophisticated technology and the specialised, large-scale production of objects intended for exchange.…”