Table Of ContentAn Archaeology of
Materials
Routledge Studies in Archaeology
1. AnArchaeologyofMaterials
SubstantialTransformations inEarlyPrehistoricEurope
ChantalConneller
An Archaeology of
Materials
Substantial Transformations in Early
Prehistoric Europe
Chantal Conneller
Firstpublished2011
byRoutledge
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Conneller,Chantal.
Anarchaeologyofmaterials:substantialtransformationsinearly
prehistoricEurope/byChantalConneller.
p.cm.–(Routledgestudiesinarchaeology;1)
“SimultaneouslypublishedintheUK”–T.p.verso.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Antiquities,Prehistoric–Europe.2.Materials–Europe–History.3.
Materials–Analysis.4.Antiquities–Analysis.5.Materialculture–Europe–
History.6.Socialchange–Europe–History.7.Socialarchaeology–Europe.
8.Europe–Antiquities.I.Title.
GN803.C6632011
930.1–dc22
2010028120
ISBN 0-203-83372-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978-0-415-88130-2 (hbk)
ISBN13:978-0-203-83372-8(ebk)
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vi
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction: Making Materials Matter 1
1 Forming Materials 24
2 Animal Materials 49
3 The Mutability of Stone 76
4 Material Worlds 102
Conclusion: Substantial Transformations 124
Glossary 130
Notes 132
Bibliography 133
Index 153
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 Magdalenian contour découpé of horse’s head from Isturitz,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France 35
1.2 A horse’s hyoid bone 36
1.3 MagdalenianrondellewithengravingofbovidfromMasd’Azil,
Ariège, France 38
1.4 Aurignacian basket-shaped beads made from ivory and stone 41
1.5 Fragment of mammoth tusk showing desiccation fractures 44
1.6 The châine opératoire of basket-shaped beads 44
2.1 Barbed points from Star Carr, North Yorkshire 55
2.2 Early Mesolithic sites around Lake Flixton, North Yorkshire 57
2.3 Antler Frontlets from Star Carr 63
2.4 Aurignacian mammoth figurine from Vogelherd 68
2.5 Shell skeuomorphs made from ivory, from La Souquette,
Dordogne 73
3.1 Flint with engraved cortex from Tågerup, Scania 84
3.2 Core with engraved cortex from Tågerup, Scania. The engraved
lines echo the positions of blade removals on a worked core 85
3.3 Refitted engraved flint nodule from Holmegård V, Zealand 88
3.4 Stylised male figure on Holmegård V, Zealand 89
3.5 Trilobite from Grotte de Trilobite, Arcy-sur-Cure, Yonne 92
3.6 CarvingofabeetlefromGrottedeTrilobite,Arcy-sur-Cure,Yonne 93
3.7 Echinoid fossil originally concealed within flint nodule from the
Mesolithic site of Seamer C, North Yorkshire 99
4.1 Aurignacian mammoth figurine from Vogelherd 104
4.2 Aurignacian horse figurine from Vogelherd 106
4.3 Human-lion figurine from Hohlenstein-Stadel 107
Tables
3.1 Different fossil types on Upper Palaeolithic sites 96
Acknowledgements
The genesis for this book came from Sîan Jones, in a question during my
interview for a job in Archaeology at Manchester University in 2005: Why
was my work on lithics so different from my work on animals? Being
explicitly forced to confront my own practice as a lithic specialist, and to
thinkabout thedifferenttreatmentofstoneandanimalmaterials,helpedme
to coalesce some rather disparate interests into a book about materials. The
gestation of this book therefore neatly corresponds with my time at Man-
chester. I owe a huge debt to my colleagues who contribute to such an
exciting and vibrant department and whose interest and support has sus-
tained my work on the book. I am also grateful to the University of
Manchester for providing a semester of university leave in autumn 2008
during which a major part of the book was written.
Other ideas in this book have a longer genealogy. My initial interest in
lithic technology and materials was sparked as a second year undergraduate
by Mark Edmonds. Marks’s lectures introduced me to social approaches to
technologyandhiswork on theLangdale axefactoriesmade merealise how
detailed empirical study of material culture through the medium of social
approaches to technology revealed what was interesting and different about
past societies. Mark left to take up his post at Sheffield soon after, although
Ihavecontinuedtobenefitfrom hisencouragement.HoweverIwasluckyin
that Cambridge in the early 1990s was an excellent place for an aspiring
technologist.IbenefitedfromtheinspiringteachingoffourthenPhDstudents
with interests in technology and material culture: Brian Boyd, Nathan
Schlanger, Victor Buchli and Bill Sillar, and the production of the legendary
ARC 9.1, which did more than anything to bring the French school of
technological thought to the attention of an Anglophone audience. As
undergraduates, then PhD students and finally research fellows together,
discussions with Terry Hopkinson helped in refining my thinking on tech-
nology. My work for the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, and with Mark
Knight in particular, taught me to have ‘confidence in my contexts’.
Throughout this period Lesley McFadyen has been instrumental in
encouraging me in my work and in helping me think through archaeological
practice. Highest praise of all though must go to Thomas Yarrow. This
viii Acknowledgements
book benefits from more than ten years of shared ideas, discussion and
debates. It would undoubtedly have taken a very different form without
him. I would particularly like to thank him for very nobly reading through
the whole book (possibly more than once) and for his encouragement and
support.
A number of people have read through individual chapters of this book
and I would like to thank the following for their helpful comments on the
text: Ben Elliott, Elizabeth Healey, Lesley McFadyen, Beccy Scott, Julian
Thomas, Graeme Warren and Becky Wragg Sykes. Various friends and col-
leagueswhohaveknownofmyprojecthavealsodirectedmetowardsuseful
reading or have helped me with problems I have encountered. I have also
presented versions of various chapters and conferences and benefited from
questions and discussions from the audience. In these last two (overlapping)
categories I would particularly like to thank Brian Boyd, Victor Buchli,
Eleanor Casella, Hannah Cobb, Anwen Cooper, Lindy Crewe, William
Davies, Karen Exell, Chris Fowler, Duncan Garrow, Mel Giles, Dan Hicks,
Sheila Kohring, Jim Leary, Robert Loseley, Anja Mansrud, Nicky Milner,
Andy Needham, John O’Hara, Nick Overton, Paul Pettitt, John Piprani,
Josh Pollard, Colin Richards, Penny Spikins and Randall White. Chapter 2
in particular has benefited from discussion of an early version at the Ubi-
quitous Animals seminar, Olso, held in May 2008. I would very much like
to thank the organisers, Kristin Armstrong Oma, Lotte Hedeager and Anja
Mansrud, for inviting me to speak at such a productive and enjoyable
meeting and for making me so welcome. My interest in obsidian was
sparked during a fascinatingdiscussionwith Osamu Maeda and DougBaird
during Osamu’s viva, which I hope he was able to appreciate at the time. I
would also like to thanks students in my third year Upper Palaeolithic and
Mesolithic course and Mesolithic MA course over the past few years for
their patient response to a lot of information about mammoth ivory, stones
and fossils.
The production of this book has necessitated a lot of practical support.
Lesley McFadyen and Mark Knight have provided accommodation and
evening entertainment during visits to various Cambridge libraries. My
parents have done the same for my visits to the British Library. Ina Berg
helped me with German translations for permission requests. Anders
Fischer, David Gelsthorpe and Randall White very generously furnished me
with images from their own archives. Dominique Baffier, Francine David,
Anne-Catherine Biedermann, Bo Knarrstöm, Caroline de Lambertye, Jessica
Rippengal, Barry Taylor, Jo Tozer, Kurt Wehrberger and Sibylle Wolf all
kindly helped me with images and image permissions. The horse’s hyoid
bone was generously provided by the Grahame Clark Laboratory at the
University of Cambridge. Finally I would like to thank Laura Stearns and
Stacy Noto at Routledge for their support for this book.
The day I discovered Routledge were willing to publish this book was
also the day that my friend Roger Jacobi died. As a result its destiny feels
Acknowledgements ix
bound up with him. Roger has done the most in encouraging me in my
work on the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic over the years. His support
was very important both starting out as a PhD student when he seemed to
have some faith in my analyses and in working through problems in more
recent years. His rigour, intelligence, knowledge and intellectual generosity
serveasanexampleto usallofhowtoconductourarchaeology.Ihopethis
book lives up to his standards.
