Living with flint: lithic biographies and daily life in the Rhine-Meuse delta during the Vlaardingen Culture period (3400–2500 BCE)

Abstract

Introduction

Life in the Dutch wetlands has always provided opportunities and challenges for the inhabitants of the delta. The Neolithic Vlaardingen Culture (3400–2500 BCE) can be seen as the epitome of adaptability to this dynamic environment. In this book, life in the wetlands during the Neolithic is explored through a detailed study of lithic object biographies. The pluriform nature of these Vlaardingen Culture (VLC) sites has long been recognised, but it is debated as to how this variation should be interpreted. One explanation is that the variation relates to varying occupation durations. In this view, the coastal dune sites are permanent settlements, while the levee sites are temporary settlements. Because the argumentation for this is partly based on use-wear analysis, these notions will also be re-evaluated based on the newly presented data.

The flint from four key VLC sites is analysed to provide insight into the procurement, production, use, and recycling of flint artefacts. Rather than focusing on individual biographies the focus here lies in the study of artefact populations, which can be seen as analogous for the human populations who produced and used these artefacts. The study incorporates the perspective of communities of practice to understand the interplay between communities and technology. The notion of taskscapes is used to address how flint procurement is embedded in other practices. The use-wear analyses are furthermore tied to the provenance studies in order to understand how exotic flint is appropriated by VLC communities. Methodology and experiments Methodologically, the sourcing study mostly relies on visual identifications of raw materials, making use of the lithotheque at Leiden University. However, optically Spiennes and Rijckholt/Lanaye flint cannot generally be distinguished. Therefore, ED-XRF analysis was employed to analyse reference samples, and archaeological artefacts from these groups. For the use-wear analysis, the extensive reference collection in the Laboratory for Material Culture Studies was used. Nevertheless, new research questions and the finding of traces without an experimental match made it necessary to conduct new experiments to understand previously unclassified traces. This led to new experiments with fish skins, horn, and hide scraping using additives. Technological experiments were carried out to understand the finishing traces observed on flint axes. A final set of experiments dealt with recycled flint axes, aiming to provide insight into the importance of recycling during this period. Flint on Vlaardingen Culture settlements The analyses provided interesting new insights into the procurement, production and use of flint artefacts. It could be observed that the levee sites of Hekelingen III and Vlaardingen Arij Koplaan were well connected to other communities, providing access to high-quality flint. At the West-Frisian site of Zandwerven locally-obtained moraine flint dominated the assemblage. Flint from the coastal dune site of Den Haag Steynhof consisted of a mix of high-quality mined flint and more regionally obtained low-quality flints such as Meuse-eggs and terrace flint. In terms of technology, a simple ad hoc flaking was employed. Blades and axes were usually imported as finished products. The high percentages of hinge, step, and plunging terminations indicate a low degree of knapping skills, consistent with what we could expect from non-specialised knappers. Although axes were apparently imported in a finished state, it could be observed that axes from the levee sites and the coastal dune sites were not finished in the same manner. The former were usually extensively polished with leather and additives while the latter were only ground. It seems that polishing highlighted those features in the flint which allow us, and people in the past, to recognise the origin of the material. We can therefore suggest that this extensive polishing of flint axes found on the levee sites fits well with the focus of these communities on the acquisition of high-quality raw materials from distant sources. Lithic exchange networks Based on the distribution of Hesbaye flint at VLC sites, it seems unlikely that this flint was obtained through a down-the-line exchange system. Rather, it seems likely that people had direct contact with communities in the south. This southern imported flint not only became more prominent in a quantitative sense, it could be demonstrated that imported flint was now also employed for a much wider range of uses than in earlier periods. Exotic flint was now used for the same range of tasks as non-exotic local or regional flint. This demonstrates that exotic flint was now fully incorporated in the local technological system. Finally, it can be noted that flint procurement was embedded in taskscapes which also involved the procurement of other materials such as non-flint stone, ochre, and pyrite. Technological system Flint technology in the VLC period was geared towards the production of functional edges, rather than specific tool types. The emergence of this ad hoc technological system coincides with the emergence of flint mines in the southern Netherlands and Belgium. During the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic communities traveled around the landscape. On their yearly cycles these hunter-gatherer communities likely also visited areas with access to abundant lithic raw materials. Ethnographic comparisons with hunter-gatherer societies show that such areas often serve as training grounds for novice knappers. With the emergence of the Neolithic, people begin to settle down in specific areas in the landscape. Some of these communities, for example in the south of Limburg, have access to high-quality flint, and thus training grounds. Others, such as communities that settle in the Rhine-Meuse delta have no direct access to high-quality flint. This unequal distribution of access to raw materials resulted in the emergence of exchange networks. These in turn led to the emergence of communities that specialise in the procurement of flint and the production of specific flint artefacts such as axes and blades. This can be linked to the establishment of flint mines in Limburg and Belgium. At the same time, we see that communities in the Rhine-Meuse delta increasingly rely on ad hoc technologies. These technologies require a minimal investment of raw materials, especially because little training is needed to fulfil the technological needs for these communities. For more complex technologies, such as the production of flint axes, they chose to rely on exchange, rather than investing time acquiring the skills to produce these objects. We could thus observe that the Neolithisation process, the emergence of flint mines and the emergence of ad hoc technologies in the delta were closely intertwined developments. At Den Haag Steynhof the intensive focus on hide working seems to be related to part-time specialisation. The overproduction of hide products was likely directed at exchange. We can imagine that hide products were exchanged for flint axes and other imported flint objects. For the levee sites it can be noted that a remarkable diversity of activities took place. The extensive evidence for bone working suggests that bone artefacts might also have been exchanged. It could also be demonstrated that cereals were cultivated locally at Vlaardingen Arij Koplaan, based on the presence of multiple flint sickles with use-wear traces related to cereal harvesting. Based on these analyses and a re-evaluation of the nature of the house plan from trench 15, it is now argued that (at least part of) this site was likely permanently inhabited. A remarkable discovery was presented by three horn working tools, which could now be recognised due to the newly conducted experiments. Horn objects are not known from the Dutch Neolithic. These tools thus provide the earliest evidence for the use of horn in craft activities in the Netherlands. Overall, the image that emerged is one in which the VLC should be seen as a mosaic of micro-groups who have different foci in terms of craft and subsistence strategies. Inhabitants of the levees relied on the exploitation of wild resources while they also maintained extensive long-distance networks, facilitated by their direct access to major waterways. The inhabitants of the coastal dune area focused more on the exploitation of domestic animals. In the case of Den Haag Steynhof they clearly specialised in hide working. Zandwerven should be seen as being part of the cluster of Vlaardingen-Corded Ware Culture sites in West Frisia. These sites share lithic procurement strategies geared towards the exploitation of local moraines. Subsistence strategies at these sites are diverse, contrary to southern VLC sites they also include shellfish exploitation. Furthermore, these sites were clearly much more receptive to CWC influences than southern VLC sites. ​​​​​​​ The Vlaardingen Culture seen from a lithics perspective The presence of these above-described local VLC groups highlights the openness and diversity of VLC people that was central to the resilience of these communities. While the procurement strategies of VLC communities are highly diverse, an overall southern orientation is characteristic of the VLC. When it comes to connections with other groups, we see that the VLC communities maintained a wide network. These connections, however, manifest differently in different material groups. For connections with the Funnel Beaker West group it can be noted that there is virtually no evidence for connections with this group from a lithics perspective. This contrasts sharply with recent studies which demonstrated that Funnel Beaker West and VLC communities extensively shared ceramic technologies. These kinds of discrepancies warrant further reflection because it could well indicate that different groups (for example gender groups) within Neolithic societies maintained different contacts. Although contacts with FBC communities were limited from a lithics perspective we do see that contacts with southern communities were important for VLC people. Contacts with later CWC communities were fairly intensive. The VLC is thus characterised by an openness to other groups. Despite this openness we see that the group is also resilient. In the turbulent period when the CWC phenomenon was introduced across Europe, leading to the disappearance of many local groups and traditions, the VLC persisted and maintained their unique way of life.