A Return to the Wheel: Rethinking Experimental Methodologies for the Study of the Potter’s Wheel

Research into the study of wheel-making techniques has grown, but studies of the tool or the wheel and its properties have remained understudied or considered insignificant until recently. In order to develop this research, the wheel and its practicalities, such as the physics, should be incorporated more into research of making techniques. Through the application of chaîne opératoire and experimental archaeology, this research questioned whether different wheel types produce different macroscopic traces on pots produced by the same technique. There are several results presented here that can shed light on the way archaeologists should investigate and understand early wheel potting, in particular the physics of rotation, which has received minimal attention as a result of a predominance for researching techniques over the tool (the wheel). The application of this research is used to better understand pottery and potter’s wheels from their adoption and development during the Middle Bronze Age on Crete, c. 2000 to 1500 BCE. A revision of experimental work and methodologies is combined with archaeological experimentation in order to help clarify not only how tools such as the wheel were used but subsequently what roles these craftworkers played in past societies.

Masters and apprentices at the Chapel of Hatshepsut: towards an archaeology of ancient Egyptian reliefs

Ancient art is typically studied in terms of its aesthetic or historical value. This article presents an alternative approach, examining ancient Egyptian wall reliefs from a chaîne opératoire perspective. The reliefs assessed here adorn the walls of the Chapel of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari in Thebes. The analysis reveals, for the first time, the sequence of the artists’ work, from the initial preparation of the wall surface to the master sculptor's final touches. This enables a reconstruction of the ergonomic organisation of the work, distinguishing the contributions of individual hands and revealing often intangible phenomena, such as master-apprentice interactions. A similar approach may be useful when examining carved reliefs in other parts of the world.

Production, transport and on-site organisation of Roman mortars and plasters

This paper examines the role of mortars and plasters in the construction process during the Roman period and seeks to elucidate the chaîne opératoire from the production of the main ingredients — lime and aggregate — to their application in structures, based on archaeological, visual and archaeometric data. As well as looking at the actual processes involved, it also considers the functional requirements of the mortars and plasters and the economic implications of their use, especially the nature and cost of transport, which may have led to particular choices being made by Roman builders; it also considers the supply of materials in terms of the logistics of construction. The emphasis is on mortared rubble construction, which was a particular development of the Roman period from the second century BCE and required much larger quantities of lime than previous building techniques. Attention is also paid to the human actions involved and the tools employed.

Engaging and Designing Place

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sites are commonly thought about as ‘natural’ locations onto which people variously undertook activities. This chapter argues and shows that sites are architectural constructs, built through a combination of design (preplanning), bricolage (improvisation), and engagement. Sites are artefacts whose cultural modes of construction are amenable to archaeological investigation. By employing a chaîne opératoire approach to the study of sites as landscape-scale artefacts, how and when they were built can be worked out, offering new insights into the cultural history of peoples and places.

Survival kit for the afterlife or instruction manual for prehistorians? Staging artefact production in Middle Neolithic cemetery Kadruka 23, Upper Nubia, Sudan

The burials at the Neolithic cemetery Kadruka 23 in Sudan have yielded adornments and bone and lithic artefacts that occur as distinct stages of the chaîne opératoire. This article reports on a hitherto unrecognised funerary practice that highlights the importance of craftsmanship for Neolithic communities in life and beyond.

De l’utilisation en percussion lancée d’éclats bruts massifs dans les activités de boucherie et travail du bois : le niveau moustérien de la Doline de Cantalouette 2 (Dordogne, France)

Le niveau moustérien de la Doline de Cantalouette 2, d’âge moyen de 60 000 ans est remarquable par sa richesse, sa composition et sa structuration récurrente des activités dans l’espace (Bourguignon et al. 2008). Il livre également une gamme d’instruments lithiques utilisés en percussion lancée. Outre une panoplie importante des percuteurs de taille (sur galets de quartz, éclats ou nucléus de silex), des éclats massifs en silex ont également été utilisés selon ce mode d’action pour des opérations de traitement de matériaux périssables tels les carcasses animales ou les végétaux. C’est exclusivement sur ces derniers modes de fonctionnement que nous orientons notre article. Les activités de production de ce Moustérien récent participent essentiellement d’un débitage algorithmique mettant en œuvre des séries unipolaires récurrentes, obtenues selon des plans de fracturation subparallèles aux dépens d’une ou de plusieurs surfaces. Des éclats épais, présentant souvent une asymétrie latérale sont obtenus à partir d’un ou plusieurs plans de frappe circonscrits (opposés ou perpendiculaires) et très rarement aménagés. Plus rarement, un débitage Levallois à éclat préférentiel, orienté vers une exportation des produits est également mis en œuvre. La production principale est quasi exclusivement réalisée pour une utilisation immédiate des éclats, distante du poste de taille, avec ou sans aménagement des parties actives et préhensives par la retouche (Bourguignon et al. 2008). C’est parmi cette production qu’une sélection d’éclats massifs aisément préhensibles à mains nues, souvent issus des premières étapes de la chaîne opératoire (corticaux), s’opère pour leur utilisation en percussion lancée. Sur la base d’une sélection macroscopique de tranchants (souvent bruts) présentant des stigmates d’écrasement, d’arrachement ou d’esquillement, une lecture fonctionnelle a été réalisée selon la méthodologie analytique développée par Semenov (1964). S’agissant d’objets de grandes dimensions, des répliques sur papier acétate ont été réalisées afin de permettre un examen au microscope. Deux registres d’activité en percussion lancée ont été déterminés, l’un orienté vers des travaux de boucherie, l’autre vers le travail du bois. Pour ce qui est des activités de boucherie, ces gros éclats massifs ont été utilisés comme des fendoirs, couperets ou feuilles de boucher. Sur les bords de ces instruments sont documentés de grands enlèvements résultant du choc sur les ossements durant la désarticulation ou le dépeçage des animaux. Les matières végétales dures, semi-dures et ligneuses ont quant à elles également été travaillées en percussion lancée, essentiellement dans l’objectif de les dégrossir. Certaines pièces de très grandes dimensions suggèrent une prise à deux mains et, dans ce cas, un seul fil de tranchant est utilisé. Sur les autres pièces, de moins grandes dimensions, pouvant être tenues avec une seule main, le nombre de parties actives est plus important (au moins deux). Ces parties actives sont souvent denticulées (plus ou moins grandes encoches retouchées ou non) au sein desquelles se concentrent les polis d’usage. Ces denticulations sont, dans certains cas, initialement aménagées, mais peuvent aussi résulter des chocs sur le matériau lors de la percussion. Ces deux registres d’activités seront donc ici présentés en détaillant et illustrant les stigmates et polis d’usage relatifs à chacun d’eux.

Implements of Wild Boar Canines During the Neolithic and Chalcolithic at the Lower Danube

This paper discusses the technological exploitation and transformation of wild boar teeth into tools during the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic north of the Lower Danube. Four main variables were taken into consideration: raw material procurement, blank production, object manufacture, and equipment maintenance. Tool finds from various prehistoric sites in Romania were compared, aiming to identify their impact on the economy of the prehistoric communities, and to determine possible variations in their number/ways of use during early prehistory. Tool typology is poor. The finds studied showed different degrees of use-wear, as well as systematic re-sharpening of the active front. In addition, finished tools are predominant in comparison to the sub-products of the chaîne opératoire. The almost total lack of blanks may suggest no stocking was taking place. The entire tooth was used, resulting at times in several implements. Our experimental program, by following closely the technical transformation schemes indicated by the archaeological specimens, suggests that such tusk tools were used for woodworking.

Vác 1 Epigravettian loci at the Danube Bend in North-Central Hungary

In the article, the Vác 1 loci (Danube Bend area in North-Central Hungary) and its surface lithic artifacts systematically collected over the last 20 years have been analyzed. The loci and lithic artifact chaîne opératoire analyses showed that the site served as a hunter-gatherer temporary camp with some base camp characteristics and some similar with lithic artifact primary and secondary treatment processes adding to one another for both rather local and distant raw material types (RMTs). Furthermore, the lithic assemblage data indicate an Early Epigravettian industrial attribution. Likewise, some assemblages’ techno-typological data certainly augment some of the more peculiar features for the already known Early Epigravettian variability in the Eastern Central Europe.