VergrootA Biography in stone. GAS 14.
Typology, age, function and meaning of Early Neolithic perforated wedges in the Netherlands.
D.C.M. Raemaekers, J. Geuverink, M. Schepers, B.P. Tuin, E. van der Lagemaat, M. van der Wal.
Soft cover. 54 pp. Rijk geïllustreerd. Groningen Archaeological Studies 14. Barkhuis 2011.
This monograph explores the biography of an enigmatic type of material culture: the perforated wedges from the Early Neolithic (c. 5000-4000 cal. BC) in northwestern Europe.
These themes are explored in a multi-facetted approach which compares the finds from three regions: the so-called source societies in Germany where the wedges were produced and two areas in which these items are found as a result of exchange. It concerns southern Scandinavia (the Ertebølle culture) and the Netherlands (the Swifterbant culture).
Daan Raemaekers is professor in the archaeology of prehistoric and protohistoric northwestern Europe at the University of Groningen. His research interests are Neolithic material culture and society and the archaeological heritage managements of the Stone Age.
Contents:
Foreword 1
1 Typology and age 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Typology 3
1.2.1 Nomenclature 3
1.2.2 Dimensions 3
1.2.3 The perforated shoe-last adze 3
1.2.4 The perforated broad wedge 4
1.2.5 Comparing the two 4
1.3 Age 4
1.3.1 Introduction 4
1.3.2 Source societies 5
1.3.3 Other societies 7
1.4 Typochronology 7
2 Function 9
3 Meaning 12
3.1 Introduction 12
3.2 Source societies 12
3.2.1 Perforated wedges in graves 12
3.2.2 Perforated wedges in settlements 14
3.2.3 Perforated wedges in hoards 15
3.2.4 Conclusions 15
3.3 Exchange to hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe: Ertebølle and Swifterbant 16
3.3.1 Perforated wedges in the Ertebølle culture 16
3.3.2 Perforated wedges in the Swifterbant culture 17
3.3.3 Conclusions 19
3.4 Find contexts in the Swifterbant area 21
3.5 Conclusions 23
4 Conclusions 25
References 28
Appendix 1. List of Dutch perforated wedges 31
