Crossed approaches to transitions in the Neolithic. Understanding the social mechanisms underlying material culture transformation using the concept of chaîne opératoire. EAA 2021, Kiel, 9th September 2021
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Conference |
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| Description | The processes underlying change in European Neolithic material cultures are the subject of long-lasting debates, revolving around questions on human group identities, mobility and interactions. In this framework, the sequences of production and use (i.e. the chaînes opératoires) of material goods can act as powerful proxies to grasp the anthropological conditions leading to these critical shifts, as they reveal habits transmitted over generations. Identifying raw material supply territories and processing, as well as the manufacturing processes and uses of the artefacts produced by a given human groups provides information on its sociological nature, as well as evidence on its spatio-temporal trajectories and interactions with other communities (e.g. shared supply territories, exchanges, technical borrowing, stylistic imitation…). A systemic perspective, combining data, appears however pivotal to untangle the social dynamics of the identifed communities and eventually assess their role in complex transition phenomena. The session proposes to discuss the social mechanisms leading to Neolithic material culture transformation, using the concept of chaîne opératoire. By focusing on material culture stability versus transformation in a technological perspective, we wish to investigate the diversity of economic and social patterns at the basis of changes in production and consumption of material goods: who are the groups engaged in material culture change? What kind of interactions can lead to transformation in material culture? As part of these interactions, what is transmitted? What is reinterpreted? What is rejected? Do the different technical spheres display the same rhythms and processes of change and how can these differences be interpreted? Our goal is ultimately to apprehend the different historical scenarios at the root of the turning points identifed in the archaeological record. |
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