DOI Kapitel:
Changing Worlds – The Spread of the Neolithic Way of Life in the North
DOI Kapitel:Gebauer, Anne Birgitte; Sørensen, Lasse: Supra-regional contacts and the earliest metallurgy in southern Scandinavia during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0328
Stone Age Borderland Experience (MAN 60, 2022, 327-341)
327
Supra-regional contacts and the earliest
metallurgy in southern Scandinavia during
the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition
Anne Birgitte Gebauer and Lasse Sorensen
Abstract During the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe and the Near East, four exotic materials (obsidian, amphibolite,
jadeite, and copper) were acquired from distant regions through complex networks of interaction, in addition to the domes-
ticates. In this paper we focus on the network emerging by investigations of the distribution of amphibolite, jadeite, and
copper, as objects made from these raw materials are interpreted as important items connected to the introduction of the
Neolithic/agrarian lifestyle and ideology in southern Scandinavia.
Keywords Network, raw materials, South Scandinavia, neolithisation, ideology
Zusammenfassung Wahrend des Ubergangs vom Mesolithikum zum Neolithikum in Europa und im Nahen Osten warden
neben Haustieren auch vier exotische Rohmaterialien (Obsidian, Amphibolit, Jadeit und Kupfer) aus weit entfernten Regionen
uber komplexe Kontaktnetzwerke bezogen. Der Aufsatz setzt sich auf Basis der Untersuchung von Amphibolit, Jadeit und
Kupfer mit der Verbreitung solcher Funde und den aufkommenden Netzwerken auseinander Nach der Interpretation der
Autoren waren Objekte aus diesen exotischen Rohstoffen fur die Menschen wichtig und spielten daher eine Rolle fur die Ein-
fuhrung der neuen neolithischen Wirtschaftsweise sowie die Ideologie dieser Zeit in Sudskandinavien.
Introduction
Already during the Upper Palaeolithic period, net-
works of varying demographic size and geographic
scale were operating, and by sharing and exchanging
exotic materials and objects, people extended and
intensified their networks, which led to an elaboration
of material culture (Gamble 1998, 432, 442). People
realised that their extensive networks consisted of
many people who they might never meet and/or get
to know
The intensification of exchange networks marks
a significant change at the beginning of the Neolith-
ic. According to Watkins (2008, 165; in prep.), the
first large-scale human communities emerging at the
Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transformation in the Near
East engaged in intensive networking with extensive
‘super-communities’. The super-communities during
the Neolithic were much larger than the extended net-
works of the Upper Palaeolithic and included larger,
permanently settled, local communities (Watkins
2017). The benefits of participation in these expanded
networks included a diversification of culture and the
capacity for innovations with rapid evaluation and
adoption of adaptations. The risks associated with
the newly limited mobility connected to the farm-
ing lifestyle were countered by the intensification of
the exchange networks that enabled the sharing of
resources, information, and genes, but also the emer-
gence of monopolisation and secrecy (Ibanez et al.
2016). Exchange may also have played a role as a
means of establishing mutual social relations and
commitments of future collaboration in order to re-
duce risks related to resource shortages (Wiessner
1982). In addition, a shared cultural background cre-
ated by exchange relationships may have suppressed
tendencies towards suspicion and hostility towards
others in case of inter-communal conflict (Ibanez et al.
2016, 21).
Actor Network Theory
A network is traditionally associated with a group or
system of interconnected humans, but recent inves-
tigations have argued with the proposal of the Actor
Network Theory that all entities of both human or
non-humankind can act within one or several network
327
Supra-regional contacts and the earliest
metallurgy in southern Scandinavia during
the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition
Anne Birgitte Gebauer and Lasse Sorensen
Abstract During the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe and the Near East, four exotic materials (obsidian, amphibolite,
jadeite, and copper) were acquired from distant regions through complex networks of interaction, in addition to the domes-
ticates. In this paper we focus on the network emerging by investigations of the distribution of amphibolite, jadeite, and
copper, as objects made from these raw materials are interpreted as important items connected to the introduction of the
Neolithic/agrarian lifestyle and ideology in southern Scandinavia.
Keywords Network, raw materials, South Scandinavia, neolithisation, ideology
Zusammenfassung Wahrend des Ubergangs vom Mesolithikum zum Neolithikum in Europa und im Nahen Osten warden
neben Haustieren auch vier exotische Rohmaterialien (Obsidian, Amphibolit, Jadeit und Kupfer) aus weit entfernten Regionen
uber komplexe Kontaktnetzwerke bezogen. Der Aufsatz setzt sich auf Basis der Untersuchung von Amphibolit, Jadeit und
Kupfer mit der Verbreitung solcher Funde und den aufkommenden Netzwerken auseinander Nach der Interpretation der
Autoren waren Objekte aus diesen exotischen Rohstoffen fur die Menschen wichtig und spielten daher eine Rolle fur die Ein-
fuhrung der neuen neolithischen Wirtschaftsweise sowie die Ideologie dieser Zeit in Sudskandinavien.
Introduction
Already during the Upper Palaeolithic period, net-
works of varying demographic size and geographic
scale were operating, and by sharing and exchanging
exotic materials and objects, people extended and
intensified their networks, which led to an elaboration
of material culture (Gamble 1998, 432, 442). People
realised that their extensive networks consisted of
many people who they might never meet and/or get
to know
The intensification of exchange networks marks
a significant change at the beginning of the Neolith-
ic. According to Watkins (2008, 165; in prep.), the
first large-scale human communities emerging at the
Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transformation in the Near
East engaged in intensive networking with extensive
‘super-communities’. The super-communities during
the Neolithic were much larger than the extended net-
works of the Upper Palaeolithic and included larger,
permanently settled, local communities (Watkins
2017). The benefits of participation in these expanded
networks included a diversification of culture and the
capacity for innovations with rapid evaluation and
adoption of adaptations. The risks associated with
the newly limited mobility connected to the farm-
ing lifestyle were countered by the intensification of
the exchange networks that enabled the sharing of
resources, information, and genes, but also the emer-
gence of monopolisation and secrecy (Ibanez et al.
2016). Exchange may also have played a role as a
means of establishing mutual social relations and
commitments of future collaboration in order to re-
duce risks related to resource shortages (Wiessner
1982). In addition, a shared cultural background cre-
ated by exchange relationships may have suppressed
tendencies towards suspicion and hostility towards
others in case of inter-communal conflict (Ibanez et al.
2016, 21).
Actor Network Theory
A network is traditionally associated with a group or
system of interconnected humans, but recent inves-
tigations have argued with the proposal of the Actor
Network Theory that all entities of both human or
non-humankind can act within one or several network