Prehistoric Technology and its Social Implications: New Theories and Methods (Abstracts)

Updated June 21, 2007, 17:42 -6 GMT

Symposium

Prehistoric Technology and its Social Implications: New Theories and Methods

At the 1999 SAA ANNUAL MEETING

Chicago, Illinois, USA

March 24 to 28

Organized byMax Baldia Institute for the Study of Earth and ManSouthern Methodist University

Christel (Chandler) BaldiaWeber State University

Of primary interest is the beginning of metal use/metallurgy, textile production, the development of monumental architecture (mound building, masonry ramparts, etc.), plus transportation technology and trade. New scientific methods of analysis, such as OCR, and recent discoveries using these methods will be highlighted.

_{Symposium Abstract}

_{The foundation of modern society rests not only on the invention
of agriculture itself, but also on technological breakthroughs, such of the
development of transportation technology, metallurgy, textile production, and
the advent of monumental architecture. New scientific methods of analysis and
recent discoveries, using these methods, lead to new theories that revise our
understanding of prehistoric technology and cultural complexity on both sides
of the Atlantic.}

_Abstracts

_{Copper, gold and
competition for trade: The earliest stone rampart, megalithic tombs, and
wheeled vehicles in North and Central Europe}

_{Maximilian O.}_Baldia_{Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Heroy Science Hall

Southern Methodist University

3225 Daniel Avenue

Dallas, Texas 75275-0274, USA.}

_{Copper
and gold represent prestige technology. Their earliest appearance in
Scandinavia coincides with the construction of earthen long-barrows, megalithic
tombs, wheeled vehicles, and causewayed earthworks 6000-5000 years ago. New
copper analysis technology suggests autochthonous southeastern sources.
Rivalries for control of the trade network resulted in causewayed enclosures
and fortified central sites. The Central European site of Rmiz even has a stone
faced rampart (ca. 3800 cal BC) and is part of a line of strategically placed
sites, implying communication between Austria and Poland. Escalating
competition for the control of status sensitive prestige technology, flowing
along this network, may have resulted in a more complex social organization
than previously thought.}

_{The advent of weaving
technology: The earliest dated textiles in Central and North Europe.}

_{Christel Chandler

Weber State University

College of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

3750 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84408

The recently discovered textile fragment from an earthen long-barrow of the
Neolithic in Moravia, is among the earliest well preserved cloth fragments in
Europe. It is the only currently surviving textile of the Funnel Beaker Culture
(}_TRB_{). Results of the impending material
analysis and the first}_AMS_{date of a European textile from this
time period will be presented. The Rmiz-Kremela textile's extraordinarily fine
craftsmanship, the burial context and provenance, together with the proximity
to the oldest stone-built fortification in}_{North/Central Europe}_{suggest a relatively complex society
with extensive trade relations and elaborate religious rites.}

_The_OCR_{Carbon Dating Procedure and its
Application at the Rmiz Site, Czech}

_Republic

_{Douglas S. Frink}_OCR_{Carbon Dating, Inc.}_{57 River Road, Suite 1020}_Essex_,_VT₀₅₄₅₂

_{Soils
are the primary physical contexts of archaeological deposits. These contexts
are not static: rather they are constantly changing, driven by bio-chemical
influences unique to there specific environmental locations. The Oxidizable
Carbon Ratio (}_OCR_{) procedure provides a physiologic profile of the soil
body, its behavior through time, post cultural abandonment changes to the
archaeological context, and provides the age of specific cultural features.
Initial}_OCR_{analyses of the Rmiz site in the}_Czech_Republic_{demonstrates the utility of this
procedure for archaeological studies.}

John P. Staeck
AnthropologyCollege of DuPage425 22^nd St.Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599

Mailing address:117 Ellis Ave.
Wheaton, IL 60187

Defining the Playing Field: Implications of GIS Analyses to the Emergence of Prestige Technology.

The definition of land-forms, resource availability, and the social visibility of material culture converge to help focus and bound archaeological interpretations of past cultural events. GIS analyses are employed to help define the natural and social milieus that gave rise to cultural complexes such as those in the Central Moravia, Czech Republic during the Neolithic/Eneolithic.

_{Metallurgy, technical
knowledge and craftsmen hierarchy in the European Bronze Age}

_J._Peter_{Northover

Department of Materials

University of Oxford

Parks Road

OXFORD, OX1 3PH

United Kingom

peter.northover@materials.ox.ac.uk}

_{In
terms of knowledge, skills, and resource requirements, the extraction of
metals, and the production and distribution of metal artifacts was the most
complex technical undertaking of prehistory. Metallurgical analysis show that
the manufacturing methods, the design ideas and the metals themselves used in a
single product may have very different origins. The craftsmen knew precisely
what they wanted if some special requirement was not available locally, and how
to obtain it over great distances if necessary. A hierarchy of craftsmen
developed, based on the complexity of the products, skill level and resources
required, resulting in the control of the knowledge set.}

_{Neolithic/Eneolithic
Copper technology, settlement and trade in Central Moravia.}

_{Miroslav Smid

Ustav archaeologicke pamatkove pere Brno

pracovirt Prostejov

Krírkovskeho 12

Prostejov

Czech Republic}

_{Maximilian O.}_Baldia_{Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Heroy Science Hall

Southern Methodist University

3225 Daniel Avenue

Dallas, Texas 75275-0274, USA.

Ernst Pernicka

Lehrstuhl für Archaeometallurgie

TU Bergakademie}_Freiberg_{Gustav-Zeuner-Strasse 5

D-09596}_Freiberg_{The discovery of a new Neolithic/Eneolithic Funnel Beaker culture (}_TRB_{) copper production site near Laskov and
various copper artifacts from earthen long-barrows are evaluated in light of
copper analysis methods which allow to "footprint" the material.
Laskov is in close proximity to Rmiz with the earliest stone wall enclosed site
in Central and}_{North Europe}_{. Burial mounds that add up to nearly 100
tombs are associated with the site. The copper production at Laskov and the
occurrence of copper objects in Central Moravian long-barrows and tumuli imply
complex social and ritual interactions in the}_Hana_Valley_{; and it suggests an unexpected
connection to the Mondsee Culture of}_{Lower Austria}_.

_{The Beginning of
Wheeled Transport in}_Europe

_{Markus Vosteen}_{Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg

Institut fuer Ur- und Fruehgeschichte

Belfortstr.}_22

79098_Freiburg_{i. Br.

Germany}

_{In
the fourth millennium BC, four wheeled wagon technology developed in}_Europe_{. Economic and environmental conditions
do not appear to have be causal factors for this invention. The oldest wagon
tracks stem from the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture of North and Central
Europe which belong to a symbolic complex that played an important role in the
burial rites associated with megalithic tombs and earthen long-barrows. The
first clear traces of economic wagon-use appear nearly a thousand years later.
Analysis of the prehistoric evidence suggests that the sacral use of the
technology was the original function lasting right into the Iron Age.}

Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.