Added April 7, 1988. Updated August 7, 2008

Parameters of the neolithisation in the west of France: From the circulation of prestige goods to the invention of symbols. ©

Serge Cassen

Laboratoire de Préhistoire

Unité Mixte de Recherche 6566 du CNRS

Université de Nantes

BP 81 227 - 44312 NANTES cedex 3

France

Presented at the 63^rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in the symposium: Prehistoric communication: The first wheels, roads, metals, and monumental architecture. Friday, March 27, 1998 in Seattle, WA.

Bibliography

Abstract

Research on the spread of the early Neolithic in Western France currently focuses on the rise of monumental funeral architecture, as well as the nature and the circulation of prestige goods, sometimes over considerable distances. The increase in economic and, almost certainly, matrimonial exchanges between “Mesolithic” sedentary societies of the coastal regions of the Armorique and agricultural groups are, very probably, at the root of a new social competition at about the middle of the fifth millennium cal BC. Thus, cereals, non-functional polished stone axes, rare-rock bracelets, variscite pendants all accumulate on the shores of the Atlantic, at a distance of several hundred kilometers from the raw material sources.

Résumé

Dans le cadre d'un programme de recherche portant sur le processus d'apparition du Néolithique dans l'Ouest de la France, une réflexion particulière s'attache actuellement à l'émergence de la monumentalité funéraire, ainsi qu'à la nature et à la circulation des biens de prestige qui semblent accompagner ce phénomène, parfois sur des distances considérables. L'accroissement des échanges économiques et sans doute matrimoniaux entre sociétés d'agriculteurs et sociétés sédentaires “mésolithiques” des régions côtières de l'Armorique sont vraisemblablement à l'origine d'une nouvelle compétition sociale située vers le milieu du Vème millénaire av. J.-C. Céréales, lames de haches polies non fonctionnelles, bracelets en roches rares, pendentifs en variscite s'accumulent ainsi sur les bords de l'atlantique, à quelques centaines de kilomètres des gîtes de matière première.

Introduction

In the framework of a research program related to the spread of the early Neolithic in Western France, special thought is currently being given to the rise of monumental funeral architecture, as well as to the nature and the circulation of prestige goods which appear to go with this phenomenon, sometimes over considerable distances. The increase in economic and, almost certainly, matrimonial exchanges between “Mesolithic” sedentary societies of the coastal regions of the Armorique and agricultural groups are, very probably, at the root of a new social competition at about the middle of the fifth millennium cal BC. Thus, cereals, non-functional polished stone axes, rare-rock bracelets, variscite pendants all accumulate on the shores of the Atlantic, at a distance of several hundred kilometers from the raw material sites.

We know that, the prehistoric communication does not begin with the European Neolithic. But we can tell that the first manifestations of this period, on the Atlantic fringe of Europe, obviate an extraordinary inter-community system which seems to trigger the full communication network. Discoveries of these last years and data accumulated since the turn of the century, the confrontation between the diffusionist model of the Neolithic mode of production and the economic model of Mesolithic societies of the west Atlantic could bring together elements that apply to the theme of this symposium.

The evidence

1- Western France is recognized by many researchers in my country to unite an exceptional set of conditions which is quite unique in Europe. Indeed, it is in these regions that are found the extremities of the two principal streams of neolithisation: the Danubian way and the Mediterranean way which meet here. It is certainly possible to see in this confrontation one of the elements of a generalized phenomenon which we call Megalithism, rather than a stress caused by population movements, arriving in front of the ocean.

2- In all cases, these currents of the Neolithic way of life are found confronted with indigenous human groups, better known in western France in the coastal zones. Their burials are organized in necropolises that suggest already a relatively sedentary society, employing different treatments of the bodies with offerings of more and rarer objects than others. This provides the first indication of social differentiation according to St.-Just Péquart (1939). Some centuries before the arrival of the true Neolithic, shells are one of the materials exported hundreds of kilometers from there; finds were discovered in the Linearbankeramik groups of Germany and the Parisian Basin.

3- It is difficult to trace the Mesolithic communication network. Information is better for the Early Neolithic when the distribution of artifacts bears witness to the material culture and allows an understaning of the way these exotic goods were transmitted. Fertile soils of loess in the north of Brittany are the first axis of penetration. Discoveries in recent years demonstrate that the implantation model of Neolithic societies from central Europe functions in a similar manner here. The second axis is the Loire River which is at all times the preferred one, transmitting information between the east and the west of northern France. It is interesting to note that stone bracelet workshops dated to the Early Neolithic are situated at the interface between sedimentary grounds and metamorphic soils of Brittany. The stone is extracted from outcrops, or sometimes by means of shallow pits, and returned to settlements in the sedimentary zone, which is in theory more favorable to agriculture.

4- A settlement of the Early Neolithic was recently discovered in Brittany. It signals a building plan close to the models of central and western Europe. It is nevertheless distinguished by many details. The trapezoidal house plan follows the pattern of domestic architectures of Poland dated to the same period.

5- More to the west, on the littoral, the recent excavation of a burial mound also shows this trapezoidal form. It is a monument dated to the middle of the 5th millennium and has been investigated in collaboration with Christine Boujot during the past four years. The Erdeven tomb contains a megalithic chamber without entrance and differs considerably from the later passage graves.

6- The trapezoidal long-mound contains the main Neolithic burial. The sameness of plan between domestic architectures of the Early Neolithic and the form of earth mounds dated of Middle Neolithic is a hypothesis confirmed today in France thanks to some discoveries proving superposition between the two structures. But in front of the facade and under the barrow, some sepulchral pits date to the end of the Mesolithic.

7- One of these pits contains a deposit in a closed space.

8- The microlithic points are in complete contrast with the regional Mesolithic traditions known from hundreds of sites. This is explained by a new Mesolithic stage that is wedged between Teviecian and the earliest part of the Early Neolithic.

9- The flint blades, which accompany these microliths, were used to harvest cereals, as indicated by repeated micro-wear analysis. Consequently, the chronological division between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic based on economic differences between hunting and gathering versus agriculture is obsolete.

10- This is a new cultural entity that appears as an innovative line and forces us to integrate our reflection on the transmission of ideas and techniques - the communication between societies in general. These phenomena of frontiers are known in northern Europe, but were not clearly perceived in northern France. Today two such entities are known in France: La Hoguette and Limbourg.

11- It is also during this momentous period of transition - in the middle of the 5th millennium - that prestige objects of exotic rock appear as bracelets and non functional polished axes.

12- These axes are of jadeite which is a rock solely inventoried on the Italian slope of the Alps. The European distribution of these objects is very broad, but concentrates especially in the western part of the continent where a real “social propaganda” was developing between different elites.

13- These ax deposits are found in the biggest mounds of the Breton coast, sometimes (ritually) destroyed by purposely breaking them near the shaft hole.

14- These mounds are monuments covering individual tombs containing prestige goods that excludes ceramics. The excessiveness of the structures has always excited the imagination. Chronologically they occur exactly during the transition between the most final Mesolithic and the earliest Neolithic. It is with these first monuments that the true prestige goods emerge as imports from the most distant sources.

15- The variscite (a kind of turquoise) stems from the same rocks which accompany the jadeite and indicates competitive trade between elites.

16- Contemporary with the large mounds are more modest low funeral mounds, such as Erdeven. They are sometimes, when the state of conservation is good, connected to engraved stelae. as demonstrated by the monument of the Manio in Carnac, which is covered by alignments of standing stones.

17- This plan shows relationship between the two burials in connection with two stelae.

18- In addition, a pot from this site illustrates the stratigraphic relationships. This cup has carvings similar to those on the base of the stelae.

19- Among the carvings are snakes. They were discovered together with five polished axes, at the base of the stelae. This symbolism is part of a fundamental set of signs associated with the megalithic art of the earliest Neolithic.

20- Among these symbols is the ax handle, the crook, the bow, and the polished ax.

21- These signs are known from all of north-west France, again demonstrating the vast distribution of ideological representations that transcend visible differences of restricted regional entities at the level of the material culture.

22- The Erdeven funeral mound provides another illustration of this coherence, resulting from excavation discoveries. Here the deposit consists of pottery, a polished ax and a jasper pendant.

24-The pottery decoration can be interpreted thanks to the architecture of the Erdeven tomb: the upper part illustrates the tree of life, the middle may function as a division akin to the slab of the floor of the real grave, the lower or underground part depicts three snakes. Regarding the lower level, it is very tempted to connect the discovery of three snakes with the three polished axes, located at the base of the Erdeven stelae in 1996. This tripartition is universally recognized in many societies. The notion is reinforced by the five snakes represented on the stelae of Le Manio which may be related to the five axes.

Conclusion

I wanted to show how one could understand the process of neolithisation in western France. All ingredients indicated in the symposium title are partly included in this fundamental period of transition where systems of communications are already as relevant as the Internet. The simultaneity of many phenomena all over Europe in the middle of the 5th millennium has to make us reflect on the speed with which information is transmitted, how and why it displaces old communication patterns, and when for what reason it is accepted, whatever the period and the history of people involved.