From Mine to User: Production and Procurement Systems of Siliceous Rocks in the European Neolithic and Bronze Age: Proceedings of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (4-9 June 2018, Paris, France) Volume 10 Session XXXIII-1&2

Françoise Bostyn · François Giligny · Peter Topping

Feb 2021 · Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

About this ebook

From Mine to User: Production and Procurement Systems of Siliceous Rocks in the European Neolithic and Bronze Age presents the papers from Session XXXIII of the 18th UISPP World Congress (Paris, June 2018). 23 authors contribute nine papers from Parts 1 and 2 of the Session. The first session ‘Siliceous rocks: procurement and distribution systems’ was aimed at analysing one of the central research issues related to mining, i.e. the production systems and the diffusion of mining products. The impact of extraction on the environment, group mobility and the numbers involved in the exploitation phase were considered; mining products were also examined with a view to identifying local and imported/exported products and the underlying social organization relating to the different fields of activity. The second session ‘Flint mines and chipping floors from prehistory to the beginning of the nineteenth century’ focused on knapping activities. The significance of the identification of knapping workshops in the immediate vicinity of mine shafts and of their presence in villages as well as in intermediary places between the two was considered in the analysis of chaîne opératoire sequences. The potential of product quality and artefact distribution to contribute to the understanding of the social organisation of the communities being studied was also examined.

About the author

Françoise Bostyn is currently Professor at the University of Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne. She specialises in the European Neolithic and works particularly on lithic industries, from the characterisation of resources and procurement systems, especially from flint mines, to the abandonment of tools within domestic settlements. ;

François Giligny has been Professor of Archaeological Methodology at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University since 2009. Experienced in preventive archaeology, he conducts research and excavations in the Paris basin. ;

Peter Topping is a Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University. His expertise lies in the analysis of multiperiod landscapes, and his main research interest is the European Neolithic period.