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- Title
Evidence of excellence: re-assessing the status of Neolithic long-blades in Scandinavia.
- Authors
Nielsen, Svein Vatsvåg
- Abstract
The introduction of Neolithic long-blades in Scandinavia is tangent with the establishment of the earliest farming communities, i.e. the Funnel Beaker culture, yet the production of long-blades continued throughout the Middle Neolithic period (3300-2350 cal BC). This paper aims to further enrich our understanding of the 3rd millennium BC in Scandinavia by focusing on the occurrence and significance of long-blades. A re-assessment of the archaeological record from Norway has identified eight sites with long-blades and five settlement sites where the presence of long-blades was indicated by blade fragments and formal tools. In Scandinavia and northern Germany 41 long-blade deposit sites, comprising a total of 529 blades, are known. Based on the contexts in which the long-blades occur, it is argued that the Scandinavian long-blades played a central part in the everyday lives of both Neolithic farmers and Sub-Neolithic foragers - but for different reasons, e.g. hunting tools, weaponry, and harvesting equipment.
- Subjects
SCANDINAVIA; BLADES (Archaeology); NEOLITHIC Period; FUNNEL-beaker culture
- Publication
Bulgarian e-Journal of Archaeology, 2017, Vol 7, Issue 1, p117
- ISSN
1314-5088
- Publication type
Article