Chaine operatoire

Palace ware, an 8th–7th century BC drabware, is used as an indicator of Neo-Assyrian imperial elite contact and occupation, despite the lack of an established definition. Definitional criteria must incorporate formal characteristics, such as shape, and manufacture behaviours, such as raw material processing, in order to facilitate the distinction between imported or Assyrian produced vessels and imitations from the imperial provinces. This paper presents eleven preliminary definitional criteria for palace ware based on petrographic analysis and scanning electron microscopy of 24 sherds, radiography of 9 vessels, and typological analysis of 75 vessels from the Neo-Assyrian imperial heartland: Aššur, Nineveh, and Nimrud.

This thesis explores the craft of metallurgy in the British Bronze Age through an examination and analysis of metalworking tools.
The goal of this research was to reassemble the Bronze Age metalsmithing toolkit based on an understanding of the craft and its practice. The first chapters examine the smith and metalsmithing tools through literary sources to establish a theoretical framework for understanding the significance of tools and smiths in the British Bronze Age.
This is followed by a study of metalsmithing tools in museum collections. These examinations focussed on wear, design, and chemical composition. Tools were cross-referenced to contemporary tools, descriptions from ethnographic literature, and tools in modern workshops.
This research also supplied data to create replica tools for use in an experimental programme to explore tool use and performance. The research culminated in establishing a system called Minimum Tools Required (MTR). It is based on the idea that the presence of an object implies the existence of the tools and materials necessary for its manufacture, and that the presence of tools implies a purpose, and the possibility of other tools and materials that are associated with that purpose.
Using this system provides a means to assess assemblages and aids in understanding the kind and the number of tools and materials that were a necessary part of the Bronze Age metalsmith’s toolkit.
The system also allows for more precise interpretations to be made of hoards. Tools can indicate the types of metal objects being made, or represent specific metalsmithing tasks. Thus by recognising the tools and their function, statements can be made about how these tools were used and the processes by which metal objects were made in the Bronze Age, resulting in a more complete understanding the organisation of the metalsmith’s craft in antiquity.

This thesis considers the technology employed to produce silver within the Porco-Potosí region, southern Bolivia, providing archaeo-metallurgical data on indigenous and European silver production methods in Porco during the period AD 1500 to 2000. The research has been conducted as part of Proyecto Arqueológico Porco-Potosí (PAPP) set up by Dr Mary Van Buren (Colorado State University).

The region of Porco was home to an Inca mine already prior to the Spanish conquest in 1538. Five years later, Spanish rule was established at Potosí. Indigenous technology, such as wind blown furnaces, huayrachinas, continued to be used in the region until the introduction of mercury amalgamation from 1570 onwards meant that the indigenous methods of silver production were superseded. Huayrachina technology employed at Porco dates back to at least the mid 16th century, with historical indications for earlier usage. PAPP has documented ongoing huayrachina smelting near Porco as late as 2003, showing the continuing existence of this technology. In this thesis, different silver production techniques from the archaeological and ethnographic records have been assessed using analytical techniques: Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence, Optical Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy, and including a historical, archaeological and theoretical review of the relevant data.

In Porco, a diverse range of metallurgical techniques was being used for both small and large scale production. From the early colonial periods onwards both European and indigenous methods were used simultaneously to produce silver. The Spanish influence is evident in the archaeological remains of European furnaces. The analyses of the European furnaces show that these were more efficient in extracting metal than the indigenous huayrachinas, at the expense of an increased fuel consumption. A comparison between the archaeological and recent huayrachina remains has shown differences in smelting capacity; the latter having a relatively low metal yield and reduced technical efficiency, and indicating a change in ore composition.

Recent silver production shows an environmental adaptation taking into account the difficulty and cost in obtaining fuel and ore. The continued use of the huayrachina over five centuries shows the persistence of indigenous technology, despite other production methods being available.

The results of this project contribute to a better understanding of the history of the Porco-Potosí region, and to Andean metallurgy.

Indissociable des artisanats céramiques, la fabrication de terres cuites figurées y occupe cependant une place originale, à la fois dépendante et autonome, du fait des techniques – moulage et surmoulage – qu’elle met en œuvre dès le VIIe siècle. La chaîne opératoire est fractionnable entre plusieurs personnes et donc plusieurs lieux : parfois un sculpteur pour la création occasionnelle des prototypes, et toujours un potier-technicien pour la préparation du matériau et la cuisson et un tâcheron-mouleur pour le façonnage. La coroplathie est ainsi une activité modeste, tantôt intégrée aux ateliers de potiers, tantôt séparée dans des officines limitées au façonnage mais techniquement dépendantes des potiers. Ces situations toutes deux bien attestées dans le monde grec classique et hellénistique pourraient en fait se réduire au schéma unique de la production de figurines activité annexe des potiers, avec un façonnage éventuellement délocalisé dans une boutique ou à la maison et confié à la femme et aux enfants du potier. En revanche, la manufacture spécialisée entièrement autonome ne paraît pas avoir existé. Dans tous les cas, la coroplathie est une activité urbaine, qui satisfait de façon opportuniste la demande d’objets votifs pour les sanctuaires proches : maisons-ateliers ou ateliers-boutiques d’édifices commerciaux limités au façonnage sont centraux, tandis que les ateliers de potiers produisant des figurines sont plutôt en périphérie mais jamais loin hors les murs, où ils voisinent avec les nécropoles.

Kalinga household pottery inventory data are used to evaluate relationships between social and spatial relations. Two objectives guide the research discussed in this paper: (I) to examine assemblage variability in pottery-producing and pottery-consuming villages; and (2) to explore differences in ceramic patterning between households in two pottery-consuming villages. These disparities reflect separate sets of social relations that each pottery-consuming village has with the two pottery-producing villages. We discuss archaeological implications of our distributional analysis in our concluding comments.

Using chipped stone data derived from the analyses of trans-Pennine Mesolithic assemblages and Clark's (1954) Star Carr assemblage, this article will examine the influence of lithic technology within the mobility strategies of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Northern England. In particular it will explore the possible association between persistent places (Barton et al. 1995) as resource locales in the landscape and their influence on raw material consumption and tool manufacture. Key to this study is the introduction (into the Chaîne Opératoire model of lithics analyses) of the notion of 'Equipotentiality' (Preston 1999), which is derived from the biological term Exaption (Gould and Vrba 1982). This new term will be defined and explored in relation to hunter-gatherer mobility strategies, along with other processes such as retooling (e.g. Hoffman 1992) or resharpening. A model for equipotential tool use at both site and landscape levels, together with its influence on hunter-gatherer mobility strategies, is proposed.

Practical knowledge of how to use digital technologies for archaeological purposes are rapidly becoming an in-demand skill set. Why we should use these technologies, however, is a subject of somewhat less discussion. Within the past decade cultural heritage management has seen a surge in tools that promise cheaper, faster and more precise data acquisition, as well as a host of software to enable easy and integrated access to this data. With increasing user expectations, what does this mean for museums which endeavor to integrate 3D modeling into their practice? This thesis will explore the chaîne-opératoire which museums progress through to adopt 3D models into their collections. Mission statements and points of ethical museum practice will be considered for each step in the process of implementing 3D model use, such as the motivations for inception, to funding, scale of implementation, maintenance, and results in the form of community support and access. The endproduct is not the only valuable part of this process, nor is it the only one that can aid museums in engaging their community. By examining the ways in which 3D modeling impacts museum ethics and practice, perhaps a more enlightened justification than the technological superiority of new digital methods can be made for embracing it.

This short contribution assembles a part of the results of an interdisciplinary research project of the Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte in Halle (Saale), Germany, and several other research institutions. It centres on Late Bronze Age objects from regions north of the Alps which are decorated with iron pieces inlaid by a rare damascene technique. Besides an overview of the known damascened artefacts and the used damascene practises, the paper shows that the inlay technique was specific to the Urnfield culture in stage HaB3. This is confirmed by typological, stylistic and technological criteria as well as distribution patterns. Influences from Pontic or Caucasus areas using iron as inlays are considered at the same time.

Many researchers have set ambitious goals in attempting to create social narratives from Mesolithic lithic scatters in a landscape context or to derive socio-cultural/stylistic meaning from . While laudable, and recognising the rich debate that emanates from the research, such attempts have been arguably impeded by their reliance upon referential frameworks that fail to integrate adequately their theoretical base with systematic methodologies in support of their conclusions. As a result British Mesolithic studies — and concomitantly the so-called 'Mesolithic Canon' — have been hampered by the lack of three fundamental analytical foundations: 1) a consensus definition of the Mesolithic, its phases and its geographic variation; 2) an accurate, calibrated, sufficiently granular chronology, and; 3) an explicitly defined, standardised, replicable lithic analysis methodology and typology. The most important of these is the third: it underpins the other two. However, this issue is especially acute since there are no agreed minimum standards for analysis and there remain a number of incompatible, unsystematic non-technological methodologies. It is therefore difficult to compare assemblages analysed by different lithicists, to derive reliable conclusions from past analyses and literature, and to communicate interpretations with universal clarity. Hence, interpretations tend to be subjective, result in para data rather than meta data, and are difficult to test in a replicable way. As a consequence, this paper considers best practice in lithics analysis and how it can impact on current definitions of the British Mesolithic and its chronology. It then proposes a way to ameliorate many of the highlighted problems and outlines how a standardised technologically-based lithic methodology—with explicitly defined types, attributes and analytical protocols—can be developed and integrated with current theoretical paradigms.

Industrial variability within the Middle Paleolithic Micoquian complex of the Crimea is reflected in the
varied occurrence and frequencies of stone tools. Aside from bifacial shaping / thinning flakes and blades within the
debitage (items ≥ 3 cm), there are 5 chip types and their subdivisions (mostly items > 1.5–2.9 cm) reflecting differing
primary and secondary reduction strategies for Crimean Micoquian Tradition (CMT)assemblages. Detailed study of
such chips provides valuable insights into tool production, reshaping and rejuvenation. There is increasing intensity of
secondary treatment and re-treatment of flint, and associated activities from Ak-Kaya-genuine assemblages (ephemeral
killing / primary butchery stations) through Starosele assemblages (various short-term primary and/or secondary
butchery camps) to the Kiik-Koba assemblages (short-term primary and secondary butchery camps). The study confirms
that CMT variability reflects a spectrum of anthropogenic and natural influences rather than representing discrete
cultural traditions.

The aim of the present research is a techno-functional comparison of two lithic assemblages from Grotta Paglicci located at Rignano Garganico (Apulia). Level 24A1 is attributed to the Aurignacian and dated to 29,300 ± 600 BP and layer 23 is referable to the early Gravettian and dated to 28,100 ± 400 BP. They are in stratigraphical continuity. Through the analysis
of the production schemes and the use of the lithic material, the
elements of continuity and change between both assemblages have been identified in order to contribute to a better definition of the distinctive features of the early Gravettian. The research shows no evidence of an eventual transition between the Aurignacian and the Gravettian technocomplex at this site.

Le temps des Syal Pascale Moity-Maïzi 1 La technologie culturelle tente d'établir -par diverses méthodes, dans une perspective essentiellement comparative -les rapports entre techniques et phénomènes socioculturels . 2 Que nous considérerons dans ce texte comme une forme spécifique de lien au territoire des activités productives. Nous ne traiterons pas les contenus d'un processus de localisation stricto sensu ; ceux-ci restent à interroger précisément, en relation notamment avec les mouvements de délocalisation d'entreprises, le terme ayant à nos yeux une portée et un sens avant tout économiques. 3 Référence implicite est faite ici aux plages des villes côtières de Mbour et de Joal, dotées d'une forte réputation pour leurs artisanats historiquement spécialisés dans la pêche et la transformation halieutique .

La mise en relation dans une même série de figurines de terre cuite conservées au Louvre et à Thasos permet de reconstituer l'histoire des voyages et des métamorphoses d'un banal type de promeneuse tanagréenne: créé dans le dernier quart du IVe siècle et fabriqué sur trois générations au moins en Béotie (trois exemplaires conservés), il a été diffusé à Myrina où il a été intégré tel quel dans un groupe à signification sans doute funéraire (un exemplaire conservé) et surtout à Thasos, où il apparaît dans une version modifiée par le biais d'un prototype secondaire et fabriquée sur deux générations (quatorze exemplaires au moins). La transformation du type à Thasos fait d'une tanagréenne banale une orante, offrande à contenu religieux précis et propre au Thesmophorion.

Pottery manufacturing in Early Bronze Age (EBA) Anatolia witnessed a host of technical innovations that transformed what had been a small-scale domestic activity into a specialist craft. At the proto-urban village of Seyitömer Höyük, dedicated pottery workshops appeared in the EBIII period (ca. 2250-2200 BCE), along with a suite of technical innovations, such as pottery molds, clay mixing pits, and clusters of pottery kilns. These advances allowed potters to manufacture more vessels with less effort, and represent a fundamental shift in the chaine operatoire, which is indicative of broader social and economic changes in the EBA. This poster presents the archaeological evidence for various stages of standardized pottery production, in comic book style. Sequential illustrations tell the story of an apprentice potter learning her craft under the tutelage of a seasoned corporate group of specialists. These fictional characters perform activities that are empirically attested at Seyitömer Höyük, and offer an approachable way for general audiences to engage with real archaeological data.

This paper describes the evaluation, based on archaeological materials, of the role that resharpening plays in the continuum of stone-tool reduction. We define a multi-evidence-based approach that combines use-wear intensity and location, traces that could be related to hafting and the distribution of mineral residue. By combining these methods, we have observed a minimum resharpening ratio of 52% in the selected end-scraper sample. If one takes into account ethnographically obtained information about end-scraper management, this result is an unexpectedly low value. Dynamics of mobility, technological organization and raw material availability causes high variability in the archaeological visibility and characteristics of lithic remains. Our results are in line with a technology organized wholly or partially on the basis of expediency, in which tools are not curated for more than the time taken to complete the activity or the length of the occupation. Tools that were not exhausted were abandoned at the site, leading to recycling behaviors in periodic site reoccupations.

Rings and early Neolithic's cultures. Production, movement and use between Armorican and Ardennes Massifs

The petrographical, technological, typological and use-wear study of rings from the early Neolithic of northern France and Belgium provides information on the Paris Basin Bandkeramik and the Villeneuve-Saint-Germain/Blicquy cultures through the reconstruction of chaînes opératoires.
The spondylus ring of the Paris Basin Bandkeramik is a symbol that occurs throughout the Bandkeramik culture, while clay rings indicate relations with Alsace and assert regional styles. This assertion appears especially during the latest Paris Basin Bandkeramik through the import of rings produced by the Cardial and through the manufacture of objects in shell and in stone. The symbolism of the ring is thus changed. In the Bandkeramik, the spondylus ring occurs only in rich graves. This is also the case with imported stone objects but they are also present in less rich graves and in settlements. During the VSG/Blicquy, stone rings are omnipresent in graves and settlements. Populations with access to outcrops of raw material undertake specialized production. Specialized production units and craftsmen appear and the ring becomes a collective symbol of social cohesion.
Throughout the early Neolithic, the consumption of rings conforms to the initial Danubian model and evolves through the exacerbation of this symbol in a logic of assertion, first of styles and then of cultures, on a scale that is regional rather than European. At the same time, there are possible signs of the emergence of greater control of strategic resources by certain individuals, according to a phenomenon that develops during the Chalcolithic.

This paper advances the current knowledge on past foragers' ornamental traditions by comparing the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from the southeastern Mediterranean, with a particular focus on the site of Vela Spila (Korčula island, Croatia). The assemblages we discuss here date from c. 19,500-8150 cal BP, with occupational evidence both before and after the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the region. The assemblages from Vela Spila comprise one of the largest and richest records of prehistoric personal ornamentation in Southeastern Europe. Our analysis has allowed us to reconstruct changing traditions and technologies of social expression and symbolism in the Adriatic during a crucial period of social, technological, and environmental transition. In particular, our data reveal an apparent shift in ornamental traditions and technologies from the Late Palaeolithic, when diverse marine and terrestrial raw materials were collected and modified to make ornaments, to the Mesolithic, when a single marine gastropod was used exclusively. When these results are contextualised and compared across the Adriatic region, and, more broadly, at sites throughout southeastern Europe, Vela Spila appears unique in its significance as a procurement and processing centre for one important type of Mesolithic ornament, Columbella rustica. The repeatedly and exclusive selection of this marine gastropod to make ornaments during the Mesolithic seems to be a clue that it was fundamentally important for the construction and maintenance of identity and personhood.

Given that the core concern of any localized agri-food system (LAFS) is its heritage, the know-how historically encapsulated in agri-food products can determine their territorial entrenchment. The authors consider this know-how as a complex resource that can be exploited through interactions among technical, relational, cultural and cognitive components. They analyse the know-how
associated with the LAFS of cheese production in Corsica, combining anthropological and systemic approaches to explore the concept of territorially anchored collective know-how. The paper emphasizes that knowledge about interactions between potential collective resources, such as that relating to animal
husbandry and cheese production, does not necessarily belong to the same cultural phase or have the same transience as a historical building process.

English Abstract: Based on the ceramic ethnoarchaeological survey in the Massim area of Papua New Guinea in 2005-2008, chaine operatoire model (fig.6) on pottery building was reconstructed.  The difference of calineation (ourward or inward)on ceramic joint points would be appeared by technological differences, such as how to mold the clay and how to roll the clay. This model would be effective to interpret archaeological records. 
[See fig.6 showing  the chaine operatoire model. It would be clear for English speakers]