Stone and flint artefacts from the Stone Age sites of Swifterbant

Drs. I.I.J.A.L.M. (Izabel) Devriendt

E-mail: izabel unitedtelecom.be

Promotor: Prof. Dr. D.C.M. Raemaekers

Project description:

During the 1960’s and 1970’s the former BAI (Biological-Archaeological Institute), currently GIA (Groningen Institute of Archaeology), performed extensive excavations near Swifterbant. The archaeological research on these Mesolithic and Middle Neolithic settlements was carried out on eleven sites, including river dune sites and levee sites in an area with an old creek system. Although many aspects of the research are published, the stone material and large parts of the flint artefacts were never examined. This Ph.D. will study and publish these find categories.

The Swifterbant culture constitutes the end of the Mesolithic and the start of the Neolithic, prior to the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). Its importance as a transitional phase from a hunter-gatherer to a farmer society is without question. Therefore, it is of great importance that this transition, along with the individuality of this culture, is demonstrable in the material culture. Previous flint research focused mainly on typological characteristics, site function or the relation between the different settlements and was outdated. Until now, it is unclear which activity areas are typical for specific locations and what their function is within the settlement system.

The research method is based on a full and detailed study of all the stone and flint artefacts of the Swifterbant sites. Other aspects of this study include the typological and technological analyses of the debitage sequence, the interpretation of the use of raw material and its procurement, and an extensive spatial analysis of all the stone and flint artefacts. These results will be interpreted in relation to the other find categories and features. The sites will not be studied as isolated settlements but as parts of a bigger whole, the entire settlement system. This will hopefully provide better insight in the general use of space, the diverse activity areas, possible settlement functions and the relation between the settlements themselves.

Izabel defended her dissertation in October 2013. She is the founder of Archeo Lithics.