During the Middle Neolithic, the first farmers in the present-day Netherlands cultivated their own food and kept animals while still hunting wild game. During this period, the people from the...Show moreDuring the Middle Neolithic, the first farmers in the present-day Netherlands cultivated their own food and kept animals while still hunting wild game. During this period, the people from the Funnel Beaker culture (3400- 2900 cal. BC) lived in the northern part the country while the people of the Vlaardingen culture (3400-2500 BC) lived in the south. Hunting animals was still a crucial part in the gathering of resources; the meat could be eaten, the bones were used to make tools and hides were processed to make clothes and other products. To remove the last of the fat and meat on a hide, the hide was scraped. This was done with flint scrapers, small tools with a rounded edge. This was a common practice, making these tools a common artifact found during excavations. The scrapers from a Funnel Beaker site called Haren- de Vork, located near the city of Groningen, would be used to collect data about the usage of these tools. During the excavation of this site, many scrapers were found, of which 49 would eventually be analyzed for use-wear traces. The goal was to better understand how these tools were damages and which materials the scrapers were used on. This data was used to gain a better understanding of this site. The use-wear traces on these scrapers would show how a variability of hide types were processed at the site of Haren- de Vork, while other traces suggest that some scrapers were hafted. This information has led to the interpretation that the site was used for a relatively long period of time, even though house plans have not been found during excavation. The information of Haren- de Vork is also compared to other Funnel Beaker sites, showing how the remains of these sites are not uniform and can wildly differ. These differences can be contributed to multiple varieties such as the type of landscape but also the function of a site. The dataset from Haren- de Vork was also compared to the Vlaardingen site of Wateringse Binnentuinen. Multiple differences in use-wear traces have been observed, an example of which is the ratio of dry- and fresh hide scrapers. The site of Haren- de Vork has a much larger amount of dry hide scrapers when compared to the VL site of Wateringse Binnentuinen. It can most likely be attributed to the landscape in which people lived and the available game which was predominantly hunted.Show less
Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BC), a regional late Neolithic group in the western Netherlands, is offering a glimpse into the gradual transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic lifestyle,...Show moreVlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BC), a regional late Neolithic group in the western Netherlands, is offering a glimpse into the gradual transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic lifestyle, since its’ subsistence system can be characterised by the ‘broad spectrum economy’. Hence, Vlaardingen culture people were based on agriculture, but still depending on wild resources. This is also reflected in the types of occupation on different ecological zones, expressed with permanent settlements dominating on the coastal dunes and temporary extraction camps mainly on wetlands. However, a distinction between the two is not always possible for Vlaardingen Culture sites, creating the need for further research. As part of the ‘Putting Life into Late Neolithic Houses’ project, this thesis focused on the study of variabilities in hide-working processes, as an argument in the dialogues about occupation duration in Vlaardingen Culture sites. Based on ethnographic accounts, the working hypothesis suggested that traces of initial stages of hide-working would be dominant in temporary extraction camps, while traces of more time-consuming hide-working activities would be present in permanent settlements. Use-wear analysis was used as a method to study this inter-site variability, while engaging with an experimental approach. The potential variability of use-wear traces generated by different hide-working processes was experimentally studied. The experiments were involving fresh hide scraping as an initial stage in hide-working processes, and the understudied dehairing as a more time-consuming activity, representative of permanent settlements. The results of this experiment demonstrated that if certain conditions are met, traces of dry hide scraping can be differentiated from those of dehairing. The material studied for this thesis is originating from the permanent coastal dune site of Den Haag Steynhof, and is concerning 37 flint scrapers selected from zone 5 of the site. Notably, after use-wear analysis was conducted, matching traces were found between the experimental dehairing scrapers and three of the archaeological scrapers, making Steynhof the first Vlaardingen Culture site to have yielded such traces. Furthermore, the results of the analysis showed that time-consuming hide-working activities, including resharpening, were better represented than initial stages of hide-working in Steynhof. This pattern was also observed on other Vlaardingen Culture permanent settlements, while initial stages were dominating in the temporary extraction camp of Hekelingen III, hence confirming the hypothesis. Consequently, it could be used as an argument to infer about the occupation duration of Vlaardingen Culture sites as well as other Neolithic sites of the region, characterised by the ‘broad spectrum economy’. Hence, this study would be applicable when other arguments for the occupation duration of sites remain inconclusive.Show less