Diversité technique des débitages laminaires au Néolithique ancien à Vaux-et-Borset (Hesbaye, Belgique) : manières de faire, problèmes d’interprétation et perspectives anthropologiques - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française Année : 2020

Technical diversity of blades productions in the Early Neolithic at Vaux-et-Borset (Hesbaye, Belgium): ways of doing things, problems of interpretation and anthropological perspectives

Diversité technique des débitages laminaires au Néolithique ancien à Vaux-et-Borset (Hesbaye, Belgique) : manières de faire, problèmes d’interprétation et perspectives anthropologiques

Résumé

This study explores the technical diversity of blade production in the village of Vaux-et-Borset located in Hesbaye (Belgium), where two settlements have been excavated. The first dates to the Linear Pottery Culture and the second is dated to the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture. The Linear Pottery Culture settlement comprises of five houses and an enclosure. Stratigraphic observations, combined with the different orientations of the farmsteads suggest two or three occupation phases. The Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain village also comprises of five houses. This paper will focus on the flint industry from these settlements or more precisely on the blades, the study of which underlines a large technical diversity. The objective is to propose a new interpretation of these lithic industries aimed at defining technical traditions, based on the identification of technical processes acquired through learning. By studying both Linear Pottery culture and Blicquian productions, based on 755 Linear Pottery blades and 1186 Bliquian blades, we aim to understand the relationship between continuity and innovation in these two cultural groups from the unprecedented perspective of the transmission of technical expertise. Linear Pottery knappers and Blicquian knappers from Vaux-et-Borset do not select the same siliceous materials to produce their blades, as the former has clearly oriented their selection towards local raw materials, whereas the proportion of exogenous flint blades in Blicquian contexts is extremely high and is largely preferred in several housing units. The large supply of exogenous raw materials to the Blicquian settlement does not seem to be for the manufacture of tools for a particular technical activity, but was used for the village's contemporary needs, on the same basis as local materials. The productions are similar with the manufacture of small blades (7-10 cm) with a trapezoidal section. Furthermore, all raw materials seem to have been knapped locally, raising the question of the identity of the knappers, which is highlighted by their technical diversity and expressed by the differential treatment of the striking platforms and the preparations made for the detachment of the blades. Some blades have been knapped on a flat striking platform, some on a facetted one and the preparations for the detachment seem to have been done with a punch or a stone. Within the various stages and operations of blade production, the processing of striking platforms seems to constitute a technical action relaying a strong identity. Furthermore, it is necessary to underline the technical homogeneity within the Linear Pottery context, whereas in the Blicquian context the three raw materials are processed according to three different technical modalities. There is also a difference in the skills. Several knappers know specific arrangements to obtain more regular trapezoidal section blades, with a technical process that requires a good skill level. This underlines that it is the ideas and the technical know-how that distinguish the knapper groups. However, this distinction does not explain the technical variability observed in the processing of striking platforms and in the preparation for the detachment of the blades. The observed differences do not lead to the production of blanks for specific tools, nor are they justified by the intrinsic qualities of the raw materials. For an equivalent production context, we therefore propose that this technical variability reflects different ways of doing used by knappers in the settlements. This study distinguishes three main and two minor ways. Knappers of the Linear Pottery culture use local raw materials and the same way to manufacture blades. Only rare artefacts attest to the implementation of a different procedure, probably introduced during one of the site later phases. Blicquian knappers use diverse ways of doing. There are two main technical traditions, the first carries on the traditions of the Linear Pottery culture, the second, involving exogenous flints, uses another method. Two new ways of doing that are absent from Linear Pottery contexts have also been observed. There is therefore a certain technical continuity between the Linear Pottery culture and the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture, which attests to the transmission of knowledge through the generations. This transmission indicates the coexistence of at least two learning networks among Early Neolithic knappers. Moreover, the Linear Pottery knappers of Vaux-et-Borset almost all seem to come from the same learning network, unlike the four technical groups distinguished among the Blicquian knappers. This diversity of technical practices and technical traditions used by the Blicquians is discussed. As the data currently stands, it seems that this may result from both the mobility of neighbouring populations and the syncretism of certain traditions.
Cette étude explore la diversité technique de la production laminaire dans les villages rubané et Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain de Vaux-et-Borset (Hesbaye, Belgique). Cette diversité technique est essentiellement définie par un traitement différentiel des plans de frappe et des préparations au détachement des lames. Or, les différences relevées ne conduisent pas à la production de supports pour un outillage spécifique. Elles ne se justifient pas non plus par les qualités intrinsèques des matières premières. À contexte de production équivalent, nous proposons dès lors que cette variabilité technique reflète différentes manières de faire parmi les tailleurs du village de Vaux-et-Borset. La reconnaissance d’une véritable continuité de certaines manières de faire entre le Rubané et la culture Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain atteste de leur transmission dans le temps. Cette transmission signe la coexistence d’au moins deux filières d’apprentissage chez les tailleurs au Néolithique ancien. Par ailleurs, les tailleurs rubanés du village de Vaux-et-Borset semblent presque tous issus du même réseau d’apprentissage contrairement aux quatre groupes distingués chez les tailleurs blicquiens. La diversité des pratiques techniques et des traditions techniques au cours du Blicquien est discutée. En l’état actuel des données, il semble qu’elle puisse à la fois résulter de la mobilité de populations avoisinantes et du syncrétisme de certaines traditions.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
01-BSPF_2020_1_Denis_Burnez-Lanotte.pdf (8.83 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte

Dates et versions

hal-03642080 , version 1 (14-04-2022)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-03642080 , version 1

Citer

Solène Denis, Laurence Burnez-Lanotte. Diversité technique des débitages laminaires au Néolithique ancien à Vaux-et-Borset (Hesbaye, Belgique) : manières de faire, problèmes d’interprétation et perspectives anthropologiques. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 2020, 117 (1), pp.7-46. ⟨hal-03642080⟩
96 Consultations
4 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More