The introduction of Corded Ware Culture at a local level: An exploratory study of cultural change during the Late Neolithic of the Dutch West Coast through ceramic technology

Kroon, E.J.; Huisman, D.J.; Bourgeois, Q. P.J.; Braekmans, D.; Fokkens, H.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101873

The introduction of Corded Ware Culture at a local level

Title

The introduction of Corded Ware Culture at a local level: An exploratory study of cultural change during the Late Neolithic of the Dutch West Coast through ceramic technology

Author

Kroon, E.J. (Universiteit Leiden)
Huisman, D.J. (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands)
Bourgeois, Q. P.J. (Universiteit Leiden)
Braekmans, D. (TU Delft (OLD) MSE-4; Universiteit Leiden; Cranfield University; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
Fokkens, H. (Universiteit Leiden)

Date

2019

Abstract

The introduction of the Corded Ware Culture (3000–2500 BCE) is considered a formative event in Europe's past. Ancient DNA analyses demonstrate that migrations played a crucial role in this event. However, these analyses approach the issue at a supra-regional scale, leaving questions about the regional and local impact of this event unresolved. This study pilots an approach to ceramics that brings this small-scale impact into focus by using the transmission of ceramic technology as a proxy for social change. It draws on ethno-archaeological studies of the effects of social changes on the transmission of ceramic production techniques to hypothesise the impact of three idealised scenarios that archaeologists have proposed for the introduction of Corded Ware Culture: migration, diffusion, and network interactions. Subsequently, it verifies these hypotheses by integrating geochemical (WDXRF), mineralogical (petrography), and macromorphological analysis of ceramics with network analysis. This method is applied to 30 Late Neolithic ceramic vessels from three sites in the western coastal area of the Netherlands (Hazerswoude-Rijndijk N11, Zandwerven, and Voorschoten-De Donk). This study concludes that the introduction of Corded Ware material culture is a process that varies from site to site in the western coastal area of the Netherlands. Moreover, the introduction of the Corded Ware Culture is characterised by continuity in technological traditions throughout the study area, indicating a degree of social continuity despite typological changes in ceramics.

Subject

Ceramic technology
Corded Ware Culture
Cultural transition
Transmission of technology
Vlaardingen Culture

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6d98a164-8bc2-4c9c-b17c-b02a64aee277

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101873

ISSN

2352-409X

Source

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 26

Part of collection

Institutional Repository