Lithic raw material sources as a basis for reconstructing prehistoric mobility patterns: Case studies from the Final Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic in Central Europe

Analysis of prehistoric lithic artefacts helps to answer a wide array of questions concerning archaeological contexts and prehistoric human behaviour. Typological studies allow for a chronological and partly also cultural attribution of the sites, while the analysis of raw materials used is fundamental for the reconstruction of mobility patterns, communication networks and land use of Stone Age communities. Within the framework of two projects funded by the German Research Foundation, and a regional initiative of Werner Schön, it was possible to determine the origin of the raw materials of 32 inventories from the Late Glacial and Early Holocene in northwest and southern Germany. The petrographic analysis was conducted by the geologist and petro-archaeologist Jehanne Affolter. In addition, data of more than 60 Stone Age assemblages from Switzerland as well as western and southern Germany were recorded, that had already been published elsewhere. The origin of the flint raw materials from most of these inventories was determined using the micro-facial method. Some inventories, where the raw material sources were determined exclusively macroscopically, are also tentatively mapped to complement the chronological sequence. GIS-based maps of the raw material sources from the aforementioned regions are compiled and raw material catchment areas of the Stone Age sites are mapped. The area calculations of the raw material catchments revealed a diachronic alternation of larger and smaller areas, which above all suggest culturally determined cycles in the range of mobility and communication networks.

对史前石质人工制品的分析，有助于解答诸多围绕考古学背景与史前人类行为的相关问题。类型学研究可对遗址开展年代学判定，同时在部分场景下还能完成文化属性归属；而对所用原材料的分析，则是重建石器时代社群流动模式、交流网络与土地利用方式的核心基础。在两项由德国研究基金会（German Research Foundation）资助的项目，以及沃纳·舍恩（Werner Schön）发起的区域研究计划框架内，研究人员得以确定德国西北部与南部地区32套晚冰期至早全新世遗存组合的原材料来源。岩相学分析由地质学家与岩石考古学家让娜·阿夫洛特尔（Jehanne Affolter）完成。此外，研究团队还整理了瑞士、德国西部与南部地区已在其他出版物发表的60余套石器时代遗存组合数据，其中多数遗存组合的燧石原材料来源通过微面分析法（micro-facial method）得以确定。部分仅通过宏观观测判定原材料来源的遗存组合，也被初步绘制分布图以补充年代序列。本研究整合了上述区域的地理信息系统（GIS）原材料来源地分布图，并绘制了石器时代遗址的原材料采集流域范围图。对原材料采集流域的面积测算结果显示，流域范围呈现出历时性的大小交替变化特征，这一发现尤其表明，史前人类的流动与交流网络范围存在受文化因素驱动的周期性变化。