How Things Change: Exploring Long-Term Patterns in Use of Quarried Chert in Neolithic Southern Germany

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Quarries and mines used to obtain silicites are known from Neolithic cultural landscapes across Europe, representing a common pattern of localized, repeated use of selected sources. Though common, Neolithic quarry sites are challenging to interpret in broader sociocultural context due in part to the chronological and regional diversity of quarry activities, from the everyday to the highly specialized, against a background of significant socioeconomic change. This contribution explores characteristics of extraction features and lithic production at the large quarry landscape of Borgerhau, near Ulm, in the upper Danube watershed in southern Germany. At the quarry, several periods of use are documented from 5000 - 2500 BCE, spanning much of the Neolithic period in this region. We examine changes in scale of extraction and aspects of lithic production from Early to Late Neolithic in the context of a changing social landscape, exploring possible relationships to patterns of short- and long-term mobility, interaction, and contexts in which the material is used. We also draw on comparisons to other mine and quarry sites in the region to explore how extraction and lithic production are distributed across a regional landscape of stone sources, settlements, and other activity spaces.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53717