Friendship ornaments from the Stone Age
Date:
April 25, 2022
Source:
University of Helsinki
Summary:
Roughly 6,000 years ago, hunter-gatherer communities in northeast
Europe produced skillfully manufactured slate ring ornaments in
great numbers.
While these ornaments are commonly referred to as 'slate rings',
they were rarely used as intact rings. Instead, the ornaments
were fragmented on purpose, using pieces of rings as tokens. These
fragments were further processed into pendants. The fragments have
most likely served as symbols of the social relations of Stone
Age hunter-gatherers.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Roughly 6,000 years ago, hunter-gatherer communities in northeast
Europe produced skillfully manufactured slate ring ornaments in great
numbers. While these ornaments are commonly referred to as 'slate rings',
they were rarely used as intact rings. Instead, the ornaments were
fragmented on purpose, using pieces of rings as tokens. These fragments
were further processed into pendants.
==========================================================================
The fragments have most likely served as symbols of the social relations
of Stone Age hunter-gatherers.
Purposeful fragmentation of ornaments As most archaeological material is
found in a fragmented state, the phenomenon has been considered a natural consequence of objects' having been long buried underground. However,
according to Postdoctoral Researcher Marja Ahola from the University
of Helsinki, not all objects have necessarily been broken by
accident. Instead, it is possible some were fragmented on purpose as part
of maintaining social relations, bartering or ritual activities. The
research now completed has demonstrated that a substantial number of
ornaments have been found in extensive and central locations. As some of
the ornaments originate in Lake Onega region and have been transported
to Finland through a widespread exchange network, it is possible that
they symbolise the connections established within the network.
By matching pieces of slate ring ornaments, analysing their geochemical composition and investigating traces of use and manufacture in the
objects, a research group at the University of Helsinki and the University
of Turku demonstrated that the ornaments had not only been worn, but
also intentionally broken. Because fragments from the same ornament were
found in two different locations, it is possible that they were worn by
two different individuals.
Another indication of this is the fact that one of the fragments had
been worked on more finely than the other.
"These fragments of the same object may show the handprint and preferences
of two individuals. Perhaps they wore the ornaments as a symbol of a
connection established," Ahola muses.
A similar link was found in slate ring ornaments created during the
same manufacturing process, one of which was found in a settlement-site
context and the other in a burial site investigated near the settlement.
"What we see here may be one way of maintaining connection between the
living and the dead. This is also the first clear material connection
between a certain place of residence and a burial site. In other words,
the people who lived there most likely buried their dead in a site close
to them," Ahola explains.
An X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) of a little over 50 slate ring
ornaments demonstrated that some of the ornaments or fragments thereof
had been imported from Lake Onega region, Russia, hundreds of kilometres
from the site where they were found. XRF analyses can be used to determine
the element concentrations and raw materials of inorganic archaeological materials with a very high precision. The technique can be applied as an entirely non-invasive surface analysis, which makes it perfectly suited
to the study of archaeological objects.
"By comparing the elemental concentrations of the objects under
investigation with findings published on the basis of international
datasets, we were able to demonstrate that some of the ornaments or
the stone material used in them was transported to Finland through an
extensive exchange network, primarily from the Lake Onega region. There
was also variation in the chemical composition of the objects, which
correlates with their design. These factors indicate that the ornaments
were produced at Lake Onega region in several batches, most likely in
different locations and by a number of makers," says Docent Elisabeth Holmqvist-Sipila" from the University of Helsinki
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Helsinki. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Ornamental_slate_rings_from_the_Stone_Age ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Marja Ahola, Elisabeth Holmqvist, Petro Pesonen. Materialising
the Social
Relationships of Hunter-Gatherers: Archaeological and Geochemical
Analyses of 4th Millennium BC `Slate Ring Ornaments' from Finland.
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2022; DOI:
10.1007/s10816- 022-09556-8 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220425104936.htm
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