Lithic Technology, Social Agency and Cultural Interaction in the Bronze Age Aegean. Percussive stone tools related to stone masonry techniques seen through experimentation and use-wear analysis.

Project Information

LiTechAe

Grant agreement ID: 894077

DOI

10.3030/894077

Project closed

EC signature date 4 March 2020

Start date 1 July 2020

End date 30 June 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 281 358,72

EU contribution

€ 281 358,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LiTechAe (Lithic Technology, Social Agency and Cultural Interaction in the Bronze Age Aegean. Percussive stone tools related to stone masonry techniques seen through experimentation and use-wear analysis.)

Reporting period: 2020-07-01 to 2023-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The LiTechAe project aimed to provide answers to questions concerning technology, social agency, cross-craft interaction and cross-cultural interaction in the Aegean world during the Bronze Age. The study focused on percussive tools and techniques used for cutting and dressing stone in Crete, the Cyclades and mainland Greece in the 2nd millennium B.C. This era saw the rise of the first monumental stone architecture in Europe, first in the palaces of Minoan Crete, later from the 15th c. BC onwards, in the tombs and citadels of the Mycenaean mainland following trends known since the 3rd millennium BC in Egypt and the Near East. The project aimed to investigate to what degree, in which ways and contexts and why percussive stone tools were used compared with bronze tools. Then, on this basis, to assess craft specialization and social organization related to these practices. Monumental stone masonry practices require considerable energy investment and important skilled workforce reflecting a complex social organization. Thus, the project’s results contribute to our historical knowledge of Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean societies of the 2nd millennium BC. They allow for a better understanding of human/environment interactions and the functioning of societies in the past and set a basis for us to reflect on the functioning and the evolution of modern societies in regard with relevant environmental and societal aspects. Focusing on lithic and metal technology and craftmanship, the project contributes to a history of techniques and the assessment of traditional crafts in preindustrial societies more in general.
The first objective of the project was to reconstruct the chaînes opératoires of the production and use of stone and bronze percussive tools in the framework of monumental masonry, in other words how these tools were made and used. On the basis of this reconstruction, the efficiency of both stone and bronze tools, as well as the know-how and specialization involved in these operations were to evaluate. Once the above reference data acquired, the aim was to understand the factors which guided the craftsmen’s choices, the social organization set for these operations, as well as eventual influences from other cultures pointing to craftsmen mobility and diffusion of tools and techniques.
Up to now results clearly demonstrate, among other, that craftsmen, bronze smiths and stone craftsmen had an in-depth knowledge of materials, both lithic and metal, with which they interacted continuously. Thus, specialisation should not been considered solely on the grounds of technical skills required, but should be mostly seen as an outcome of social organisation. Results of ongoing usewear analysis and the identification of tools, also reveal specific patterns of use of tools and techniques, such as the use of tools in direct thrusting percussion (axes, adzes) and not indirect percussion (chisels struck with hammers) further pointing to communities of practice with Minoan Crete and significant differentations from the neighboring cultures (Egypt, Anatolia) for the regions considered in the study.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

A multidisciplinary approach was adopted comprising 1) the sampling and the characterization of materials used for tools and masonry (X-Ray Diffraction, X-Ray Fluorescence, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Vickers hardness tests) at the Centre for National Research “Demokritos”, Athens, 2) experiments testing different types of stone and metal tools on different building materials, 3) multi-scale analysis of use-wear traces on both tools and architectural components (archaeological and experimental) using microscopy and 3D imaging techniques at the Laboratory for Material Culture Studies (LMCS) at the University of Leiden (LU), 4) a comparative archaeological study of material issued from key-sites in the Aegean : Malia and Kommos on Crete, Akrotiri on Thera, Tiryns and Mycenae in the Argolid.
Stone tools and toolmarks on architectural components were recorded and studied at the above sites taking into consideration materials and morphometrics. On the basis of the above data supported by a thorough literature review, experiments were designed in order to reproduce stone dressing practices of the 2nd millennium BC. First, the stone and bronze tools (picks, axes, adzes, chisels, punches) were produced, then, stone dressing tests were carried out by a stone craftsman. The multitude of variables tested allowed for the reproduction and the analysis of a large set of configurations, thus, for rich and reliable data.
The experiments allowed to acquire some complete biographies of stone working tools and to better assess the mechanics and ergonomics of the use of stone and bronze working tools considering variables, such as the working position, the gesture, the force and the angle of the impact, the hafting or grip of the tools. It was, hence, possible to better understand how all these parameters can be configurated in regard with the materials’ (stone and bronze) properties and in view of the desired result, in other terms which tools would be more efficient and in which way.
The comparative analysis of use-wear aiming at the identification of the tools used is still in course at the LMCS at LU. Use-wear on archaeological stone tools and architectural components are analyzed and compared with respective use-wear issued from experiments. Calculations on the basis of quantitative data regarding time and energy/labor investment and tools consumption (use-wear) are in course of analysis. The action can thus contribute to an anthropology of monumental construction, as defined by J-C Bessac, applied here to the Aegean Bronze Age, in other words a global consideration of stoneworking practices and involved parameters.
First results on stone tools were presented at the 4th Meeting of the Association for Ground Stone Tools Research in Paris in April 2023. A presentation of results on bronze tools will be made at the 43e Rencontres internationales d’archéologie et d’histoire Nice Côte d’Azur in October 2023. Two more publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals are in preparation. Data acquired during the action will be made available to the scientific community in the form of open access databases accessible through the project's webpage at the site of the LMCS. Experimentally reproduced and used stone and metal tools are part of the reference collections of the LMCS accessible to students and researchers.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The original research carried out in the LiTechAe project provided substantial reference databases for identifying and understanding the use of percussive tools and techniques for stone working in the Bronze Age Aegean. Multidisciplinary analysis of these data allows for new insights into the societies concerned, which contribute to our overall historical knowledge of the Aegean world in the 2nd millennium BC. Results, but also raw data, soon accessible to the international academia, can be further exploited to address relevant questions in other geo-cultural and chronological contexts and contribute this way to a more global anthropological approach of lithic and metal technology and related handcrafts. The experiments, central to the project, provided audio-visual material to exploit for the demonstration of ancient crafts within academic institutions and schools, as well as to a larger public, and by extension, for the enhancement of our cultural heritage.

Toolmarks on ashlar blocks and column bases at the sites of Malia, Kommos and Akrotiri.