Explaining long term history and colonization processes based upon studies of lithic technology by Prof. Dr. Berit V. Eriksen, Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Foundation Schleswig-Holstein State Schleswig.

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PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Albersdorf, 24.09.2013
Nordic Blade Technology
Network

2. PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network
Nordic Blade Technology Workshops, 2009
(financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council)
Helsinki – Falun – Oslo – Copenhagen
 Congregate Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian
and Danish researchers working on lithic
blade technology
 Discuss long term history and colonization
processes in Scandinavia and the Baltic
area based upon studies of lithic blade
technology

3.  Common terminology.
 Common criteria for identifying techniques
and technological signatures.
 Common methods for studying chaînes
opératoires (dynamic technological
approach).
 Common venues for discussing problems
related with blade research.
PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network

4. PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network

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PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network

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PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network

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PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network

8. Nordic Blade Technology Network, 2010 ….
 Research network dealing in general with long term history
and colonization processes in Fennoscandia and the Baltic
based upon studies of lithic blade technology.
 Teaching platform aimed at graduate and PhD students.
2012-2016 financed by STINT (Swedish Foundation for
International Cooperation in Research and Higher
Education)
PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network
http://www.NBTN.sehttp://www.NBTN.se

9. PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network
Our aims
• Encourage and support student and researcher groups interested
in different subjects of technological, experimental and
interpretative studies of the earliest remains in North Europe.
• Inform about the plans, activities and achievements in this field of
study.
• To rewrite the earliest prehistory of human movements into the
region using the extension of the Weichselian ice sheet as a
geographical unit, instead of an interpretation of “cultures” based
on modern national boundaries.
• Use the approach to form a new educational standard applicable
throughout all of Scandinavia.

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PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network

11. PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network
The thematic focus highlights interaction, mobility and
communication networks among and between prehistoric
cultural groups, as well as the interaction of humans and
the natural environment in time and space

13. Lejre 2006

14. All flaked flints are unique and may be
refitted back on the nodule!
All flaked flints display evidence
of their making
Flint fossilizes behaviour

15. Etiolles

16. • Raw material determination (geological classification)
• Technological analysis (dynamic classification with respect
to reduction technique and method)
• Typological analysis (morphological classification)
• Use wear analysis (functional classification)
• Distribution analysis (contextual classification)
Chaîne Opératoire analysis

17. (Sørensen et al 2013)
PD Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen
Nordic Blade Technology Network

19. Conical Core Pressure Blade concept
A) Conical core with a smooth platform; B) Bullet-shaped core, smooth platform;
C) Typical pressure blade; D) Conical core with a facetted platform; E) Sub-
conical core with unexploited back
(Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 1)

20. (Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 2)
c. 8000 calBC
Fennoscandian Shield
(Precambrian = no flint or
sedimentary rocks)

21. (Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 2)
c. 8000 calBC

22. Artefacts typical of the Kunda and Butovo cultures
(Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 3)

23. (Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 2)
c. 8000 calBC

24. Typical artefacts from Sujala (1-15) and Fállegoahtesajeguolbba (16-30)
(Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 4)

25. (Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 5, 6)
Regular blade cores with facetted platforms from interior northern Sweden
… and from Foldsjön,
near Trondheim

26. (Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 2)
c. 8000 calBC

27. Typical artefacts from Ulkestrup Lyng II (Maglemosian technocomplex 3)
(Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 8)

28. Regular blade cores, blades and microliths from the Polish lowland
(Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 9)

29. (Sørensen et al 2013, fig. 10)
Migration of flintknappers versus transmission of knowledge

31. Invitation to co-operation within the
Nordic Blade Technology Network
 Future workshops and symposia
 Projects (postdocs, PhD-students, graduate students)
On behalf of the steering group:
Kjel Knutsson (Uppsala University), Tuija Rankama (Helsinki University
and Finnish Academy of Science); Håkon Glørstad (Museum of Cultural
History, Oslo University), Mikkel Sørensen (Copenhagen University) and
Berit Valentin Eriksen (ZBSA).
http://www.NBTN.sehttp://www.NBTN.se

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THANK YOU
for your
audience