Period: Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic (c. 4200-3300 BC)
Project title: Prehistoric cordage and fabric: flint serrated edges, plant processing and the Tybrind Vig fabric
Researcher: Linda Hurcombe, University of Exeter, England
E-mail: L.M.Hurcombe(at)ex.ac.uk
Year: 2007
Abstract:
In a few cases archaeologists been so fortunate as to find fragments of textiles made from plant fibres (probably stinging nettle) dating from the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. During the same short period, a particular flint tool is commonly found on settlements and it is thought to have been used for processing plant fibres.
This tool disappears completely in subsequent periods and the theory is that there was a shift to the exploitation of other types of fibre – perhaps because of changing fashions – and this required the use of different tools. In order to test the theory it is necessary to investigate whether there are links between the flint tool and the nettle clothes.
Reconstructed flint tools will be applied to processing nettle fibres using various techniques. For the sake of comparison the tools will also be used on willow and lime bast. After the experiments, the wear polish produced by the work will be compared with that on original tools. Some of the fibres processed in the experiment will also be used to reconstruct a piece of textile found on a Mesolithic settlement at Tybrind Vig. The experiment is part of a series.
Reference number: HAF 11/07
Project title: A Prehistoric Functional Puzzle: flint serrated edges for plant processing
Researcher: Linda Hurcombe, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
E-mail: L.M.Hurcombe(at)ex.ac.uk
Year: 2006
Abstract:
Tools, production techniques and not at least fashion have changed through human history. Parts of the knowledge about such processes have since disappeared, and therefore we might have problems understanding the remnants – the worn tools, the features, the garbage and the end products.
The key aspects of the project were experiments to investigate the function of serrated (saw edged) flint tools from the earlier Neolithic of Britain and Denmark which earlier has been a mystery to the archaeologists. New theories propose that the tools have been used in the processing of a very common plant, stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), to extract fibres for cordage and fabric. This theory was tested in practical experiments.
In the experiment, nettles were harvested and processed by removing the external epidermis to leave very fine fibres using a reconstructed serrated flint tool. Methods included soaking the nettles in a pond, also in pits, boiling the nettle with woodash (to make a caustic solution) and hand extractions with no tools were also tested. An experienced weaver’s opinion of the fibres and production methods was included in the experiment and thus gave the experiment an extra dimension.
Tools were also used to process tree-bark fibres (called bast fibres) of willow (Salix) and lime (Tilia). These fibres were also processed by a range of methods using the flint tools and different solutions. Taken altogether the experiments covered a good range of different plant fibres and the use of the flint tools for different stages in the production process.
We now have a better understanding of the performance characteristics provided by the very distinctive serrated edge of the flint tool. In addition, the tools were all used for substantial periods of time (3 hours) giving better sets of wear on the tool edges for comparison under the microscope with the wear traces observed on the archaeological tools.
In the past, the production of cordage for all manner of purposes, and the manufacture of finer yarns for making clothing, would both have been time-consuming and very important cultural tasks. The serrated flint tools are amongst the most prolific finds on earlier Neolithic sites, but disappear in later periods. That absence might indicate a markedly change in use of materials, production techniques or in fashion. Therefore the experiments offer further understanding of the role these tools including the production of items of organic material culture for which so few other traces survive in the archaeological material.
Reference number: HAF 09/06
