Surplus production of flint blades in the early Neolithic of western Europe: new evidence from Belgium

Abstract

The goal of this study was to identify cognitive processes in a particular technical subsystem – flint blade debitage in the Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik or LBK, dating to the second half of the sixth millennium BC). The study was based on new archaeological data from pits with debitage waste on a site at Verlaine, near Liège in Belgian Hesbaye. The project mainly involved refitting and analysis of a concentration of blade debitage waste, which had been almost completely preserved; an exceptional situation for this period. This detailed analysis has produced new data for the early Neolithic on the mental conception and technical procedures involved in debitage of large blocks of flint and suggests that the evidence from Verlaine reflects a system of ‘surplus’ production. The objective of Neolithic knappers at Verlaine was clearly to surpass the needs of the local communities, with a view to long-distance distribution well outside the region.