Stone Dead: Stone Tools and their Role in Mesolithic Mortuary Rites and Rituals

这个项目的目的是探索为什么石器——通常与实用活动有关的人工制品——在中石器时代的欧洲经常与死者放在一起。为了实现这一目标，《石器之死》将通过从原材料来源、制造和使用到沉积重建石器的传记，对石器在东北欧洲中石器时代社会（公元前9600-4000年）的殡葬仪式和仪式中所扮演的角色进行批判性和新的理解。中石器时代的墓葬通常伴随着陪葬品，但研究的重点往往是个人饰品，比如珠子，它们后来被解释为“威望物品”。在这些坟墓中经常发现的石器被认为是日常生活的世俗碎片，受到的科学关注要少得多。然而，PI和其他人最近的研究显示了一个更复杂的故事：一些证据显示故意破坏是葬礼仪式的一部分；有些似乎是为坟墓而制作的，没有事先使用，放在死者手中或婴儿身上；有时石头被直接挖进坟墓，用外来材料制成。这一证据表明，在太平间环境中沉积的石器具有比目前认识到的更大的社会和象征意义。该项目有四个目标：1。建立在安全的丧葬环境中放置的石器坟墓物品的生活史。2 .比较/对比非太平间和太平间工具的传记，整合不同种类的坟墓物品的传记信息。将坟墓物品的传记与现有的人类生物资料联系起来。评估墓穴组合中石器的组成和处理方式的差异，以了解其在殡葬仪式中的社会作用。为了做到这一点，通常只能在显微镜下看到的磨损模式将使用来自欧洲两个最重要和全球知名的中石器时代墓地的工具进行研究：Zvejnieki（拉脱维亚）和YOO（卡累利阿）。大约400件石器的传记将与其他陪葬礼物的传记结合起来，并通过利用新的生物考古资料，将这些石器陪葬品的个人传记结合起来。这有可能揭示石器过去的功能和特殊处理的新见解，以及它们在被放入坟墓之前是否被使用过。在这样做的过程中，该项目旨在为史前狩猎和采集社会的石器工具的意义带来一个关键的新的社会维度，同时使人们能够比以前更全面地理解坟墓的良好象征意义。石器的故事及其在过去生活方式中发挥的重要作用将对关键部门产生持久的影响。我们的研究结果将通过开放获取的期刊文章、会议报告、网站、博客、社交媒体和可供公众和兴趣团体下载的资源进行传播。该项目将对中石器时代、石器、丧葬考古学和生物考古学的研究人员产生广泛的学术兴趣。影响活动将填补博物馆和英国遗产战略规划需求的关键空白，将通常被视为平凡的石器工具带入生活。我们将为中小学教师和从事文化遗产工作的人员（博物馆、商业考古学家）提供讲授、展示和保存石器文物的关键技能。

The aim of this project is to explore why stone tools - artefacts often associated with utilitarian activities - were so often placed with the dead in Mesolithic Europe.In order to address this aim, Stone Dead will bring a critical and new understanding of the roles stone tools played in the mortuary rites and rituals of Northeast European Mesolithic societies (c. 9600-4000 BC) by reconstructing their biographies from raw material source, manufacture and use, through to deposition. Mesolithic burials are often accompanied with grave goods but the focus in research has tended to be on personal ornaments, such as beads, which are then interpreted as "prestige items". The stone tools frequently found in these graves are considered to be the mundane debris of everyday life and have received far less scientific attention. However, recent research by the PI and others has shown a much more complex story: some display evidence of intentional destruction as part of the funerary rite; some appear to have been made for the grave without prior use, placed in the hands of the dead or on the bodies of infants; stone was sometimes knapped directly into the grave and made of exotic materials. This evidence suggests a far greater social and symbolic meaning to the deposition of stone tools in mortuary contexts than currently realised.The project has 4 objectives:1. To establish the life histories of stone tool grave goods placed in secure funerary contexts.2. To compare/contrast non-mortuary and mortuary tool biographies and integrate biographical information from different classes of grave goods.3. To interconnect the biographies of the grave goods with existing human biological data.4. To assess variability in the composition and treatment of Mesolithic stone tools from grave assemblages in order to understand their social role in mortuary rites.To do this, patterns of wear, often only visible microscopically, will be studied using tools from two of the most significant and globally renowned Mesolithic burial sites in Europe: Zvejnieki (Latvia) and YOO (Karelia). The biographies of approximately 400 stone tools will be integrated with the biographies of other funerary gifts, and through the exploitation of new bioarchaeological information, the biographies of the individuals they accompanied. This has the potential to reveal new insights into the past function and special treatment of stone tools, and whether they were even used at all prior to being placed into the grave.In doing so, the project aims to bring a critical new social dimension to the meaning of stone tools for prehistoric hunting and gathering societies whilst enabling a more holistic understanding of grave good symbolism than has been previously achieved.The story of stone tools and the important role they played in past lifeways will have a lasting impact on key sectors. Our results will be disseminated via open access journal articles, conference presentations, a website, blog, social media and downloadable resources for the public and interest groups. The project will have broad scholarly interest for researchers of the Mesolithic, stone tools, funerary archaeology and bioarchaeology. Impact activities will fill critical gaps within Museum and English Heritage strategic planning needs by bringing stone tools, often regarded as mundane, to life. We will equip primary and secondary school teachers and those working in cultural heritage (museums, commercial archaeologists) with key skills in how to teach, display and conserve lithic artefacts.