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

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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.