CDA2325 - Working Stone and Making Places in Neolithic Wales

博士项目将调查欧洲最大的新石器时代斧刃来源之一：北威尔士的Graig Lwyd。由Parc Eryri（斯诺登尼亚的国家公园和项目合作伙伴）领导的Graig Lwyd的新实地考察和公共宣传正在揭示一个广泛而多样的石材开采景观，具有独特的原创研究潜力。通过实地考察和人工制品分析，博士研究人员将产生关于新石器时代石头加工如何制作场所和景观的新知识。它将为项目合作伙伴提供证据，以更好地保护石工景观，并以生动和引人注目的方式展示新石器时代的斧头制作。石斧是欧洲新石器时代（公元前4000-2200年）多产，实用和有力的物品。斧头（刃）的属性和威力来自于它们所用的石头。人们根据材料的性质和石头的来源来选择火成岩和燧石的来源。最大的刀片来源之一是北威尔士的Graig Lwyd。克雷格Lwyd已收到只有零碎的兴趣，因为它的发现，由于相信工作失去了一个现代采石场。最近的实地调查推翻了这一信念。新石器时代最受欢迎的岩石（微碎屑）位于松散的碎石中，被现代采石场所忽视。由Parc Eryri（该项目的合作伙伴）领导的Graig Lwyd的调查和公众宣传已经确定了新的地点，并回收了大量（>500公斤）新石器时代的石加工碎片，代表了刀片制造的大部分阶段（YouTube上的介绍视频）。它已经将石头加工的痕迹扩展到原始发现的5公里范围内。Graig Lwyd是一个广泛而多样的石材开采景观。新石器时代的斧刃研究已从过去的单一研究对象转向对斧刃制作、运动、使用和沉积的研究。尽管对采石场的兴趣更大，但没有对主要的火成岩来源进行持续、系统的调查。即使是在英国最多产的来源Langdale，研究也是零碎的，缺乏综合的人工和景观分析。理论研究已经产生了令人信服的关于石材加工的社会组织的解释。然而，证据基础仍然以旧数据为主，缺乏景观研究。博士项目将调查欧洲最大的新石器时代斧刃来源之一，利用Parc Eryri正在进行的实地考察中的发现：1。在Graig Lwyd的景观中，采石和刀片制造发生在哪里？2.石材加工技术在景观中是如何变化的，是什么因素影响了这些变化？3. Graig Lwyd的石材加工技术和场地营造与欧洲西北部的其他石材加工景观相比如何？

The PhD project will investigate one of Europe's largest sources of Neolithic axe blades: Graig Lwyd, north Wales. New fieldwork and public outreach at Graig Lwyd led by Parc Eryri (the national park in Snowdonia and the project partner) is revealing an extensive and varied landscape of stone extraction, with exceptional potential for original research. Through fieldwork and artefact analysis, the PhD researcher will generate new knowledge about how stone working made places and landscapes in the Neolithic. It will benefit the project partner by providing evidence to better conserve the stone-working landscape and present Neolithic axe making in vivid and compelling ways.Stone axes were prolific, practical and potent objects in Neolithic Europe (4000-2200 BC). The axe heads (blades) derived their properties and potency from the stone from which they were fashioned. People selected sources of igneous rock and flint on the basis of the materials' properties and the places where the stone derived. One of the largest sources of blades was Graig Lwyd, north Wales. Craig Lwyd has received only piecemeal interest since its discovery due to the belief that the workings were lost to a modern quarry. Recent fieldwork disproved this belief. The rock (microdiorite) favoured in the Neolithic lies in screes of loose stone ignored by the modern quarries.Excavations and public outreach at Graig Lwyd led by Parc Eryri (the project's partner) has identified new sites and recovered large quantities (>500 kg) of Neolithic stone-working debris, representing most stages of blade making (introductory video on YouTube). It has extended the traces of stone working to areas within 5km of the original discoveries. Graig Lwyd is an extensive and varied landscape of stone extraction. The recently recovered assemblages of working debris offer exciting potential for original research that integrates materials and landscape investigation.Research on Neolithic axe blades has shifted from a narrow attention on the objects to studies of the making, movement, use and deposition of blades. Despite greater interest in quarries, no major igneous sources have received sustained, systematic investigation. Even at Langdale, the UK's most prolific source, research has been piecemeal and lacked integrated artefactual and landscape analyses. Theoretical research has generated compelling accounts of the social organisation of stone working. Yet the evidential basis remains dominated by old data and lacks landscape studies. The PhD project will investigate one of Europe's largest sources of Neolithic axe blades, capitalising on the discoveries made during Parc Eryri's ongoing fieldwork:1. Where did quarrying and blade making occur in the Graig Lwyd landscape?2. How did technologies of stone working vary in the landscape and what factors influenced these variations?3. How do stone-working technologies and placemaking at Graig Lwyd compare with other stone-working landscapes in NW Europe?