Lithic technology and social agency in late Neolithic northern Italy : knapping flint at Rocca di Rivoli (Verona, Italy)
The thesis explores the relationship between late Neolithic knappers and flint resources at the settlement of Rocca di Rivoli (Verona, Italy), a key site for the understanding of the late Neolithic in northern Italy. Approximately 8000 flint artefacts were recorded by means of an attribute-based relational database and subsequently analysed. The use of the \(chaĂźne\) \(opĂ©ratoire\) method, combined with a social agency approach, provided a useful framework within which to discuss topics such as tradition, style and specialization in the context of the late Neolithic of northern Italy. The intrinsic nature of the site, characterized by secondary deposition in pits, challenged the potential retrieval of data and subsequent interpretation and resulted in the identification of fragmented \(chaĂźnes\) \(opĂ©ratoires\). In addition, the poor conservation of the finds and bias in accessibility procedures to the collection limited the choice of analytical methods available. Nonetheless, significant results were obtained. At Rocca di Rivoli there were clear preferences in terms of raw material: flint coming from the Maiolica outcrops was by far the preferred variety to be working with. It is suggested that raw material
Dalla Riva, Martina
D051 Ancient History ; GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography
Lithic technology and social agency in late Neolithic northern Italy : knapping flint at Rocca di Rivoli (Verona, Italy). The thesis explores the relationship between late Neolithic knappers and flint resources at the settlement of Rocca di Rivoli (Verona, Italy), a key site for the understanding of the late Neolithic in northern Italy. Approximately 8000 flint artefacts were recorded by means of an attribute-based relational database and subsequently analysed. The use of the \(chaĂźne\) \(opĂ©ratoire\) method, combined with a social agency approach, provided a useful framework within which to discuss topics such as tradition, style and specialization in the context of the late Neolithic of northern Italy. The intrinsic nature of the site, characterized by secondary deposition in pits, challenged the potential retrieval of data and subsequent interpretation and resulted in the identification of fragmented \(chaĂźnes\) \(opĂ©ratoires\). In addition, the poor conservation of the finds and bias in accessibility procedures to the collection limited the choice of analytical methods available. Nonetheless, significant results were obtained. At Rocca di Rivoli there were clear preferences in terms of raw material: flint coming from the Maiolica outcrops was by far the preferred variety to be working with. It is suggested that raw material
lithic_technology social agency late_neolithic northern_italy flint italy explores_relationship late_neolithic flint resource settlement italy key_site late_neolithic northern_italy flint artefact record mean attribute based relational_database subsequently analyse use chaazne_opa ratoire method_combine social agency provide_useful framework_within discuss topic tradition style specialization context late_neolithic northern_italy intrinsic nature site characterize secondary deposition pit challenge potential retrieval data subsequent interpretation result identification fragment addition poor conservation find bias accessibility procedure collection limit choice analytical_method available nonetheless significant obtain clear preference term raw_material flint come far preferred variety work with suggest raw_material