Maintaining craftsmanship - An investigation of the organisation of Middle Mesolithic blade technology at Hovland 3 in Vestfold, south-eastern Norway.

Abstract

The present study is a technological investigation of lithic blade technology from the Middle Mesolithic site Hovland 3 in Larvik, Vestfold, in south-eastern Norway. The knowledge of the Middle Mesolithic (8350-6300 BCE) in Scandinavia has increased substantially in recent years, following the research on large-scale cultural transmissions seen in the development of lithic blade technology. The change is considered to have been instigated by both migration and the diffusion of knowledge between communities of hunter-gatherer, and is seen in the implementation of pressure flaking as a technique for knapping lithic blades. The new concept of blade technology has been referred to as the conical pressure blade concept , which diffused from the north-western Russian plains into and through Scandinavia during the Early- Middle Mesolithic transition. A premise for this recent perspective is that the Mesolithic communities are believed to have been highly conservative of their traditions of material culture. In this thesis, I will explore the possibility of discerning how social factors contributed to consolidating and temporally maintaining this concept of lithic blade technology through the Middle Mesolithic era. To enable a discussion of this topic, the well-dated and defined locality Hovland 3 will serve as a test case, and its blade material will be investigated by the method of technological classification, in conjunction with the principles of the chaîne opératoire.