Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik

Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Chemical analysis of hematite-rich ironstones by XRF and HH-XRF. Figure on cover: royalty-free stock photo of red colour powder (http://www.mediafocus.com/stock-photo-red-color-powder-mev98042.html). Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Chemical analysis of hematite-rich ironstones by XRF and HH-XRF. . Joost Wijnen BA. S0368822. Master thesis material culture and artefact studies. ARCH 1044WY. Supervisors Prof. dr. A.L. van Gijn. Dr. D. Braekmans Leiden University. Delft, 30 June 2013 Faculty of Archaeology. Contents. PREFACE 5. 1 INTRODUCTION 7. 2 THE LINEARBANDKERAMIK CULTURE 11. 2.1 THE LINEARBANDKERAMIK ‘PACKAGE’ 12. 2.1.1 MATERIAL CULTURE 14 2.1.2 SOCIETY 15. 2.2 THE ORIGIN OF THE LINEARBANDKERAMIK CULTURE 20. 2.3 REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE LINEARBANDKERAMIK CULTURE 21. 3 LINEARBANDKERAMIK SITES IN THE NETHERLANDS 25. 3.1 RESEARCH HISTORY 26. 3.2 SITES WITH RED OCHRE FINDS USED IN THIS THESIS 29. 4 RED OCHRE 35. 4.1 GEOLOGY 38. 4.1.1 THE FORMATION OF HEMATITE 39. 4.2 PREVIOUS RESEARCH 43. 4.3 RED OCHRE IN THE DUTCH LINEARBANDKERAMIK 46. 5 METHODS AND TECHNIQUES 51. 5.1 SAMPLE SELECTION 51. 5.2 MICROSCOPY 52. 5.3 X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY 52. 5.3.1 HANDHELD X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY 53 5.3.2 LABORATORY X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY 56. 5.4 STATISTICAL ANALYSES 57. | 3 |. 4 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. 6 RESULTS 59. 6.1 MICROSCOPY 59. 6.1.1 MORPHOLOGICALLY BASED CATEGORIZATION 59 6.1.2 MICROWEAR ANALYSIS 64. 6.2 X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY 68. 6.2.1 HANDHELD X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY 69 6.2.2 LABORATORY X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY 75. 7 DISCUSSION 81. 8 CONCLUSION 85. ABSTRACT 91. BIBLIOGRAPHY 93. LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES 103. FIGURES 103. TABLES 107. APPENDIX 109. STATISTICAL TABLES AND CHARTS 109 A. RESULTS OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND MICROWEAR STUDY 118 B. RESULTS OF X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROMETRY 121 C. Preface. This thesis marks the completion of my time in the graduate school of the Faculty of. Archaeology at Leiden University. There I took part in the master programme. ‘material culture and artefact studies’ as a follow up of my bachelors in archaeology. at the same institution. Although this master programme was chiefly aimed at the. theoretical and functional aspect of material culture, I took a more archaeometrical. approach in my research, using spectroscopic techniques to analyse one find. category of artefacts. Luckily, I was helped in this regard with the knowledge I. obtained in my previous (and unfinished) study in chemistry. Unfortunately, none. of the education I had partaken of covered the formation of minerals or the. multivariate statistics needed. As a result, I spent a lot of time trying different. statistical techniques and getting myself up to speed on petrology and the type,. application, and interpretation of the statistical analyses needed in this kind of. research. Fortunately, I was greatly helped by Dennis Braekmans in the latter.. I would also like to thank Dennis for his help in securing the means for the. laboratory X-ray fluorescence analyses in Delft and Ruud Hendrikx for performing. these measurements. Subsequently, I would like to thank Bertil van Os for his help. with the handheld X-ray fluorescence analyses, as well as Annelou van Gijn for her. help in reviewing all the text, which was not always that properly written at the time. she read it, and supporting me with my (again) poorly executed schedule for. making this thesis.. | 5 |. 1 Introduction. The Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK)1 is one of the most widespread cultures of the. Early Neolithic and signalled, in many parts of Europe, the introduction of farming. as a new way of life. Ever since Childe introduced the concept of a ‘Neolithic. revolution’ these early farming communities have received much attention as the. scale, the speed, and the uniformity of the spread of LBK were seen as clear signs of. Childe’s revolution model (Childe 1958). Currently, the notion of a one-sided. colonization has made room for a more complex theory that combines both. colonization and acculturation as driving forces behind the spread of the LBK. The. clear signs of regional Mesolithic traditions being a part of specific regional LBK. groups show the uniformity to be superficial. As a result, research has shifted to. understanding what drove Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to change their society to. farming and how these communities evolved, by looking at the differences. between the LBK groups and their contacts with each other and the outside world.. The use of red ochre, or hematite, is another much discussed topic in. archaeology. Its use as a pigment and its high potential for being preserved in the. archaeological record gives opportunity to study the symbolic aspects of life in the. past. Although most of the discussion on the use of red ochre is grounded in the. debate about the emergence of ‘behavioural modernity’ in the Palaeolithic. (McBrearty and Brooks 2000), its use has given great insights into the ritualistic. behaviour of many later cultures as well (Bednarik 2008), including the LBK (van. Gijn and Verbaas 2009). Hematite is found on LBK sites in different contexts,. where the symbolic nature of its use is evident. It is found pasted in ornamental. indentations in the ceramics, in graves, and on agricultural stone tools that were. intentionally deposited, predominantly querns (Bakels 1978; van Gijn and Verbaas. 1 Scientific archaeological literature still does not, unfortunately, have an internationally acknowledged name for the culture of the Linearbandkeramik or Linienbandkeramik. Besides these German words, publications in English use terms like Linear Pottery Culture and Danubian I, while French works use Omalien and Rubané. For this thesis the internationally common abbreviation ‘LBK’ is used, after the German word ‘Linearbandkeramische Kultur’ that was coined by Klopfleisch (1883).. | 7 |. . 8 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. 2009; de Grooth and van de Velde 2005; Lenneis 2007; Nieszery 1995). In graves it. is found as powder on agricultural stone tools, hands and head, as well as funerary. gifts of solid blocks (Lenneis 2007; Nieszery 1995). Almost all of the lithic red ochre. finds show signs of scraping or grinding, presumably associated with the ochre. traces found on querns (Bakels 1978, 62). This is, however, questioned by van Gijn. and Verbaas, as they found no traces of ochre grinding on the querns themselves. (van Gijn and Verbaas 2009; Verbaas and van Gijn 2007).. The research of LBK settlements in the Netherlands resulted in large-scale. excavations in the fifties and sixties, but since then no large excavations have taken. place, with the exception of Geleen - Janskamperveld in 1990-’91. These. excavations formed the basis for developing our knowledge of the settlement. system, chronology and house architecture (Modderman 1970). Current. investigations into the LBK are in need of a more detailed picture going beyond the. well published settlements. LBK settlement on the loess soils was probably more. complicated, diverse and interesting than the uniform picture that is often invoked.. In order to disclose the information of the smaller, less well published excavation,. a so called ‘Odyssey project’ has been funded by National Science Foundation. (NWO). This project is being done by Archol, the National Museum of Antiquities. (RMO) and the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University, called ‘The LBK. revisited: ‘forgotten’ research into the Bandkeramik occupation of the Low. Countries’. This project aims to disclose un- or scarcely published excavations to. the scientific community. These sites constitute a complementary perspective for. the well-known settlements from the main cluster, since they provide a more. elaborate, detailed and diversified image, and provide one of the few insights into. the sites of the secondary cluster of Dutch LBK sites. This, in turn, may have. considerable importance for regional comparison (Amkreutz et al. 2012, 51-3).. Many find categories have been thoroughly studied through the publication of. the larger excavations, resulting in typological and provenance determination of. the predominant stone tools, amphibolite and flint tools. Unfortunately, red ochre. is not included herein, because only relatively few solid blocks have been found at. the sites and the grounded up powder did not lend itself well to being extracted. from either the soil or other artefacts. Red ochre outcrops are not present in the. Introduction 9. Netherlands, but its use has been documented from very early time periods. onwards (Roebroeks et al. 2012). Sourcing the hematite finds in the Netherlands. and making an inventory of the different types present could prove a great help in. understanding the different exchange networks through time. Bakels suggested a. combined study of all LBK hematite finds in order to evaluate its use and. provenance as the small sample obtained of each individual site would not allow. sensible conclusions to be drawn (Bakels 1978).. With Bakels’ suggestion in mind and the Odyssey project assembling finds. from fourteen different excavations, an opportunity presented itself to investigate a. relatively large dataset of Dutch LBK red ochre finds. It had been decided to. undertake a chemical characterization study as this research is the end product of a. graduate course in archaeology that is (partly) focussed on the application of. analytical techniques in archaeology. Unfortunately, the scope of this research did. not allow for a provenance study as the nearby sources have not (yet) been clearly. classified and the possibly large intrasource variation would need more time and. funding to investigate than had been allotted for this research.. In order to accomplish the chemical characterization, the pieces of hematite. have been analysed by means of handheld, or portable, X-ray fluorescence (HH-. XRF or PXRF). In order to verify the results of the non-destructive HH-XRF, a small. part of the hematite pieces has also been subjected to the destructive analysis of. laboratory X-ray fluorescence (XRF), as those results enjoy higher precision.. The set of red ochre finds used in this study has been compiled from all the. excavations that are part of the aforementioned Odyssey project that also yielded. hematite finds, the excavation of Geleen - Janskamperveld, as well as some small. LBK excavations done by Archol that yielded hematite finds (Tab. 1, page 29).. Artefacts with traces of red ochre have not been included in this, as the. interference caused by the artefact during XRF measurements would not allow for. a good comparison study. This resulted in a set of 97 pieces from 11 sites that had. been classified as being mostly hematite.. The main goal of this research is to help to further the goals of the Odyssey. project ‘The LBK revisited’ by making a comparative study of the hematite. assemblages from the different sites and regional groups. This will be done by. 10 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. means of a chemical characterization by both HH-XRF and XRF, and by. morphological examination of both the macroscopic and microscopic physical. properties.. These is currently a lot of debate whether HH-XRF is an useable tool for. archaeology as its in demand with curators all over the world because of its. portable non-destructive applicability, while critics are sceptical of the reliability of. the results (Craig et al. 2007; Liritzis and Zacharias 2011; Shackley 2010; Shugar and. Mass 2012; Speakman et al. 2011). With three different approaches being used it. will be possible to do a cross-comparison of the techniques. With the two similar. techniques, HH-XRF and XRF, it is possible to test the HH-XRF results for analytical. precision and its capability of identifying chemically different groups. By linking. these results with the morphological study, the usefulness of chemical. characterization of hematite compared to grouping based on morphological. attributes can be tested.. Fig. 1 The spread of early Neolithic agrarian cultures in Europe (Cunliffe 2001, 140).. 2 The Linearbandkeramik culture. The Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK) is one of the most widespread and iconic. archaeological cultures of prehistoric times. In Central Europe, the spread of the. LBK signals the start of Neolithic times as it ushers in a new way of life. It completely. conforms to the classical definition of a Neolithic society, as both pottery and. polished stone artefacts are trademark signs, and conforms to the more currently. used definition of the change from Mesolithic to Neolithic times, a sedentary and. agrarian society. Even though the LBK is spread across a wide geographical area. (Fig. 1), it appears very homogeneous in material culture, subsistence strategy, and. site organization. This change is seen as an indication for deep seated change in. society and outlook of prehistoric man as he left behind the ways of hunter-. | 11 |. 12 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. gatherers and adopted this completely new lifestyle. As a result, this change is still. thought of in a similar light as the concept of the Neolithic revolution introduced. by Childe (1958). Even though this extraordinary change in subsistence strategy is. no longer seen as the rapid shift in lifestyle that Childe envisioned, the complete. change to a full sedentary life still had far-reaching ‘revolutionary’ consequences.. Not only did the subsistence strategy change, but with it year-round sedentary. settlements, the usage of pottery, and the large-scale alteration of the natural. environment had been introduced (Modderman 1988; Nieszery 1995; de Grooth. and van de Velde 2005).. 2.1 The Linearbandkeramik ‘package’. The LBK derives its name from the decorated pottery ware (Fig. 2), named by. Klopfleisch (1883). Its settlements are found close to water, on highly fertile. grounds, almost exclusively loess soils, and consist of several longhouses. These. houses had a rectangular structure, 5-8 m wide and 8-35 m long, often constructed. from whole or cleft tree trunks that were set deep into the ground, with walls of. wattle and daub. The loam was extracted from the area immediately surrounding. the houses, leaving trenches around most buildings (Fig. 3). These longhouses were. Fig. 2 Pottery of the 6th millennium BC in Central Europe. (a) Late Starčevo; (b) Early LBK (Gronenborn 1999, 148).. The Linearbandkeramik culture 13. almost always positioned parallel to each other, with different orientations being. dominant in different regions. . Remarkably, no or very few intersecting house-plans have been found at LBK. sites. Apparently the reconstruction of these houses seldom took place in the same. spot, making for ever shifting settlements that gradually cultivated more and more. land. Possibly this was (in part) the result of depletion of nearby resources, wood. and fertile soil, or the result of an expanding population. Consequently, some. houses would gradually move away and form new settlements nearby (Dubouloz. 2008). Many clusters of settlements formed like this are known (Modderman 1988,. 86-9). In order for this to happen, the original, or central, settlement first had to be. founded in a relative secluded area. Evidence for small founding phases in the form. of typologically different decorated ceramics has been uncovered at numerous. sites all along the known LBK regions (Modderman 1988, 98). As a result of this. practice of colonizing virgin territory and subsequent gradual expansion, the LBK. landscape consists of clusters of settlements.. Fig. 3 An artist's impression of LBK life (Gronenborn 2005).. 14 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Based on finds, pollen, and isotope analyses, archaeologists have found that. the agricultural way of life of the LBK consisted of cultivating emmer wheat. (Triticum dicoccum), einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum), pea (Pisum sativum). and lentil (Lens culinaris), while they predominantly kept cattle (Bos primigenius),. but also sheep/goats (Ovis/Capra) and swine (Sus domesticus) as livestock. Their. diet was supplemented by hunting, mostly red deer (Cervus elaphus) and wild. boar (Sus scrofa) (de Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 221; Oelze et al. 2011).. 2.1.1 Material culture. The material culture of the LBK is mostly descended from the Mesolithic traditions,. such as the use of microliths and blades, but with some new introductions,. adaptations to the agricultural way of life (de Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 220-. 3). The introduction of polished stone tools (Fig. 4) is linked to woodworking, as. these tools are much better suited for complex carpentry. These tools had been. hafted as adzes and chisels and gave these early farmers the ability to not only. swiftly clear ground for agricultural practices, but also the ability to construct. intricate wooden constructions, such as their houses and wells. This is clearly. demonstrated by some recent finds in Eastern Germany, where wooden water. wells have been laid bare, showing ‘unexpectedly refined carpentry skills’ that was,. until now, thought to be a Roman invention (Tegel et al. 2012).. Fig. 4 Stone adzes from the excavations at Elsloo, made from amphibolite and lydite. The different sizes probably related to different tool types (de Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 227).. The Linearbandkeramik culture 15. Fig. 5 Funerary gifts from grave 89 of Elsloo: ornamented pot, quern and a piece of hematite; indicating the burial of a woman (de Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 224).. The use of grinding stones, or querns (Fig. 5), had been another new. introduction during Neolithic times. These grinding stone were essential in the. preparation of food from the cultivated cereals. They were most likely also used for. the production of wooden or bone artefacts, as well as the processing of other raw. materials such as hematite, and maybe even hide (van Gijn and Verbaas 2009; de. Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 227; Verbaas and van Gijn 2007, 194-201).. A third group of newly introduced material culture is, of course, ceramics. This. category encompasses the largest part of the finds from LBK settlements and. represents another adaptation to agrarian life as they make durable storage and. cooking devices. The ceramics were almost always produced locally from locally. available resources. The culture derives its name from the characteristic. ornamentation of the vessels (Fig. 5). These decorations were made by indenting. the exterior of the vessels with an implement prior to firing. Traces of red and white. incrustations are sometimes still present, lending to believe that the vessels had. been further ornamented besides the now visible indentations (de Grooth and van. de Velde 2005, 228-9; Modderman 1988, 112).. 2.1.2 Society. With the coming of this new sedentary, agricultural way of life, society would have. profoundly differed from that of the nomadic hunter-gatherers. Societies that live. in the same area for long periods of time, like the LBK, give certain advantages to. archaeologists. In contrast to the ever-mobile hunter-gatherer societies, it is. possible to study the movement of people and materials in greater detail. . 16 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. A sedentary agricultural way of life places more value on land, shelter, and the. necessary tools; leading to the concept of ownership and wealth. As a result, the. change in subsistence strategy is theorized to create a non-egalitarian society. This. differentiation between people is visible in the archaeological record through the. differences in the size of the houses and worked farmland, and the ways people. were treated after death. The numerous graveyards uncovered from LBK times. show the tradition of burial, as do the uncovered graves that lay within the. settlements. Both inhumation and cremation were practiced (Nieszery 1995). The. choices to bury somebody as either inhumation or cremation, and to do this in a. graveyard or inside the settlement are thought to be an expression of identity or. status (Hofmann and Bickle 2011). Estimates based on settlement size and. occupation history show that probably less than 20% of LBK people ended up in. Fig. 6 Spread of LBK culture in Central Europe and known location of large cemeteries (John 2011, 40).. The Linearbandkeramik culture 17. graveyards (Nieszery 1995, 19). It is also possible that the preference to do one or. the other is more regionally bounded, but this claim is hard to prove as the. preservation of organic remains, and thus the visibility of graves, differs greatly. throughout the vast geographic region of LBK occupation. Nevertheless, it seems. unlikely that the large formal graveyards had been missed in any excavation and. are regarded a clear expression of regional preferences (Fig. 6) (Nieszery 1995).. Most of the dead were accompanied by funerary gifts, or grave goods. The. most common gifts include (ornamented) ceramics, polished stone adzes and. axes, bone combs, bow and arrow (only known from the flint arrowheads), querns,. stone beads and amulets, animal teeth amulets/bracelets, ornaments of Spondylus. and gastropod shells, and pieces of or ground hematite (Fig. 7).. These grave goods have been the basis for a long-standing discussion about. the identity of the dead, their status in the LBK society, and their heritage.. Unfortunately, it is impossible to go into detail of this discussion within the limited. space of this thesis other than a short summary. Archaeological, DNA, and isotope. Fig. 7 A burial of an adult female (40–45 years, grave 60, Aiterhofen). The grave contained a Spondylus shell necklace around the neck, strings of gastropod shell on the head, small quern near the forehead, small pot behind the skull, a bone comb at the back of the neck, and traces of red ochre around the head and hands (Bickle et al. 2011, 1247).. 18 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. analyses have led to the discovery of several significant correlations:. – A correlation between females and gifts of hematite and querns (de. Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 225).. – A correlation between males and gifts of adzes and bow and arrows (de. Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 225).. – A correlation between the birthplace of an individual and the direction the. head is placed to (Bentley 2007; Bickle et al. 2011; Price et al. 2001);. – A correlation between shoe-last stone adzes (Schuhleistenkeil) and burials. of local males with access to the most fertile grounds (Bentley 2007, 126;. Bentley et al. 2012; Bentley in press).. – No correlation between ‘rich’ graves and origin of an individual (Bickle et. al. 2011, 1255).. DNA and isotopic studies can only show the difference between local and. non-local occupants. Overall, most of the females found in LBK cemeteries were. non-local, suggesting a patrilocal society (Bentley 2007; Bentley in press; Bentley et. al. 2012; Bickle et al. 2011; Price et al. 2001).. The material culture remains make up a much larger part of the physical. archaeological finds than the remains of humans. Understanding the life cycle of. these objects is an important tool in the archaeologist’s arsenal for understanding. life in the past.. The introduction of sedentary life opens some new avenues of inquiry for. archaeologists. Contrary to the nomadic hunter-gatherers, the systems of exchange. used by the sedentary farmers are likely to be less prone to sudden changes. because of shifts in either distribution of people or need for raw materials, while. the decrease in mobility increases the need for exchange in order to obtain all. required raw materials. As a result, tracking the provenance and distribution of. different raw materials does not just allow insight into the possible importance and. necessity of the material, but might also give indication for the spread across the. land of technology, people, and, as a by-product, their society. But, as down-the-. line exchange undoubtedly played an important role in long-distance exchange,. these interpretations are not straight forward.. The Linearbandkeramik culture 19. Long-distance exchanges are known from as far back in time as the. Palaeolithic age (Roebroeks 2005, 108-9). The distances travelled by materials have. been ever increasing through time, which supposedly signals increasing. complexity of the connections being maintained. Although many LBK settlements. reside at varying distances from the raw materials needed for integral parts of their. technology and tradition, such as amphibolite adzes, Spondylus ornaments, and. flint tools, these raw materials are distributed fairly evenly throughout LBK territory. (Modderman 1988, 123).. Adzes were almost exclusively made from suitably hard materials, such as. amphibolite, green schist, and lydite, which is found in a very limited number of. places. The origin of the amphibolite widely used in the western LBK area is. unknown, but petrographic analyses suggest that it was presumably extracted from. somewhere in Central Europe, possibly the Bohemian massif or the Carpathians. (Modderman 1988, 105; de Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 228), thus would have. travelled several hundred kilometres. Green schist was more often used for adzes. in the eastern part of the LBK area, and is equally found over several hundred. kilometres away from its sources in Poland (Modderman 1988, 105). During the. ‘late’ phases of LBK several different types of stone were used to make adzes,. especially in the Lower Rhine region. Basalt, lydite, and several quartzites had been. used (Modderman 1988, 105; de Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 228).. Although flint is more widely available, it is still found only incidentally in the. areas where the LBK took root. Flint was transported over hundreds of kilometres. as well. For the Early LBK, very good examples are known from Poland, where finds. can be traced back to several sources up to 275 km away (Lech 1979 in. Modderman 1988, 123). Similarly, for the Late LBK, ‘Rijckholt flint’ from the Lanaye. Member of the Gulpen Formation originating from Dutch Limburg has been found. in places up to 270 km away (Amkreutz et al. 2012, 58; Modderman 1988, 123).. Spondylus shells formed the raw material for a fair amount of ornaments found. in graves throughout the LBK area. These shells can only be found in the Adriatic. and the Aegean, but have been found as far removed as Poland and the Eiffel. region (Dimitrijević and Tripković 2002; Siklósi 2004).. 20 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Long distance exchange systems were a part of the early LBK ‘package’, as they. allowed essential technologies and traditions to thrive in areas that would. otherwise be too far removed. It seems quite arguable that the uniformity of the. LBK is mainly the result for the need to transport materials over often great. distances, and thus maintaining the contacts necessary for constant cultural. exchange.. 2.2 The origin of the Linearbandkeramik culture. The earliest LBK pottery traditions emerged from agricultural societies in the. Transdanubia area (part of western Hungary most important for the initial. development of the Earliest LBK) sometime around 5700/5650 BC2. By this time,. the characteristic LBK subsistence strategy and settlement patterns started to. emerge and spread across Central Europe.. The agricultural ways of life originate in the Near East and came to Europe via. the Balkans. The exact route and timing of these changes are the subject of. discussion. Of interest for the start of the LBK is that by the start of the 7th. millennium BC the south eastern part of the Balkans was home to several groups. with different pottery styles that had varying pastoralist and horticulturalist ways of. life, similar to those of contemporaneous Near Eastern societies (Bökönyi 1989, 15).. By 6400 BC certain traces of a Neolithic way of life spread into the northern. Balkans from the south, subsequently reaching Transdanubia after 6000 BC. These. Carpathian Early Neolithic cultures have certain similarities with the Early Neolithic. in Macedonia and Greece such as the preponderance of sheep/goat (Ovis/Capra). and the cultivation of the classic Near Eastern cereals. Even so, the Transdanubian. cultures, known as the Starčevo-Körös-Cri complex, can be clearly distinguished. stylistically and economically, forming an independent tradition that formed the. basis of the Central European Early Neolithic (Fig. 1). Unfortunately, the Starčevo-. Körös-Criş complex is still quite poorly understood (Gronenborn 1999, 144-56).. The Starčevo-Körös-Criş complex gradually changes into the Middle Neolithic. Vinča (± 5500 BC) culture with a transitional phase where elements of both pottery. 2 Unless noted otherwise, all dates mentioned are calibrated C-14 dates.. . The Linearbandkeramik culture 21. styles occur together (± 5600 BC). The earlier predominance of sheep/goat is. replaced by a clear predominance of cattle, often reaching up to 80% (Bökönyi. 1989, 50). This change probably resulted from the population growth, as the. increasing demand for meat could not have been met by the comparatively small. sheep/goat herds. This shift had tremendous economic and societal. consequences. The northern Balkans and the southern Carpathian Basin. underwent a notable change toward cultural complexity. Sites are more numerous. and larger than before and houses were square, with wattle-and-daub walls. (Gronenborn 1999, 146).. From the Vinča and Starčevo cultures the earliest LBK style pottery (Fig. 2). evolves in Transdanubia around 5700/5650 BC and reaches Franconia (Central. Germany) around 5500 BC, an expansion of over 650 km during the first 200 years.. From Franconia, a second advance moved toward the Rhine, probably around. 5400 BC.. Finally, a third advance, traditionally known as the late LBK, started with the. onset of the Flomborn phase, in the course of which the Rhineland and Alsace had. been settled, including the south eastern part of the Netherlands (Fig. 6). (Gronenborn 1999, 156). The Flomborn tradition was a somewhat new. development that originated in the Northern Upper Rhine Plain around 5300 BC. with distinctive types of houses and ornamentation of the pottery (van Wijk and. van de Velde 2007, 131). During the late phase of the LBK, long-distance exchange. and homogeneity seem to gradually decrease (Nieszery 1995, 33). The LBK comes. at an end around 4900 BC, when several traditions, including house-building,. stone tools, and pottery, are relatively suddenly substituted, making a range of new. archaeological cultures in the former LBK area. The end of the LBK is typically seen. as the result of a crisis in the too strongly regimented economic system, which was. no longer able to provide for the needs of that time (Modderman 1988, 130).. 2.3 Regional differences in the Linearbandkeramik culture. In his ‘personal synthesis of the Linearbandkeramik culture’, Modderman (1988). shows the dualistic role that the apparent uniformity of the LBK gives bare. From. early on, the uniformity and relatively rapid spread have been seen as conclusive. 22 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. for the colonization model of the dispersion of agriculture from east to west. Since. then, acculturation has also been investigated as possible means of dispersal.. Currently, the general idea that the spread of LBK had been due to either. colonization or acculturation is gradually being replaced by a model where the. social implications are essential. The uniformity could well be interpreted as an. argument against the colonization model. It is likely that the spread of a. technology, albeit a completely different way of life, would show significantly more. diversification given the timespan of its spread with LBK. Even though it is known. that the Early LBK was far more uniform than the Late LBK, and the early spread was. relatively rapid, one would expect to see strong signs of the acculturation showing. through, as adaptation to new areas had undoubtedly been necessary given the. vastness of the land settled by LBK people. On the other hand, the introduction of. such a completely different way of life, the strong indications of at least some form. of colonization taking place, and the signs of the extensive long-distance exchange. networks could all be attributed to a ‘package’ of traits transferred as a part of a. cultural system, possibly something akin to a religion. Such a hypothesis would. allow for little alternative cultural traits rising up, as they might have been deemed. ‘incompatible’ in some way or another with the LBK system. This could be due to. either belief or practical reasons, considering the convergence when transmitted. actively through adoption (Robb and Miracle 2007, 99-100), and that. technologically competitive alternatives might not have been available.. Even though it is greatly emphasised in the preceding text, the LBK is not just. characterized by uniformity, but also has distinctive regional groups. Ceramics. have been the key in linking the LBK sites together all over Europe, and led to the. understanding of the vastness of this Early Neolithic culture. In trying to make an. all-encompassing typology of these ceramics, archaeologist quickly discovered. distinctive adornments were used in different regions and, as such, no single linear. thread could be identified tying in the typology from beginning to end. (Modderman 1988, 122-3). The ceramics showed the diversification that was to be. expected. Currently a great number of aspects have been identified as being. different from region to region; some of which have been discussed in the. preceding paragraphs. The materials found in LBK sites, mostly graveyards, suggest. The Linearbandkeramik culture 23. Fig. 8 Top: known European Mesolithic sites where gastropod ornaments have been found (Álvarez-Fernández 2007).. Right: Early Neolithic sites in Central Europe where gastropod ornaments were found in graves (Lenneis 2007, 134).. local traditions being practiced. Grave gifts such as gastropod ornaments, the use. of ochre, animal teeth, specific types of arrowheads, and cremation in burials are. seen as indicative for a continuation of local Mesolithic traditions (Lenneis 2007).. From the earliest LBK onwards, characteristics such as cultivated crops, exchange. systems, settlement structure and pattern, house types, tool types, and other are. found to be different from region to region (de Grooth and van de Velde 2005;. Lenneis 2002; Lüning 2002; Modderman 1988; Pavlů 2002; Stäuble 2005).. As an example, in his study of the origin and typology of Early LBK houses,. Stäuble (2005) shows that there is no linear change in houses that can be attributed. to a typological, gradual change from one form to another. He combines evidence. from different sites with radiocarbon dating to characterize the timing and extent of. the change that lead to the ‘common’ longhouses used during the Early LBK. Even. though the sites are geographically very distant, several distinctive changes seem to. be happening simultaneously as aspects thought to be typologically consecutive. appear in non-consecutive order or contemporaneous. Stäuble argues for the. notion that the typological features used to identify the types of longhouses were. more the result of regional changes than of an overall design; thus giving reason to. rethink their part in the uniformity of the LBK (Stäuble 2005, 213-5).. By comparing Late Mesolithic traditions with regional differences in material. culture, evidence can be found for acculturation as local traditions bridge the. 24 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Fig. 9 Spread of different ‘Danubian points’ in Late Mesolithic and Earliest LBK sites (Gronenborn 1999, 139).. introduction of the LBK ‘cultural package’. Commonly found as funerary gifts, the. presence of gastropod ornaments is a regionally bound phenomenon in both Late. Mesolithic and Early Neolithic times (Fig. 8) (Álvarez-Fernández 2007; Lenneis. 2002). Löhr (1994 in Gronenborn 1999) showed that the boundary between the. different so-called ‘Danubian points’ (i.e. right and left asymmetrical trapezoid. microliths) known from the Mesolithic had been maintained after the introduction. the LBK ‘cultural package’ (Fig. 9).. Because the LBK uniformity cannot be interpreted as LBK being a. superregional unity, it can be concluded that regional groups with (greatly). different social systems, organisation and traditions must have existed. These. traditions were most prominently transmitted from generation to generation. Thus,. in understanding the correlation of different areas with each other with regard to. cultural attributes, it might be possible to chart the spread of regionally distinct. features of LBK, possibly linking them to archaeologically visible customs from. earlier and later times. Pavlů (2002) showed that the small regional differences in. the Early LBK Elbe-region can be linked to several different sub-regions that slowly. change to form archaeologically distinct cultures.. 3 Linearbandkeramik sites in the Netherlands. The first farming communities to settle the Netherlands were those of the. Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK). The highly fertile soils that were settled by the. people of the LBK are present only in the southeast of the Netherlands, in the. province South-Limburg. Because these early farmers were exploiting the most. fertile of soils almost exclusively, their remains are predominantly found on the. middle Meuse terrace, containing the highly fertile loess soils, known as the. Graetheide area (Fig. 10). Just as in other parts of the LBK territory, settlements are. almost always found near sources of running water (Modderman 1988). The Dutch. LBK sites represent the most north western expansion of the LBK (Fig. 1).. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the LBK expansion into the Netherlands. happened during the Flomborn phase. The earliest LBK finds from the Netherlands. are dated to approximately 5250 BC, while the latest are dated to approximately. Fig. 10 Known Dutch LBK settlements and the different regional groups (after de Grooth and van de Velde 2005, 219).. Graetheide. Hesbaye. | 25 |. 26 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. 4950 BC (Lanting and van der Plicht 1999). Around 5100 BC, the LBK expands into. Belgium (Hesbaye area3) and, sometime later, from the Rhine valley along the. Moselle, into the Paris Basin. Even though the earliest phases of the Graetheide LBK. settlements show great similarities with the eastern and southern regions, over time. the differences increase, even with the directly neighbouring regions of the Rhine. valley and Hesbaye. Apparently, the regions did not maintain close contacts, as. every group formed a proverbial island commonly referred to as ‘regional group’. (Coudart 1998 in van Wijk and van de Velde 2007).. The expansion of the LBK in the Netherlands was mostly bound to the. Graetheide region, where they settled, in about six to eight generations, all of the. edges along both the river to the west, the Meuse, and to the east. This river to the. east is currenlty not an active river, but only a dry stream valley. Some LBK. settlements are even known from non-typical areas, such as the center of the. Greatheide area, which has clay soils and is much further from water. The LBK sites. in the Netherlands were probably also present outside the Graetheide area, but. due to a longstanding notion that Ducht LBK was synonimus with Graetheide, little. research has been done outside this area.. The northwestern expansion had been relatively short-lived as around 4950. BC the LBK sites in both the Netherlands and Belgium were deserted for unknown. reasons (Modderman 1988, 129; van Wijk and van de Velde 2007, 134).. Remarkably, settlements only thirty kilometers eastward along the Rhine did. continue to exist as part of the Großgartach culture. Its successor, the Rössen. culture, is again found in the Netherlands, but is dated several centuries later than. the LBK settlements (van Wijk and van de Velde 2007, 134).. 3.1 Research history. Even though the existence of LBK has been known from the end of the 19th century. onwards (Klopfleisch 1883), it was not until 1925 that finds in the Netherlands had. been ascribed to this culture by dr. Goossens (1925) and subsequently excavated. by dr. Holweda in the following years. After the war, the research into the LBK. 3 In this thesis, the LBK Hesbaye cluster (or Haspengouw in Dutch) is synonymously used with the Heeswater cluster as defined by Bakels (1982). It thus includes the Dutch Caberg region.. . Linearbandkeramik sites in the Netherlands 27. settlements of the Graetheide area got momentum with excavations of big. settlement sites (Elsloo, Sittard, and Stein) by Modderman during the 1950s and. 1960s (Fig. 11) (Bakels 1978; Modderman 1970).. The following years, the 1970s and 1980s, were relatively quiet concerning. Dutch excavations of LBK sites as Modderman had moved his focus onto the south. of Germany. It was not until 1990-‘91 that another big LBK settlement, (Geleen -. Fig. 11 Map of archaeological features of the LBK settlement and graveyard excavated at Elsloo (van Wijk 2010a, 63).. 28 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Janskamperveld) was excavated on Dutch soil (van de Velde 2007). Despite the. scale of some of the excavations in the Netherlands, none of them succeeded in. uncovering a complete LBK settlement. As mentioned above, the Dutch. archaeologists had been looking for LBK in the Graetheide area almost exclusively.. With the coming of the Valetta Treaty and the privatization of the market for. archaeology in the Netherlands there was an increase in prospection archaeology,. resulting in a greater appreciation of the potential the LBK sites held and showing. the density of settlements in the Graetheide area. Increasingly more LBK sites have. been discovered outside the Graetheide area, some on less fertile sandy soils, but. most on the other bank of the Meuse, on the Caberg. Sites on the Caberg had. previously been known, and have been attributed to the only other regionally. distinctive group (partly) in the Netherlands, the Hesbaye cluster. (Bakels 1982, 42).. Van Wijk and Meurkens (2008) underpin the differences between the Caberg. settlements and those of the Hesbaye cluster, but they are uncertain if this is. enough to establish the Caberg as a different cluster.. Most major excavations, such as Stein and Elsloo, resulted in comprehensive. publications, laying the ground for the standards of Dutch LBK research used. today, including typologies for houses and ceramics (Modderman 1970). These. standards have been further refined by a German project during the early 1980s,. ´Die neolithische Besiedlungs-geschichte der Aldenhovener Platte´, which. overshadowed the Dutch excavation in size and ambition, mapping the settlement. patterns of one small valley, the Merzbachtal, in full. This study focused on LBK. settlements on the Aldenhovener Plateau, the regional group neighbouring the. Graetheide area to the east (Lüning in van Wijk and van de Velde 2007). The other. directly neighbouring group, occupying the Hesbaye area in the Netherlands and. Belgium, had also been more closely studied in the ensuing years.. When considering the density of the settlements in the Graetheide area and. the extensiveness in which the Aldenhovener Plateau had been settled, the area. between these clusters seems suspiciously devoid of LBK settlements. Even though. this area does not differ much from the settled areas, being covered with loess and. offering adamant sources of water, no LBK settlements have been found between. the Graetheide, Aldenhovener, and Hesbaye areas. Possibly, evidence of LBK. Linearbandkeramik sites in the Netherlands 29. presence has not yet been identified, or the area served a different function, but. considering the research history, it is more likely that this landscape served as a. buffer (van Wijk and van de Velde 2007, 144). This gives further inclination toward. cultural heterogeneity during the Late LBK, although not of the extent of it.. Not all of the older Dutch LBK excavations have been published. comprehensively, because most of the smaller projects had been done by. volunteers during a time that publication had not been regulated by law, as it is. today. Some of these projects have been included in the aforementioned Odyssey. project ‘The LBK revisited’. This project made this thesis possible, as its assembly of. LBK finds combined with the collection of more recent LBK excavations and the. LBK artefacts in storage at the Faculty of Archaeology ensured a large enough. dataset to attempt an in-depth examination of the hematite finds.. 3.2 Sites with red ochre finds used in this thesis. For the research presented in this thesis, red ochre finds from eleven different. Dutch LBK sites have been used (Tab. 1). Only the separate finds have been. Tab. 1 Sites that are part of this research and the number of pieces of red ochre found at each. Sites marked with an asterisk (*) are also part of the Odyssey project “The LBK revisited” (van Wijk 2010b). . Site Year Ochre Area Publication. Beek - Molensteeg* 1979 4 Graetheide (van Gijn 1990; Groenendijk 1980). Echt - Annendaal (HVR183)* 1984 1 - (Brounen 1985). Elsloo - Riviusstraat 2002 5 Graetheide (van Wijk 2002). Elsloo - Sint Jozefschool 2002 2 Graetheide (van Wijk 2002). Geleen - Janskamperveld 1991 28 Graetheide (van de Velde 2007). Geleen - Seipgensstraat* 2001 5 Graetheide Unpublished. Geleen - Urmonderbaan* 1986 2 Graetheide Unpublished. Maastricht - Belvédère* 1988 7 Caberg Unpublished. Maastricht - Klinkers* 1989 28 Caberg (Theunissen 1990). Maastricht - Lanakerveld 2007 6 Caberg (Meurkens and van Wijk 2009). Stein - Heidekampweg 2011 9 Graetheide (van Wijk et al. In Press). 30 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. included, while red ochre residues found on other artefacts or powdered ochre. recognized during the excavations have been excluded (although the latter has. almost never been collected). The ‘The LBK revisited’ project functioned as the. departing point for the acquisition of the red ochre finds. Six out of the fourteen. sites that are part of the Odyssey project have finds of red ochre: Beek -. Molensteeg, Echt - Annendaal (HVR183), Geleen - Seipgensstraat, Geleen -. Urmonderbaan, Maastricht - Belvédère, and Maastricht - Klinkers. This dataset has. been supplemented with several sites that have been comprehensively published.. This includes all the LBK sites with red ochre finds excavated by Archol: Elsloo -. Riviusstraat, Elsloo - Sint Jozefschool, Maastricht - Lanakerveld, and Stein -. Heidekampweg. The last site to be included is an excavation done by the Faculty of. Archaeology of Leiden University: Geleen - Janskamperveld, which can function as. a reference as it is the largest and best published site of the dataset.. The chronology of the sites has been determined using the ceramic typologies. defined by Modderman and Dohrn-Ihmig (Fig. 12) (Amkreutz et al. 2012, 56). The. chosen sites span the range of the LBK presence in the Netherlands. . Fig. 12 Graetheide and Caberg LBK sites chronologically compared based on ceramic typology (Amkreutz et al. 2012, 56). Thin lines: all finds; thick lines: 80 % of the finds; cross lines: site median chronological position.. Linearbandkeramik sites in the Netherlands 31. Fig. 13 Geographical map of Dutch southern Limburg with the location of the LBK sites with hematite finds used in this thesis and sites studied in the Odyssey project “The LBK revisited” (after Amkreutz et al. 2012, 52).. 32 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. The sites are spread among two regional clusters, the Graetheide cluster and. the Caberg group, which is most likely part of the Hesbaye cluster (Fig. 13) (Bakels. 1982, 42; van Wijk and Meurkens 2008). As both clusters are represented by a fair. amount of red ochre finds, it will be possible to see if any significant differences are. present between the two groups.. One of the sites included in this research is not part of either clusters and. cannot be classified as a regular LBK settlement. It is the only site that is situated in. the coversand area of the Limburg province and the only one not to have any of. the typical LBK finds or archaeological features, such as pits, post holes and the. occasional (parts of) house plans. A small-scale excavation uncovered a partially. dispersed cluster of sherds belonging to several Bandkeramik and Limburg pottery. vessels, while a single piece of red ochre was the only stone artefact that was found. (Amkreutz et al. 2012, 26, 57; Brounen 1985). The function of the site and whether it. should be attributed to the LBK or the more illustrious Limburg culture is debatable. (Amkreutz et al. 2012, 57). However, the site is an example of what may lie hidden. in soils beyond the loess zone.. As variability has to be accounted for, it is generally much easier to detect. similarities than differences between archaeological assemblages. Differences. stand out better on a wider, regional scale. Even so, there are several known. differences between the Graetheide and Hesbaye cluster. Among the most. prominent and well published are the differences in sources of lithic raw materials,. most notably the stone used to make adzes. The settlements of the Graetheide. cluster predominantly used amphibolite adzes, coming from a yet unknown. source somewhere in Central Europe (Bakels 1987; Modderman 1988, 105). During. the later phase of the LBK the main supply route shifted from the west to the east,. as more Belgium sources were being exploited, with lydite from Ottignies-Mousty. and Horion-Hozémont quartzite (Bakels 1982; 2007; de Grooth and van de Velde. 2005, 228; Modderman 1988, 105). This differs from the Hesbaye cluster, where. Wommersom quartzite and Ottignies-Mousty lydite had been in use already from. the earlier phases of the settlements onwards (de Grooth and van de Velde 2005,. 228; Lodewijckx and Bakels 2009).. Linearbandkeramik sites in the Netherlands 33. This difference in use of lithic raw material is not observed when comparing. the Graetheide and Caberg clusters. Although mostly based on the flint. assemblage, the exploited natural stone resources showed no significant. differences (Amkreutz et al. 2012; van Wijk and Meurkens 2008). This is. remarkable, as the Caberg settlements did not exploit the local slope deposits with. higher quality flint, but instead favoured the river gravels with lower quality flint,. just as the Graetheide settlements, for which this source was the more accessible.. This could be interpreted as maintaining tradition, but could very well be the result. of other factors (Amkreutz et al. 2012, 60).. Another characteristic difference between the two clusters is the density of the. archaeological features. Contrary to the settlements of the Graetheide cluster,. where the constant addition of new buildings seems to have been continuous,. resulting in different phases overlapping each other, the overlap of features is. almost absent in the settlements of the Caberg group. The different phases appear. to have been build right next to each other, respecting the edge of the old. farmstead; which, in turn, is very different from what is known of the Hesbaye. region, where the different farmsteads had been more loosely distributed about. the landscape (Meurkens and van Wijk 2009, 177; van Wijk and Meurkens 2008,. 83). . These two differences between the Caberg group and both the Graetheide. and Hesbaye clusters led van Wijk and Meurkens (2008) to argue for the possibility. of viewing Caberg as a separate cluster. The differences between the Caberg sites. and those of (the rest of) the Hesbaye cluster cannot be further ascertained in this. thesis as no red ochre from any Hesbaye sites outside the Caberg group are part of. the dataset. Because of this, the more often used terms of Graetheide and Hesbaye. clusters, as defined by Bakels (1982), will be used in this thesis.. 4 Red ochre. Red ochre derives its colour from hematite, the mineral form of iron(III) oxide (α-. Fe2O3), which is a common occurrence in many types of rock. It is coloured steel. black to steel black or silvery grey, brown to reddish brown, or red. Independent of. the unworked colour, all forms of hematite have a cherry red to reddish brown. streak (‘powder colour’) (Antony et al. 1997). The colour of its streak is the source of. the mineral’s name, which is derived from the Greek word for blood, αἷμα. Stones. in which hematite is the dominant colouring agent, are commonly known as red. ochre, usually when the iron content exceeds 15 % (Tucker 2001, 182). Both the. term hematite and red ochre are used to describe stones with a red streak.. ‘Ochre’ is a term that encompasses a range of iron-rich rocks with a red,. yellow, orange or purple streak. The reason archaeologists are so very interested in. the use of ochre in the past is because it is frequently found as part of. archaeological assemblages. This is due to the fact that the iron oxide minerals are. very stable and inert, allowing them to readily survive in the archaeological record.. References to ochre use exist within a broad range of ethnographic, historical and. archaeological literature. Such works illustrate the diverse use of ochre by ancient. and historic people as ochre functions as internal and external medications, food. or wood preservatives, insect repellents, additive by tanning of hides, component. of glues, whetstone, and, most often, as pigments with ritual significance (Audouin. and Plisson 1982; Berndt and Berndt 1964, 99; Erlandson et al. 1999, 517; Roper. 1991, 296; Wadley 2005). Regardless of what purpose the ochre had been used for,. the colour was undoubtedly an important aspect for people in the past.. The colour before grinding is indicative of the iron content, grain size, and. workability (i.e. density and hardness) as well. In the case of hematite, larger grain. size (which generally means higher iron content) results in deeper hues of red,. with, ultimately, a dark purple or blackish colour (Mastrotheodoros et al. 2010, 48).. A high iron content is needed for the antibacterial functions, thus preferable for. such use as tanning hides, medicines, and preservatives, while smaller grain size is. preferable in the manufacture of glues for hafting or use as whetstone (Hodgskiss. | 35 |. 36 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Fig. 14 Cave paintings made with red ochre in the El Castillo cave, Spain (photo by Pedro Saura, AAAS, Science).. 2012, 99-100). Larger grain size also has a positive effect on workability, as the. material is generally softer and more brittle, making it easier to ground to a powder. or apply directly.. Interpreting the way ochre has been used is of particular interest for the study. of Palaeolithic times, as its function as a pigment is used, by some, as a proxy for. ‘modern behaviour’ in early hominins (d'Errico 2003; McBrearty and Brooks 2000).. The use of colouring agents is seen as synonymous with the use of symbols, or. symbolic behaviour, as it goes beyond mere economic use and forms the basis for. indirect communication, or language. For the Palaeolithic sites where iron oxides. are the few remaining and best visible materials possibly used as pigments, the. presence of ochre is often interpreted as an indication for modern behaviour.. Sceptics emphasize the possible other functions of ochre and argue for functional. analysis of any ochre finds (Soressi and D'Errico 2007; Wadley 2005).. Unambiguous symbolic use of ochre has been found as far back as the oldest. European cave paintings of the Upper Palaeolithic, such as in the Chauvet cave in. France, dated to approximately 32 ka by uncalibrated C-14 dating (Bocherens et al.. 2009), and in the El Castillo cave in Spain (Fig. 14), dated to approximately 41 ka by. U-series dating (Pike et al. 2012). The first generally accepted appearances of ochre. Red ochre 37. Fig. 15 Piece of hematite with engravings from the M1 phase of the Blombos Cave, South Africa (Henshilwood et al. 2009, 31).. in the archaeological record are those of the Middle Palaeolithic, such as. Maastricht - Belvédère, associated with Neanderthal stone tool industry. (Mousterian), dated to approximately 220 ka (Roebroeks et al. 2012), and of Terra. Amata, France, also associated with Neanderthal stone tool industry (Acheulian),. dated to approximately 230 ka (Villa 1982; Wreschner 1976). Both sites have been. dated by thermoluminescence dating of burnt flint artefacts. However, these early. appearances are not generally accepted as signs of symbolic behaviour, due to. taphonomic factors (d'Errico 2003; Roebroeks et al. 2012). The earliest ochre. appearances widely accepted as constituting symbolic behaviour are those. associated with the earliest evidence of modern humans, or Homo sapiens, in both. Africa and Europe. The oldest of these is the Middle Stone Age site of Blombos. Cave, South Africa, where numerous engraved pieces of red ochre have been. found, including an ochre-processing ‘workshop’ (Fig. 15) (Henshilwood et al.. 2009; Henshilwood et al. 2011). The oldest layers of the Blombos Cave with ochre. finds has been dated to approximately 100 ka by thermoluminescence dating of. sediments (Henshilwood et al. 2011).. Red ochre is the dominant ochre form in many archaeological assemblages,. including those of the Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK). This might be due to its. 38 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. availability, but is more likely to be the result of its exuberant red colour when. ground, which is the main reason put forward in ethnographic studies (Roper 1991). . 4.1 Geology. The physical properties of stones are predominantly determined by the way they. have been formed and the minerals they are composed of. Ironstones4 are almost. always the result of sedimentary processes, or metamorphic processes interacting. with ironstone-formations (Tucker 2001). Sedimentary iron deposits are abundant. and are the source of almost all current iron ore being extracted. This was most. likely also true for the past (Mastrotheodoros et al. 2010, 39). Very few known. accessible sources of igneous ironstones exist (Young 1989), and are unlikely to. 4 The nomenclature of iron-rich stones and their features used in this thesis is derived from Young’s (1989) work on phanerozoic ironstones, wherein he argues for using names that are independent of the age of a formation, and suggests unilateral use for several terms common in lithological description. Ironstone is used as a lithological term implying a rock of greater than 15 weight percent iron of any age. Ironstone-formation refers to a rock unit of abnormally high iron content (Young 1989, xvii-xx).. Fig. 16 Pieces of red ochre from Elsloo representing the two different types of red ochre commonly recognized in archaeological literature: oolitic ironstone (1) and compact ironstone (2) (Bakels 1978, 117).. . Red ochre 39. have been used by people in the past. In archaeological literature the term ‘ochre’. is not used strictly for ironstones, as becomes clear from the following quote:. “Ochre is found in a variety of geological contexts including. ‘sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic rocks, and weathered products,. soils and unlithified sediments derived from any of these rock types’.”. (Ellis et al. 1997 in Popelka-Filcoff et al. 2007, 17).. Archaeological literature rarely tries to give any further determination of the. type of rock used, and generally refers to any inorganic colouring agent as ochre.. Studies specifically looking at red ochre often use ‘red ochre’ synonymous with. ‘hematite’, which is undoubtedly the result of the mineral being abundant in most. of the stones that have a red streak. Further categorization is often limited to a. division between those that are oolite (i.e. consist of spherical, concentrically. structured grains) and those without ooids, referred to as ‘compact type’ by Bakels. (Fig. 16) (Bakels 1978, 117). It is likely that both of these types of red ochre are. hematite-rich sedimentary ironstones.. Considering the above, and the limited need for an in-depth discussion of. other types of ironstones, the following text will focus on the types of ironstone. examined in this study and most likely used as red ochre by people in the past:. hematite-rich lithics of sedimentary genesis.. 4.1.1 The formation of hematite. Sedimentary ironstone deposits were mainly formed under marine conditions,. resulting in several different iron minerals (Tab. 2), depending on the environment.. Hematite is present in both Precambrian (4540-541 Ma) and Phanerozoic (541-. 0 Ma) ironstones. Hematite is deposited in primary form, but is predominant. formed through the process of ferruginization, where iron silicate minerals, or iron. clay minerals, mostly berthierine and chamosite, are replaced by mineral iron. oxides under the effects of meteoric waters5. The oxidising descending fluids. decompose sulphide iron minerals present in the upper layers of Phanerozoic iron. 5 Meteoric water refers to all water derived directly or indirectly from precipitation, thus including rivers, lakes, and icemelts. It makes up most of the groundwater.. . 40 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Tab. 2 The iron minerals of sedimentary ironstones.. Type Name Chemical formula Oxides hematite α-Fe2O3 magnetite Fe3O4 goethite α-FeO.OH limonite FeO.OH.nH2O Carbonate siderite FeCO3 Silicates berthierine (Fe4. 2+AI2)(Si2AI2)O10(OH)8 chamosite (Fe5. 3+AI)(Si3Al)O10(OH)8 greenalite Fe6. 2+Si4O10(OH)8 glauconite KMg(FeAI)(SiO3)6.3H20 Sulphides pyrite FeS2 marcasite FeS2. deposits, thus creating an acidic environment. The acidic solutions decomposes. the silicate iron minerals, leading progressively to alkaline conditions, which favour. the precipitation of the dissolved Fe and, thus, enriches the iron content by leaving. mostly oxide iron minerals behind (Mücke 2000, 27-8; Mücke and Farshard 2005,. 230). The fact that hematite is the main constituent of stone formations that. underwent ferruginization is to be expected, as hematite is the stable mineral form. of Fe3+ under moderately to strongly oxidizing conditions in most of the natural. environments (Fig. 17) (Mücke and Farshard 2005; Tucker 2001). The formation and. preservation of hematite in a sediment requires a low original organic content, as. the consumption of oxygen through decomposition of organic matter is the main. factor for creating reducing conditions in natural aqueous environments (Tucker. 2001, 183-4).. There are important differences between ironstones that were formed during. the Precambrian and those of the Phanerozoic. The former are commonly referred. to as ‘banded ironstone-formations’, and are typically thick units of various iron. minerals interbedded with chert, deposited in large intracratonic basins. Herein,. hematite is chiefly present as thin beds and laminae, alternating with chert, but it. also occurs in massive peloidal and ooidal forms. Ironstone-formations of this era. can be defined on sedimentary characteristics and the best known is the laminated. ‘banded’ facies, wherein laminaton can be distinguished on both the meso- and. microscale (Tucker 2001, 189). According to James (1992) Phanerozoic ironstones. can be distinguished from Precambrian ironstone-formations, as the former would. Red ochre 41. have SiO2 concentrations below about 35 wt. %, whereas the latter would have. more than 50 wt. %. However, such a clear separation of these two types could not. be observed by Mùcke and Farshad (2005), who, in their comparative study of. Phanerozoic ooidal ironstones, find that all concentrations of SiO2 are present in. Phanerozoic ironstones.. Formations of Precambrian age are almost exclusively found in the so called. ‘Precambrian shield areas’, which, in Europe, are limited to the Scandinavian. Peninsula, parts of Russia, and the Ukraine, of which the latter encompasses one of. the largest banded ironstone-formations of the world (Misra 2000, 661). The. distance between the Precambrian shield areas and the Netherlands make it an. unlikely source for the materials that are the subject of this thesis. Banded. Fig. 17 Eh-pH diagram showing the stability fields of ferrous and ferric iron, and major iron minerals in environments with high carbonate and low sulphide conditions. Typical conditions for some natural occuring waters are overlain onto this. Eh is the redox potential. pH is the hydrogen ion concentration (after Tucker 2001, 183-4).. 42 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. ironstones are, to this author’s knowledge, rarely part of archaeological finds in the. Netherlands and their genesis is thus of no further interest.. Hematite bearing ironstones of Phanerozoic age are far more common and. followed two major avenues of formation: (silici)clastic and chemical. sedimentation. Although the former type of sedimentation almost always contains. iron, and sandstones are often coloured red by the presence of hematite, it only. rarely produces sandstone ironstones (i.e. with 15 % or more Fe); with mudstone. ironstones being only a little more common. The presence of hematite in. sandstones is the result of the dehydration of goethite on the surface of the grains,. which in turn formed in an oxidizing environment through the dissolution of metal. ions from detrital (‘originally eroded’) silicates that subsequently precipitated on. the outside of the grains, either before or after the deposition of the sand (Tucker. 2001, 60). Oxidizing environments seldom affect mudstones because they are less. porous, but siderite-rich mudstones are known to slowly form hematite in an. oxidizing environment. Siderite precipitates into the porespace of unconsolidated. clay minerals in low-sulphide aqueous environments (usually freshwater where the. bicarbonate has been produced by microbial activity). This process also takes. place through diagenesis of other bicarbonate minerals in the presence of iron. minerals when deformation of the sediments takes place (Stel 2009).. Ferruginization does not affect mudstones because water is unable to move freely. through the layered clay particles. Apart from these diagenetic sources of. siliciclastic ironstones, detritic siliciclastic ironstones occur as the result of re-. working or re-depositions of older ironstones.. The chemical Phanerozoic ironstone sediments are known as ooidal. ironstones because of their characteristic grains. In trying to understand the genesis. of the ooidal Phanerozoic ironstones sedimentary geologists have generated an. enormous variety of interpretations. In a special publication of the London. Geological Society edited by Young (1989), this problem has been addressed, and. more recently Mücke offered new insights into the genesis of these stones (Mücke. 2000; Mücke and Farshard 2005).. The ooidal ironstones show two major peaks of occurrence during the. Phanerozoic: in the Ordovician (485-443 Ma) and in the Jurassic (200-145 Ma).. Red ochre 43. Both have been times of global sea level high stand and large areas of low-relief. continental terrain. Climate generally was humid too, facilitating chemical. weathering. Fluvial drainage systems transported the thusly weathered material to. marine basins where it formed unlithified sediments made up of three constituents. of ooidal ironstones:. 1. Ooids, formed by rolling on the sea floor and accretion of iron-bearing platy. kaolinite crystals leading to the formation of tangentially arranged laminae.. 2. Detritus, comprising quartz, zircon, heavy minerals, and organic material. (fossils).. 3. Fine-grained iron-bearing kaolinitic material. This is suspension-derived and. forms the matrix of the ooids and detritus.. Subsequent diagenesis of the sediment composed of the constituents mentioned. under 1 to 3 affects mineralogy and texture rather than the whole-rock chemistry. and the structure of the deposits. At an early stage, the iron-bearing clay mineral. kaolinite of the ooids and matrix is recrystallized or transformed into chamosite. and berthierine under reducing conditions (caused by decomposing organic. material). Due to the mineral association having developed under reducing. conditions and to the porosity, the sediment is unstable in an oxidizing. environment and is easily permeated by aqueous solutions under continental. conditions. This, combined with the fact that iron sulphides indivertibly form in. marine conditions, causes ferruginization when exposed to oxidising aqueous. environments (Mücke 2000, 43-5; Mücke and Farshard 2005, 229-30). Ooidal. ironstones usually occur only in localized areas, passing laterally into berthieroidal. and sideritic mudrocks (Tucker 2001, 191).. 4.2 Previous research. Studies looking into archaeological use of red ochre have been plentiful, but many. focus on the way it had been used and the cognitive implications thereof, as. mentioned above, while others are intent on identifying the mineralogical content. using petrographic methods such as thin-section analysis or X-ray diffraction (XRD).. Studies that are aimed at characterization or provenance of (red) ochre by. spectroscopic methods are few in number when compared to studies of other. materials such as glass, ceramics, or obsidian. Using chemical analysis as means of. 44 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. provenance or characterization studies is readily applicable for lithic. archaeological finds such as obsidian and ironstones, because these raw materials. have been employed by ancient civilizations with no or only minor. transformations. In one of the earliest spectroscopic analysis of ochre, Clarke. (1976) analysed ochre from the Wilgie Mia ochre mine in Australia to study particle. size and elemental composition using XRD and electron probe microanalyzer. (EPMA).. Different spectroscopic methods have been employed in the analysis of ochre. since then. Raman spectroscopy is a technique commonly applied to pigments,. and, due to its non-destructive and superficial measurements, is predominantly. used on ochre that is part of prehistoric rock art. Among them are caves in Quercy. and Rouffignac, France, La Candelaria Cave and Altamira Cave, Spain, and rock art. in the Serninole Canyon, USA (Edwards 2005; Lahlil et al. 2012). Less portable. and/or destructive spectroscopic methods have been used on archaeological finds. and potential sources of ochre, with the purpose of measuring trace elements for. provenance studies. These methods include X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). (Gil et al. 2007; Jercher et al. 1998; Popelka-Filcoff et al. 2007), particle induced X-. ray emission (PIXE) (Beck et al. 2010; 2012; Erlandson et al. 1999; Nel et al. 2010),. scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). (Hodgskiss 2012), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) (Popelka-Filcoff. et al. 2007; 2008), and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass. spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) (Green and Watling 2007; Iriarte et al. 2009). These. studies mainly focus on ochre sources used by native American Indians of North. America, Australian Aboriginals, or on Upper Palaeolithic finds associated with. cave paintings in Europe and North Africa.. Unfortunately, there are no known publications of geochemical analysis of any. red ochre sources that are likely to have been exploited by the people that lived in. the sites investigated as part of this research. However, several publications on this. topic are forthcoming and preliminary results have been presented on a congress. held on 7-8 February 2013 in Namur, Belgium: “About haematite: Procurement and. transformation during recent prehistory; Analytical methods”. The congress’ call for. analytical examination of red ochre of Western Europe has been answered by. Red ochre 45. several researchers as they analysed archaeological finds and sources from. Belgium, France, and Germany, using a variety of techniques (Dreesen et al. In. Press; Goemaere et al. In Press; Salomon et al. In Press).. With the exception of some of the forthcoming publications, all studies. mentioned above use other analytical techniques than those that have been used. in the research presented here. As a result, the data they generated offer little in the. way of quantitative comparison, but the qualitative information obtained is of. interest. All studies interested in sourcing the hematite found that, although much. intrasite variation is common, there is enough intersite variation to properly. identify source areas with the use of elemental characterization (Beck et al. 2012;. Erlandson et al. 1999; Gil et al. 2007; Green and Watling 2007; Iriarte et al. 2009;. Nel et al. 2010; Popelka-Filcoff et al. 2007; 2008).. Jercher et al. (1998) used XRD and XRF to analyse several pieces of ochre used. by sub-recent Aboriginal groups, which has been expanded upon by Nel et al.. (2010) using XRD and PIXE on samples from possible ochre sources. Both found. that the quantitative elemental analyses (XRF & PIXE) had been essential for. characterization and determining provenance, because the high amorphous. content made the XRD results too unreliable to be used on their own.. Some of the sourcing studies (Beck et al. 2012; Popelka-Filcoff et al. 2007;. 2008) noticed that the values of rare earth elements (REE) present in the hematite. could be effectively used as proxies for the different source areas. The applicability. of this is, of course, dependent on the precision of the spectroscopic analysis being. used and is, unfortunately, not applicable to the study presented here.. Beck et al. (2010) concluded, in their PIXE analysis of red ochre pieces and. paintings on cave walls and bone fragments from Upper Palaeolithic layers of Abri. Pataud, France, that the Mn/Fe and Zn/Fe ratios were indicative for the different. hematite sources, and that pieces from different sources had been used for. different purposes. They did not mention whether the different types of red ochre. they identified had different attributes (e.g. colour, workability) that would make. them more suitable for their appointed tasks, but they did note that hematite of the. same type is used for the same task in different time periods, or find layers. In a. subsequent study of another Upper Palaeolithic cave site, La Grotte du Renne,. 46 Characterization of red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. France, Beck et al. (2012) found the Al/Si/Fe ratios to be useful parameters for the. study of questions related to ochre formation, characterization, or source area. identification. Iriarte et al. (2009) shared this conclusion in a characterization study. of red ochre from cave sources in Spain. These results are not surprising,. considering that Aluminium (Al), Silicon (Si), and Iron (Fe) represent the main. mineralogical components of the ironstones; and Aluminium (Al), Manganese. (Mn), and Zinc (Zn) are all known isomorphous replacements6 for iron in hematite.. 4.3 Red ochre in the Dutch Linearbandkeramik. Pieces of red ochre are a common part of LBK assemblages and are deemed a. ‘common consumer item’ (Modderman 1988, 109). They are found in both. graveyards and settlements from all parts of the LBK occupied area. Their use is. widely known from cultures both contemporaneous and of preceding times. (Grünenberg 2000, 220; Lenneis 2007; Verlinde 2005). Ochre found in LBK. context often shows traces of grinding and are associated with querns (Bakels 1978,. 117; van Gijn and Verbaas 2009). The distinctive ‘pencil’ shapes, an unground piece. of ochre with a characteristic point used for drawing, often found in Upper. Palaeolithic cave context (Soressi and D'Errico 2007), is almost never found in LBK. context (Nieszery 1995). The absence of pencil-shaped pieces of ochre is not. remarkable considering the abundance of grinding tools used by people of the LBK. compared to earlier, non-agricultural times. LBK people probably used their ochre. by grinding it and, with the help of water, turning it into a liquid or paste. The finds. of red ochre in LBK context range in size from finely ground powder, to pieces that. had been used so economically that they are now almost too small to hold, to solid. blocks exceeding 10 cm in length (Bakels 1978, 118). The high variability in the. number of ochre pieces found at the different LBK sites (Tab. 1) is attributed to. chance, because it is entirely possible to completely grind up a piece of ochre until. it is nothing more than dust (or paste), leaving, potentially, zero evidence in the. 6 Isomorphous replacement is the replacement of certain elements in a chemical structure, without the crystal lattice changing form. The suitability of the substituting element is based on valency and ionic radii. For Fe3+ in hematite, this is thus most likely to occur with Aluminium (Al), Titanium (Ti), Vanadium (V), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Cobalt (Co) and Zinc (Zn) (Jercher et al. 1998, 397; Zoppi et al. 2008).. . Red ochre 47. Fig. 18 Profile of a grave of the Late Mesolithic site of Mariënberg, the Netherlands. The dark red infill at the bottom of the feature is the result of red ochre being used in the burial practice (Verlinde 2005, pl. 10B).. archaeological record. Red stained soils are, of course, readily identified in. excavations, most often in burial context (Fig. 18). However, when used for a. function not related to deposition, such as antibacterial functions, the powdered. ochre is less likely to be recognized in the archaeological record.. Ochre is a common occurrence in LBK graves, both ground up and as solid. pieces. The red stained soil, which is the remnant of a powder, paste or liquid, is. found in both male and female graves, deposited around the head and, less often,. around the arms or hands (Fig. 7) (Bickle et al. 2011, 1247; Lenneis 2007; Nieszery. 1995, 175-88). This use of red ochre powder in graves is also known from Mesolithic. graves of t

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