This monograph explores the biography of an enigmatic type of material culture: the perforated wedges from the Early Neolithic (c. 5000-4000 cal. BC) in northwestern Europe. These themes are explored in a multi-facetted approach which compares the finds from three regions: the so-called source societies in Germany where the wedges were produced and two areas in which these items are found as a result of exchange. It concerns southern Scandinavia (the Ertebølle culture) and the Netherlands (the Swifterbant culture).

Daan Raemaekers is professor in the archaeology of prehistoric and protohistoric northwestern Europe at the University of Groningen. His research interests are Neolithic material culture and society and the archaeological heritage managements of the Stone Age.

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Contents

Foreword 1
 
1 Typology and age    3
   1.1 Introduction   3
   1.2 Typology   3
      1.2.1 Nomenclature   3
      1.2.2 Dimensions   3
      1.2.3 The perforated shoe-last adze   3
      1.2.4 The perforated broad wedge   4
      1.2.5 Comparing the two   4
   1.3 Age   4
      1.3.1 Introduction   4
      1.3.2 Source societies   5
      1.3.3 Other societies   7
   1.4 Typochronology   7

2 Function   9

3 Meaning   12
   3.1 Introduction   12
   3.2 Source societies   12
      3.2.1 Perforated wedges in graves   12
      3.2.2 Perforated wedges in settlements   14
      3.2.3 Perforated wedges in hoards   15
      3.2.4 Conclusions   15
   3.3 Exchange to hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe: Ertebølle and Swifterban  t 16
      3.3.1 Perforated wedges in the Ertebølle culture   16
      3.3.2 Perforated wedges in the Swifterbant culture   17
      3.3.3 Conclusions   19
   3.4 Find contexts in the Swifterbant area   21
   3.5 Conclusions   23

4 Conclusions   25
 
References   28
   Appendix 1. List of Dutch perforated wedges   31