Rock Procurement in the Early Neolithic in Southern Norway – Significance by Association with People and Places?

Abstract

Rocks and places of rock procurement can be sig- nificant beyond pragmatic reasons. In the Early Ne- olithic in southern Norway, specific rock types and quarries appear to have been deeply entangled in socio-political strategies that either bound people together or set people apart. Charted variations in the character of lithic procurement and distribu- tion indicate two parallel but diverging processes of “Neolithization” in the western and eastern region respectively. In the west, rhyolite from a quarry atop Mt. Siggjo was especially significant, demonstrated by the intense quarrying and wide distribution of rhyolite along the west coast. Indeed, in the west, certain quarries appear to have been regarded as nodal points, anchoring people’s sense of identity and belonging. In the east, imported flint gained a similar role because of its association with farm- ing and Funnel Beaker–related societies in south- ern Scandinavia. That is, rock was significant not only due to its physical qualities, but by its associa- tion with a specific place, social or cultural group.