Signe et fonction des objets lithiques préhistoriques en Sardaigne

Abstract

The presence of lithic tools in the funeral contexts is a recurrent fact related to the different compositions of the mortuary assemblages : they contain objects of daily use and objects of prestige and symbolic value. The lithic elements recovered in the burials of Ispiluncas (Sedilo, Sardinia), represent an occasion to discuss the sense and value of funeral deposits, connected to the ritual domain, composed of gestures and offers. These elements suggest the existence of complex rituals : they start by the moving of objects belonging to daily life to the funeral domain/sphere, losing their function of use, coming into the world of the defuncts through technical acts that can themselves become symbolic. An aspect of ritual seems to be suggested by the presence of picks, used for the excavation of the hypogeum, of used objects or showing deliberate fractures, which could suggest the wish to deprive the daily object of its primary function and to insert it in the parallel and, at the same time opposite, afterlife. The technological analysis of the knapped lithic industry and the reconstruction of reduction sequences attest the presence of many elements linked to the knapping phase : core preparation flakes, débitage products, tools and débris. These elements primarily show that a part of the débitage was made at the necropolis. This evidence open a discussion on the value of knapping operations as ritual gestures, although the state of the research, due to the bad quality of the available data, strongly limits its field. The main issue is to establish the real purpose of the débitage inside the grave : was it the realization of funeral objects or offerings ? Or was knapping part of the ritual ? From the economic point of view, the intimate bond with daily life is once more highlighted : although obsidian is preferentially chosen at Sedilo, local or easier to find stones are also used, testifying to different approaches to raw material exploitation and the same technology used in the dwelling sites.