SPATIAL SEPARATION BETWEEN MANUFACTURING AND CONSUMPTION OF STONE AXES AS AN EVIDENCE OF CRAFT SPECIALIZATION IN PREHISTORIC RUSSIAN KARELIA
SPATIAL SEPARATION BETWEEN MANUFACTURING AND CONSUMPTION OF STONE AXES AS AN EVIDENCE OF CRAFT SPECIALIZATION IN PREHISTORIC RUSSIAN KARELIA

Summary/Abstract: Axes and adzes made of local greenstones are very common for archaeological sites in Russian Karelia since the initial inhabiting of this territory. Nevertheless, several traits of the industry that is characteristic for sites with Asbestos Ware (ca 3500–1500 cal BC) make it quite different from earlier traditions. This industry is distinguished by a selective choice of raw material of very high quality (mostly metatuff), the most sophisticated technology that had ever been used for making stone axes in prehistoric Karelia, the highest recorded degree of morphological standardization. What is especially important, assemblages from settlement sites with housepits testify that the production of chopping implements did not take place in these sites, because corresponding debitage is almost lacking. Workshop sites for making these tools are known at the moment only in one area on the western coast of Onega Lake. Dozens of workshops are characterized by the presence of waste products from all stages of the reduction process, and some of them reveal evidence of production en masse. These facts allow speaking about craft specialization, i.e. making of tools by relatively closed social group and their distribution within the rest of the society, as well as neighbouring and distant societies, through exchange networks.

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