Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Researchers from the UAB have concluded that hand-held grinding tools used by early European Neolithic societies held significant symbolic value, particularly for the women who utilized them. These tools were closely associated with concepts of time and cycles related to human life, nature, and settlements. This conclusion is based on an analysis of grinding stones from three ritual sites discovered in Germany.

Neolithic wooden circular ditch (4840-4590 BC) in Künzing-Unternberg (reconstruction). Credit: Wolfgang Sauber – CC BY-SA 3.0

Two of these sites are located in Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt), one of Europe’s oldest ritual locations, while the third is in Sömmerda (Thuringia). All three belong to the Linear Pottery culture that thrived at the start of the Neolithic period between 4900 and 4650 BC in Central Europe. Researchers examined fourteen sets of grinding tools found at these sites, focusing on their technical, functional, and morphological characteristics as well as their arrangement and orientation within the deposits to understand their symbolic significance better.

The study reveals that some grinding stones were removed from domestic use when they were nearly new, others midway through their lifespan, and some when completely worn out. The artifacts were meticulously placed in pairs with working surfaces touching each other and oriented east to west. They were crafted using materials sourced from distant locations, indicating a considerable investment of time in both production and maintenance for both the grinding slab and grinder.

“These results reflect the high social value that these objects had and lead us to consider that the notion that is at the heart of the ‘biography’ traced by the tools is time. A concept embodied in stages of production, use, reproduction and burial, which suggest cycles of birth, life and death, and contemplated from the perspective of women, the main users of these stones,” explains Erik Zamzow, doctoral researcher at the Department of Prehistory of the UAB and first author of the study.

“These results reflect the high social value that these objects had and lead us to consider that the notion that is at the heart of the ‘biography’ traced by the tools is time. A concept embodied in stages of production, use, reproduction and burial, which suggest cycles of birth, life and death, and contemplated from the perspective of women, the main users of these stones,” explains Erik Zamzow, doctoral researcher at the Department of Prehistory of the UAB (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and first author of the study.

The use and maintenance of the grinding stones in the domestic context would represent the basic daily tasks of women of the Linear Pottery culture. The selection of new, used and almost worn-out tools would symbolize the group and transmission from generation to generation. The levels of wear would be related to human life cycles, as an allegory of birth, life and death. Finally, the tools and their ritual deposit may also reflect the life of the Neolithic populations, which changed their location every few years, possibly also every generation or two.

Left: Fitting pair of the grinding stone deposit of Sömmerda. Right: Fitting pair of the grinding stone deposit of Goseck circular enclosure. Credit: J. Soldevilla, LDA

“The intention conveyed by the deposits is a complex and polyhedric notion of time, which goes beyond the rhythm of annual harvests with which they have been related until now,” says Roberto Risch, researcher at the Department of Prehistory of the UAB and coordinator of the study.

“The symbolism would be related to the lives of specific women, such as those who still today make use of these types of grinding stones for hours a day in self-sufficient agricultural societies. Each grinding stone would be the result of a daily adjustment between a woman’s body and her tools for years and decades,” says Risch.

The research analyzed samples that are comparable to those discovered in France and Belgium, with some variations also identified in several Central European regions. Altogether, there are 20 known deposits and 89 tools linked to 13 settlements or ritual enclosures. Earlier studies on the symbolism of these deposits have referenced themes such as day and night, the agricultural year, fertility, and festivities. While this study aligns with some of these interpretations, it introduces an additional perspective by emphasizing the lifetime of women as a central symbolic theme.

“The techno-functional evidences of the tools have almost not been taken into account to explore the symbolic meaning of these types of deposits. Future studies incorporating the methodology we have applied here could serve to contrast our hypothesis,” says Marina Eguíluz, also author of the study and doctoral student at the Department of Prehistory.

Researchers highlight that the intention behind these deposits, along with the selection and placement of objects, plays a significant role in understanding the economy and ideology of the Early Neolithic period. These deposits provide insight into the practices, values, and beliefs of Central Europe’s first agricultural communities, illustrating their intricate perception of time.

The study was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer