Production and Exchange of Bifacial Flaked Stone Artifacts during the Portuguese Chalcolithic

Abstract

This book attempts to study Western Iberian Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic society by investigating a segment of its economy, the production and exchange of bifacial lithic artifacts. It focuses on the role of craft specialization within the context of social complexity. Most of the sampled artifacts come from old collections and are supplemented by only basic spatial and temporal information. The book includes a catalogue and descriptions of 149 settlement and burial sites, as well as formal and technological analysis of each of the three classes of bifacial tools found at these sites. In conclusion, this study shows that lithic production was organized in at least two different ways; one was based on the individual household, while the other was carried out by craft specialists. The products circulated through two distinct distribution mecahnisms.

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