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The way we wear makes the difference: residue analysis applied to Mesolithic personal ornaments from Hohlenstein-Stadel (Germany)

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Abstract

Research conducted by Newell et al. (1990) has lead to propose that during the Mesolithic, the Upper Danube region was inhabited by a “Fish Teeth Band”, characterized by the use of carp fish teeth and exogenous fossil shells as ornaments. However, technological data on these personal ornaments drastically lacked and especially for the fish teeth associated to the Mesolithic burial of Hohlenstein-Stadel that remained completely undescribed until now. The aim of this paper is to establish how the carp teeth from Hohlenstein-Stadel were modified and worn before being deposited in the burial. High-resolution microscopic analysis identifies use-wear traces and a red compound adhering to the surface of the teeth. Structural and elemental analysis of the residue combining light and scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and Raman analysis identify a suspension technique that uses an adhesive composed of an organic binder mixed with charcoal and minerals including hematite, dolomite, and quartz. Ethnological inquiry reveals that this system of suspension, commonly used in traditional societies, is for the first time documented, at Hohlenstein-Stadel, in an archaeological context.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Kurt Wehrberger M.A. for giving us access to the collections from the Ulmer Museum and for allowing microsampling of the pigmented compound attached to the carp teeth from Hohlenstein-Stadel. We are also grateful to PD Dr. J. Orschiedt and Pr. W. Rähle for their help in finding publications on the Groβe Ofnet and Hohlenstein-Stadel head burials, to M. Véran and J. Gaudant for sharing paleontological information on cyprinids and to I. Svahn from the Bordeaux Imaging Center for performing the SEM and EDX analyses. We thank Renata Garcia Moreno, Pierre Guyomarc’h, Carlotta Tavormina and Brad Gravina for critical reading of the manuscript. This research was funded by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the European Research Council (FP7/2007/2013/ERC Grant TRACSYMBOLS no 249587). The final stage of this study was conducted during a post-doctoral grant attributed to one of us (SR) by the Fyssen Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bordeaux, CNRS-UMR 5199 PACEA, Equipe Préhistoire, Paléoenvironnement, Patrimoine, Avenue des Facultés, F-33405, Talence, France

    Solange Rigaud, Marian Vanhaeren, Alain Queffelec & Francesco d’Errico

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia ed Evoluzione—Sezione di Biologia Evolutiva, Università di Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, I-44100, Ferrara, Italy

    Solange Rigaud

  3. Institut des Sciences Moléculaires, University of Bordeaux, CNRS-UMR 525, 351 cours de la libération, F-33405, Talence, France

    Gwénaëlle Le Bourdon

  4. Institute for Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, 5020, Bergen, Norway

    Francesco d’Errico

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  1. Solange Rigaud
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  2. Marian Vanhaeren
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Correspondence to Solange Rigaud.

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Rigaud, S., Vanhaeren, M., Queffelec, A. et al. The way we wear makes the difference: residue analysis applied to Mesolithic personal ornaments from Hohlenstein-Stadel (Germany). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 6, 133–144 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-013-0169-9

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