Linking Quarry and Settlement on the Swabian Alb, Southern Germany

International audienceBeginning in the Early Neolithic Period (or LBK) and increasingly in the Middle and Later Neolithic periods (a transition spanning about 5,000-2,300 B.C.) in Europe, considerable energy was invested in quarrying and miningchert and flint for tool production. Acquisition of stone combined local sources with regional transport. Chipped stone was used in everyday activities and for objects that likely played a special role in exchange networks. Linkages between quarries and surrounding landscapes thus can shed light on patterns of travel, work, and trade at local and regional scales. Archaeologists are rarely able to link quarries and settlements in a detailed analysis. This paper reports on a long-term regional project investigating chert acquisition and tool production in quarry and settlement contexts in a chert-rich upland in southern Germany. We combine collections analysis, archaeological and geophysical survey, and targeted test excavations to document stone sources and site locations. We compare assemblages from a large open-pit quarry complex (Asch-Borgerhau) and from settlements at varying distances using a uniform coding system. Systematic, non-destructive petrographic characterization of chert enables us to trace material from the quarry or other sources to settlements. The resulting database offers rich potential for exploring chronological and spatial variation in stone acquisition, tool production, and activities on a Neolithic landscap