Retrieving Osseous Biographies: development and transmission of technologies in the Baltic Sea region c. 9500–3000 BCE

How did bone and antler technologies develop around the Baltic Sea during the period c. 9,500-3,000 BCE?

Materials from the eastern Baltic have been of limited access to the wider academic circles, and osseous production have generally been understudied in relation to, for example, lithic technology.

This project aims to investigate bone and antler artefacts from Sweden, Latvia and Estonia in order to increase knowledge about manufacturing processes, traditions, knowledge transmission and social contact networks among the hunter-fisher-gatherer groups of the Baltic Sea region.The proposed project is divided in three work packages: WP1, data collection and sampling.

The project will study and make four museum collections of osseous artefacts available in catalogues. The project also undertakes an extensive sampling program in order to investigate chronology and technological choices. WP2, environmental reconstructions.

The second part of the project consists of palaeoecological fieldwork and investigations to provide environmental reconstructions of the milieu in which bone and artefacts were created, used and deposited. The outcome will primarily result in artistic illustrations and data for subsequent publications.

WP3, summarizes the results and data in peer-reviewed open access articles on three different themes; Technology & raw material management, Chronology and Patterns of function, use & deposition.