Contact, Circulation, Exchange, (actes conf. Modified Bone & Shell UISPP Commission, mars 2017, Trnava, Slovaquie), 2023, 184 p. -

This book collects ten articles focusing on worked hard materials of animal origin (shell, tusk, bone, antler) ranging chronologically from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. The authors have varied academic backgrounds that enhance the archaeological analyses carried out, often at first hand, on numerous collections from the Old and New Worlds.

Evidence of contact between past populations with distinct technical traditions is found in the dynamic imposed by using certain craft methods, such as stone pressure flaking (7,000 BC). Another kind of stimulus may have given rise to a tool with a specific use in the migration period, the sumak (300 BC-600 AD). Apart from the attraction of a novel technique or a new piece of equipment, it was the attraction of the raw material and the hunting sites that formed the guiding principle behind the mobility of groups within a territory, in early (35,000-12,000 BC) as in recent prehistory (up to 1500 AD).

Weaponry, adornments and/or the animal species used are then powerful markers of the extent of trade routes and networks, and even of craftsmanship when related to village settlements (4,500-2,500 BC). In antiquity, the exotic rather than exogenous origin of materials was used to develop unique skills in the service of cults. In the diffusion of figurines, representation took precedence over the unique or sought-after nature of the material, whose origin remained nonetheless animal.

Sommaire :

I. Research Papers
- The Circulation of Ornaments in Aurignacian Contexts (C. Heckel, S. Wolf)
- The Nomadism Cycle of Recent Palaeolithic Societies from Reindeer Antler Economy (L. Fontana, F.-X. Chauvière)
- Maglemosian in Contact - The Disruptive Invention of Stone Pressure Flaking on the Curve Crutch 7000 Cal BC (M. SorenSen, S. Diemer, F. Santaniello, S. Vatsvag Nielsen)
- Long-distance Circulation of Exotic Teeth and non-local Minerals in Forested Northeastern Europe 4th millennium bC (A. Macane, E. Kostyleva, K. Nordqvist)
- The Bone Sumak for Infant Care, an Invention from Southern Siberian Nomadism or Contact with the Hunnic Tribes? (K. Michalczewski, A. P. Borodovskiy, L. Oleszczak)
- Making Gods in Ancient Greece: Rituals and Cult Images Development Through Traging Ivory Use in Statuary Tradition (L. Nováková)
- Parcours de mobilité dans l'Arctique aux Temps Huléens (~1200-1900 ad) (C. Houmard, A. Bitrian)

II. Project Gallery
- Bone and Tooth Technology in AusTralia: Recent Discoveries and Living Traditions (M. C. Langley, S. O'Connor)
- Are There Any Cultural Reflexions on Roman Bone Hairpins with Female Bust? (A. Gercek)
- Bone Weaponry of Later Prehistoric Southern Vietnam (J. Hull)