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Maritime exchange during the Middle Neolithic : Evidence of trade in ceramic figurines at the Pitted Ware Culture site of Tråsättra

Fauvelle, Mikael LU orcid ; Brorsson, Torbjörn LU ; Artursson, Magnus ; Björck, Niclas and Horn, Christian (2025) In Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 66.
Abstract
This paper presents a snapshot of a neolithic maritime exchange network centred on the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) site of Tråsättra (circa 2630 to 2470 BCE), located northeast of modern-day Stockholm, Sweden. We used a combination of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-MA/ES) and thin section analysis to study and source the clays used to produce 19 potsherds and 39 ceramic figurines from the site. Our results showed that while all potsherds were made with local clays, 10 of the figurines were made with non-local clays sourced from across the Baltic Sea region, including the island of Gotland and the Åland archipelago. Furthermore, most of the non-local figurines were anthropomorphs, while all animal figurines... (More)
This paper presents a snapshot of a neolithic maritime exchange network centred on the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) site of Tråsättra (circa 2630 to 2470 BCE), located northeast of modern-day Stockholm, Sweden. We used a combination of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-MA/ES) and thin section analysis to study and source the clays used to produce 19 potsherds and 39 ceramic figurines from the site. Our results showed that while all potsherds were made with local clays, 10 of the figurines were made with non-local clays sourced from across the Baltic Sea region, including the island of Gotland and the Åland archipelago. Furthermore, most of the non-local figurines were anthropomorphs, while all animal figurines were made with local clays. We suggest that this striking pattern indicates that the PWC people of Tråsättra were participating in a long-distance trading network comparable to the ritual and prestige focused exchange systems found in many anthropologically known maritime societies. Similar results were also received from the analysis of 14 potsherds and 3 figurines from the nearby Early Neolithic (circa 3620 to 3360 BCE) site of Lappdal, suggesting that the exchange of ceramics was a long-standing practice for fisher-forager cultures in the Baltic Sea region. Our cluster analysis of clay composition also indicates that some figurines may have been traded on the local level, pointing to multiple spheres of economic interaction. We argue that these results highlight the considerable economic complexity that was present in this neolithic fisher-forager society. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Neolithic Europe, Pitted Ware Culture, hunter-gatherers, Figurine studies, Trade and Exchange, Maritime mobility
in
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
volume
66
article number
105342
pages
13 pages
publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
2352-409X
DOI
10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105342
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1e2e1c02-7d35-48ae-897e-39d221185d1f
date added to LUP
2025-08-05 17:51:37
date last changed
2025-08-14 03:27:35
@article{1e2e1c02-7d35-48ae-897e-39d221185d1f,
  abstract     = {{This paper presents a snapshot of a neolithic maritime exchange network centred on the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) site of Tråsättra (circa 2630 to 2470 BCE), located northeast of modern-day Stockholm, Sweden. We used a combination of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-MA/ES) and thin section analysis to study and source the clays used to produce 19 potsherds and 39 ceramic figurines from the site. Our results showed that while all potsherds were made with local clays, 10 of the figurines were made with non-local clays sourced from across the Baltic Sea region, including the island of Gotland and the Åland archipelago. Furthermore, most of the non-local figurines were anthropomorphs, while all animal figurines were made with local clays. We suggest that this striking pattern indicates that the PWC people of Tråsättra were participating in a long-distance trading network comparable to the ritual and prestige focused exchange systems found in many anthropologically known maritime societies. Similar results were also received from the analysis of 14 potsherds and 3 figurines from the nearby Early Neolithic (circa 3620 to 3360 BCE) site of Lappdal, suggesting that the exchange of ceramics was a long-standing practice for fisher-forager cultures in the Baltic Sea region. Our cluster analysis of clay composition also indicates that some figurines may have been traded on the local level, pointing to multiple spheres of economic interaction. We argue that these results highlight the considerable economic complexity that was present in this neolithic fisher-forager society.}},
  author       = {{Fauvelle, Mikael and Brorsson, Torbjörn and Artursson, Magnus and Björck, Niclas and Horn, Christian}},
  issn         = {{2352-409X}},
  keywords     = {{Neolithic Europe; Pitted Ware Culture; hunter-gatherers; Figurine studies; Trade and Exchange; Maritime mobility}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports}},
  title        = {{Maritime exchange during the Middle Neolithic : Evidence of trade in ceramic figurines at the Pitted Ware Culture site of Tråsättra}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/224744214/Fauvelle_et_al_2025_-_Maritime_Trade_in_Figurines.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105342}},
  volume       = {{66}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}