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From Marginalisation to SpecialisationScandinavian Flint-Dagger Productionduring the Second Wave of Neolithisation

IntroductionIn large parts of Europe, a renewed Neolithisation began around 2800cal. BC. In the archaeological records of central, eastern and north-ern Europe, these changes display themselves as different forms ofCorded-Ware traditions. In Scandinavia, this second wave of Neoli-thisation mark the transition between the Middle Neolithic A and Bphases (2800 cal. BC) and take on the form of the Single-Grave Cul-ture (EGK) on Jutland, the final stage of the TRB Culture on the Dan-ish isles and as the Swedish/Norwegian Battle-Axe Culture in thesouthern and central parts of Sweden and in the south-eastern partsof Norway. The process culminated in Late Neolithic I (between 2350and 1950 cal. BC) when the Neolithic package was introduced intoareas in Scandinavia without earlier evidence of agriculture. In thispaper it is suggested that the large-scale flint dagger production thatbegan in northern Jutland around 2350 cal. BC was the result of aprocess of a social marginalisation that, in turn, resulted in a success-ful specialisation.

The formationIn this context, the formation of the dagger technology is related toan anti-intellectualistic theory of culture change (see Apel 2001: 85ff). The main proposition, in line with the ideas of Emile Durkheimand Lewis Binford, is that technological specialisation and socialcomplexity may be the results of an increased moral density ratherthan of the conscious decisions made by individual agents. One wayof detecting moral density in prehistory is to find arguments for anincreased population density creating a population pressure. Thus, itmay be possible to consider the appearance of the flint-dagger tech-

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nology as the result of a packing problem created when domestic unitswere marginalized from rich areas and were thereby forced to developnew technologies in order to maintain their traditional social struc-ture.

One of the characteristic features of the Late Neolithic period inScandinavia is that there are signs of an increased population den-sity. There is evidence of relocation of domestic units to remote ar-eas where previously there were no signs of Neolithic populations.This process manifests itself, perhaps most clearly, in areas such asthe provinces of Värmland, Dalsland and Småland in Sweden wheregallery graves were erected and Neolithic technologies, includingcultivation and grazing, are introduced during this period (Johansson1961; Heimann 2000; Lagerås 2000). In eastern central Sweden, set-tlements tended to be localized to the heavy clay soils, rather than,as during earlier periods, to glacial eskers and other well-drained soils.This means that, in this respect, the Late Neolithic settlement pat-tern is similar to that of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. It is, in fact,more than likely that the Late Neolithic settlements in these areasare hidden in the archaeological remains of later periods. In areas withrich archaeological remains from later periods, such as eastern cen-tral Sweden, Late Neolithic graves and settlements tend to be cov-ered by later settlements and graves (Holm et al. 1997: 253; Andersson2001: 81). The gallery graves of Alby, Annelund and Dragby in theprovince of Uppland, for instance, were all covered in later times. Ithas been suggested that the Bronze Age population of eastern cen-tral Sweden, by covering the earlier collective graves, buried an old,collective ideology that was seen as a threat to the social values ofthe stratified, Bronze Age society (Andersson 2001: 82). However,the forested areas of Småland and Värmland, which have few tracesof agricultural practices after the Late Neolithic/Bronze Age transi-tion, may still be regarded as fossilised remains of the Late Neolithic,cultural landscape, a landscape that was never covered by Bronze Agegraves and settlements. The tendency to exploit the heavier clay soilsduring the Late Neolithic has, in earlier research, been related to theland-upheaval process in eastern central Sweden during the Neolithic.The main argument was that valleys with clay soils were continuouslyexposed as the sea withdrew and that people moved in because ofthe increased population pressure. However, the tendency to use clay

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soils was not only confined to areas where land-upheaval processeshad changed the landscape. A similar tendency can be discerned inDenmark as well (Douglas Price, personal comment in 1999). Thus,it can be concluded that the choices of where to live and where tobury the dead are cognitive aspects that the Late Neolithic popula-tion of the southern and central parts of Scandinavia shared with thepeoples of later times.

As we have seen, there are archaeological signs indicating an in-creased population density during the Late Neolithic period in thesouthern and central parts of Scandinavia and this may have led tothe exploitation of new environments. But, in order to argue for ananti-intellectualistic explanation of the emergence of new technolo-gies related to craft specialisation that is implied by the flint-daggertechnology, we need to gather more evidence. We need to investigatethe area of the first development of the Scandinavian dagger tech-nology, i.e. the situation in Jutland prior to the introduction of theflint dagger at the transition between the Middle Neolithic B and theLate Neolithic I around 2350 cal. BC.

The Middle Neolithic period in southern Scandinavia is dividedinto two distinct phases: Middle Neolithic A and B. In this context,we will be concerned only with the latter phase. In Jutland, MiddleNeolithic B is defined by the appearance of a new type of grave. Thecollective chamber-tombs of the early part of the MN-A phase werereplaced by individual – or occasionally double – inhumation gravesin small mounds. These graves make up the majority of the archaeo-logical remains from the Single-Grave culture of Jutland. The tripar-tition of Middle Neolithic B into the three sub-phases, I, II, and III,originates from Sophus Müller’s definitions of the three grave typescommonly found in these mounds: lower, middle and upper graves(Müller 1898; Damm 1991a: 83). Since these graves correspondedto a stratigraphical sequence with chronological significance, the Sin-gle-Grave period was later divided into a lower, middle and upper sub-phase (Glob 1945) and this division corresponds to the MiddleNeolithic B I, II, and III phases that are used today (Damm 1991a:83). However, it has been suggested that it would correspond betterto the actual archaeological material to divide Middle Neolithic B intoan earlier and a later sub-phase (Damm 1991a: 81). The transitionbetween Middle Neolithic B and Late Neolithic I is set to the times

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when daggers replaced battle axes in stone as the prestige gift in themale single graves. Thus, it was within the context of the late Single-Grave culture in northern Jutland that the production of flint dag-gers commenced at the transition between Middle Neolithic B andLate Neolithic I.

The geographical distribution of the early phase of the Single-Grave culture is illustrated in fig. 1. The grave mounds were situatedin groups of 10 to 20 along streams in the central part of Jutland.The distribution of Single-Grave culture graves from the early Mid-dle Neolithic B phase coincides with that of Jutland’s most fertile soils– light diluvial sand, moraine clay or sandy moraine (Damm 1991a:81). These kinds of soil are suitable for crop agriculture with a woodenard and for grazing as well. Excavations of Single-Grave sites onJutland, such as those at Hemmed on Djursland (Boas 1993) and Vor-basse near Esbjerg (Hvass 1977, 1986: 327 ff.), have demonstratedthat long houses no less elaborate, as regarded construction details,

Fig. 1a & b. The geographical distribution of battle axes from the early phaseof MN B (a) and battle axes from the latest phase of MN B (b). The distributionindicates the primary habitation area of the Single-Grave culture during theearliest and latest phases of MN B respectively (from Struve 1955).

a b

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than the houses of the Funnel-Beaker culture in Denmark and Swe-den were built. The battle axes from the early phase of MiddleNeolithic B – which reflect the distribution of inhumation graves –are concentrated to the central parts of Jutland (fig. 1a).

During the course of Middle Neolithic B the material manifesta-tions of the Single-Graves culture expands to the north as well as tothe Danish islands in the east. This tendency is best illustrated by thedistribution of the later battle-axe types found in the upper graves(fig. 1b). Thus, during the final Middle Neolithic phase, the geographi-cal distribution of battle-axes also included the provinces in theLimfjord area, such as Himmerland and Thisted, where the first dag-gers were produced somewhere around 2350 cal. BC. It is also in thisarea that the majority of the Danish, Late Neolithic settlements have beenrecovered (Björhem & Säfvestad 1989: 77, fig. 73). However, this wasapparently not because the Limfjord area had a high population den-sity at this time (Damm 1991b, Vandkilde 1996). The reason for thehigh frequency of Late Neolithic settlements here is in my opinionmerely because of their archaeological visibility. That is to say, the flintindustry of these sites, including broken dagger preforms and thou-sands of easily recognisable, flake types from bifacial-reduction se-quences, tends to amplify them and make them easy to find, as wellas to date. While Late Neolithic sites in other areas of Scandinaviahave a tendency to get lost in the archaeological remains of laterperiods, the sites near the natural flint sources, are simply easier tospot. In fact, Jensen’s calculations of the population density of Den-mark, based mainly on grave frequencies, clearly suggest that centralJutland was the most populated area of Jutland during the Bronze Age(Jensen 1979). Thus, we may assume that central Jutland had thehighest population density in this region during the Late Neolithic aswell. It is therefore not unlikely that the highly visible sites in theLimfjord area are the remains of a population that was marginalisedfrom central Jutland in the course of Middle Neolithic B, owing topopulation pressure. These domestic units eventually formed newclans and lineages and took advantage of the high-quality Limfjordflint in the production of prestige goods in order to maintain the socialstructure to which they were accustomed. Since the term “social struc-ture” is an abstraction, it may be appropriate to specify what kind ofsocial practises and institutions that the marginalised population of

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specify what kind of social practises and institutions that the margi-nalised population of northern Jutland would have lost if they hadnot chosen to specialise. The chances of gaining continuous accessto good, traditional food (now obtained through the exchange net-works rather than produced locally), prestigious objects and nicehouses, to which one was accustomed, may have triggered the spe-cialisation. It is possible that the opportunity to maintain a traditional,sedentary way of life, through specialisation, was more tempting thanthe prospect of having to become more flexible as regards subsist-ence strategies. The opportunity to commence costly religious ritu-als in the traditional way might also have contributed to the intro-duction of the flint dagger technology.

Since there was a demand for prestige objects that could be ex-changed between the elite fractions of northern Europe, the produc-tion of lancet-shaped, flint daggers (fig. 2) was an immediate suc-cess. The increased specialisation was triggered by an attempt tomaintain a certain social structure. Ironically, the specialisation, initself, led to the formation of a new social order that was differentfrom the old one.

Fig. 2. A lancet-shaped, type I flintdagger (from Lomborg 1973).

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During the early part of the Late Neolithic, there was a great dealof variation in the grave types in the Limfjord area, especially in theprovince of Himmerland, where the earliest dagger-production sitesare located (Vandkilde 1996). This may have been connected with aturbulent social situation in which new lineages were formed andpeople felt the need to express their identities through grave types. Itis interesting to consider that there are no obvious prestige items madeof flint to be found in the graves of the preceding Danish, Single-Grave culture. In fact, the mining of flint in the Limfjord area, in bothThisted and Himmerland, is dated to the Early and Late Neolithiconly. There is no evidence for mining during the Middle Neolithicperiod (Becker 1993). We know that large, prestigious, thin-buttedaxes in flint were produced in northern Jutland during the EarlyNeolithic and that prestigious daggers were produced during the LateNeolithic. However, no prestigious type of flint artefact was producedhere during the Middle Neolithic. Thus, it may be assumed that min-ing during the Neolithic was intimately connected with the organisedproduction of prestige goods. The connection between outcrops andthe mining of lithic materials, on the one hand, and the productionof prestige items, on the other, is a general pattern in the greater partof Europe during the entire Neolithic period (Knutsson 2001).

The reproductionThe Middle Neolithic Bell Beaker communities of Europe were fa-miliar with metallurgy, wore woollen clothes, and practised horse-rid-ing and held ceremonies, including feasting and the drinking of alco-hol beverages. This is a context in which an idealised, male-warrior rolewas formed and projected (Sherratt 1987: 88; Vandkilde 1998). Thecopper and flint daggers that appear during this period in large partsof Europe form part of the symbolic language that was related tothis new warrior identity. From now on, up to the Late Bronze Age,the new identity characterised large areas of central and northernEurope. In Euro-Asia, the dagger is traditionally thought of as a maleweapon and symbol. In the earliest European written sources, thedaggers are part of a warrior outfit dated to the Bronze Age. In areasof the Near East, such as Yemen, metal daggers formed an impor-tant part of a respectable man’s wardrobe up to the present (Cammann1977).

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In Scandinavian prehistory, flint daggers seem to replace the bat-tle-axe of stone as the male prestige gift in the upper graves of theJutlandic Single Grave culture. These daggers were made under in-fluences from western and central Europe. There are ethnographicexamples of how the spectacular outfits worn by warrior Age-Setscame to form the ideal of a larger region, including several other eth-nic groups. Among the pastoral Masaai of Kenya, for instance, maleswere not allowed to marry until they had passed their thirties. Be-cause of this, the large group of unmarried young males formed apowerful warrior class that raided neighbouring territories for cattleand were generally feared and respected. Eventually, the respect thatthis outfit gave its bearers tempted the younger men of neighbouringtribes to adopt certain, typical, Masaai-warrior features, such as thetypical head-gear with feathers and the long spears, thus forming theirown warrior age-classes (Håkansson, personal communication, seeMuriuki 1979: 98f.; Spear 1997: 239). It is intriguing to consider thatin this example the young males from different ethnic groups shareda similar interest in representing a warrior ideal. It is not unlikely thatthe appearance of the flint daggers in Scandinavia mirrored a similarsituation, when a male warrior ideal, formed in the southern and cen-tral parts of Europe and in which the metal dagger formed an impor-tant part, was taken up into new ethnic contexts.

It may be appropriate to present an ethnographic example to il-lustrate how the dagger has been used as a manhood and prestigesymbol, as well as reflecting regional identity. In the Yemen Arabrepublic, a proportion of the adult males still wear the traditionalArabian dagger (jambiya) (Cammann 1977: 27). These daggers havecurved, double-edged, steel blades with handles usually made of horn.They are worn in different positions that relate to the status of theowner. Consequently, city commoners and tribesmen wear their dag-gers in one way, while the daggers of men of high status are adjustedto the belt in a slightly different fashion (Cammann 1977: 31). In thesecommunities, such subtle material signals mirror the status differen-tiation among the dagger-bearers that is objectively present in thesocial life. This observation should be compared with Apel 2001,where it was concluded that the distribution of daggers of differentqualities may reflect hierarchical differentiation on a local geographi-cal level.

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Striking regional differences, as regards those concerning otherweapons, types of headgear and ways of dressing, also applied to theYemeni daggers. Consequently, silver dagger-hilts, such as those onthe Hodeia-dagger type, are common on the Tihama plain, while an-other type of metal hilt was common in the region surrounding Zabid.In other districts, metal hilts were not in evidence. Hence, the dag-gers also mirrored regional traditions (Cammann 1977: 32). After therevolution in 1962, when Yemen became a republic and old heredi-tary imams were removed from power, the daggers seem to have beenused only as “a mark of manhood, or as a kind of status symbol”.However, in “the old days”, the daggers were also used in combat orfor defence. Cammann suggests that, in the old traditional society,boys were allowed to use these daggers after a coming-to-age initia-tion rite:

There is ample reason to suppose that in the past a Yemeni male wouldbe presented with a jambiya, or at least given the right to wear one, inthe course of some coming-of-age ceremony. In other Muslim lands,boys of twelve to fourteen years traditionally underwent ritualcircumcision, after they were considered to have attained manhoodand could assume the right to wear a man’s headgear and to carry asword or rifle. Probably the right to wear a dagger was formallygranted at the same time (Cammann 1977: 33).

I have suggested that the dagger technology was complex and mostlikely transmitted vertically within lineage groups or clans. It is likelythat the apprenticeship started at a fairly early age, since this wouldsimplify the learning process and thus make it easier to teach thosewho were supposed to learn the craft independently of their naturalabilities. As we have seen, this interpretation also makes sense fromthe sociological point of view. It would therefore have been conven-ient if the apprentice was actually brought up with, or close to, theteacher. In the following discussion, it is anticipated that theScandinavian, Late Neolithic, flint daggers were used as status insig-nia by an Age-Grade of warriors.

Among the traditional Kabyle farmers of Algeria, the rifle is asymbol of nif (the personal qualities that define a respectable, hon-ourable male). The rifle functions as a form of symbolic embodimentof the nif within the male agnatic group of these patrilinear farmers

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(Bourdieu 1977: 61). It is tempting to regard the flint dagger as func-tioning in similar fashion as a symbol either of adult males or of anage-class of males in the Late Neolithic communities of Scandina-via. This is actually very likely, since the different qualities of bronzedaggers and flint daggers differ radically, thus making a purely func-tional interpretation highly unlikely.

If the flint daggers were used as male prestige objects, it is notentirely unlikely that the flint smiths who produced the flint daggerswere males. In the following discussion, it is thus assumed that theflint-smiths were males. It has been proposed that the flint-daggertechnology was most likely reproduced vertically within family units.It has also been suggested that the apprenticeship started at a fairlyearly age, i.e. around puberty (Apel 2004). However, even if the for-mal introduction to the apprenticeship occurred at puberty, it wouldclearly be an advantage if children intended to become apprenticeswere brought up in an environment in which the craft was practised.In other words, it would be a practical advantage if they were broughtup among artisans and master knappers. Such a scenario also makessense if we assume that the domestic unit tries to maintain and en-hance its status and power through child-growth strategies, includ-ing letting children participate in costly education. Some form ofresidence that maintained extended contact between older males(masters) and young males (apprentices) would have been in exist-ence. Either virilocal residence, where fathers transmitted skills tosons, or avunculocal residence, where the mother’s brothers were theteachers, may have solved this. Both matrilineal and patrilinear de-scent systems are connected with virilocal residence in the ethno-graphic literature, so this condition does not tell us anything aboutwhat type of unilineal descent system was practised (ThomasHåkansson, personal comment). When discussing matrimonial strat-egies as involved directly in the social reproduction of the social or-der, it is once again important to recognise the differences betweenthe ideal marriage (proclaimed by structure) and the actual marriages(practice) that do not always, and sometimes seldom, coincide. Ac-cording to Bourdieu (1977: 59), it is simply not enough to character-ise marriage rules in genealogical terms. One has to regard them as:

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…similar to a card game, in which the outcome depends partly onthe deal, the cards held (their value itself being defined by the rules ofthe game, characteristic of the social formation in question), and partlyon the player’s skill: that is to say, firstly on the material and symboliccapital possessed by the families concerned, their wealth in instrumentsof production and in men, considered both as productive andreproductive power and also, in previous state of play, as fightingstrength and hence symbolic strength; and secondly on the competencewhich enables the strategists to make the best use of this capital,practical mastery of the (in the widest sense) economic axiomaticsbeing the precondition for production of the practices regarded as“reasonable” within the group and positively sanctioned by the lawsof the market in material and symbolic goods (Bourdieu 1977: 58)

It is interesting to consider Sahlin’s (1968) remark that lineagesthat are closely related to the mythical ancestor sometimes practiseendogamy. Presumably, such “unnatural” practices are “solidifying theminimal lineage as a corporate group in factional struggle” as FredrikBarth suggested was the leading role of the parallel-cousin marriagein southern Kurdistan (Barth 1953; Bourdieu 1977: 32).

For instance, among the Kabyle farmers, the ideal marriage isbetween parallel cousins. In such a case, a man marries one of hisfather’s brother’s children. It has been established that these marriagesare especially important under circumstances in which the lineagecohesion is vulnerable and threatened by an internal power strugglethat may arise, for instance, as the result of the death of the maleelder. Such an event will tend to provoke internal struggles betweenbrothers or cousins, i.e. the sons or grandsons of the elder. The morevulnerable a family, the more nif it must possess to defend its sacredvalues. There are two reasons why the organisation of a parallel-cousinmarriage will maintain the cohesion of the group. (1) The two broth-ers will, through the marriage of their children, be closely united andthereby less inclined to engage in a power struggle that would lead toa fraction within the lineage. (2) The community as a whole will ap-preciate the occasion, since it honours the tradition. This may be whythe women in these communities are less inclined to instigate paral-lel-cousin marriages; usually the elder male within the lineage doesit, often without consulting the women and actually trying to arrangeit over their heads. Usually, under circumstances in which the line-

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age is not threatened, women tend to actively participate in matri-monial negotiations, since they are free to negotiate without losingface. The matrimonial strategies used by women aim at incorporat-ing more women from their original groups through marriage, sincesuch strategies will increase their own social power (Bourdieu 1977).This is actually a nice illustration of a continuous dialectic relation-ship between social structure and practice. The parallel-cousin mar-riages are necessary in order to maintain the cohesion of the lineage,while exogamy is necessary, not only for purely biological reasons,but also because it provides the necessary contacts used to constructexchange networks. Even though the parallel-cousin marriage is con-sidered to be the ideal marriage in the traditional Kabyle communi-ties, they only made up 3-6% of all marriages.

Since it is likely that the flint-dagger technology was organisedaccording to hereditary principles, i.e. that it was institutionalised,we must also accept that other aspects of the society were also or-ganised in this fashion. What we are dealing with is a social structurethat revolves around a ranked and segmented, common-descentgroup.

The reformationThe dominant social structures of the Late Neolithic period wereupheld primarily by male elders and organised as unilineal descentgroups. The chiefly lineages had control over the most productive landand were, through their close genealogical ties to the clan mythicalancestor and through their external exchange contacts, distinguishedfrom the general populace. In marginal areas, lineage-groups special-ised in the production of prestige items in order to maintain theirtraditional way of life. These prestige items circulated in an exchangenetwork controlled by the male elders. The corporate descent groupsthat produced prestigious flint daggers may have therefore have beensome form of attached specialists (Olausson 1993 & 2000: 123). Thespecialisation that occurred in the marginal areas of Scandinavia ledto a diversification, as regards, for instance, grave traditions. Thus inHimmerland near the Limfjord, there is a great variation in grave types.The flint daggers gave their owners prestige and linked them to theesoteric powers, owing to the fact that they were produced by a groupof skilled artisans.

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Carefully directed exogamous marriages, in order to establish andmaintain important contacts with other peer groups, were arrangedover an area covering the main distribution of flint daggers (seeabove). Women usually negotiated and arranged marriages in timeswhen there was no direct threat to the lineage cohesion. Since thewomen were not as affected by, and dependent on, the kind of offi-cial prestige that a strict observation of the tradition gave the men,they were not inclined to follow the marriage rules proposed by thesocial structure. Instead, the women strove to bring more women fromtheir own original lineage into their household, since this would en-hance their own influence in the hamlet. The dynamic relationshipbetween the dominant social structure (elder men) and practices withregard to matrimonial strategies for a long period conserved the LateNeolithic social structure. However, the influx of metal objects andtechniques, which was controlled by the chiefly lineages within theclans, coupled with the relative simplicity of the bronze technologymade the flint specialists in the Limfjord area more or less obsoletearound 1950 cal. BC. Eventually, due to the lack of objective foun-dation that the traditional order encountered as a result of theseevents, the discrepancy between structure and practice became un-bearable. The internal conflict between structure and practice couldbe upheld only as long as the dominant elders of the lineages guar-anteed the relative wealth that the flint-dagger production gave them.When the chiefly lineages started to exchange metal, instead of flintobjects, the producers of prestige items in flint could no longer main-tain the authority of the social structure. Certain lineages in the east-ern production area solved the problem by increasing the quality oftheir product, hence the production of the prestigious, fishtail, par-allel-flaked daggers of Late Neolithic II. However, in the Limfjordarea, the craft diminished.

Only agnatic relatives in the lineages were buried in the collectivegallery graves. Others, mostly women who had married into the lin-eage but also males who were excluded from the right to inherit aposition in the corporate groups because of limited resources, wereinstead buried in individual inhumation graves. This is supported bya significant imbalance between the sexes in the Late Neolithic col-lective graves. Thus, in the gallery graves of eastern central Sweden,there are 2.3 men buried for every woman (Apel 1992) and from a

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larger material base, it has been concluded that there are 1.7 buriedmen for every women during the same period (Welinder 1979). Thedecline of the lineage society is in fact signalled by the individualburial of the Early Bronze Age, a tradition that has its roots in thesingle burials of women and outcast men during Late Neolithic II. Itwould not be surprising if this change in burial ritual was also accom-panied by a new way of determining kinship. This might very wellhave been the time when the bilateral-kinship system known fromthe Scandinavian Iron Age was introduced.

Within the consumption area, the daggers increased in value as afunction of the distance from the production areas. In general, theywere not very valuable in the production areas, simply because of thelarge number of daggers in circulation. In these areas, it was theprestiges objects that were exchanged for daggers and that came fromfar away that were valuable. In eastern central Sweden, the flint dag-gers, as well as the debitage from the production stages that requireda high degree of know-how and were performed in public on theproduction sites, were extremely valuable. As Mary Helms (1998) haspointed out, excellent craftsmanship and long-distance trade are twostrategies by which tangible objects may become charged with intan-gible, esoteric powers that are derived from cosmological realms andthat give their owners power and prestige. The chiefly lineages ofeastern central Sweden thereby actively used the flint artefacts andflakes that they obtained through external contacts to maintain theirpower.