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All the single finds – single object depositions in the Netherlands, Belgium and beyond.
- Author(s):
- Sabrina Autenrieth (see profile) , Marieke Visser
- Date:
- 2019
- Group(s):
- Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology
- Subject(s):
- Bronze age, Depositions, Archaeology, Antiquities, Prehistoric, Ritual
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Bronze Age, Prehistoric archaeology
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/aybm-6y89
- Abstract:
- Single finds are often neglected in the analysis of Bronze Age depositions, since their context is often unclear or even completely unknown. It is often assumed that single finds originally belonged to hoards, graves or settlements. But do they really belong to other contexts, or are they an autonomous context category that deserves more attention? Single finds quite often represent the majority of a dataset, so they certainly offer potential insights into selective depositional practices in the Bronze Age. This paper argues that single finds are in fact of great archaeological value. It focuses on finds from north-western Europe and the river landscape of the Rhine. Based on the available context information, this paper proposes a more precise definition and categorisation of different types of single finds in order to arrive at a greater understanding of this find group. A distinction is made between single finds with and without context information. It is then possible to examine, by means of systematic comparisons of the distribution and biographies of the different categories of single finds, whether single finds without context information show a pattern similar to the single finds with context information. This way we can fully utilise the archaeological potential of single finds in the analysis of depositional practices during the Bronze Age.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 2 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
autenrieth_visser2019.pdf