"I'll have a Flake to go, Please"

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses the results of a technological analysis of a small chipped flint assemblage recovered from a fortified Late Bronze Age (c.1100-800 cal BC) to Earliest Iron Age (c.800-600 cal BC) ‘ringwork’ at Mucking, Essex, England, excavated in the late 1970s. Technological data for this assemblage indicate a characteristically ‘expedient’ core technology, attesting to highly localised raw material procurement and a general lack of control, or concern over, both core reduction and tool production processes. On-site core reduction can be characterized as simple, unsystematic and generally wasteful. Dominated by miscellaneous retouched flakes and scrapers, the retouched component of the assemblage suggests a similarly informal approach to tool production on the site. Together, these findings are consistent with those of other Late Bronze to Earliest Iron Age chipped flint assemblages from eastern England. Existing explanatory models for assemblages of these periods have emphasized progressive functional substitution and the changing social role of chipped stone artefacts as key influences on the organization of lithic technology. Whilst recognising the major interpretive value of these models, it is argued here that two other critically important influences, namely, sedentism and raw material availability, have to date been overlooked.