François Giligny – författare

This volume brings together a selection of papers proposed for the Proceedings of the 42nd Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference (CAA), hosted at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University from 22nd to 25th April 2014. The program was divided into different themes and this structure has been maintained in the arrangement of articles in the various chapters of this book. Chapter headings include: Historiography; Field and Laboratory Data Recording; Ontologies and Standards; Internet and Archaeology; Archaeological Information Systems; GIS and Spatial Analysis; Mathematics and Statistics in Archaeology; 3D Archaeology and Virtual Archaeology; Multi-Agent Systems and Complex System Modelling.

The reconstruction of the technical systems of ceramic production and of its ‘chaîne opératoire’ is a means of exploring certain social structures in time and space. For many years, methodological procedures based on multidisciplinarity have made it possible to analyse both materials and methods of fabrication for this purpose. Session IV-3 organised at the 18th Congress of the UISPP in 2018 aimed to highlight the contribution of technological approaches to ceramics, both in archaeology and in ethnology, to the analysis of pre- and protohistoric societies. The case studies focus on the Neolithic and the European Bronze Age, but also on the megalithism of our era in Senegal.

From Mine to User: Production and Procurement Systems of Siliceous Rocks in the European Neolithic and Bronze Age presents the papers from Session XXXIII of the 18th UISPP World Congress (Paris, June 2018). 23 authors contribute nine papers from Parts 1 and 2 of the Session. The first session ‘Siliceous rocks: procurement and distribution systems’ was aimed at analysing one of the central research issues related to mining, i.e. the production systems and the diffusion of mining products. The impact of extraction on the environment, group mobility and the numbers involved in the exploitation phase were considered; mining products were also examined with a view to identifying local and imported/exported products and the underlying social organization relating to the different fields of activity. The second session ‘Flint mines and chipping floors from prehistory to the beginning of the nineteenth century’ focused on knapping activities. The significance of the identification of knapping workshops in the immediate vicinity of mine shafts and of their presence in villages as well as in intermediary places between the two was considered in the analysis of chaîne opératoire sequences. The potential of product quality and artefact distribution to contribute to the understanding of the social organisation of the communities being studied was also examined.