Vuurstenen met afgeronde uiteinden van Swifterbant (Fl.): vuurmakers?

Samenvatting

Flint artefacts with rounded ends from Swifterbant (province of Flevoland): strike-a-lights? So far, some fifty flint artefacts with one or two rounded ends are known from the various Swifterbant sites at Swifterbant, and it is probable that more will come to light. Here, the results of a preliminary use-wear analysis of fourteen of these artefacts are presented. The conclusion is that four very probably and six probably were strike-a-lights, used in combination with pyrite or marcasite; three were possibly used as such. In this connection, it is of interest that one fragment of a marcasite nodule was also found at Swifterbant. One tool, a borer, became rounded in the course of another type of activity: boring in hide. Several colleagues at Leiden University (see the following contribution in this volume) do not agree with our conclusion, however; in their opinion, the rounded ends did not result from use. Because of these conflicting outcomes, more research is necessary and indeed already under way.