Craft Perspective on Pitted Ware Point Typology

The Pitted Ware Culture of the Neolithic in southern Scandinavia is famous for its tanged flint points made from retouched blades. Scholars have long agreed that there are three distinct types, A, B and C, and academic discussions have suggested various regional, functional and chronological differences. However, in these discussions the technological perspective is largely overlooked. In this paper, the author presents technological evidence to correlate Pitted Ware point types to different production stages, within the same production process, which explains the typological differences. The results show that the initial crested blades present the ideal morphology for the type C points, which explains the form, flaking, length and scarcity. The type A points follow the morphology of blades from the later stages of production, which corresponds to their shape and length and their more numerous appearances in the assemblages. Blades from the intermediate production stage correspond to the B type. This study suggests that all Pitted Ware point types are derived from the same production process, and the typological differences are closely linked to the distinct blade morphologies that occurred during the production.