This paper discusses the tension between natural science-driven and social science-driven approaches to human migration in late prehistory, focussing especially on the 3rd millennium BC. In order to understand the relevant issues at the core of these tensions, we discuss recent research on prehistoric migrations based on aDNA data and confront it with research that adopts an anthropological and social approach, as well as with research that deals with present migrations by adopting an archaeological approach. Migration models based on genomic research have provoked heated debate among archaeologists. In the conclusions, we propose some possible ways to go further in research on past migrations.
Macrolithic tools and grinding implements, in particular, are common finds at archaeological excavations. They appear in settlements, at workshop sites and close to mines. The central hypothesis of this article is that mining archaeology has a lot to gain when tools are directly compared to similar implements from settlement sites. However, the sphere of mining and beneficiation and the sphere of domestic production have mainly been thought of as separate. This a priori exclusion has led to misunderstandings of the social and physical environments of prehistoric individuals, leading to an artificial divide. By looking at a marginalised group of tools, in this case from three sites in the Southern Alps, I set out to discuss particular features of Late Bronze Age tool production and use-wear, to show that even though mining and domestic tools show distinct morphometric differences, similarities and possible hints indicate the entwinement of these spheres.
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