Imitation, identity and communication: The presence and problems of skeuomorphs in the Metal Ages

Metal and metal objects have often eclipsed lithic technology in the archaeological literature about metal using societies. Until recently stone tools in metal age contexts were frequently written off as intrusive, crude or even -in the case of particularly fine objects -imitative of metal. In this paper I will delve into the theory underpinning this concept of imitation, called skeuomorphism. It is a word used to classify and describe, to interpret and explain, but only recently has its ubiquity in the archaeological record been questioned, critiqued and explored. In this paper I propose to delineate the development of the concept of skeuomorphism and its place in the archaeo­logical interpretation of changing material cultures. I develop a more reflexive and complex conception of what a skeuomorph is and how archaeologists can begin to approach them in the context of material culture during the metal ages. To do so, I will briefly discuss skeuomorphic explanations of specific metal age lithic assemblages and artefacts (notably the famous fishtail flint daggers from the Scandinavian Late Neolithic) and offer my own, less orthodox, interpretations.