PROOF ONLY S URPLUS PRODUCTION OF FLINT BLADES IN THE EARLY NEOLITHIC OF WESTERN EUROPE: NEW EVIDENCE FROM BELGIUM Pierre Allard CNRS, France Abstract: The goal of this study was to identify cognitive processes in a particular technical sub- system – flint blade debitage in the Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik or LBK, dating to the second half of the sixth millennium BC). The study was based on new archaeological data from pits with debitage waste on a site at Verlaine, near Liège in Belgian Hesbaye. The project mainly involved refitting and analysis of a concentration of blade debitage waste, which had been almost completely preserved; an exceptional situation for this period. This detailed analysis has produced new data for the early Neolithic on the mental conception and technical procedures involved in debitage of large blocks of flint and suggests that the evidence from Verlaine reflects a system of ‘surplus’ production. The objective of Neolithic knappers at Verlaine was clearly to surpass the needs of the local communities, with a view to long-distance distribution well outside the region. Keywords: Belgian Hesbaye, debitage, flint blades, Linear Pottery Culture/Linearbandkeramik, production economy, refitting I NTRODUCTION Due to methodological developments in lithic technology research over the last 20 years, it is now possible to go beyond simple artefact description to explore the cognitive processes underlying the gestures and mental concepts involved in flint knapping. This article examines flint blade production in the earliest Neolithic of west-central Europe: the Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik or LBK), dat- ing to the second half of the sixth millennium BC. The study is based on new data provided by exceptionally large concentrations of debitage waste, recently discovered on a settlement site at Verlaine, near Liège in Belgian Hesbaye. This site is of particular significance in the current state of knowl- edge of the period. Flint resources do not in the main seem to have influenced the choice of settlement location for these first sedentary populations (Allard 2005; Cahen et al. 1986). Throughout central Europe, there are very few regions in which LBK settlements are located next to sources of high quality flint (Lech 2003). The main exceptions are Belgian Hesbaye and the neighbouring province of Limburg in European Journal of Archaeology Vol. 8(3): 205–223 Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications (www.sagepublications.com) and the European Association of Archaeologists (www.e-a-a.org) ISSN 1461–9571 DOI:10.1177/1461957105076058 02-076058-Allard.qxd 2/15/2007 9:39 PM Page 205