The Production and Uses of Neolithic Tars

The precise methods for the preparation of tar in prehistory are not well understood. Archaeological and documentary evidence exists for sophisticated and large-scale methods of manufacture in the Medieval period (Kurzweil and Todtenhaupt, 1991). A number of simpler methods involving heating in sealed pottery vessels have been proposed and tested (Kurzweil and Todtenhaupt, 1990). However, these processes would leave little trace in the archaeological 

Further uses of tars are documented much later in the Medieval period. Tar was also painted over doors or beds, where it was thought to ward off evil spirits, perhaps due to its pungent smell. Rajewski (1970) observes that references to tar can be encountered in many proverbs of at least Medieval date in both rural and urban populations. This remarkable ethnohistoric record has its roots in much earlier populations of northern Europe. 

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