ARTICLES
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Cette liste est mise à jour de façon irrégulière. N'hésitez pas à envoyer vos nouvelles références. Pour rechercher un mot-clé, un auteur, faire une recherche : Ctrl+F
RESHEF H., ANTON M., BOCQUENTIN F., VARDI J., KHALAILY H., DAVIS L., BAR-OZ G., MAROM N. (2019) - Tails of animism: a joint burial of humans and foxes in Pre-Pottery Neolithic Motza, Israel, Antiquity, Vol. 93, Issue 371, October 2019, DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.165
ABSTRACT
The recent discovery of a Late/Final Pre-Pottery Neolithic B burial of an adult and two children associated with fox bones at the site of Motza, Israel, demonstrates the broader socio-cultural perspective, and possibly continued animistic world views, of Neolithic foragers at the onset of the agricultural revolution.
https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.165
GOPHER A., EIRIKH-ROSE A., ASHKENAZI H., MARCO (A2), HILA MAY E., MAKOVIYCHUK Y., SAPIR-HEN L., GALMOR S., SCHECHTER H. C., ACKERFELD D., HAKLAY G., ZUTOVSKI K. (2019) - Nahal Yarmuth 38: a new and unique Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in central Israel, Antiquity, Vol. 93, Issue 371, October 2019, DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.162
ABSTRACT
The small, Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site (tenth millennium cal BP) of Nahal Yarmuth 38 in central Israel consists of a unique series of rectilinear structures with plastered floors, beneath which multiple interments were found. The nature of the finds combined with existing knowledge of burial customs of this period make Nahal Yarmuth 38 an ideal site for investigating designated burial sites in the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B.
DEFRASNE C., CHALMIN E., BELLOT-GURLET L., THIRAULT E., ANDRÉ G. (2019) – From archeological layers to schematic rock art? Integrated study of the Neolithic pigments and pigmented rocks at the Rocher du Château (Western Alps, Savoie, France), Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, First Online: 28 August 2019, p. 1-27. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00882-9
ABSTRACT
Post-glacial schematic rock paintings extend across the Iberian Peninsula to the Italian Piedmont. The Rocher du Château is one of the few Alpine sites with such painted figurations, located on a main transalpine route at 1750 m.a.s.l. in the Vallée de la Maurienne (Savoie, France). Archeological excavations in front of the painted panels revealed pigments and pigmented pebbles in archaeological levels attributed to the Neolithic Square Mouthed Pottery culture (SMP culture, 4600 –4000 BC). The co-existence of pigments from archeological soils and rock paintings is rare in European prehistory and exceptional for the Neolithic period. The integrated study of these materials, barely attempted before, combined non-invasive in situ methods (digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy) and analytical studies of micro-samples (SEM-EDX, XRD). The weathering process on the rock surface before and after the layer of paint was studied, and the mineralogical identification of the pigments was analyzed. Complementary physico-chemical analyses were conducted at several scales of observation to identify the composition of the excavated pigments and pigmented materials. Some of them proved to be anthropogenic blends combining hematite and charcoal of plant origin. This association has never before been identified in other prehistoric European archeological sites. Based on these data, the potential links between the pebbles, the production of pigments, and the rock paintings are discussed.
KEYWORDS
Rock art, Neolithic, Schematic paintings, Raman spectroscopy, Pigment analysis
BENZ M., GRESKY J., ŠTEFANISKO D., ALARASHI H., KNIPPER C., PURSCHWITZ C., BAUER J., GEBEL H. G. K. (2019) – Burying power: New insights into incipient leadership in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic from an outstanding burial at Baʻja, southern Jordan, Plos One, Published: August 28, 2019. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221171
ABSTRACT
In 2016, an extraordinary burial of a young adult individual was discovered at the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB, 7,500–6,900 BCE) settlement of Baʻja in southern Jordan. This burial has exceptional grave goods and an elaborate grave construction. It suggests discussing anew reconstructions of early Neolithic social structures. In this article, we will summarize former theories on the emergence of leadership and hierarchies and present a multivariate model according to which anthropological and archaeological data of the burial will be analyzed. In conclusion, we surmise that early Neolithic hierarchization in southern Jordan was based on corporate pathways to power rather than self-interested aggrandizers. However, some aspects of the burial point to regional exchange networks of prestige goods, a trait considered characteristic of network based leadership. In line with anthropological and sociological research, we argue that pathways to power should be considered as relational processes that can be understood only when comparing traits of the outstanding person to her/his social environment.
KEYWORDS
Neolithic period, Dentition, Archaeology, Teeth, Femur, Limestone, Molars, Skull
SPATARO M., CUBAS M., CRAIG O. E., CHAPMAN J. C., BORONEANŢ A., BONSALL C. (2019) – Production and function of Neolithic black-painted pottery from Schela Cladovei (Iron Gates, Romania), Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, First Online: 28 August 2019, p. 1-18. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00918-0
Abstract
This paper presents for the first time the results of a combination of petrographic, geochemical and organic residue analyses of early Neolithic ceramics from the Iron Gates region of the Danube basin. Eleven early Neolithic potsherds from Schela Cladovei (Romania) were analysed in detail. The results of the petrographic analysis show that the ceramics were made with the same recipe that was used by Starčevo-Körös-Criș potters elsewhere in southeastern Europe. The SEM-EDX analysis shows one of the earliest uses of Mn-rich black pigments to decorate Neolithic European ceramics. Organic residue analyses detected dairy, non-ruminant and ruminant adipose fats. No evidence of aquatic resources was detected. In summary, the early Neolithic potters at the Iron Gates, although able to make coarse and more sophisticated painted ceramics, did not make specific vessels for a specific use.
Keywords
Early Neolithic, Polarised microscopy, SEM-EDX, GC-MS, GC-c-IRMS, Ceramic technology, Pottery paint
VAHDATI NASAB H., SHIRVANI S., RIGAUD S. (2019) – The Northern Iranian Central Plateau at the End of the Pleistocene and Early Holocene: The Emergence of Domestication, Journal of World Prehistory, First Online: 13 August 2019, p. 1-24. DOI: 10.1007/s10963-019-09133-0
ABSTRACT
Until recently, the Iranian Central Plateau (ICP) was considered to have been unoccupied at the end of the Pleistocene (Marshall 2012 in ‘Missing Links: Demic Diffusion and the Development of Agriculture on the Central Iranian Plateau’. Durham University e-Theses. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3547/), raising questions about the mechanisms that drove Neolithic diffusion in this area. However, recent field data has provided new insights into the rise of domestication here. Reassessment of the local chronology during the Early Holocene reveals consistent occupation of the ICP throughout the Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic. Plant and animal remains indicate that Mesolithic communities preserved a purely foraging lifestyle, yet data for the Early Neolithic shows that communities produced fully domesticated resources. This clear economic rupture suggests the introduction of farming technologies from other regions. Additionally, the central geographic position of the ICP between the Zagros and western Central Asia, and the correspondence in material culture between the eastern sites of the ICP and the Zagros suggest that the region was a hot spot of connections favourable to the eastward diffusion of the Neolithic.
KEYWORDS
Iranian Central Plateau, Domestication, Southeastern Caspian Sea, Mesolithic, Neolithic
PEARCE M. (2019) - The ‘Copper Age’—A History of the Concept, Journal of World Prehistory, First Online: 30 August 2019, p 1–22. DOI: 10.1007/s10963-019-09134-z
ABSTRACT
The idea that there was a Copper Age between the Neolithic and Bronze Age was inspired by the discovery of the use of native copper in prehistoric North America. Its currency in European prehistory owes much to the 1861 observations by William Wilde that copper tools preceded the use of bronze in Ireland, though Wilde did not postulate a Copper Age per se. Acceptance of the existence of a Copper Age was a long process, not least as it seemed to contradict the premises of the Three Age System and was conflated with arguments for the local development of copper metallurgy, but the 1876 and 1880 international prehistoric archaeology congresses were key moments in its recognition. By the mid 1880s its validity was widely accepted in Europe. In contemporary dating schemes, the definition of the Copper Age varies according to regional and national traditions. This paper touches on the debate concerning the use of technological stages as chronological periods and examines the history of alternative conceptualisations of the early periods of metallurgy in Europe, including those that posit socio-economic phases of development.
KEYWORDS
History of archaeology, Three Age System, Copper Age, Copper, Secondary products revolution
NIEBIESZCZAŃSKI J., CZEBRESZUK J., HILDEBRANDT-RADKE I., VOUVALIDIS K., SYRIDES G., TSOURLOS P., SPYCHALSKI W. (2019) - Uncovering tell formation processes in the Anthemous Valley (Northern Greece): Geoarchaeological studies of Nea Raedestos Toumba, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 27, October 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101987
ABSTRACT
Anthemous Valley, located in Northern Greece, has witnessed two different models of habitation during the Neolithic, while the Bronze Age comprises only of tell sites. Until recent no tell settlement model was recorded that could be associated with the Neolithic. Following article discusses the results of geoarchaeological works in Nea Raedestos which revealed the presence of another – third type of Neolithic settlement – a tell type. The ERT, vibracoring and laboratory analyses provided material for archaeological comparisons between the discussed site and other Neolithic record in the Anthemous Valley. In the light of results, the Nea Raedestos Neolithic site differs in terms of spatial organization from the already known extensive settlements in Vassilika-Kyparissi, Thermi and Galatista, and thus constitutes first evidence of Neolithic tell in the Anthemous Valley.
KEYWORDS
Tell, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Geoarchaeology, Prehistoric Greece
AGHA N., NADEL D., BAR-OZ G. (2019) – New insights into livestock management and domestication at Tel Ro'im West, a multi-layer Neolithic site in the Upper Jordan Valley, Israel, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 27, October 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101991
ABSTRACT
The issues of exactly when, where and how many times were farm animals (goat, sheep, pigs and cattle) domesticated in the Near East have been addressed for decades, using archaeological data, the frequencies of hunted and managed ungulates, bone measurements and DNA studies. In most Neolithic sites in the southern Levant, a stratified PPNB – PN sequence representing the relevant time period and direct evidence for the management and domestication phases of goats, sheep, pigs and cattle was not found or studied. The site of Tel Roʻim West (TRW) in the northern Jordan Valley encompasses such a sequence and is used here as a case study for characterizing the local trajectory leading from hunting to livestock husbandry. Our results indicate that the spatial spread and diffusion of sheep husbandry from the north to the southern Levant was via the Levantine corridor through settled land, rather than through the more arid zones to the east. In the PPNC most of the goats at the site were domesticated or at least were at a high level of cultural control. Cattle underwent a slow process of diminution. The pigs from PPNC and PN TRW were already about the size of domesticated pigs. Thus, the faunal composition of TRW reflects both change and continuity in the exploitation patterns over time. The change is apparent in the transition from the PPNB to the PPNC, when hunting became a secondary component in the subsistence economy. Continuity is evident in the gradual and long process of domesticating cattle and pigs during the PPNC and the PN. Continuity is also evident in the livestock composition at the nearby Hula valley sites, which remained largely unchanged from the Neolithic times onward.
KEYWORDS
Livestock domestication, Neolithic, Jordan Valley
FRANCÉS-NEGRO M., CARRANCHO A., PÉREZ-ROMERO A., ARSUAGA J. L., CARRETERO J. M., IRIARTE E. (2019) – Storage or cooking pots? Inferring pottery use through archaeomagnetic assessment of palaeotemperatures, Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 110, October 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2019.104992.
ABSTRACT
In this paper we report the results of an archaeomagnetic and rock-magnetic study performed on a set of Neolithic and Chalcolithic potsherds from El Portalón de Cueva Mayor site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) to investigate their thermal history and obtain information about their function during ancient times. Two types of palaeomagnetic behaviour have been observed. One yields stable and univectorial magnetization diagrams (Type 1) while the other yields multivectorial diagrams with an intermedium component interpreted as a partial thermoremanence (p-TRM) (Type 2), acquired during a partial reheating of the pottery during their use. To investigate the connection of these two types with the ancient function of the potsherds, a set of modern pots was experimentally fired and then partially reheated al known temperatures. The results obtained reproduced patterns similar to those observed in the archaeological samples. Type 1 (univectorial) samples that reached only a high heating temperature (>600 °C) during their manufacture were most probably used as storage vessels. By contrast, Type 2 (multivectorial) samples probably recorded a p-TRM acquired during their last use (reheating) related to cooking activities (<450 °C). Additionally, a detailed microprofile performed on an experimental pot heated twice at different temperatures allows interesting inferences to be drawn on the magnetic record in archaeological pottery and its implications. This study shows that the magnetic measurements can be a useful tool to infer the last re-heating temperatures in prehistoric ceramics and to relate them to the use of those pieces in the past.
KEYWORDS
Archaeomagnetism, Thermoremanence, Archaeological pottery, Experimental archaeology
MARTÍNEZ-SEVILLA F., PIPER S. F., JIMÉNEZ COBOS F., LOZANO RODRÍGUEZ J. A., CARRASCO RUS J. (2019) – Shaping Marble, Shaping Minds: Apprenticeship in an Early Neolithic Bracelet Quarry, Lithic Technology, Published online: 20 Aug 2019, DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2019.1654700
ABSTRACT
Stone bracelets are one of the most outstanding aspects of personal ornamentation of the Early Neolithic in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (5500–4800 cal. BC). These ornaments are an element of cultural identity and a chronological marker of the first Neolithic societies in this area. Discovery and study of the Neolithic quarry of Cortijo Cevico (Loja, Granada) has allowed us to identify the extraction and initial reduction of dolomitic marble for the manufacture of bracelets. The archaeological assemblage from the quarry comprises knapping waste, circular roughouts (from which bracelets were manufactured), and the tools used in these activities. In this paper, we evaluate the evidence for apprenticeship processes in the quarry. We use different methodological resources to demonstrate that knowledge transmission occurred in the quarry including experimental knapping by experienced and novice knappers, ethnographic examples, and the application of diacritical schemes to the abandoned archaeological roughouts.
KEYWORDS
Neolithic, learning, knapping, marble, experimentation, stone bracelets
KEARNEY K. (2019) – Vegetation impacts and early Neolithic monumentality: A palaeoenvironmental case study from south-west Ireland, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 27, October 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101940
ABSTRACT
New insights into prehistoric vegetation and human activities around a megalithic monument were inferred from a palaeoecological study at Arderrawinny, south-west Ireland. An early Neolithic portal tomb located c.500 m north-east of a small mire was investigated for pollen and loss on ignition analyses. This investigation provides a detailed reconstruction of the local vegetation development for the area surrounding the megalithic tomb, supported by 12 AMS 14C measurements and Bayesian modelling of palaeoecological and archaeological data. The palaeoecological record indicates a degree of ‘openness’ which was unusual in pre-Neolithic contexts in Ireland. Bayesian modelling of palaeoecological and archaeological chronologies intimates that evidence for woodland clearings preceded the construction of the megalith and suggests spatial separation between settlement, cultivation and ‘ritual’ activity in the early Neolithic. Despite low evidence for Neolithic agricultural, a potential correlation between human activity, as indicated by the presence of the nearby early Neolithic portal tomb, and the onset of the mid-Holocene ‘Elm Decline’ in the region is suggested.
KEYWORDS
Early Neolithic, Monumentality, Portal Tomb, Pollen, Bayesian, south-west Ireland
HERRERO-CORRAL, A. M., GARRIDO-PENA, R., FLORES FERNÁNDEZ, R. (2019) – The Inheritors. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 32(1), p. 63-87, DOI: 10.1558/jma.39328
ABSTRACT
For the most part, children have been overlooked in the archaeological literature. However, in recent decades, numerous studies have pointed out the relevance of this social group and the necessity of including children in any attempt to reconstruct past societies. This study reports on an investigation of the main Bell Beaker child burial sites on the Iberian Peninsula and in a wider European perspective. It includes recent important discoveries in central Iberia, some of which are published here for the first time. Burial treatment of various age categories is examined to determine when individuals reach adulthood, regardless of their biological age, and when they may be considered full members of the social group. We have also noted special miniature versions of adult grave goods that were specifically made for children’s graves; it is also possible that some objects had been made by children working as apprentices. These are crucial issues for analysing the social contexts of Bell Beakers, including for understanding the key problem of inherited status in Iberia during the second half of the third millennium cal bc, which was a period of significant social changes.
KEYWORDS
Bell Beakers, grave goods, Iberia, non-adult individuals, social status
FURHOLT M. (2019) – Re-integrating Archaeology: A Contribution to aDNA Studies and the Migration Discourse on the 3rd Millennium BC in Europe, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Publié en ligne : 10 Juin 2019, DOI: 10.1017/ppr.2019.4
ABSTRACT
Since aDNA research suggested a marked gene influx from Eastern into Central Europe in the 3rd millennium bc, outdated, simplistic narratives of massive migrations of closed populations have re-appeared in archaeological discussions. A more sophisticated model of migration from the steppes was proposed recently by Kristiansen et al. As a reaction to that proposal, this paper aims to contribute to this ongoing debate by refining the latter model, better integrating archaeological data and anthropological knowledge. It is argued that a polythetic classification of the archaeological material in Central Europe in the 3rd millennium reveals the presence of a new complex of single grave burial rituals which transcends the traditional culture labels. Genetic steppe ancestry is mainly connected to this new kind of burials, rather than to Corded Ware or Bell Beaker materials. Here it is argued that a polythetic view on the archaeological record suggests more complicated histories of migration, population mixtures and interaction than assumed by earlier models, and ways to better integrate detailed studies of archaeological materials with a deeper exploration of anthropological models of mobility and social group composition and the molecular biological data are explored.
KEYWORDS
aDNA, migration, single grave burials, mobility, Corded Ware, Bell Beakers
BALASSE M., TRESSET A., OBEIN G., FIORILLO D., GANDOIS H. (2019) - Seaweed-eating sheep and the adaptation of husbandry in Neolithic Orkney: new insights from Skara Brae, Antiquity, Volume 93, Numéro 370, Publié en ligne: 12 Août 2019, p. 919-93, DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.95
ABSTRACT
The Neolithisation of Europe involved socio-economic and biological adaptations to new environments. The use of seaweed as livestock fodder, for example, was key to the introduction of animal husbandry to the Orkney archipelago, c. 3500 cal BC. Using stable isotope analysis of faunal remains from Skara Brae, this study provides new evidence for, and clarifies the chronology of, the adoption of seaweed consumption by sheep. The results show that sheep consumed moderate amounts of seaweed from the moment of their introduction to Orkney—a practice that facilitated the successful spread of the farming lifeways to the most remote areas of Europe.
KEYWORDS
Orkney, Neolithic, seaweed, stable isotopes, sheep, husbandry
FRANTZ L. A. F., HAILE J., LIN A. T., SCHEU A., GEÖRG C., BENECKE N., ALEXANDER M., LINDERHOLM A., MULLIN V. E., DALY K. G., BATTISTA V. M., PRICE M., GRON K. J., ALEXANDRI P., ARBOGAST R.-M., ARBUCKLE B., BӐLӐŞESCU A., BARNETT R., BARTOSIEWICZ L., BARYSHNIKOV G., BONSALL C., BORIĆ D., BORONEANŢ A., BULATOVIĆ J., ÇAKIRLAR C., CARRETERO J.-M., CHAPMAN J., CHURCH M., CROOIJMANS R., DE CUPERE B., DETRY C., DIMITRIJEVIC V., DUMITRAŞCU V., DU PLESSIS L., EDWARDS C. J., EREK C. M., ERIM-ÖZDOĞAN A., ERVYNCK A., FULGIONE D., GLIGOR M., GÖTHERSTRÖM A., GOURICHON L., GROENEN M. A. M., HELMER D., HONGO H., HORWITZ L. K., IRVING-PEASE E.-K., LEBRASSEUR O., LESUR J., MALONE C., MANASERYAN N., MARCINIAK A., MARTLEW H., MASHKOUR M., MATTHEWS R., MATUZEVICIUTE G. M., MAZIAR S., MEIJAARD E., MCGOVERN T., MEGENS H.-J., MILLER R., MOHASEB A. F., ORSCHIEDT J., ORTON D., PAPATHANASIOU A., PARKER PEARSON M., PINHASI R., RADMANOVIĆ D., RICAUT F.-X., RICHARDS M., SABIN R., SARTI L., SCHIER W., SHEIKHI S., STEPHAN E., STEWART J. R., STODDART S., TAGLIACOZZO A., TASIĆ N., TRANTALIDOU K., TRESSET A., VALDIOSERA C., VAN DEN HURK Y., VAN POUCKE S., VIGNE J.-D., YANEVICH A., ZEEB-LANZ A., TRIANTAFYLLIDIS A., GILBERT M. T. P., SCHIBLER J., ROWLEY-CONWY P., ZEDER M., PETERS J., CUCCHI T., BRADLEY D. G., DOBNEY K., BURGER J., EVIN A., GIRDLAND-FLINK L., LARSON G. (2019) - Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe, PNAS, first published August 12, 2019, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1901169116
ABSTRACT
Archaeological evidence indicates that domestic pigs arrived in Europe, alongside farmers from the Near East ∼8,500 y ago, yet mitochondrial genomes of modern European pigs are derived from European wild boars. To address this conundrum, we obtained mitochondrial and nuclear data from modern and ancient Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses indicate that, aside from a coat color gene, most Near Eastern ancestry in the genomes of European domestic pigs disappeared over 3,000 y as a result of interbreeding with local wild boars. This implies that pigs were not domesticated independently in Europe, yet the first 2,500 y of human-mediated selection applied by Near Eastern Neolithic farmers played little role in the development of modern European pigs.
Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local European wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic contribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process.
KEYWORDS
Domestication, evolution, gene flow, Neolithic
FINLAY N., CERÓN-CARRASCO R., HOUSLEY R, HUGGETT J., JARDINE W. G., RAMSAY S., SMITH C., WRIGHT D., AUGLEY J., WRIGht P. J. (2019) - Calling Time on Oronsay: Revising Settlement Models Around the Mesolithic–Neolithic Transition in Western Scotland, New Evidence from Port Lobh, Colonsay, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, First published: 14 August 2019, DOI: 10.1017/ppr.2019.2
ABSTRACT
For over 120 years, the shell middens of western Scotland and the series of open-air sites on Oronsay have been the focus of debate in European Mesolithic studies. This paper challenges the significance of Oronsay in light of results from the geophysical survey and test-excavation of a new limpet and periwinkle shell midden dated to the late 5th or start of the 4th millennium cal bc at Port Lobh, Colonsay that offers fresh evidence to re-evaluate critically the role of Oronsay and coastal resources in island settlement models ahead of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition. Test excavations recovered a marine molluscan assemblage dominated by limpet and periwinkle shells together with crab, sea urchin, a fishbone assemblage composed mainly of Gadidae, some identifiable bird and mammal bone, carbonised macroplant remains, and pumice as well as a bipolar lithic assemblage and coarse stone implements. Novel seasonality studies of saithe otolith thin-sections suggest wintertime tidal fishing practices. At least two activity events may be discerned, dating from the late 5th millennium cal bc. The midden could represent a small number of rapidly deposited assemblages or maybe the result of stocastic events within a more extended timeframe. We argue that alternative research questions are needed to advance long-standing debates about seasonal inter-island mobility versus island sedentism that look beyond Oronsay to better understand later Mesolithic occupation patterns and the formation and date of Oronsay middens. We propose alternative methodological strategies to aid identification of contemporaneous sites using geophysical techniques and lithic technological signatures.
KEYWORDS
Mesolithic–Neolithic transition, settlement history, geophysical survey, flint, midden, marine molluscs, saithe otoliths, Oronsay, Colonsay, radiocarbon dating
NAVARRETE V., TORNERO C., BALASSE M., SANA M. (2019) - Food management of early introduced caprine and bovine herds in the early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles): an isotopic approach, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, First published: 14 August 2019, DOI: 10.1002/oa.2812
ABSTRACT
The arrival of early farmers and their livestock in the Western Mediterranean during the Early Neolithic marked a new way of life for the northeast Iberian Peninsula. Given the permanence of the introduced economic strategies, which are still practiced today, and their apparently momentous outcome, this process has generally been explained as a success. The introduction of livestock must have played a fundamental role but we know little about how these newly‐arrived domestic animals were managed. In this sense, the management of food habits of domestic animals could be a key factor to understand the success of different herding systems during the introduction and adaptation of domesticates in the Iberian Peninsula. Sequential analyses of δ13C and δ18O values in tooth enamel crowns are here used to provide detailed information about dietary inputs of early caprine and bovine herds introduced into the Iberian Peninsula. Our study was carried out at La Draga (5314‐5209 cal BC), a site on the eastern side of Lake Banyoles (Girona, NE Iberian Peninsula). Data shows that caprine and bovine herds were fed with variable foddering strategies. Sheep reflect feeding in the swamps or on forest resources all year round with reduced seasonal dietary changes. Goat and cattle herds display food habits that could involve foddering on stored agricultural by‐products during specific‐season times, probably linked to reproductive and productive strategies. This information helps to reconstruct how these early Neolithic communities found the way to success in the new territories of the Western Mediterranean.
KEYWORDS
Early Neolithic, La Draga, caprines, cattle, carbon and oxygen isotopes, sequential analyses
SIERRA, A., BRÉHARD, S., MONTES, L. UTRILLA P., SANA M. (2019) - Sheep exploitation and husbandry in first farming societies: from production to consumption in Central Pyrenees in the Early Neolithic, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, First Online: 14 August 2019, DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00907-3
ABSTRACT
Sheep were the most important species in the first domestic flocks in the Early Neolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. However, their study has tended to stress their role as a fossil guide of the neolithization process rather than their economic importance. The process of their introduction and the initial sheep management and exploitation practices in the Pyrenean sector of the Ebro river basin are studied here based on two sites in this region (Cueva de Chaves and Espluga de la Puyascada). The age and sex composition of the flocks and comparative biometric analysis are the main variables used, and the data obtained are contextualized within the general panorama in the Iberian Peninsula and the western Mediterranean. The results show that sheep were rapidly introduced and included in subsistence strategies and that they maintained homogenous metrical characteristics during the Early Neolithic. The implications of the data for the debate on the neolithization process in the Iberian Peninsula are then discussed.
KEYWORDS
Archaeozoology, Mortality profiles, Biometry, Early Neolithic, Iberian Peninsula, Pyrenees
MANEN C., PERRIN T., RAUX A., BINDER D., LE BOURDONNEC F.-X., BRIOIS F., CONVERTINI F., DUBERNET S., ESCALLON G., GOMART L., GUILAINE J., HAMON C., PHILIBERT S., QUEFFELEC A. (2019) - Le sommet de l'iceberg ? Colonisation pionnière et néolithisation de la France méditerranéenne, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, 116(2), p. 317-361.
RÉSUMÉ
En Méditerranée occidentale, l’émergence des sociétés agro-pastorales, au début du 6e millénaire avant notre ère, est désormais expliquée par un modèle de colonisation de petits groupes originaires du complexe Impressa de la péninsule italique, précédant de plusieurs siècles la phase d’expansion de la culture cardiale. Sur le littoral méditerranéen français, les gisements archéologiques qui permettent de caractériser cette étape précoce du processus de néolithisation sont encore rares et la documentation qu’ils livrent est de valeur très inégale. La découverte d’une occupation Impressa sur le site de la ZAC de la Farigoule 2, localisé à Aubord, en Languedoc méditerranéen, permet de consolider nos connaissances sur ce phénomène historique majeur. Bien que d’ampleur limitée, ce gisement documente l’installation pérenne d’un groupe Impressa : témoignage de la pratique de l’agriculture céréalière, diversité des activités artisanales, outils de potiers. Les ressources locales sont exploitées : matières premières siliceuses, terres argileuses, galets de roche tenace. Néanmoins, l’apport de produits acquis à plusieurs centaines de kilomètres de distance renforce l’hypothèse du déplacement pionnier de groupes humains emportant avec eux leur bagage technique, économique et culturel. Réintégrées dans le contexte du sud de la France et plus généralement de Méditerranée occidentale, ces nouvelles données permettent de réaliser un bilan des connaissances sur ces impacts Impressa précoces et d’ouvrir la discussion sur la distribution spatiale de ces implantations pionnières, les liens de filiation avec les faciès cardiaux qui se développeront ultérieurement ainsi que sur les dynamiques spatio-temporelles de la néolithisation ouest-méditerranéenne.
MOTS-CLÉS
Néolithisation, Néolithique ancien, Méditerranée occidentale, France du Sud, Impressa, colonisation.
ABSTRACT
Recent research into the European Neolithisation process and the development of farming communities reveals a diverse and complex cultural landscape. In the Western Mediterranean, it is now well known that the first agro-pastoral economy appears around 6000 BCE in south-eastern Italy and that part of these sites, often grouped under the generic term “Impressed Ware”, represent the departure point for the diffusion of the Neolithic economy. In this context, its rapid dispersal towards northern Italy and southern France is now interpreted as part of a pioneering colonization based on the use of maritime routes and preceding of several centuries the expansion of the Cardial culture. In southern France, archaeological settlements that make it possible to characterize this early stage of the Neolithisation process are still rare and do not have an equal value. The new discovery of an Impressa implantation at the site of ZAC de la Farigoule 2 (Aubord), in the Mediterranean Languedoc, gives us the opportunity to consolidate our knowledge about this major historical phenomenon. Despite its limited size, this site provides a rich set of data: domestic structures, pottery production, flint and obsidian industries, ground stone tools… The technological and typological characteristics of the pottery and the flint industry can be clearly assigned to the Impressa facies (Arene Candide-Caucade-Peiro Signado style). La Farigoule 2 is therefore an undeniable testimony to the establishment of a group linked to the agro-pastoral communities of the Italian peninsula. It is not possible to discuss in length the nature of the occupation on the basis of the deposits provided by the excavation. Nevertheless, the indirect evidence of cereal farming (sickle blades), the diversity of craft activities, the domestic structures, the identification of potters' tools, all these data are consistent with the image of a permanent occupation. Local resources are exploited: siliceous raw materials, clay soils and hard rocks. However, the use of products acquired several hundred kilometres away reinforces the hypothesis of the pioneering displacement of human groups taking with them their technical, economic and cultural background. Discussed in the broader scale of southern France and western Mediterranean, these new data allow us to consider fundamental issues raised by this pioneering colonization process. Important spatial discontinuities are observed in the distribution of these settlements, although this phenomenon seems to concern the entire Western Mediterranean. Nevertheless, the discovery presented in this paper should encourage us to consider a perhaps higher density of sites. It should also lead us to question our ability to detect these settlements. Concerning the natural and cultural factors that determine the settlement patterns of these Impressa groups, they are still in discussion but the scarcity of the paleoenvironmental data (position of the shoreline, vegetal landscape) restricts argumentation. Another issue is the future of these pioneering groups and their impact on the overall Neolithisation process in the South of France and possibly in Mediterranean Spain. In a large part of Southern France, one can observe a real chronological hiatus between sites with Impressa facies and those from the Cardial. Without ruling out the possibility of a taphonomic bias, this situation could be related to the model of micro-breaks observed elsewhere in the Neolithic diffusion in the Mediterranean at different periods. Finally, the analysis of the material productions of these pioneering groups illustrates complex socio-cultural dynamics that we still need to unravel. While the temporal dynamics of the diffusion of the "Neolithic package" (farming economy, pottery,…) across the western Mediterranean seems to be well understood, the chronometric, social and cultural framework needs to be considerably refined. In this perspective, further works on this important stage of Neolithic history, particularly through the discovery of new sites, is a major challenge for future research.
KEYWORDS
Neolithization, Early Neolithic, Western Mediterranean, Southern France, Impressa, colonization.
BENTLEY R. A., O’BRIEN M. J. (2019) - Modeling Niche Construction in Neolithic Europe, in : SAQALLI M., VANDER LINDEN M. (eds), Integrating Qualitative and Social Science Factors in Archaeological Modelling, Cham : Springer, p. 91-108. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-12723-7_4
ABSTRACT
In modeling ancient Neolithic societies over many generations, it is essential to consider how cultural knowledge is inherited, including specific transmission pathways, often directed by kinship systems, and their feedback. The transmission of cultural knowledge, by effecting behavior, subsequently feeds back into itself in subsequent generations. This is niche construction—a process by which humans and domesticated plants and animals, through their metabolism, activities, and choices, modify natural selection, which can have significant evolutionary repercussions for subsequent generations. Here we discuss the evolution of dairying by Neolithic groups in Europe, with emphasis on specific intergenerational cultural-transmission pathways and how Granger causality and pathway analysis might be applied to modeling the Neolithic transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.
KEYWORDS
Dairying Granger causality Lactase persistence Neolithic Niche construction
SAQALLI M., SAENZ M., BELEM M., LESPEZ L., THIRIOT S. (2019) - O Tempora O Mores: Building an Epistemological Procedure for Modeling the Socio-anthropological Factors of Rural Neolithic Socio-ecological Systems: Stakes, Choices, Hypotheses, and Constraints, , in : SAQALLI M., VANDER LINDEN M. (eds), Integrating Qualitative and Social Science Factors in Archaeological Modelling, Cham : Springer, p. 15-54. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-12723-7_2
ABSTRACT
Trying to model a rural society, and even more so a past and disappeared rural society, is a dangerous task in the sense that we deal with the complexity of a whole society whatever the purpose of the model, to integrate and/or to simplify in a proper manner. This article deals with this complexity mainly by exploring the least risky way to apprehend it: starting from the question to be modeled, it is possible to gradually define the different scales, the set of variables to be considered, and therefore the disciplines to be included and mobilized. Then comes only the evaluation of the data quality criteria but also of their source. We are continuing with the scheduling of modules describing the environment itself, the resource use practices, and finally societal rules. Finally, we discuss the methodological, social, and professional constraints in involving people in the creation of such models.
KEYWORDS
Interdisciplinary epistemology Modeling methodology Data time quality evaluation Neolithic production activities
COLLEDGE S. CONOLLY J. CREMA E., SHENNAN, S. (2019, in press) - Neolithic population crash in northwest Europe associated with agricultural crisis. Quaternary Research (In press).
ABSTRACT
The focus of this paper is the Neolithic of northwest Europe, where a rapid growth in population between ~5950 and ~5550 cal yr BP, is followed by a decline that lasted until ~4950 cal yr BP. The timing of the increase in population density correlates with the local appearance of farming and is attributed to the advantageous effects of agriculture. However, the subsequent population decline has yet to be satisfactorily explained. One possible explanation is the reduction in yields in Neolithic cereal-based agriculture due to worsening climatic conditions. The suggestion of a correlation between Neolithic climate deterioration, agricultural productivity and a decrease in population requires testing for northwestern Europe. Data for our analyses were collected during the Cultural Evolution of Neolithic Europe project. We assess the correlation between agricultural productivity and population densities in the Neolithic of northwest Europe by examining the changing frequencies of crop and weed taxa before, during and after the population ‘boom and bust’. We show that the period of population decline is coincidental with a decrease in cereal production linked to a shift towards less fertile soils.
KEYWORDS
Neolithic Europe; population change; farming systems; agricultural productivity; sustainability
SÁNCHEZ-QUINTO F., MALMSTRÖM H., FRASER M., GIRDLAND-FLINK L., SVENSSON E. M., SIMÕES L. G., GEORGE R., HOLLFELDER N., BURENHULT G., NOBLE G., BRITTON K., TALAMO S., CURTIS N., BRZOBOHATA H., SUMBEROVA R., GÖTHERSTRÖM A., STORÅ J., JAKOBSSON M. (2019) - Megalithic tombs in western and northern Neolithic Europe were linked to a kindred society, PNAS May 7, 2019 116 (19) 9469-9474; first published April 15, 2019, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1818037116
ABSTRACT
A new phenomenon of constructing distinctive funerary monuments, collectively known as megalithic tombs, emerged around 4500 BCE along the Atlantic façade. The megalithic phenomenon has attracted interest and speculation since medieval times. In particular, the origin, dispersal dynamics, and the role of these constructions within the societies that built them have been debated. We generate genome sequence data from 24 individuals buried in five megaliths and investigate the population history and social dynamics of the groups that buried their dead in megalithic monuments across northwestern Europe in the fourth millennium BCE. Our results show kin relations among the buried individuals and an overrepresentation of males, suggesting that at least some of these funerary monuments were used by patrilineal societies.
Paleogenomic and archaeological studies show that Neolithic lifeways spread from the Fertile Crescent into Europe around 9000 BCE, reaching northwestern Europe by 4000 BCE. Starting around 4500 BCE, a new phenomenon of constructing megalithic monuments, particularly for funerary practices, emerged along the Atlantic façade. While it has been suggested that the emergence of megaliths was associated with the territories of farming communities, the origin and social structure of the groups that erected them has remained largely unknown. We generated genome sequence data from human remains, corresponding to 24 individuals from five megalithic burial sites, encompassing the widespread tradition of megalithic construction in northern and western Europe, and analyzed our results in relation to the existing European paleogenomic data. The various individuals buried in megaliths show genetic affinities with local farming groups within their different chronological contexts. Individuals buried in megaliths display (past) admixture with local hunter-gatherers, similar to that seen in other Neolithic individuals in Europe. In relation to the tomb populations, we find significantly more males than females buried in the megaliths of the British Isles. The genetic data show close kin relationships among the individuals buried within the megaliths, and for the Irish megaliths, we found a kin relation between individuals buried in different megaliths. We also see paternal continuity through time, including the same Y-chromosome haplotypes reoccurring. These observations suggest that the investigated funerary monuments were associated with patrilineal kindred groups. Our genomic investigation provides insight into the people associated with this long-standing megalith funerary tradition, including their social dynamics.
KEYWORDS
Paleogenomics population genomics migration megalithic tombs
SHANNON L. (2019) - Language of the Goddess in Balkan Women’s Circle Dance, Feminist Theology, 28(1), p. 66-84, Article first published online: August 6, 2019. DOI: 10.1177/0966735019859470
ABSTRACT
The author narrates her journey to women’s circle dances of the Balkans, and explores how they incorporate prehistoric signs which Marija Gimbutas called ‘the language of the Goddess’. These symbolic images appear in archaeological artefacts, textile motifs, song words, and dance patterns, and have been passed down for thousands of years in nonverbal ways. The interdisciplinary approach of archaeomythology suggests that the images may carry ideas and values from the Neolithic cultures in which these dances are said to have their roots. Women’s ritual dances affirm the Old European values which honoured the Goddess, the mother principle, and the cycles of life, and offer an extraordinary oasis of women’s empowerment, even within patriarchal culture, indicating that the dances most likely originate in pre-patriarchal egalitarian matriarchy. For women today, even outside the Balkans, these women’s ritual dances offer insight and meaning through an embodied experience of the values of the Goddess.
KEYWORDS
Balkan dance, dance movement therapy, circle, language of the Goddess, matriarchy, patriarchy, archaeomythology
ROFFET-SALQUE, M., GILLIS, R., EVERSHED, R., & VIGNE, J-D. (2018) - Milk as a pivotal medium in the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats. In C. Stepanoff, & J-D. Vigne (Eds.), Hybrid Communities: Biosocial Approaches to Domestication and Other Trans-species Relationships, p. 127-143. (Routledge Studies in Anthropology). CRC Press.
ABSTRACT
The ability to lactate connects us with all mammals big and small, indeed it was the key characteristic used by Linnaeus to determine the taxonomic class Mammalia. The milk of domesticated animals is a rich resource that can be transformed by humans into a myriad of dairy products with long and short shelf-lives. Archaeozoological evidence suggests that perhaps milk was a principal catalyst in the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats starting from 10.5 kyBP. Direct evidence for the processing of milk is found in the first ceramic vessels excavated at early farming communities in Near East and Europe dating from the 9 kyBP indicating that human populations largely intolerant to lactose, the main sugar in milk, were processing milk in ceramic vessels. Innovation in techniques to process milk through cooking and other methods, such as fermentation, to enable milk consumption without adverse side effects, appears to have been a component of the European Neolithic package. For the pioneer farmers of Europe, milk would have offered a renewable food resource as husbandry practices where meat is secondary to milk production ensure the growth of the herd and are more sustainable. The consumption and production of milk has led to significant changes in the genetic structures of humans and dairy species. Here we discuss the role of milk played in the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats, the spread of the Neolithic way of life into Europe, and its lasting effect on food culture and human and animal genetics.
https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/178390810/Manuscript_domestication_170813.pdf
GRIMA R., FARRUGIA S. (2019) - Landscapes, Landforms and Monuments in Neolithic Malta, in : GAUCI R., SCHEMBRI J. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of the Maltese Islands. World Geomorphological Landscapes, Cham: Springer, p. 79-90. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-15456-1_7
ABSTRACT
During the Late Neolithic period, Malta witnessed an extraordinary flowering of monumental architecture, and the creation of buildings that are considered to be the earliest known stone monuments to achieve such architectural complexity and sophistication, anywhere in the world. The influence of geology and geomorphology on the culture that created these monuments is discussed, with reference to two case studies, representing the two principal types of monument known, namely megalithic buildings raised above the ground and the largely rock-cut funerary complexes. It is argued that geology and geomorphology shaped the ways the Neolithic islanders inhabited the landscape and transformed it into a culturally meaningful space, and even shaped their worldviews and lifeways.
KEYWORDS
Neolithic Megalith Temple Monument Landscape
SALVATORI S., USAI D. (2019) - The Neolithic and ‘Pastoralism’ Along the Nile: A Dissenting View, Journal of World Prehistory, DOI: 10.1007/s10963-019-09132-1
ABSTRACT
A largely accepted paradigm in African recent prehistory considers pastoralism to be the main subsistence source of food-producing communities along the Sudanese Nile valley from the 6th millennium cal BC onwards. This paradigm is constraining the development of a wider theoretical perspective that assumes, instead, a regionally differentiated picture of the economic and social organisation of local communities in northeastern Africa. This paradigm is thus the strongest impediment to achieving reliable and convincing syntheses of the transition from food collection to food production in this area. New data from Upper Nubia and central Sudan open the way for different and more complex scenarios and a new understanding of the local transition from agro-pastoral to agricultural practices. A more systematic data-based approach helps to change radically our perception of different Neolithic trajectories. Moreover, it helps to place in a different perspective—based on various levels of identity formation processes—change and continuity along the chrono-cultural sequence, as well as the different meanings that each local group confers on apparently similar acts in the context of the funerary ideology.
KEYWORDS
Sudan Nubia Neolithic Pastoralism Agro-pastoralism Funerary ideology
POLET C., LEUNDA MARTIARENA M., VILLOTTE S., VERCAUTEREN M. (2019) - Throwing Activities Among Neolithic Populations from the Meuse River Basin (Belgium, 4500–2500 BC) with a Focus on Adolescents, Childhood in the Past , An International Journal, 12(2: Children at Work), p. 81-95. DOI: 10.1080/17585716.2019.1638555
ABSTRACT
The anterior band of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) is an important stabilizer for valgus stress at the elbow. When practised intensively and repetitively, activities using overhead throwing motions can injure this ligament and its insertion. If these activities occur when the epiphyses are not yet fully fused, traction forces can result in bony detachments in the area of the MCL insertion. This study was based on commingled graves found in 16 Middle and Late Neolithic caves from Belgium. We recorded the presence of MCL lesions on 196 humeri and studied the relation between lesions, siding, and robusticity. 5.1% of the humeri displayed MCL lesions, which affected only the right robust humeri. Our results suggest a social division in throwing activities in Belgium during the Neolithic. They also suggest that throwing practice started from a young age, which invites us to re-examine the role of teenagers in prehistoric societies.
KEYWORDS
Neolithic, throwing activity, avulsion fracture, adolescent, Belgium
HAKLAY G., GOPHER A. (2019) - Architectural planning and measuring in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Çayönü, Turkey, Paléorient, 45(1), p. 7-17.
ABSTRACT
We examined the architectural remains of the public structure known as the “Terrazzo building” in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Çayönü, in order to explore aspects of the architectural design process involved. This was achieved by identifying the spatial principles and compositional laws governing the generation of the architectural form (architectural formal analysis). The results suggest a planning process which included the formulation of a small-scale schema of a floor plan, and the measuring of distances using a cubit size measurement unit of about 0.48 m. These enabled the specification of forms and their accurate construction. The analysis also indicated an early use of a basic architectural design principle, i.e. the use of a grid structure as an organizational device, establishing order and constituting an underlying framework for the formulation of design rules. We further examined two domestic structures, a contemporaneous cell-plan building and an earlier grill-plan building, and found that similar design principles and the same unit of measure (ca. 0.48 m) were applied as well. These findings suggest that a standardised unit of measure may have been used at the site throughout the PPNB.
RÉSUMÉ
Nous examinons dans cet article les vestiges du bâtiment public connu sous le nom de « Terrazzo building » sur le site néolithique précéramique de Çayönü, afin d’en explorer les processus de planification architecturale. À cette fin, nous avons identifié les principes spatiaux et les lois de composition qui président à l’élaboration des formes architecturales. Les résultats suggèrent un processus de planification qui s’appuie sur la formulation d’un plan d’implantation à échelle réduite et des mesures de distances, à l’aide d’une unité de mesure de la taille d’une coudée d’environ 0,48 m, qui ensemble ont permis la spécification des formes et leur construction précise. Notre analyse révèle ainsi l’usage précoce d’un principe architectural de base, celui d’une structure en grille servant de système d’organisation qui impose un ordre et sert de cadre à la formulation de règles de construction. En examinant deux autres structures, un bâtiment en « cell-plan » qui serait contemporain du Terrazzo building et un bâtiment plus ancien en « grill-plan », nous avons relevé la mise en œuvre de mêmes principes et même unités de mesures (d’environ 0,48 m). Ces observations suggèrent qu’une unité de mesure standardisée a pu être utilisée sur le site de Çayönü tout au long du PPNB.
KEYWORDS
Pre-Pottery Neolithic, PPNB, Northern Levant, Çayönü Tepesi, Terrazzo building, architectural planning, architectural
formal analysis, standardised measurement unit
MOTS-CLÉS
Néolithique précéramique, PPNB, Levant Nord, Çayönü Tepesi, Terrazzo building, planification architecturale, analyse formelle architecturale, unité de mesure standardisée
KORCZYŃSKA M., CAPPENBERG K., NOWAK M., SZWARCZEWSKI P., MOSKAL-DEL HOYOA M. (2019) - Multi-methodological approaches to investigate large archaeological sites: The case study of the Eneolithic settlement in Mozgawa, western Lesser Poland, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 27, October 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101941
A phenomenon of large sites of the Funnel Beaker culture was investigated
A settlement of Mozgawa (southern Poland) was used as case study
Multi-methodological studies demonstrated that large settlement of ca. 30 ha existed in the Eneolithic
The emergence of transegalitarian social structures in the Funnel Beaker culture was discussed
Human impact on local landscape due to a long-termed settlement of Mozgawa was detected
ROSENSTOCK E., EBERT J., MARTIN R., HICKETIER A., WALTER P., GROß M. (2019) - Human stature in the Near East and Europe ca. 10,000–1000 BC: its spatiotemporal development in a Bayesian errors-in-variables model, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, published online: 29 july 2019. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00850-3
ABSTRACT
A sample of 6098 published prehistoric skeletons consisting of long bone lengths, stature estimated from them using three different methods, as well as recalculated stature data created with other methods, was used to model tempo-spatial variance of stature in the Holocene prehistory of the Near East and Europe. Bayesian additive mixed modeling with errors-in-variables was applied, fitting a global spatiotemporal trend using a tensor product spline approach, a local random effect for the archaeological sites and corrections for mismeasurement and misclassification of covariates to obtain stature isoline maps for various time slices and diachronic stature trend curves for various regions. Models calculated for maximum long bone lengths and for stature are all largely consistent with each other, so Bayesian errors-in-variables models can be regarded as a viable means of smoothing regional and temporal variance in skeletal data as well as in estimation methods so that only robust trends become manifest. In addition to a general northwestsoutheast gradient in stature, tallest stature in Eurasia and declining stature in Iberia confirms archaeogenetic insights. Transition to farming shows stable, decreasing, or even increasing stature depending on the region and the mode of Neolithization, putting into question the common assumption of a general negative effect of Neolithic lifeways on physical health. Particularly, Northern Europe experienced a rise in stature after the 4th millennium BC. Likely caused by both genetics as well as generally improving living conditions, our findings date the origin of the modern NW-SE gradient in stature to around 3000 BC.
KEYWORDS
Prehistory . Long bones . Body height . Biological standard of living . Bayesian statistics
MARTÍNEZ-SEVILLA F. (2019) - Assessing the cultural and social value of Neolithic stone bracelets in the Iberian Peninsula, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 55, September 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2019.101080
ABSTRACT
The emergence of farming societies in the western Mediterranean (c. 6000–5500 cal. BC) coincides with an increase in the presence of ornamental objects. Among these, stone bracelets stand out as markers of significant technological complexity, associated with large distribution networks. This paper presents an analysis of manufacturing waste and finished objects (1679 pieces) from 128 archaeological sites in the Iberian Peninsula. The raw materials, typological distribution, and biography of these bracelets is used to reconstruct cultural identities and to explore their social value within different regional groups. This is supported by chronological contextualization, based on stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates. It is argued that the stone bracelets represent a chronological indicator of the Early Neolithic and evidence of exchange between different social groups in the Iberian Peninsula.
KEYWORDS
Personal ornament, Stone bracelets, Chronology, Early Neolithic, Regional groups, Impressed/cardial-ware culture, Iberian Peninsula
NØRGAARD H. W., PERNICKA E., VANDKILDE H. (2019) - On the trail of Scandinavia’s early metallurgy: Provenance, transfer and mixing. PLoS ONE, 14(7): e0219574. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219574
ABSTRACT
The rich and long-lasting Nordic Bronze Age was dependent throughout on incoming flows of copper and tin. The crucial turning point for the development of the NBA can be pinpointed as the second phase of the Late Neolithic (LN II, c. 2000–1700 BC) precisely because the availability and use of metal increased markedly at this time. But the precise provenance of copper reaching Scandinavia in the early second millennium is still unclear and our knowledge about the driving force leading to the establishment of the Bronze Age in southern Scandinavia is fragmentary and incomplete. This study, drawing on a large data set of 210 samples representing almost 50% of all existing metal objects known from this period in Denmark, uses trace element (EDXRF) and isotope analyses (MC-ICP-MS) of copper-based artifacts in combination with substantial typological knowledge to profoundly illuminate the contact directions, networks and routes of the earliest metal supplies. It also presents the first investigation of local recycling or mixing of metals originating from different ore regions. Both continuity and change emerge clearly in the metal-trading networks of the Late Neolithic to the first Bronze Age period. Artifacts in LN II consist mainly of high-impurity copper (so-called fahlore type copper), with the clear exception of British imports. Targeted reuse of foreign artifacts in local production is demonstrated by the presence of British metal in local-style axes. The much smaller range of lead isotope ratios among locally crafted compared to imported artifacts is also likely due to mixing. In the latter half of Nordic LN II (1800–1700 BC), the first signs emerge of a new and distinct type of copper with low impurity levels, which gains enormously in importance later in NBA IA.
KEYWORDS
Copper, Metallic lead, Isotopes, Data mining, Trace elements, Valleys, Tin, Slovakian people
MOLODIN V. I., NENAKHOV D. A., MYLNIKOVA L. N., REINHOLD S., PARKHOMCHUK E. V., KALINKIN P. N., PARKHOMCHUK V. V., RASTIGEEV S. A. (2019) - The early Neolithic complex on the TARTAS-1 site: Results of the AMS radiocarbon dating, Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, 47(1), p. 15-22. DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.1.015-022
ABSTRACT
AMS radiocarbon dating was applied to seven samples from Tartas-1, an Early Neolithic site in the Barabinskaya forest-steppe, southwestern Siberia: four from pit 938, one from pit 990, and two from structure 6. Pits had been destined for fermenting fish, and contained offerings, such as corpses of animals (fox, hare, wolverine, dog), stone and bone artifacts, and flat-bottomed clay vessels. On the basis of these finds, the Barabinskaya culture was described. The results of the AMS radiocarbon analysis support the previous conclusion regarding the date of the complex-7th millennium BC. A series of dates generated at the Curt Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry in Mannheim, Germany, for the Neolithic materials from Tartas-1 mostly fall within the 7th millennium, and the same applies to the dates relating to the Neolithic site of Vengerovo-2. The dates for structure 6 from Tartas-1 were generated at the Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS in Novosibirsk as well, agreeing with those from the Mannheim Center (for two samples, the results being virtually identical). In sum, the data obtained confirm the correctness of dating the Early Neolithic complex from Tartas-1 to the 7th millennium BC. The Barabinskaya culture is also dated to this time.
KEYWORDS
Barabinskaya culture, Barabinskaya forest-steppe, Neolithic, Radiocarbon analysis
GARCÍA-RIVERO D., PÉREZ-JORDÀ G., GARCÍA-VIÑAS E., LÓPEZ-SÁEZ J. A., TAYLOR R., PEÑA-CHOCARRO L., BERNÁLDEZ-SÁNCHEZ E., PÉREZ-DÍAZ S. (2019) - Ecological patterns and use of natural resources during the neolithic of the south of the Iberian Peninsula: An update from the 6th to 4th millennia cal BC sequence of Dehesilla Cave, Quaternary Science Reviews, 219, 1 September 2019, p. 218-235. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.010
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the archaeobotanical and archaeozoological data of the 6th to 4th millennia cal BC sequence recently documented at Dehesilla Cave, and puts forward an interdisciplinary approach to the significant ecological patterns from this key archaeological site in the Southern Iberian Peninsula throughout the entire Neolithic period.
indicate an ecological scenario characterised mainly by oak and wild olive forests, and human populations with agricultural practices and herds of mainly sheep and goats. However, this general panorama must have undergone several remarkable fluctuations.
The first Neolithic populations of Dehesilla Cave, dated around the mid-6th millennium cal BC and linked to the Mediterranean impressa pottery complex, do not yet display evidences of agriculture, while all of the subsequent Early Neolithic levels indicate a model of small-scale populations with a mixed economy but still with a greater component of livestock.
The second quarter of the 5th millennium cal BC shows a marked accentuation of the monoculture of naked wheats, which could have been related to the transition from an intensive to an extensive farming system. This may have entailed a selective pressure on the environment, leading to a large deforestation spanning the second half of the 5th millennium cal BC and the constitution of relatively open thermo-Mediterranean forests with a physiognomy similar to that of the dehesa.
These ecological patterns are discussed within a review of the current state of the art of the use of plant and animal resources by the Neolithic human populations in the southern regions of the Iberian Peninsula.
KEYWORDS
Holocene, Paleogeography, Western Europe, Data analysis, Vegetation and animal dynamics, Human ecological patterns
MANZANO E., GARCÍA A., CANTARERO S., GARCÍA D., MORGADO A., VÍLCHEZ J. L. (2019) - Molecular and isotopic analyses on prehistoric pottery from the Virués-Martínez cave (Granada, Spain), Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 27, October 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101929
ABSTRACT
The analysis of the organic residues in archaeological pottery usually involves the use chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques. The identification of organic compounds processed in archaeological vessels, which generally degrade over archaeological timescales, provides insights about their origin and uses of the vessels. This paper provides an advance of archaeometric characterization of the organic residues in seventeen pottery vessels from the end of the 4th millennium BCE found in the Virués-Martínez cave (Granada, Spain), using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS), and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS). To our knowledge this is the first study on the use of UPLC-HRMS on archaeological residues. Despite the fact that the identification of plant remains continues to be elusive, this study demonstrates the potential usefulness of UPLC-HRMS technique to study the polar fraction of plant residues, thus allowing us to formulate more specific hypotheses about the vegetal compounds that have survived in association with the pottery vessels (erucamide, matricarin, piptamine, piceatannol). Our results indicate that the occupants of the cave used the vessels to process plant materials and also degraded animal fats (ruminant fat) and it is very likely that the vessels were used for a variety of purposes, with accumulation of by-products over time, and were not made exclusively for funerary practices. The δ13C values C16:0 and C18:0 fatty acids obtained open a debate on the consumption of dairy compounds in the Iberian Peninsula during the end of the Neolithic and beginning of the Copper Age.
KEYWORDS
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, Isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry, Archaeological organic residues
TINAPP C., HEINRICH S., HERBIG C., SCHNEIDER B., STÄUBLE H., MIERA J., VON SUCHODOLETZ H. (2019) - Holocene floodplain evolution in a central European loess landscape – geoarchaeological investigations of the lower Pleiße valley in NW Saxony, E&G Quaternary Science Journal, 68, p. 95-105. DOI: 10.5194/egqsj-68-95-2019
ABSTRACT
Undisturbed sediments are an important source for the reconstruction of the Holocene development of valleys. Wide floodplains with relatively small rivers in a region settled since 5500 BCE offer opportunities for investigations regarding climatic and anthropogenic landscape change. In the context of a motorway construction, excavations were carried out by the Saxonian Heritage Office in the year 2015. At one of the sites it was possible to get a view of the sediments of the Pleiße valley less than 100 m distance from large cross sections described by Neumeister (1964) in a former open cast mine. Archaeological finds and features, plant remains and radiocarbon dating as well as micromorphological and geochemical investigations helped to decipher the age and the characteristics of the Holocene sediments: above Weichselian loamy sands a sedge peat developed in small depressions during the Preboreal and Boreal. The sands and the sedge peat are covered by a “black clay”, which was still the topsoil during the Atlantic period. The sedimentation of 2.3 m thick overbank fines began after 4000 BCE. A depth of 1 m below the surface a medieval Slavic find layer was excavated. These results show that sedimentation processes in the lower Pleiße valley significantly changed after 4000 BCE. It is obvious that the increase in silty material in the floodplain is caused by the land clearance in the Neolithic period. More than half of the silty overbank fines were deposited before the Middle Ages began.
PARDO-GORDÓ, S., GARCÍA PUCHOL, O., BERNABEU AUBÁN, J., DIEZ CASTILLO, A., (2019) - Timing the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Iberian Peninsula: The Radiocarbon Dataset. Journal of Open Archaeology Data, 7, p. 4. DOI: 10.5334/joad.49
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we describe the radiocarbon dataset compiled in the context of the project HAR2015-68962 EVOLPAST: Dinámicas evolutivas y patrones de variabilidad cultural de los últimos cazadores-recolectores y el primer Neolítico en el este peninsular (7000–4500 cal. BC)funded by the Spanish government. The dataset offers the most complete and public radiocarbon dataset focus on the Neolithic Transition in the Iberian Peninsula.
KEYWORDS
Radiocarbon, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Iberian Peninsula, Neolithic Transition
BRADLEY R., WATSON A., STYLE P. (2019) - After the Axes? The Rock Art at Copt Howe, North-west England, and the Neolithic Sequence at Great Langdale, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Published online 15 July 2019, DOI: 10.1017/ppr.2019.5
ABSTRACT
Within sight of the Neolithic axe quarries on the Langdale Pikes is a group of massive boulders at Copt Howe. The two largest command a direct view of the stone source where the sun sets into the mountainside at the midsummer solstice. Both are decorated by pecked motifs which resemble features of Irish passage tomb art. Small-scale excavation in 2018 showed that a rubble platform had been built at the foot of the main decorated surface and sealed two further motifs of similar character. New work has established an important sequence in Great Langdale. Recently obtained radiocarbon dates indicate that the main period of axe production was between 3800 and 3300 bc, whilst Irish megalithic art is later and was made between about 3300 and 2900 bc, suggesting that Copt Howe achieved its importance after axe-making had ceased or was in decline. That is consistent with an increasing emphasis on relations between northern Britain and Ireland during the Late Neolithic period. Perhaps Copt Howe itself was treated as a ‘natural’ passage tomb.
RÉSUMÉ
Après les haches? L’art rupestre à Copt Howe Angleterre du nord-ouest et la séquence du Néolithiqque de Great Langdale, de Richard Bradley, Aaron Watson et Peter Style
À portée de vue des carrières de haches néolithiques sur les Langdale Pikes se trouve, à Copt Howe, un groupe d’énormes rochers. Les deux plus gros ont une vue directe sur le gisement de pierre où le soleil se couche dans le flanc de la montagne au solstice d’été. Tous deux sont décorés de motifs piqués qui ressemblent à certains traits de l’art des tombes à couloir irlandaises..Des excavations de petite échelle en 2018 ont montré qu’une plateforme de débris avait été construite au pied de la principale surface décorée et scelllait deux motifs supplémentaires de caractère similaire De nouveaux travaux ont établi une importante séquence à Great Langdale. Des datations au C 14 obtenues récemment indiquent que la principale période de production de haches se situait entre 3 800 et 3300 av.J.-C. tandis que l’art mégalithique irlandais était plus tardif et se faisait entre environ 3 300 et 2 900 av.J.-C, ce qui donne à penser que Copt Howe a atteint son apogée après que la fabrication de haches avait cessé ou était sur le déclin. Ce qui concorde avec une emphase grandissante sur les relations entre la Grande-Bretagne du nord et l’Irlande au cours du Néolithique final. Il se peut que Copt Howe lui même ait été traité comme une tombe à couloir ‘naturelle’.
KEYWORDS
Rock art, axes, quarries, passage tombs, Irish Sea, midsummer solstice
SHILLITO L.-M. (2019) - Building Stonehenge? An alternative interpretation of lipid residues in Neolithic Grooved Ware from Durrington Walls, Antiquity, 93, 370, August 2019 , p. 1052-1060. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.62
ABSTRACT
Lipid residues identified in Grooved Ware pottery from Durrington Walls have been interpreted as evidence for large-scale feasting associated with the construction of Stonehenge, around 2500 BC. While a function related to food consumption is possible, other explanations may be equally plausible. An alternative interpretation not previously considered is that these residues may be related to a non-food use of animal resources, such as in the production of tallow. Such an interpretation would support the ‘greased sled’ theory for the transport of the megaliths for Stonehenge.
KEYWORDS
Neolithic Britain, Durrington Walls, Stonehenge, lipid residues
REY L., SALAZAR-GARCÍA D. C., CHAMBON P., SANTOS F., ROTTIER S., GOUDE G. (2019) - A multi-isotope analysis of Neolithic human groups in the Yonne valley, Northern France: insights into dietary patterns and social structure, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Firest Online 13 july 2019, DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00885-6
ABSTRACT
With the arrival of the Neolithic to Europe, new ways of life and new subsistence strategies emerged. In the Paris Basin (northern France), the appearance of some monumental funerary structures during the Middle Neolithic highlights in particular the increasing complexity of the social organisation. At the same time, several sites, such as open-air cemeteries, do not display any evidence of such arrangement. In the southeast of this area, the two primary routes of neolithisation meet. Several funerary parameters attest to the diverse influence received from other surrounding cultures. In order to assess potential differences in diet, and therefore on purported social distinctions at the inter- and intra-site level, stable isotope analyses (carbon, nitrogen and sulphur) were performed on bone collagen of humans (n = 177) and non-human animals (n = 62) from seven archaeological sites located in the same area (< 10 km). This study is the biggest so far on French Neolithic material and thus allows for an extensive investigation at a regional scale. Results show that the human nitrogen isotopic ratios are relatively enriched in nitrogen-15 comparing to those of the domesticated animals. This reflects a trophic step that is rarely observed elsewhere in the surrounding Neolithic people, particularly for humans of the biggest site Gurgy “Les Noisats”. Though zooarchaeological data support a predominant cattle consumption, here, we propose a mixed protein consumption of cattle and pig, possibly complemented with some freshwater resources. Furthermore, carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopic ratios suggest some slight differences between sexes and sites. This sexual distinction has rarely been identified in the diet within a Neolithic context. Some variations over time were also detected. On the whole, this study seems to support previous observations made from burial practices about a specific regional Neolithic pattern in the Paris Basin as well as bring new elements into discussion of social organisation in human populations.
KEYWORDS
Neolithic, Diet, Carbon, Nitrogen, Sulphur, Isotope
HOFMAN‐KAMIŃSKA E., BOCHERENS H., DRUCKER D. G., FYFE R. M., GUMIŃSKI W., MAKOWIECKI D., PACHER M., PILIČIAUSKIENĖ G., SAMOJLIK T., WOODBRIDGE J., KOWALCZYK R. (2019) - Adapt or die—Response of large herbivores to environmental changes in Europe during the Holocene, Global Change Biology, 25(9), p. 2915-2930, First published: 12 July 2019, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14733
ABSTRACT
Climate warming and human landscape transformation during the Holocene resulted in environmental changes for wild animals. The last remnants of the European Pleistocene megafauna that survived into the Holocene were particularly vulnerable to changes in habitat. To track the response of habitat use and foraging of large herbivores to natural and anthropogenic changes in environmental conditions during the Holocene, we investigated carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope composition in bone collagen of moose (Alces alces), European bison (Bison bonasus) and aurochs (Bos primigenius) in Central and Eastern Europe. We found strong variations in isotope compositions in the studied species throughout the Holocene and diverse responses to changing environmental conditions. All three species showed significant changes in their δ13C values reflecting a shift of foraging habitats from more open in the Early and pre‐Neolithic Holocene to more forest during the Neolithic and Late Holocene. This shift was strongest in European bison, suggesting higher plasticity, more limited in moose, and the least in aurochs. Significant increases of δ15N values in European bison and moose are evidence of a diet change towards more grazing, but may also reflect increased nitrogen in soils following deglaciation and global temperature increases. Among the factors explaining the observed isotope variations were time (age of samples), longitude and elevation in European bison, and time, longitude and forest cover in aurochs. None of the analysed factors explained isotope variations in moose. Our results demonstrate the strong influence of natural (forest expansion) and anthropogenic (deforestation and human pressure) changes on the foraging ecology of large herbivores, with forests playing a major role as a refugial habitat since the Neolithic, particularly for European bison and aurochs. We propose that high flexibility in foraging strategy was the key for survival of large herbivores in the changing environmental conditions of the Holocene.
KEYWORDS
Alces alces, aurochs, Bison bonasus, Bos primigenius, European bison, foraging ecology, moose, stable isotopes
LEROY S. A. G., AMINI A., GREGG M.W., MARINOVA E., BENDREY R., ZHA Y., NADERI BENI A. FAZELI NASHLI H. (2019) - Human responses to environmental change on the southern coastal plain of the Caspian Sea during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, Quaternary Science Reviews, 218, 15 August 2019, p. 343-364. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.038
ABSTRACT
This paper presents results of a multidisciplinary research initiative examining human responses to environmental change at the intersection of the southern coastal plain of the Caspian Sea and the foothills of the Alborz Mountains during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. Our palaeo-environmental analysis of two sedimentary cores obtained from a lagoon in close proximity to four caves, occupied by human groups during the transition from hunting and gathering to food-producing ways of life in this region, confirms Charles McBurney's 1968 hypothesis that when Caspian Sea levels were high, Mesolithic hunters were reliant on seal and deer, but as water levels receded and a wide coastal plain emerged, hunters consumed a different range of herbivorous mammalian species.
Palynological evidence obtained from these two cores also demonstrates that the cool and dry climatic conditions often associated with the Younger Dryas stadial do not appear to have been extreme in this region. Thus, increasingly sedentary hunting and gathering groups could have drawn on plant and animal resources from multiple ecological niches without suffering significant resource stress or reduced population levels that may have been encountered in neighbouring regions. Our analyses of botanical, faunal and archaeological remains from a recently-discovered open-air Mesolithic and aceramic Neolithic site also shows an early process of Neolithization in the southern Caspian basin, which was a very gradual, low-cost adaptation to new ways of life, with neither the abandonment of hunting and gathering, nor a climatic trigger event for the emergence of a low-level, food-producing society.
KEYWORDS
Palynology, Archaeology, Caspian Sea levels, Vegetation dynamics, Human response, Faunal and botanical evidence, Neolithization, Pleistocene-Holocene transition, Palaeogeography, Middle East
CASSEN S., GRIMAUD V. (2019) - Du numérique au digital. Documenter et valoriser les sépultures monumentales néolithiques, In Situ. Revue des patrimoines, 39, Imagerie numérique et patrimoine culturel : enjeux scientifiques et opérationnels.
ABSTRACT
During the Neolithic era, the West of France was characterised by the development of monumental funerary structures and the erection of vast ensembles of steles. These are remarkable as archaeological objects since, more often than not, they are preserved in an upright position This characteristic was also the cause of their destruction, in particular from the nineteenth century. The three-dimensional representation of these ancient architectural sites was undertaken by certain early explorers but the recent development of digital tools has made it possible to establish more reliable documentation using rigorous geometric plans. The presence of engraved signs on some monolithic elements can add additional difficulties in terms of the scales of observation and of renderings, but these difficulties can now be overcome using different but complementary techniques of data acquisition. These new architectural representations raise the issue of the restoration of the ensembles, a question already raised at the end of the nineteenth century and which continues to arise where these dolmens and steles are concerned. Our contribution will take a look at two monumental tombs of a specific ‘transepted’ type, located near the Atlantic coast, one of them in the Morbihan department and the other in the Vendée. The two tombs have been recorded in 2D and 3D according to the same protocols. One has just revealed new engravings within a site that had already been restored. The other, which is threatened by the rising sea level, will be interpreted using a virtual display on a touch screen.
RESUME
Durant le Néolithique, l’ouest de la France se caractérise par le développement d’une monumentalité funéraire et la construction de vastes ouvrages de stèles, remarquables par le fait que ces objets archéologiques sont le plus souvent conservés en élévation. Cette singularité fut aussi la cause de leur destruction, notamment à partir du xixe siècle. Si la représentation tridimensionnelle de ces architectures anciennes fut assez tôt une préoccupation de quelques explorateurs, le développement récent des outils numériques a permis de mieux établir les fondements de leur documentation à travers un géométral rigoureux. La présence de signes gravés sur certains monolithes ajoute une difficulté supplémentaire en termes d’échelles d’observation et de rendus, difficulté désormais surmontée par la complémentarité de différentes techniques d’acquisition. Dès lors, ces nouvelles représentations architecturales posent la question des restaurations qui ont affecté dès la fin du xixe siècle, et continuent à toucher, nombre de ces dolmens et autres stèles. Les restitutions virtuelles autorisent de nouvelles configurations, évidemment réversibles et bien plus didactiques. Notre contribution prendra donc pour exemple deux tombes monumentales, dites transeptées, d’un type bien particulier sur le littoral atlantique, l’une dans le Morbihan, l’autre en Vendée, enregistrées en 2D et 3D selon les mêmes protocoles. L’une vient de révéler de nouvelles gravures inédites au sein d’un site restauré et figé ; l’autre, menacée par la montée du niveau des mers, sera prochainement mise en valeur à travers un dispositif de découverte virtuelle sur écran tactile.
MOTS-CLÉS
iconographie, Néolithique, mégalithe, géométral
KEYWORDS
iconography, Neolithic, megalith, geometric plans
McCLATCHIE M., SCHULTING R., McLAUGHLIN R., COLLEDGE S., BOGAARD A., BARRATT P., WHITEHOUSE N. (2019) – Food Production, Processing and Foodways in Neolithic Ireland, Published online: 17 May 2019, Environmental Archaeology, DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2019.1615215
ABSTRACT. When compared with earlier periods, the Neolithic in Ireland (4000–2500 cal BC) witnessed enormous changes in the foods being produced, and the work involved in their production and processing. Several crops were introduced – archaeobotanical studies indicate that emmer wheat became the dominant crop, with evidence also for barley (hulled and naked) and flax. Gathered resources were not abandoned; on the contrary, there is substantial evidence for a variety of nuts, fruits and leafy greens. Zooarchaeological studies indicate that new animals also arrived, including domesticated cattle, pig and sheep. Recent studies have provided substantial information on the timing and nature of these new ways of farming and living, but the focus is often on ingredients rather than food products. There are many challenges in determining which foods were being made with these new crops and animals, and in assessing their dietary and social importance. While cereals have been found at many sites, for example, it is not clear if they are being ground, boiled or other techniques are used for their processing. In this paper we explore aspects of food production, processing and foodways in Neolithic Ireland, drawing upon evidence from archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, isotopes, human skeletal remains and artefacts.
KEYWORDS: Neolithic, agriculture, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, food, quern, isotope
GILLIS E. E., GAASTRA J. S., VANDER LINDEN M., VIGNE J.-D. (2019) – A Species Specific Investigation Into Sheep and Goat Husbandry During the Early European Neolithic, Environmental Archaeology, Published online: 25 May 2019, DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2019.1615214
ABSTRACT. Archaeozoological assemblages are important sources of information on past management strategies, which are influenced by cultural practices as well as the physical geography and climate. Sheep, goat and cattle arrived in Europe with early Neolithic migrants. Their distribution is believed to have been mainly influenced by the geography of European regions although individual species may have held symbolic importance for specific Neolithic cultures. Domesticated animal mortality data derived from dental eruption, wear and replacement can provide insights into slaughter management and consequently animal husbandry practices. Previous studies have focused on caprines (sheep and goat) collectively as a results of their morphological similarity. Here we present a species specific study of sheep and goat mortality data from early European and Anatolian Neolithic contexts using correspondence analysis. The results show that for sheep there were significant differences in slaughter management practices between regions, cultures and site types whereas for goats there was none. This initial examination into sheep and goat husbandry during the Neolithic suggests that cultural practices as well as regional geography played an important role in shaping management practices.
KEYWORDS. Sheep (Ovis aries), goats (Capra hircus), Neolithic, Europe, mortality data, correspondence analysis
LEDGER M. L., ANASTASIOU E., SHILLITO L.-M. , MACKAY H., BULL I. D., HADDOW S. D., KNÜSEL C., MITCHELL P. D. (2019) – Parasite infection at the early farming community of Çatalhöyük, Antiquity, 2019.
ABSTRACT. The early village at Çatalhöyük (7100–6150 BC) provides important evidence for the Neolithic and Chalcolithic people of central Anatolia. This article reports on the use of lipid biomarker analysis to identify human coprolites from midden deposits, and microscopy to analyse these coprolites and soil samples from human burials. Whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) eggs are identified in two coprolites, but the pelvic soil samples are negative for parasites. Çatalhöyük is one of the earliest Eurasian sites to undergo palaeoparasitological analysis to date. The results inform how intestinal parasitic infection changed as humans modified their subsistence strategies from hunting and gathering to settled farming.
https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/file_store/production/255419/EAB8FDD5-3A59-4575-88AC-2B99E6F0DA26.pdf
TECCHIATI U., SALVAGNO L., AMATO A., DE MARCH M., FONTANA A., MARCONI S., RINALDI G., ZANETTI A. L. (2019) – Zooarchaeological evidence of functional and social differentiation in northern Italy between the Neolithic and Bronze ages, Quaternary International, online 6 May 2019. DOI : 10.1016/j.quaint.2019.04.028
ABSTRACT. Many sites dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age have been investigated in northern Italy and have provided important zooarchaeological data. These sites are mostly settlements, but also places of worship and necropoli. While there are few zooarchaeological studies for the north-western part of Italy, the north-east and the Po Valley have been better investigated. Particularly important are the pile-dwellings and the Terramare sites of the Po Valley as they have a long chronological span, the animal bone assemblages are large and, therefore, highly statistically reliable, and have been excavated relatively recently. There is evidence of functional and social differentiation in the Bronze Age which coincided with the evolution of more complex societies. The most common type of functional differentiation began when human communities started to settle and is visible in the zooarchaeological record. Until the end of the Copper Age, animal bone assemblages are characterized by the presence of both domestic animals and a relatively important proportion of wild animals. In the early Bronze Age, domestic animals dominated, if not entirely, the assemblages, and a growing interest in secondary products is evident. From the Middle Bronze Age, the foundation of semi-permanent settlements multiplied in the Alpine area, in the internal areas (secondary valleys and areas far from the main watercourses) and at medium-high altitudes. This was coupled with the seasonal occupation of sites at a high altitude, used for the practice of vertical transhumance (alpine pasture). This phenomenon implies the existence of a settlement hierarchy and, therefore, of forms of social stratification within the framework of the settlement system. Unfortunately, the few zooarchaeological studies of sites located in the Emilia Apennines do not currently allow us to confirm the existence of such links between the mountain sites and those on the plain. Nevertheless, other evidence, such as the introduction of the horse, which is attested from the late Early Bronze Age onwards, can be interpreted as proof of social differentiation; the horse was, in fact, considered a status symbol of the emerging warrior elite.
Very few animal burials, dated to the period studied, show the link between animal species (such as dog, cattle, deer) and cultural practices, although a number of examples of such a relationship are provided by the terramare necropoli. In conclusion, in light of current knowledge, it seems that zooarchaeology cannot confirm the existence of important forms of social stratification. This does not mean that they cannot necessarily be postulated: the complex use of territory and the evidently communal nature of funerary and cult ceremonies (which often involved animals) that characterize the Bronze Age make it difficult to exclude the existence of such stratification.
KEYWORDS. Neolithic, Copper age, Bronze age, Northern Italy, Functional and social differentiation, Zooarchaeology
DIETRICH L., MEISTER J., DIETRICH O., NOTROFF J., KIEP J., HEEB J., BEUGER A., SCHÜTT B. (2019) – Cereal processing at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Turkey, PLOS ONE, on line May 1, 2019. DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0215214
ABSTRACT. We analyze the processing of cereals and its role at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Anatolia (10th / 9th millennium BC), a site that has aroused much debate in archaeological discourse. To date, only zooarchaeological evidence has been discussed in regard to the subsistence of its builders. Göbekli Tepe consists of monumental round to oval buildings, erected in an earlier phase, and smaller rectangular buildings, built around them in a partially contemporaneous and later phase. The monumental buildings are best known as they were in the focus of research. They are around 20 m in diameter and have stone pillars that are up to 5.5 m high and often richly decorated. The rectangular buildings are smaller and–in some cases–have up to 2 m high, mostly undecorated, pillars. Especially striking is the number of tools related to food processing, including grinding slabs/bowls, handstones, pestles, and mortars, which have not been studied before. We analyzed more than 7000 artifacts for the present contribution. The high frequency of artifacts is unusual for contemporary sites in the region. Using an integrated approach of formal, experimental, and macro-/ microscopical use-wear analyses we show that Neolithic people at Göbekli Tepe have produced standardized and efficient grinding tools, most of which have been used for the processing of cereals. Additional phytolith analysis confirms the massive presence of cereals at the site, filling the gap left by the weakly preserved charred macro-rests. The organization of work and food supply has always been a central question of research into Göbekli Tepe, as the construction and maintenance of the monumental architecture would have necessitated a considerable work force. Contextual analyses of the distribution of the elements of the grinding kit on site highlight a clear link between plant food preparation and the rectangular buildings and indicate clear delimitations of working areas for food production on the terraces the structures lie on, surrounding the circular buildings. There is evidence for extensive plant food processing and archaeozoological data hint at large-scale hunting of gazelle between midsummer and autumn. As no large storage facilities have been identified, we argue for a production of food for immediate use and interpret these seasonal peaks in activity at the site as evidence for the organization of large work feasts.
SÁNCHEZ-QUINTO F., MALMSTRÖM H., FRASER M., GIRDLAND-FLINK L., SVENSSON E. M., SIMÕES L. G., GEORGE R., HOLLFELDER N., BURENHULT G., NOBLE G., BRITTON K., TALAMO S., CURTIS N., BRZOBOHATA H., SUMBEROVA R., GÖTHERSTRÖM A., STORÅ J., JAKOBSSON M. (2019) – Megalithic tombs in western and northern Neolithic Europe were linked to a kindred society, PNAS, 116(19), 2019, p. 9469-9474. DOI : 10.1073/pnas.1818037116
ABSTRACT. Paleogenomic and archaeological studies show that Neolithic lifeways spread from the Fertile Crescent into Europe around 9000 BCE, reaching northwestern Europe by 4000 BCE. Starting around 4500 BCE, a new phenomenon of constructing megalithic monuments, particularly for funerary practices, emerged along the Atlantic façade. While it has been suggested that the emergence of megaliths was associated with the territories of farming communities, the origin and social structure of the groups that erected them has remained largely unknown. We generated genome sequence data from human remains, corresponding to 24 individuals from five megalithic burial sites, encompassing the widespread tradition of megalithic construction in northern and western Europe, and analyzed our results in relation to the existing European paleogenomic data. The various individuals buried in megaliths show genetic affinities with local farming groups within their different chronological contexts. Individuals buried in megaliths display (past) admixture with local hunter-gatherers, similar to that seen in other Neolithic individuals in Europe. In relation to the tomb populations, we find significantly more males than females buried in the megaliths of the British Isles. The genetic data show close kin relationships among the individuals buried within the megaliths, and for the Irish megaliths, we found a kin relation between individuals buried in different megaliths. We also see paternal continuity through time, including the same Y-chromosome haplotypes reoccurring. These observations suggest that the investigated funerary monuments were associated with patrilineal kindred groups. Our genomic investigation provides insight into the people associated with this long-standing megalith funerary tradition, including their social dynamics.
KEYWORDS. Paleogenomics, population genomics, migration, megalithic tombs
TISDELL C. A., SVIZZERO S. (2019) – The Agricultural Revolution, Childe’s Theory of Economic Development as Outlined in Man Makes Himself, and Contemporary Economic Theories, History of Economics Review, Published online: 08 May 2019, DOI : 10.1080/10370196.2019.1598252
ABSTRACT. This article assesses Childe’s theory of the impact of the commencement of agriculture on Neolithic economic development and its socioeconomic consequences, as outlined in his book Man Makes Himself. It also relates his theory to contemporary views on economic development, paying attention to current theories of sustainable economic development. After providing a biographical note on V. Gordon Childe (an Australian-born archaeologist and anthropologist) and introducing his basic ideas, it examines Childe’s criterion of successful economic development. Subsequently, the essence of Childe’s two-phase model of early agricultural development is summarized and its validity is evaluated. Childe is identified as a Marxist. The influence of Marxism on his life and theories is given careful consideration. It is suggested that contemporary economists should pay greater attention to the ‘big’ history of economic change, as Childe did.
KEYWORDS. Agricultural Revolution, economic development, Gordon Childe, Neolithic Revolution, Neolithic population growth, sustainable economic development
DOLBUNOVA E. V., TSYBRYI V. V., MAZURKEVICH A. N., TSYBRYI A. V., SZMAŃDA J., KITTEL P., ZABILSKA-KUNEK M., SABLIN M. V., GORODETSKAYA S. P., HAMON C., MEADOWS J. (2019) – Subsistence strategies and the origin of early Neolithic community in the lower Don River valley (Rakushechny Yar site, early/middle 6th millennium cal BC): First results, Quaternary international, Available online 9 May 2019, DOI : 10.1016/j.quaint.2019.05.012
ABSTRACT. The multilayer settlement Rakushechny Yar situated in the lower Don River (Rostov region, Russia) is one of the oldest early Neolithic sites in this region, dated to the 7th and 6th millennia BC. Recent investigations have shown a particular importance of this site in the study of the spread of the Near Eastern “Neolithic package” and the neolithisation of Eastern Europe. Long-term study has provided unique evidence of lives of ancient communities. New 14C dates contribute to refining the chronology of the recently excavated to dating the development of cultural traditions more precisely. The excellent preservation state of organic materials led to uncovering a rich assemblage of faunal and fish remains, household constructions, hunting and fishing tools, as well as pottery. The subsistence strategies and the life cycle of these communities were reconstructed through multiple proxies, which describe a particular system of resource management determined by specific economic, environmental and cultural conditions. Rich fish remains, shell middens, site location, specific toolkit with restricted categories, and incomplete context of tool production testify all that it was a specialized site for aquatic resource procurement. Faunal remains indicated the use of resources from other ecological niches as well. Finds of bones of domesticated animals in the same Early Neolithic layers may suggest even a more complicated organization of this ancient community and may indicate the northern limit of the Neolithic package distribution.
KEYWORDS. Early Neolithic, Neolithisation, The south of eastern Europe, Subsistence strategies, Early pottery, Shell middens
DENIS S. (2019) – Inter-site Relationships at the End of the Early Neolithic in North-western Europe, Bartonian Flint Circulation and Macro-features Matching Method, Journal of Lithic Technology, published on line May 9, 2019, DOI : 10.1080/01977261.2019.1613009
ABSTRACT. This paper demonstrates the potential of fine-grained technological analysis to provide new insights for a better anthropological understanding of raw material distribution. The spatial segmentation of the chaîne opératoire is demonstrated using an original method focusing on the matching of macro-features of tertiary Bartonian flint. The outcrops of this raw material occur in the Paris Basin and the distribution network for this type of flint at the end of the early Neolithic in north-western Europe is no longer in question. This study focuses on its circulation toward the Blicquian sites, located some 150 km from the outcrops. The analysis of levels of skill and technical traditions of the production show a very rapid switch in the modalities of distribution indicating that the same culture and “network” probably involved different social interactions between groups over time.
KEYWORDS. Early Neolithic, north-Western Europe, distribution networks, macro-features method, skill levels
SCHROEDER H., MARGARYAN A., SZMYT M., THEULOT B., WŁODARCZAK P., RASMUSSEN S., GOPALAKRISHNAN S., SZCZEPANEK A., KONOPKA T., JENSEN T. Z. T., WITKOWSKA B., WILK S., PRZYBYŁA M. M., POSPIESZNY Ł., SJÖGREN K.-G., BELKA Z., OLSEN J., KRISTIANSEN K., WILLERSLEV E., FREI K. M., SIKORA M., JOHANNSEN N. N., ALLENTOFT M. E. (2019) – Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave, PNAS, May 6, 2019, DOI : 10.1073/pnas.1820210116
ABSTRACT. The third millennium BCE was a period of major cultural and demographic changes in Europe that signaled the beginning of the Bronze Age. People from the Pontic steppe expanded westward, leading to the formation of the Corded Ware complex and transforming the genetic landscape of Europe. At the time, the Globular Amphora culture (3300–2700 BCE) existed over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, but little is known about their interaction with neighboring Corded Ware groups and steppe societies. Here we present a detailed study of a Late Neolithic mass grave from southern Poland belonging to the Globular Amphora culture and containing the remains of 15 men, women, and children, all killed by blows to the head. We sequenced their genomes to between 1.1- and 3.9-fold coverage and performed kinship analyses that demonstrate that the individuals belonged to a large extended family. The bodies had been carefully laid out according to kin relationships by someone who evidently knew the deceased. From a population genetic viewpoint, the people from Koszyce are clearly distinct from neighboring Corded Ware groups because of their lack of steppe-related ancestry. Although the reason for the massacre is unknown, it is possible that it was connected with the expansion of Corded Ware groups, which may have resulted in competition for resources and violent conflict. Together with the archaeological evidence, these analyses provide an unprecedented level of insight into the kinship structure and social behavior of a Late Neolithic community.
KEYWORDS. ancient DNA, archaeology, kinship, migration, violence
VAN DER VELDE H. M., BOUMA N., RAEMAEKERS D. C. M. (2019) - A monumental burial ground from the Funnel Beaker Period at Oosterdalfsen (the Netherlands), in : J. MÜLLER, M. HINZ, M. WUNDERLICH (eds.), Megaliths – Societies – Landscapes Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation in Neolithic Europe, Volume 3, Proceedings of the international conference »Megaliths – Societies – Landscapes. Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation in Neolithic Europe« (16th–20th June 2015) in Kiel, Bonn : Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, 2019, p. 319-328.
ABSTRACT. In 2015 a rescue excavation took place at Oosterdalfsen (municipality of Dalfsen, Overijssel, the Netherlands) yielded traces of a burial ground, an earthen monument and a house plan, all dating from the Funnel beaker period. In total c. 137 graves were found. In several burial pits a corps silhouette was still visible indicating that these deceased were positioned in Hocker position. In total 123 pots were found in the graves. Te decorated pots can be dated in Brindley horizon 4 – 7 (c. 3200 – 2700 BC). One large structure con- sisted of a ditch with a proximal length of 30 m and width of 4 m. Because the presence of a central grave is not ascertained we do not interpret this ditch system as the remnants of a mon-umental grave, but rather as an ditch-delimited arena for burial rituals. Te house was two-aisled in construction, similar to the ones found at Flögeln 1 and Penningbüttel.
The Oosterdalfsen community seems to have created a monumental expression in earth – the ditched feature. The large number of burials allows defining both norm and vari-ation in burial rites in a meaningful way. The analysis of the pots, in combination with spatial analysis, will perhaps al-low us to better understand the social built-up of the community that used the site for their burial rites.
FAGES A., HANGHØJ K., KHAN N., GAUNITZ C., SEGUIN-ORLANDO A., LEONARDI M., MCCRORY CONSTANTZ C., GAMBA C., AL-RASHEID K. A. S., ALBIZURI S., ALFARHAN A. H., ALLENTOFTM., ALQURAISHI S., ANTHONY D., BAIMUKHANOV N., BARRETT J. H., BAYARSAIKHAN J., BENECKE N., BERNALDEZ-SANCHEZ E., BERROCAL-RANGEL L., BIGLARI F., BOESSENKOOL S., BOLDGIV B., BREM G., BROWN D., BURGER J., CRUBEZY E., DAUGNORA L., DAVOUDI H., DE BARROS DAMGAARD P., DE LOS ANGELES DE CHORRO Y DE VILLA-CEBALLOS M., DESCHLER-ERB S., DETRY C., DILL N., DO MAR OOM M., DOHR A., ELLINGVAG S., ERDENEBAATAR D., FATHIH., FELKEL S., FERNANDEZ-RODRIGUEZ C., GARCIA-VINAS E., GERMONPRE M., GRANADO J. D., HALLSSON J. H., HEMMER H., HOFREITER M., KASPAROV A., KHASANOV M., KHAZAELI R., KOSINTSEV P., KRISTIANSEN K., KUBATBEK T., KUDERNA L., KUZNETSOV P., LALEH H., LEONARD J. A., LHUILLIER J., LIESAU VON LETTOW-VORBECK C., LOGVIN A., LOUGAS L., LUDWIG A., LUIS C., MARGARIDA ARRUDA A., MARQUES-BONET T., MATOSO SILVA R., MERZ V., MIJIDDORJ E., MILLER B. K., MOCHLOV O., MOHASEB F. A., MORALES A., NIETO-ESPINET A., NISTELBERGER H., ONAR V., PA LSDOTTIR A. H., PITULKO V., PITSKHELAURI K., PRUVOST M., RAJIC SIKANJIC P., RAPAN PAPESA A., ROSLYAKOVA N., SARDARI A., SAUER E., SCHAFBERG R., SCHEU A., SCHIBLER J., SCHLUMBAUM A., SERRAND N., SERRES-ARMERO A., SHAPIRO B., SHEIKHI SENO S., SHEVNINA I., SHIDRANG S., SOUTHON J., STAR B., SYKES N., TAHERI K., TAYLOR W., TEEGEN W.-R., TRBOJEVIC VUKICEVIC T., TRIXL S., TUMEN D., UNDRAKHBOLD EMMA USMANOVA S., VAHDATI A., VALENZUELA-LAMAS S., VIEGAS C., WALLNER B., WEINSTOCK J., ZAIBERT V., CLAVEL B., LEPETZ S., MASHKOUR M., HELGASON A., STEFANSSON K., BARREY E., WILLERSLEV E., OUTRAM A. K., LIBRADO P., ORLANDO L. (2019) - Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series, Cell, 177, 2019, p. 1-17. DOI : 10.1016/j.cell.2019.03.049
ABSTRACT. Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (R1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages existed during early domestication, one at the far western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range
(Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly to modern diversity. We show that the influence of Persian-related horse lineages increased following the Islamic conquests in Europe and Asia. Multiple alleles associated with elite-racing, including at the MSTN ‘‘speed gene,’’ only rose in popularity within the last millennium. Finally, the development of modern breeding impacted genetic diversity more dramatically than the previous millennia of human management.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.03.049
GARCIA SANJUAN L., CINTAS-PEÑA M., DIAZ-GUARDAMINO M., ESCUDERO CARRILLO J., LUCIAÑEZ TRIVIÑO M., MORA MOLINA C., ROBLES CARRASCO S. (2019) - Burial practices and social hierarchisation in Copper Age Iberia: Analysing tomb 10.042 – 10.049 at Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain), in : J. Müller, M. Hinz, M. Wunderlich (eds.), Megaliths – Societies – Landscapes Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation in Neolithic Europe, Volume 3, Proceedings of the international conference Megaliths – Societies – Landscapes. Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation in Neolithic Europe« (16th–20th June 2015) in Kiel, Bonn : Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, 2019, p. 1005-1037.
ABSTRACT. Social complexity, social inequality and social hierarchisation are among the most frequently discussed topics in the study of the Iberian Copper Age (c. 3200 – 2200 cal BCE). Since the impact of processual archaeology on Iberian Late Prehistory during the early-1980s, a large number of studies have been dedicated to these issues1. Establishing a single theory (or a unanimously accepted one) of Chalcolithic social complexity is especially difficult due to the geographical and ecological diversity of Iberia, with the subsequent variability of social and cultural responses, as well as due to the limitations of the available empirical record.
This paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning the nature of social inequality and hierarchisation in Copper Age Iberia by presenting and discussing new data obtained at the site of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain). Valencina2 – located in the lower Guadalquivir River valley (Figures 1 and 2) – is perhaps the largest Iberian settlement from the 3rd millennium cal BCE and it certainly has great potential to help advance the debate on the evolution of social complexity during the Iberian Copper Age (García Sanjuán et al. 2017). Recent contributions to the ample literature on this site have made it possible to move forward in the systematisation of the available empirical evidence (García Sanjuán et al. 2013 a), especially in terms of chronology (García Sanjuán et al. 2018), demography (Díaz-Zorita Bonilla 2017) and resources (García Sanjuán 2017). Specifically, we will proceed by presenting the existing data on grave 10.042 – 10.049, which is located in the PP4-Montelirio sector of Valencina. We will subsequently continue by evaluating this grave within the context of the social organisation of the communities that occupied and/ or frequented this Chalcolithic settlement.
MARIN de ESPINOSA SANCHEZ J. A. (2019) - La producción laminar durante el Neolítico final y el Calcolítico: una renovación epistemológica, Pyrenae, Vol. 50, Núm. 1, 2019, p. 33-54.
ABSTRACT. This paper analyses the evolution and contributions made to the study of blade productions in recent European prehistory, with the aim of knowing the theoretical and practical bases that have led to current research protocols. To do this, I have considered from the studies of various researchers from the end of the 19th century to the present. Special attention has been paid to the last forty years of archaeological research in France and the Iberian Peninsula. As a result, we have the creation of a methodology in which archaeological referents and experimental analogy has provided a new vision to technological studies.
KEYWORDS. Lithic technology, experimental archaeology, Final Neolithic, Chalcolithic
https://www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/view/351175/442522
JOVER MAESTRE F. J., PASTOR QUILES M., TORREGROSA GIMENEZ P. (2019) - Advances in the analysis of households in the early neolithic groups of the Iberian Peninsula: Deciphering a partial archaeological record, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Vol. 53, 2019, p. 1-21. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2018.10.001
ABSTRACT. In this paper, we analyze the data related to the households of the first farmers in the Iberian Peninsula during the early Neolithic and discuss the theoretical and archaeological constraints on their recognition. Information is limited by different factors, such as the traditional excavation exclusively of caves and the difficulties in preserving the archaeological record at open-air sites. Most of these sites present diverse types of structures, from production-consumption, storage or waste areas, to different types of possible dwellings. We argue that the most common type of settlement within these groups were farms, which would constitute basic units of productive and social organization. Lastly, we highlight the research approach involving the open-air excavation at settlements large enough to allow the identification of domestic units.
KEYWORDS. Early Neolithic, First farmers, Iberian Peninsula, Household, Domestic Unit, Activity area, Open-air site
WEIBERG, E., BEVAN, A., KOULI, K., KATSIANIS, M., WOODBRIDGE, J., BONNIER, A., ENGEL, M., FINNE, M., FYFE, R., MANIATIS, Y., PALMISANO, A., PANAJIOTIDIS, S., ROBERTS, N., SHENNAN, S., (2019) - Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: A comparative study, The Holocene, Special Issue: The changing face of the Mediterranean: land cover, demography and environmental change, 2019, DOI: 10.1177/09596836198266
ABSTRACT. This paper offers a comparative study of land use and demographic development in northern and southern Greece from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. Results from summed probability densities (SPD) of archaeological radiocarbon dates and settlement numbers derived from archaeological site surveys are combined with results from cluster-based analysis of published pollen core assemblages to offer an integrated view of human pressure on the Greek landscape through time. We demonstrate that SPDs offer a useful approach to outline differences between regions and a useful complement to archaeological site surveys, evaluated here especially for the onset of the Neolithic and for the Final Neolithic (FN)/Early Bronze Age (EBA) transition. Pollen analysis highlight differences in vegetation between the two sub-regions, but also several parallel changes. The comparison of land cover dynamics between two sub-regions of Greece further demonstrates the significance of the bioclimatic conditions of core locations and that apparent oppositions between regions may in fact be two sides of the same coin in terms of socio-ecological trajectories. We also assess the balance between anthropogenic and climate-related impacts on vegetation and suggest that climatic variability was as an important factor for vegetation regrowth. Finally, our evidence suggests that the impact of humans on land cover is amplified from the Late Bronze Age (LBA) onwards as more extensive herding and agricultural practices are introduced.
KEYWORDS. archaeology, Greece, land cover, land use, pollen, summed probability densities
WALSH, K., BERGER, J.-F., ROBERTS, C. N., VANNIERE, B., GHILARDI, M., BROWN, A. G., WOODBRIDGE, J., LESPEZ, L., ESTRANY, J., GLAIS, A., PALMISANO, A., FINNE, M., VERSTRAETEN, G., (2019) - Holocene demographic fluctuations, climate and erosion in the Mediterranean: A meta data-analysis, The Holocene, Special Issue: The changing face of the Mediterranean: land cover, demography and environmental change, 2019, DOI: 10.1177/09596836198266
ABSTRACT. As part of the Changing the Face of the Mediterranean Project, we consider how human pressure and concomitant erosion has affected a range of Mediterranean landscapes between the Neolithic and, in some cases, the post-medieval period. Part of this assessment comprises an investigation of relationships among palaeodemographic data, evidence for vegetation change and some consideration of rapid climate change events. The erosion data include recent or hitherto unpublished work from the authors. Where possible, we consider summed probabilities of 14C dates as well as the first published synthesis of all known optically stimulated luminescence dated sequences. The results suggest that while there were some periods when erosion took place contemporaneously across a number of regions, possibly induced by climate changes, more often than not, we see a complex and heterogeneous interplay of demographic and environmental changes that result in a mixed pattern of erosional activity across the Mediterranean.
KEYWORDS. demography, erosion, geoarchaeology, Holocene, human impact, Mediterranean
BEVAN, A., PALMISANO, A., WOODBRIDGE, J., FYFE, R., ROBERTS, C. N., SHENNAN, S. (2019) – The changing face of the Mediterranean – Land cover, demography and environmental change: Introduction and overview, The Holocene. Special Issue: The changing face of the Mediterranean: land cover, demography and environmental change, 2019, DOI: 10.1177/0959683619826
ABSTRACT. This paper introduces a special issue on The Changing Face of the Mediterranean: Land Cover, Demography, and Environmental Change, which brings together up-to-date regional or thematic perspectives on major long-term trends in Mediterranean human–environment relations. Particularly, important insights are provided by palynology to reconstruct past vegetation and land cover, and archaeology to establish long-term demographic trends, but with further significant input from palaeoclimatology, palaeofire research and geomorphology. Here, we introduce the rationale behind this pan-Mediterranean research initiative, outline its major sources of evidence and method, and describe how individual submissions work to complement one another.
KEYWORDS. archaeology, demography, land cover, pollen, radiocarbon, settlement, vegetation
BERGER, J.F., SHENNAN, S., WOODBRIDGE, J., PALMISANO, A., MAZIER, F., NUNINGER, L., GUILLON, S., DOYEN, E., BEGEOT, C., ANDRIEU-PONEL, V., AZUARA, J., BEVAN, A., FYFE, R., ROBERTS, C. N., (2019) - Holocene land cover and population dynamics in Southern France, The Holocene. Special Issue: The changing face of the Mediterranean: land cover, demography and environmental change, 2019, DOI: 10.1177/09596836198266
ABSTRACT. This paper describes long-term changes in human population and vegetation cover in southern France, using summed radiocarbon probability distributions and site count data as population proxies and information from fossil pollen cores as a proxy for past land cover. Southern France is particularly well-suited to this type of study as a result of previous programmes of intensive survey work and excavation in advance of large-scale construction. These make it possible to calibrate the larger scale occupation patterns in the light of the visibility issues created by the burial of archaeological sites beneath alluvial sediments. For purposes of analysis, the region was divided into three biogeographical zones (BGZ), going from the Mediterranean coast to the middle Rhône valley (MRV). All the different population proxies in a given zone show broadly similar patterns of fluctuation, though with varying levels of resolution. The long-term patterns in the different zones all show significant differences from the overall regional pattern, but this is especially the case for the non-Mediterranean middle Rhône area. Cluster analysis of pollen samples has been carried out to identify the main regional land cover types through the Holocene, which are increasingly dominated by open types over time. A variety of other pollen indicators show evidence of increasing human impact through time. Measures of human impact correlate strongly with the population proxies. A series of thresholds are identified in the population–human impact trajectory that are related to other changes in the cultural sequence. The lack of independent climate data for the region means that its impact cannot currently be assessed with confidence. However, for the later periods, it is clear that the incorporation of southern France into larger regional systems played a major role in accounting for changes in land cover and settlement.
KEYWORDS. aoristic weights, Holocene, human impact, land cover, pollen, population dynamics, population proxy, radiocarbon summed probability distribution, site count, Southern France
FELKEL S., VOGL C., RIGLER D., DOBRETSBERGER V., CHOWDHARY B. P., DISTL O., FRIES R., JAGANNATHAN V., JANECKA J. E., LEEB T., LINDGREN G., MCCUE M., METZGER J., NEUDITSCHKO M., RATTEI T., RAUDSEPP T., RIEDER S., RUBIN C.-J., SCHAEFER R., SCHLÖTTERER C., THALLER G., TETENS J., VELIE B., BREM G., WALLNER B. (2019) - The horse Y chromosome as an informative marker for tracing sire lines, Scientific Reports, volume 9, 6095, April 15, 2019. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42640-w
ABSTRACT. Analysis of the Y chromosome is the best-established way to reconstruct paternal family history in humans. Here, we applied fine-scaled Y-chromosomal haplotyping in horses with biallelic markers and demonstrate the potential of our approach to address the ancestry of sire lines. We de novo assembled a draft reference of the male-specific region of the Y chromosome from Illumina short reads and then screened 5.8 million basepairs for variants in 130 specimens from intensively selected and rural breeds and nine Przewalski’s horses. Among domestic horses we confirmed the predominance of a young’crown haplogroup’ in Central European and North American breeds. Within the crown, we distinguished 58 haplotypes based on 211 variants, forming three major haplogroups. In addition to two previously characterised haplogroups, one observed in Arabian/Coldblooded and the other in Turkoman/Thoroughbred horses, we uncovered a third haplogroup containing Iberian lines and a North African Barb Horse. In a genealogical showcase, we distinguished the patrilines of the three English Thoroughbred founder stallions and resolved a historic controversy over the parentage of the horse ‘Galopin’, born in 1872. We observed two nearly instantaneous radiations in the history of Central and Northern European Y-chromosomal lineages that both occurred after domestication 5,500 years ago.
ABELL T. J., QUADE J., DURU G., MENTZER S. M., STINER M. C., UZDURUM M., ÖZBASARAN M. (2019) - Urine salts elucidate Early Neolithic animal management at Aşıklı Höyük, Turkey, Science Advances, Vol. 5, no. 4, April 17, 2019. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0038
ABSTRACT. he process of sheep and goat (caprine) domestication began by 9000 to 8000 BCE in Southwest Asia. The early Neolithic site at Aşıklı Höyük in central Turkey preserves early archaeological evidence of this transformation, such as culling by age and sex and use of enclosures inside the settlement. People’s strategies for managing caprines evolved at this site over a period of 1000 years, but changes in the scale of the practices are difficult to measure. Dung and midden layers at Aşıklı Höyük are highly enriched in soluble sodium, chlorine, nitrate, and nitrate-nitrogen isotope values, a pattern we attribute largely to urination by humans and animals onto the site. Here, we present an innovative mass balance approach to interpreting these unusual geochemical patterns that allows us to quantify the increase in caprine management over a ~1000-year period, an approach that should be applicable to other arid land tells.
MARINOV M., YANKOVA I., NEOV B., PETROVA M., SPASSOV N., HRISTOV P., RADOSLAVOV G. (2019) – Evidence for Early European Neolithic Dog Dispersal: New Data on South-Eastern European subfossil dogs from Prehistory and Antiquity Ages, bioRxiv, April 15, 2019, DOI: 10.1101/609974
ABSTRACT.
Objectives The history of dog domestication is still under debate, but doubtlessly, it is a process of an ancient partnership between dogs (Canis familiaris) and humans. Although data on ancient DNA dog diversity are scarce, it is clear that several regional dog populations had been formed in Eurasia up to the Holocene. During the Neolithic Revolution and the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer societies, followed by civilization changes in the Antiquity period, the dog population structure also changed. This process was due to replacement with newly formed dog breeds.
Methods In this study we have presented for the first time mitochondrial data about South-Eastern Europe (the Balkans) ancient dog remains from the Early Neolithic (8 000 years BP) to the Late Antiquity ages (up to 3th century AD). A total of 25 samples were analyzed using the mitochondrial D-loop region (HVR1).
Results The results have shown the presence of A (70%) and B (25%) clades throughout the whole investigated period. In order to clarify the position of our results within the ancient dog population in Eneolithic Eurasia, we performed phylogenetic analysis with the available genetic data sets. This data revealed a similarity of the Bulgarian dogs’ structure to that of ancient Italian dogs (A, B, and C clades), which suggests a new prehistoric and historic Mediterranean dog population. A clear border can be seen between South-European genetic dog structure, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, Central-West (clade C), East (clade D) and North Europe (clades A and C). This corresponds to genetic data for European humans during the same period without admixture between dog populations.
Conclusions Our data have shown for the first time the presence of clade B in ancient Eurasia. This is not unexpected as the B haplogroup is widely distributed in extant Balkan dogs and wolves. The presence of this clade both in dogs and in wolves on the Balkans may be explained with hybridization events before the Neolithic period. The spreading of this clade across Europe together with the A clade is related to the possible dissemination of newly formed dog breeds from Ancient Greece, Thrace and the Roman Empire.
BRACE S., DIEKMANN Y., BOOTH T. J., VAN DORP L., FALTYSKOVA Z., ROHLAND N., MALLICK S., OLALDE I., FERRY M., MICHEL M., OPPENHEIMER J., BROOMAND-KHOSHBACHT N., STEWARDSON K., MARTINIANO R., WALSH S., KAYSER M., CHARLTON S., HELLENTHAL G., ARMIT I., SCHULTING R., CRAIG O. E., SHERIDAN A., PARKER PEARSON M., STRINGER C., REICH D., THOMAS M. G. & BARNES I. (2019) – Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain, Nature. Ecology & Evolution, April 15, 2019. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0871-9
ABSTRACT. The roles of migration, admixture and acculturation in the European transition to farming have been debated for over 100 years. Genome-wide ancient DNA studies indicate predominantly Aegean ancestry for continental Neolithic farmers, but also variable admixture with local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Neolithic cultures first appear in Britain circa 4000 bc, a millennium after they appeared in adjacent areas of continental Europe. The pattern and process of this delayed British Neolithic transition remain unclear. We assembled genome-wide data from 6 Mesolithic and 67 Neolithic individuals found in Britain, dating 8500–2500 bc. Our analyses reveal persistent genetic affinities between Mesolithic British and Western European hunter-gatherers. We find overwhelming support for agriculture being introduced to Britain by incoming continental farmers, with small, geographically structured levels of hunter-gatherer ancestry. Unlike other European Neolithic populations, we detect no resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry at any time during the Neolithic in Britain. Genetic affinities with Iberian Neolithic individuals indicate that British Neolithic people were mostly descended from Aegean farmers who followed the Mediterranean route of dispersal. We also infer considerable variation in pigmentation levels in Europe by circa 6000 bc.
KADROW S., PREOTEASA C., RAUBA-BUKOWSKA A. ŢURCANU S. (2018) – The technology of LBK ceramics in eastern Romania, Materiały i Sprawozdania Rzeszowskiego Ośrodka Archeologicznego, T. 39, 2019, p. 5-38. DOI: 10.15584/misroa.2018.39.1
ABSTRACT. The paper shows selected aspects of the technology of ceramic production within the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) in eastern Romania. The authors present the results of mineralogical and petrographic analyses which have covered 23 ceramic samples from that area. Together with the analysis of 6 samples from the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, the research has provided the basis for more general conclusions concerning prehistory.
The results of the analysis of ceramics technology clearly indicate the NW genesis of LBK in the territory of Romanian Moldova. They also support the thesis that local settlement agglomerations should be dated not only to the music-note phase of this culture but also to the period contemporary with the Želiezovce phase, despite the lack of ceramics in this style on this area.
KEYWORDS. LBK, technology of ceramics, mineralogical and petrographic analysis, eastern Romania, Neolithic
SUTLIFF D. J. (2019) – Pack goats in the Neolithic Middle East, Anthropozoologica, 54(5), p. 45-53. DOI: 10.5252/anthropozoologica2019v54a5
ABSTRACT. This article advances the hypotheses that sheep (Ovis ariesLinnaeus, 1758) and goats (CaprahircusLinnaeus, 1758) in the Neolithic Middle East were employed regularly as pack animals and were domesticated to serve as pack animals. The employment of pack ovicaprines, especially pack goats, can explain how obsidian and other goods that circulated in exchange networks were transported across long distances and mountainous terrain. A pack goat can carry 30% of its weight over 24km of mountainous terrain daily. A lactating dam can provide milk for human consumption on the trail. Compared to pack sheep and pack cattle, pack goats are more agile and adaptable to a greater variety of environments. Training a goat to pack is not difficult, and research on caprines’ social preferences suggests that the wild sheep (Ovis orientalis Gmelin, 1774) and wild goat (Capra aegagrus Erxleben, 1777), if born in human captivity, could be trained to pack. Findings support the hypothesis that dairying originated from the training and use of pack goats in the Neolithic. Goats usually don’t sustain bone pathology from bearing pack loads, and bone pathology and increased bone robustness from pack-bearing, especially of goats, may be impossible to discern from the faunal record. Neolithic figurative evidence of pack ovicaprines is highlighted.
KEYWORDS. domestication, milking, ovicaprines, goats, Neolithic, Middle East, pack animals, exchange network
BARON J., FURMANEK M., HAŁUSZKO A., KUFEL-DIAKOWSKA B. (2019) – Differentiation of burial practices in the Corded Ware Culture. The example of the Magnice site in SW Poland, Praehistorische Zeitschrift, Vol. 93, Issue 2, p. 169-184. DOI: 10.1515/pz-2018-0009
ABSTRACT. The paper presents the results of two grave excavations from the Magnice region in southwestern Poland. Both graves belong to the Corded Ware cultural tradition and provide evidence for two completely different ways of burying the dead practised by the same archaeological „culture“ over a similar time period. The differences are in grave construction and selection of grave goods, demonstrating a variety of attitudes towards the burial process. We focus on grave construction, biological condition of discovered human remains and on use-wear observation of lithic grave goods. We assume funeral patterns were known – learned or sensed – and shared by small local groups. Although a concept of an „idealized grave model(s)“ must have been part of commonly shared social and cultural rules, archaeological evidence shows it was realised in various ways that could be socially negotiated.
KEYWORDS. burial practice, Eneolithic, Poland, use-wear studies
BROZIO J. P., FILIPOVIC D., SCHMÖLCKE U., KIRLEIS W., MÜLLER J. (2019) – Mittel- bis jungneolithische Siedlungshinterlassenschaften zwischen 3300–2600 v. Chr. – Der Fundplatz Oldenburg LA 232 im Oldenburger Graben, Ostholstein, Praehistorische Zeitschrift, Vol. 93, Issue 2, p. 185-224. DOI: 10.1515/pz-2018-0007
ABSTRACT. With the beginning of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre 1266 ”Scales of Transformation - Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies”, the subproject ”Late Mesolithic and Neolithic Transformations on the Northern and Central European Plain” also focused on the question of the transition from Middle Neolithic Funnel Beaker to Young Neolithic Single Grave societies. Due to the lack of settlement findings, first archaeological investigations were realised in 2016, including a geophysical and archaeological prospection in the area of the site Oldenburg LA 232 in East Holstein. This Neolithic settlement site is located on an elevation in the wetland of the western Oldenburger Graben, a former fjord and lagoon landscape, that includes the former shore zone. The investigations made it possible to detect a Funnel Beaker settlement (approx. 3340–3020 cal BC) on the elevation in the form of building structures, storage pits and a work site for flint tool production. The second settlement phase (approx. 2930–2630 cal BC) is recognized as a cultural layer with arrow shafts, construction timber, wooden pre-forms and piles in the area of the Neolithic riparian zone and belongs to the transitional phase Middle Neolithic V/Late Neolithic 1 (Store-Valby/Early Single Grave societies). In this phase of transformation, and using the newly excavated site as a starting point, continuity and discontinuity is shown at the regional level. In particular, the continuity of domestic locations is of decisive importance for the understanding of the transformation process from the Middle to the Young Neolithic in the North German Plain.
KEYWORDS. Middle Neolithic, Younger Neolithic, Funnel Beaker Culture, Single Grave Groups, Store Valby, settlements, radiocarbon dating, wooden artefacts, transformations, Schleswig-Holstein
TEETAERT D., BAEYENS N., PERDAEN Y., FIERS G., DE KOCK T., ALLEMEERSCH L., BOUDIN M., CROMBE P. (2019) - A well-preserved Michelsberg Culture domed oven from Kortrijk, Belgium, Antiquity, Vol. 93, Issue 368, p. 342-358. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2018.181
ABSTRACT. In 2015, a domed oven from the late fifth millennium cal BC was excavated near Kortrijk, northern Belgium. In terms of its size, tripartite structure, stone flooring and well-preserved domed combustion chamber, the oven is unique in Neolithic Western Europe, although mostly smaller, less well-preserved parallels are known in northern France. Such features are thought to have appeared in Western Europe in the Early to Middle Neolithic periods (post-Linearbandkeramik Culture). Their appearance and possible use for drying cereals may be related to a change from individual (household) to communal processing of cereals, and/or indicate adaptation to a wetter climate by newly settled agro-pastoralist communities.
KEYWORDS. Belgium, Kortijk, Neolithic, Michelsberg Culture, domed oven
GILLINGS M., POLLARD J., STRUTT K. (2019) - The origins of Avebury, Antiquity, Vol. 93, Issue 368, p. 359-377. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.37
ABSTRACT. The Avebury henge is one of the famous megalithic monuments of the European Neolithic, yet much remains unknown about the detail and chronology of its construction. Here, the results of a new geophysical survey and re-examination of earlier excavation records illuminate the earliest beginnings of the monument. The authors suggest that Avebury's Southern Inner Circle was constructed to memorialise and monumentalise the site of a much earlier ‘foundational’ house. The significance here resides in the way that traces of habitation may take on special social and historical value, leading to their marking and commemoration through major acts of monument building.
KEYWORDS. Britain, Avebury, Neolithic, megalithic, memory
JAMES H. F., WILLMES M., BOEL C. A., COURTAUD P., CHANCEREL A., CIESIELSKI E., DESIDERI J., BRIDY A., WOOD R., MOFFAT I., FALLON S., MCMORROW L., ARMSTRONG R. A., WILLIAMS I. S., KINSLEY L., AUBERT M., EGGINS S., FRIEMAN C. J., GRÜNAG R. (2019) – Who's been using my burial mound? Radiocarbon dating and isotopic tracing of human diet and mobility at the collective burial site, Le Tumulus des Sables, southwest France, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Vol. 24, 2019, p. 955-966.
ABSTRACT. The burial mound of Le Tumulus des Sables, southwest France, contains archaeological artefacts spanning from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Human remains have been found throughout the burial mound, however their highly fragmented state complicates the association between the burial mound structure and the archaeological material. Radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses of human teeth have been used to investigate the chronology, diet and mobility of the occupants. Radiocarbon dating shows that the site was used for burials from the Neolithic to Iron Age, consistent with the range of archaeological artefacts recovered. δ13C and δ15N values (from dentine collagen) suggest a predominately terrestrial diet for the population, unchanging through time. 87Sr/86Sr (on enamel and dentine) and δ18O (on enamel) values are consistent with occupation of the surrounding region, with one individual having a δ18O value consistent with a childhood spent elsewhere, in a colder climate region. These results showcase the complex reuse of this burial mound by a mostly local population over a period of about 2000 years.
KEYWORDS. Isotopic tracing, Mobility, Palaeodiet, Radiocarbon dating, Teeth, Bell beaker, Burial mound
PARKER PEARSON M., POLLARD J., RICHARDS C., WELHAM K. (2019) – Megalith quarries for Stonehenge's bluestones, Antiquity, Vol. 93, Issue 367, p. 45-62.
ABSTRACT. Geologists and archaeologists have long known that the bluestones of Stonehenge came from the Preseli Hills of west Wales, 230km away, but only recently have some of their exact geological sources been identified. Two of these quarries—Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin—have now been excavated to reveal evidence of megalith quarrying around 3000 BC—the same period as the first stage of the construction of Stonehenge. The authors present evidence for the extraction of the stone pillars and consider how they were transported, including the possibility that they were erected in a temporary monument close to the quarries, before completing their journey to Stonehenge.
GAASTRA J. S., GREENFIELD H. J., VANDER LINDEN, M. (2018) – Gaining traction on cattle exploitation: zooarchaeological evidence from the Neolithic Western Balkans, Antiquity, Vol. 92, Issue 366, p. 1462-1477.
ABSTRACT. The study of the exploitation of animals for traction in prehistoric Europe has been linked to the ‘secondary products revolution’. Such an approach, however, leaves little scope for identification of the less specialised exploitation of animals for traction during the European Neolithic. This study presents zooarchaeological evidence—in the form of sub-pathological alterations to cattle foot bones—for the exploitation of cattle for the occasional pulling of heavy loads, or ‘light’ traction. The analysis and systematic comparison of material from 11 Neolithic sites in the Western Balkans (c. 6100–4500 cal BC) provides the earliest direct evidence for the use of cattle for such a purpose.
Documenta Praehistorica Vol. 45 (2018)
Articles (Neolithic)
Trevor Watkins - The Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic as the pivotal transformation of human history
Ciler Cilingiroglu, Berkay Dinçer - Contextualizing Karaburun A New Area for Neolithic Research in Anatolia. A New Area for Neolithic Research in Anatolia
Donna de Groene, Petar Zidarov, Nedko Elenski, Youri van den Hurk, Thijs van Kolfschoten, Canan Çakirlar - Pigs and humans in Early Neolithic South-eastern Europe. New zooarchaeological and stable isotopic data from late 7th-early 6th millennium BC Džuljunica-Smărdeš, Bulgaria
Mihai Dunca, Sanda Băcueț Crișan - The ground stone industry from Pericei-Keller tag. A secondary production centre?
Sharon R. Steadman, Benjamin S. Arbuckle, Gregory McMahon - Pivoting East. Çadır Höyük, Transcaucasia, and Complex Connectivity in the Late Chalcolithic
Mahnaz Sharifi, Abbas Motarjem - The process of cultural change in Chalcolithic period in highland Western Iran at Tepe Gheshlagh
Kamal Aldin Niknami, Mohammad Hossein Taheri, Alireza Sardary - Evidence for an early accounting system found at Tal-e Mash Karim, a Chalcolithic site in Iran
Alenka Tomaž - An Eneolithic pottery hoard from Turnišče, NE Slovenia
Eszter Banffy, Alex Bayliss, Anthony Denaire, Bisserka Gaydarska, Daniela Hofmann, Philippe Lefranc, Janos Jakucs, Miroslav Marić, Krisztian Oross, Nenad Tasić, Alasdair Whittle - Seeking the Holy Grail. Robust chronologies from archaeology and radiocarbon dating combined
Trabajos de Prehistoria Vol. 75 (n°2) 2018
Articles (Neolithic)
Katina T. Lillios - Veinte años de arqueología de la Prehistoria tardía en la Península Ibérica. Mirando hacia atrás y hacia adelante
Salvador Rovira Llorens, Ignacio Montero Ruiz - Proyecto “Arqueometalurgia de la Península Ibérica” (1982-2017)
Miguel Carrero-Pazos - Modelando dinámicas de movilidad y visibilidad en los paisajes megalíticos gallegos. El caso del Monte de Santa Mariña y su entorno (Comarca de Sarria, Lugo)
Trabajos de Prehistoria Vol. 75 (n°1) 2018
Articles (Neolithic)
Susana Consuegra, Nuria Castañeda, Enrique Capdevila, Marta Capote, Cristina Criado, Cristina Casas, Aurora Nieto, Pedro Díaz-del-Río - La mina de sílex del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero (Madrid, España), 5350-5220 cal a. C.
María de la Paz Román Díaz, Ruth Maicas Ramos - La cosecha de El Garcel (Antas, Almería): estructuras de almacenamiento en el sureste de la península ibérica
Marta Cintas-Peña, Leonardo García Sanjuán, Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Ana Mercedes Herrero Corral, Sonia Robles Carrasco - La población no adulta del asentamiento de la Edad del Cobre de Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla): una aproximación demográfica, contextual y sociológica
Carlos Rodríguez Rellán, Alia Vázquez Martínez, Ramón Fábregas Valcarce - Cifras e imágenes: una aproximación cuantitativa a los petroglifos gallegos
BORUP P. (2019) - Østbirk – A strategic settlement at the end of the Neolithic, Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, 20, 2019, p. 83-130.
ABSTRACT. Over a period of more than 10 years, Horsens Museum undertook a series of excavations at Østbirk, north of Horsens. These resulted in an extensive and diverse body of evidence from a settlement area with scattered houses and an associated cemetery with barrows and flat-field graves. The two areas lay together within a melt-water valley that also framed their areal extent. In dating terms, the burial ground extends from the Single Grave culture to the early Pre-Roman Iron Age, while the settlement is restricted to the period from the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age period IA (EBA IA), 2350 - 1600 BC. Neither the settlement nor the burial ground have been fully exposed, but collectively these two areas provide an excellent insight into a local agrarian community that, in the course of the Late Neolithic, developed under successive external cultural influences. In Late Neolithic I (LN I), these were, in the first instance, from the northern Jutish Bell Beaker environment, while in Late Neolithic II (LN II) they came from southern Sweden and the continental Únětice culture. The changes saw expression in not only a number of new artefact types but also in completely new grave forms and house types. In LN II, the latter included the hybrid house and the three-aisled longhouse, which both occurred together with the traditional two-aisled longhouse with a sunken floor.
Throughout the entire habitation period, the settlement consisted of small households that, via economic cooperation, were able to practise intensive arable agriculture aimed at producing an economic surplus. The special significance of arable agriculture is demonstrated, first and foremost, by the farmsteads’ utility- or economy buildings, and it was perhaps an increased need for these buildings that led to the development of new types of longhouses at the end
of the period. The locality lay on one of the area’s important travel and communication routes and later, in the Bronze Age, a palisade was built across the mouth of the valley, probably to regulate or control movement through this natural bottleneck.
KEYWORDS. Single Grave culture, Late Neolithic, Early Bronze Age, cemetery, flat-field graves, settlement patterns, two-aisled houses, hybridhouses, archaeobotany, agriculture, Bell Beaker culture, Únětice culture, metal trade
SCHULTRICH S. (2019) – Flint and Bronze in Late Neolithic Schleswig-Holstein: Distribution, contexts and meanings, Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, 20, 2019, p. 13-82.
ABSTRACT. This paper presents the first comprehensive compilation of Late Neolithic (c. 2350 –1700 BC) metal artefacts found in modern-day Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, flint hoards and burials with flint daggers have been examined in order to investigate the meaning of certain objects which are considered to be connected with status.
It has been demonstrated that the area of Schleswig-Holstein was of importance for Late Neolithic and Bronze Age exchange between central Europe and southern Scandinavia. It has also been argued that certain objects had different meanings depending on choice of material, shape, and context. For example, a bronze dagger is recognized as being essentially different than a flint dagger and, even within the objects class of flint daggers, different meanings and functions were present.
Generally, metal objects were deposited in Late Neolithic southern Scandinavian and central European burials infrequently. However, in southwestern Schleswig-Holstein, burials are the predominant context in which early metal objects appear. Late Neolithic flint daggers and Younger Neolithic battle axes share this property. Whereas these objects appear in great numbers as single finds everywhere in the investigation area, their frequency in burial contexts varies greatly between sub-regions of Schleswig-Holstein. In the southwest, they are common components in graves; in the easternmost areas they are almost completely absent in burials. This bipolar situation is very clearly pronounced during the Late Neolithic period in Schleswig-Holstein. A closer look at northeastern Germany and Jutland suggests that similar differences existed in other regions as well, although less conspicuously. The similar distribution patterns of metal artefacts, flint daggers and battle axes furthermore demonstrate that geographically distinctive treatments of Late Neolithic status artefacts can be traced back to the Younger Neolithic. Different land use strategies, moreover, were presumably already established in the Middle Neolithic. This indicates that these differences, which might be linked to distinctive perceptions of the collective and the individual sphere, seemingly derived from Middle Neolithic or even earlier traditions.
KEYWORDS. Late Neolithic, Early Bronze Age, Schleswig-Holstein, flint daggers, flanged axes, depositions, status items
STÄHLE V., ALTHERR R., UNRATH G., VARYCHEV A. (2019) - Petrological studies of Middle Neolithic stone artefacts from the Salenhof archaeological site near Trillfingen (SW Germany) give evidence for an early diversified long-distance exchange system, Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, 20, 2019, p. 131-158.
ABSTRACT. The Salenhof (N 48.384071/E 8.822974) archaeological site near Trillfingen contains fragmentary shards of ornamented pottery of the Hinkelstein, Großgartach, Planig-Friedberg and Rössen cultures/groups. In total, 1209 retouched silex artefacts could be recovered at the Middle Neolithic settlement. The high fractions of silex borers (40.9 % of the artefacts) and arrowheads (5.4 %) suggest that jewelry production and hunting activities played a substantial role in addition to ordinary farming activities. Various archaeological objects of imported materials were petrologically studied with standard high resolution research methods. The artefacts consist of material derived from eight remote localities: fine-grained metabasic rocks (amhibolites) from Jistebsko in Northern Bohemia (1), arrowheads and silex artefacts from Lengfeld (2) and Abensberg-Arnhoven (3) in Bavaria, fine-grained eclogites from Monviso (4) in the Western Alps, semi-transparent arrowheads of Cretaceous flint from Rijckholt near Maastricht in the Netherlands (5) and from the Paris Basin (6), siliceous red iron ores from the Lahn-Dill region (7), and a large arrowhead of silex material from Auggen/Schliengen in the Markgräflerland in SW Germany (8). All these artefacts are evidence of far-reaching contacts and the transfer of goods within a Middle Neolithic population at Salenhof. The climax of an early, diversified long-distance exchange system in Central Europe may have occurred during the period of the Rössen Culture ca. 6700 years ago.
KEYWORDS. Trillfingen-Salenhof, SW Germany, Middle Neolithic, stone artefacts, amphibolite, eclogite, silex
PORQUEDDU M.-E. (2019) - De l’outil à la représentation du collectif ? Le dépôt du macro-outillage de creusement dans les cavités artificielles funéraires au Néolithique, Techniques & culture, Varia, 2019.
ABSTRACT. The rock-cut tombs are present in several regions of the western Mediterranean at the end of the Neolithic period. Their architecture can be specific and their large number in some territories question their development and the techniques mobilised in their implementation. Several tools used during the various digging phases of these underground architectures are thus known. They are present in various contexts both in Sardinia and in the South of France. These artefacts are not randomly abandoned within them but deposited in particular forms. The digging material is made of a simple tooling manufactured from an opportunistic shaping operational chain. The presence, in the artificial cavities, of deposits of the instruments used originally to dig them is significant and undoubtedly has different meanings. Several interpretations have been proposed in the literature, generally evolving according to the study cases, ranging from a deposit in connection with the deceased to a collective deposit related to the architecture.
We therefore propose a comparative analysis of this practice through the study of several sites and types of data, in order to offer an overview of this phenomenon and to question the symbolic value of this act. The deposit in hypogea, of tools that have been used during the digging process of these structures also focuses the reflection on the digging phase and the setting up of the hypogea to which the tools are related, and likewise, on the importance of the symbolic representation conveyed by the construction of such monuments within the community itself. Digging hypogea requires a significant joint collective endeavour, probably mirrored by a large organization of human groups. The deposit of the tools used for this collective activity, during which a large number of people belonging to the group, or even persons coming from outside, participate can be related to the will, the wish, to represent this aspect of the group. It seals a major moment for the community during which significant efforts are made by it.
KEYWORDS. rock-cut tombs, macro-lithic tools, Neolithic, funeral material, digging techniques, operational chain.
CINTAS-PEÑA M., GARCIA SANJUAN L. (2019) – Gender Inequalities in Neolithic Iberia: A Multi-Proxy Approach, European Journal of Archaeology, 2019, p. 1-24.
ABSTRACT. Gender archaeology approaches to Iberian late prehistory have experienced a significant growth in the last two decades. However, much of the work undertaken has focused on specific aspects of the archaeological record (rock art, burial practices), particularly from the Bronze Age and Iron Age periods for which the evidence is more readily available. In addition, it has tended to be regional or local in scope. Here, we attempt an empirically robust multi-proxy approach to the development of early gender inequalities in Neolithic Iberia. Inspired by Gerda Lerner’s ideas on the origins of patriarchy and based on a systematic collection of data analysed by means of significance testing, we present the first comprehensive study of gender dissymmetries in Iberian prehistory. Our conclusions suggest that, first, the multi-proxy method used has potential for the systematic study of gender inequalities on the basis of archaeological data and, second, that the Neolithic witnessed emerging gender inequalities that set the basis for male domination in later periods.
KEYWORDS. Neolithic, Iberia, gender inequality, bioarchaeology, burial practices, rock art, significance testing
ROBINSON M. G. P., PORTER A., FIGUEIRA W., FLETCHER R. (2019) – Neolithic Temples of Malta: 3D analysis points to novel roof reconstruction, Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Vol.13, June 2019, e00095.
ABSTRACT. The Neolithic temples of Malta are among the oldest examples of prehistoric architecture, yet the construction of their roofs remains a mystery. The absence of any roofs or roofing material at the temple sites has resulted in conjecture regarding the original appearance of these megalithic structures. The most valuable indications of prehistoric Maltese roof architecture are found in the Neolithic burial complex, the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni. Two chambers in the Hypogeum are modelled closely after the above-ground temples, with indications of a roof structural system on the ceilings. This paper uses LiDAR and photogrammetry-derived 3D models to provide a partial temple roof reconstruction that has its design entirely based on contemporaneous archaeology.
Photogrammetric reconstruction of the Mnajdra and Tarxien temple complexes allowed for detailed architectural analyses including key structural features and any indications of previous roof construction that would be evident in situ. A LiDAR model of the carved chambers of the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni was superimposed onto corresponding positions in the temple models. Merging the LiDAR imagery onto the photogrammetry temple models confirmed structural consistency between the two megalithic complexes; supporting the theory that the carved façades were a deliberate reflection of the original architecture of the Maltese temples. This evidence points to an entirely new temple roof reconstruction, founded upon the archaeology of Neolithic Malta.
KEYWORDS. Photogrammetry, 3D modelling, Maltese temples, Neolithic architecture, Digital reconstruction, LiDAR
LEFRANC P., CHENAL F. (2019) – Deposits of bodies in circular pits in the Neolithic period (mid-fifth to the mid-fourth millennium BCE) Deposits, waste or ritual remnants?, Human Remains and Violence: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 1, p. 55-69
ABSTRACT. Among the numerous human remains found in circular pits belonging to the fourth millennium BCE cultures north of the Alps, there are many examples of bodies laid in random (or unconventional) positions. Some of these remains in irregular configurations, interred alongside an individual in a conventional flexed position, can be considered as a ‘funerary accompaniment’. Other burials, of isolated individuals or multiple individuals buried in unconventional positions, suggest the existence of burial practices outside of the otherwise strict framework of funerary rites. The focus of this article is the evidence recently arising from excavation and anthropological studies from the Upper Rhine Plain (Michelsberg and Munzingen cultures). We assume that these bodies in unconventional positions were not dumped as trash, but that they were a part of the final act of a complex ritual. It is hypothesised that these bodies, interpreted here as ritual waste, were sacrificial victims, and a number of possible explanations, including ‘peripheral accompaniment’ or victims of acts of war, are debated.
KEYWORDS. Neolithic, Burial, Storage pits, Ritual wastes
PENTEDEKA A., KOUTSOVITIS P., MAGGANAS A., RASSIOS A. (2019) – Neolithic pottery production in southeast Thessaly through the application of petrography and mineralogy, Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, Vol. 54, n°1.
ABSTRACT. The present paper focuses on the raw materials used for the local manufacture of pottery at two Neolithic settlements (Magoula Visviki, Magoula Agrokipiou) in the Velestino region, SE Thessaly, an area characterized by a distinctive ophiolithic sequence and its sedimentary weathering products. The mineralogical composition and rock fragment constituents of pottery fabrics are compared with that of rock and sediment samples from the adjacent area, thus locating the ancient raw material sources that were exploited.
KEYWORDS. Ceramic petrography, Velestino, Raw materials procurement
SCHAUER P., SHENNAN S., BEVAN A., COOK G., EDINBOROUGH K., FYFE R. KERIG T., PARKER PEARSON M. (2019) – Supply and demand in prehistory? Economics of Neolithic mining in northwest Europe, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Vol. 54, p. 149-160.
ABSTRACT. The extent to which non-agricultural production in prehistory had cost-benefit motivations has long been a subject of discussion. This paper addresses the topic by looking at the evidence for Neolithic quarrying and mining in Britain and continental northwest Europe and asks whether changing production through time was influenced by changing demand. Radiocarbon dating of mine and quarry sites is used to define periods of use. These are then correlated with a likely first-order source of demand, the size of the regional populations around the mines, inferred from a radiocarbon-based population proxy. There are significant differences between the population and mine-date distributions. Analysis of pollen data using the REVEALS method to reconstruct changing regional land cover patterns shows that in Britain activity at the mines and quarries is strongly correlated with evidence for forest clearance by incoming Neolithic populations, suggesting that mine and quarry production were a response to the demand that this created. The evidence for such a correlation between mining and clearance in continental northwest Europe is much weaker. Here the start of large-scale mining may be a response to the arrival by long-distance exchange of high-quality prestige jade axes from a source in the Italian Alps.
KEYWORDS. Neolithic Britain, Northwest Europe, Mining, Quarrying, Radiocarbon, Population, Land cover
SAMORINI G. (2019) – The oldest archeological data evidencing the relationship of Homo sapiens with psychoactive plants: A worldwide overview, Journal of Psychedelic Studies, Vol. 3, Issue 2, On line first.
ABSTRACT. Modern sophisticated archeometric instruments are increasingly capable of detecting the presence of psychoactive plant sources in archeological contexts, testifying the antiquity of humanity’s search for altered states of consciousness. The purpose of this article is to provide a general picture of these findings, covering the main psychoactive plant sources of the world, and identifying the most ancient dates so far evidenced by archeology. This review is based on the archeological literature identifying the presence of psychoactive plant sources, relying on original research documents. The research produced two main results: (a) a systematization of the types of archeological evidence that testify the relationship between Homo sapiens and these psychoactive sources, subdivided into direct evidence (i.e., material findings, chemical, and genetic) and indirect evidence (i.e., anthropophysical, iconographic, literary, and paraphernalia); and (b) producing a list of the earliest known dates of the relationship of H. sapiens with the main psychoactive plant sources. There appears to be a general diffusion of the use of plant drugs from at least the Neolithic period (for the Old World) and the pre-Formative period (for the Americas). These dates should not to be understood as the first use of these materials, instead they refer to the oldest dates currently determined by either direct or indirect archeological evidence. Several of these dates are likely to be modified back in time by future excavations and finds.
KEYWORDS. archeology, archeobotany, psychoactive plants, oldest find
FELDMAN M., FERNANDEZ-DOMINGUEZ E., REYNOLDS L., BAIRD D., PEARSON J., HERSHKOVITZ I., MAY H., GORING-MORRIS N., BENZ M., GRESKY J., BIANCO R. A., FAIRBAIRN A., MUSTAFAOGLU G., STOCKHAMMER P. W., POSTH C., HAAK W., JEONG C., KRAUSE J. (2019) – Late Pleistocene human genome suggests a local origin for the first farmers of central Anatolia, Nature Communications, Vol.10,1218, 2019. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09209-7
ABSTRACT. Anatolia was home to some of the earliest farming communities. It has been long debated whether a migration of farming groups introduced agriculture to central Anatolia. Here, we report the first genome-wide data from a 15,000-year-old Anatolian hunter-gatherer and from seven Anatolian and Levantine early farmers. We find high genetic continuity (~80–90%) between the hunter-gatherers and early farmers of Anatolia and detect two distinct incoming ancestries: an early Iranian/Caucasus related one and a later one linked to the ancient Levant. Finally, we observe a genetic link between southern Europe and the Near East predating 15,000 years ago. Our results suggest a limited role of human migration in the emergence of agriculture in central Anatolia.
VANHANEN S., GUSTAFSSON S., RANHEDEN H., BJÖRCK N., KEMELL M., HEYD V. (2019) – Maritime Hunter-Gatherers Adopt Cultivation at the Farming Extreme of Northern Europe 5000 Years Ago, Nature, Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, 4756, 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41293-z
ABSTRACT. The dynamics of the origins and spread of farming are globally debated in anthropology and archaeology. Lately, numerous aDNA studies have turned the tide in favour of migrations, leaving only a few cases in Neolithic Europe where hunter-gatherers might have adopted agriculture. It is thus widely accepted that agriculture was expanding to its northern extreme in Sweden c. 4000 BC by migrating Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) farmers. This was followed by intense contacts with local hunter-gatherers, leading to the development of the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC), who nonetheless relied on maritime prey. Here, we present archaeobotanical remains from Sweden and the Åland archipelago (Finland) showing that PWC used free-threshing barley and hulled and free-threshing wheat from c. 3300 BC. We suggest that these hunter-gatherers adopted cultivation from FBC farmers and brought it to islands beyond the 60th parallel north. Based on directly dated grains, land areas suitable for cultivation, and absence of signs of exchange with FBC in Sweden, we argue that PWC cultivated crops in Åland. While we have isotopic and lipid-biomarker proof that their main subsistence was still hunting/fishing/gathering, we argue small-scale cereal use was intended for ritual feasts, when cereal products could have been consumed with pork.
OLALDE I., MALLICK S., PATTERSON N., ROHLAND N., VILLALBA-MOUCO V., SILVA M. DULIAS K., EDWARDS C. J., GANDINI F., PALA M., SOARES P., FERRANDO-BERNAL M., ADAMSKI N., BROOMANDKHOSHBACHT N., CHERONET O., CULLETON B. J., FERNANDES D., LAWSON A. M., MAH M., OPPENHEIMER J., STEWARDSON K., ZHANG Z., JIMENEZ ARENAS J. M., TORO MOYANO I. J., SALAZAR-GARCIA D. C., CASTANYER P., SANTOS M., TREMOLEDA J., LOZANO M., GARCIA BORJA P., FERNANDEZ-ERASO J., MUJIKA-ALUSTIZA J. A., BARROSO C., BERMUDEZ F. J., VIGUERA MINGUEZ E., BURCH J., COROMINA N., VIVO D., CEBRIA A., FULLOLA J. M., GARCIA-PUCHOL O., MORALES J. I., OMS F. X., MAJO T., VERGES J. M., DIAZ-CARVAJAL A., OLLICH-CASTANYERI., LOPEZ-CACHERO F. J., SILVA A. M., ALONSO-FERNANDEZ C., DELIBES DE CASTRO G., ECHEVARRIA J. J., MORENO-MARQUEZ A., BERLANGA† G. P., RAMOS-GARCIA P., RAMOS-MUÑOZ J., VIJANDE VILA E., ARZO G. A., ESPARZA ARROYO A., LILLIOS K. T., MACK J., VELASCO-VAZQUEZ J., WATERMAN A., DE LUGO ENRICH L. B., SANCHEZ M. B., AGUSTI B., CODINA F., DE PRADO G., ESTALRRICH A., FERNANDEZ FLORES A., FINLAYSON C., FINLAYSON G., FINLAYSON S., GILES-GUZMAN F., ROSAS A., BARCIELA GONZALEZ V., GARCIA ATIENZAR G., HERNANDEZ PEREZ M. S., LLANOS A., CARRION MARCO Y., COLLADO BENEYTO I., LOPEZ-SERRANO D., SANZ TORMO† M., VALERA A. C., BLASCO C., LIESAU C., RIOS P., DAURA J., DE PEDRO MICHO M. J., DIEZ-CASTILLO A. A., FLORES FERNANDEZ† R., FRANCES FARRE J., GARRIDO-PENA R., GONÇALVES V. S., GUERRA-DOCE E., HERRERO-CORRAL A. M., JUAN-CABANILLES J., LOPEZ-REYES D., MCCLURE S. B., MERINO PEREZ M., FOIX A. O., SANZ BORRAS M., SOUSA A. C., VIDAL ENCINAS J. M., KENNETT D. J., RICHARDS M. B., ALT K. W., HAAK W., PINHASI R., LALUEZA-FOX C., REICH D. (2019) – The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years, Science, Vol. 363, Issue 6432, p. 1230-1234. DOI: 10.1126/science.aav4040
ABSTRACT. We assembled genome-wide data from 271 ancient Iberians, of whom 176 are from the largely unsampled period after 2000 BCE, thereby providing a high-resolution time transect of the Iberian Peninsula. We document high genetic substructure between northwestern and southeastern hunter-gatherers before the spread of farming. We reveal sporadic contacts between Iberia and North Africa by ~2500 BCE and, by ~2000 BCE, the replacement of 40% of Iberia’s ancestry and nearly 100% of its Y-chromosomes by people with Steppe ancestry. We show that, in the Iron Age, Steppe ancestry had spread not only into Indo-European–speaking regions but also into non-Indo-European–speaking ones, and we reveal that present-day Basques are best described as a typical Iron Age population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iberia. Additionally, we document how, beginning at least in the Roman period, the ancestry of the peninsula was transformed by gene flow from North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.
MARIN de ESPINOSA SANCHEZ J. A. (2019) – La producción laminar durante el Neolítico final y el Calcolítico: una renovación epistemológica, Pyrenae, Vol. 50, n°1, 2019, p. 33-54. DOI: 10.1344/Pyrenae2019.vol50num1.2
ABSTRACT. This paper analyses the evolution and contributions made to the study of blade productions in recent European prehistory, with the aim of knowing the theoretical and practical bases that have led to current research protocols. To do this, I have considered from the studies of various researchers from the end of the 19th century to the present. Special attention has been paid to the last forty years of archaeological research in France and the Iberian Peninsula. As a result, we have the creation of a methodology in which archaeological referents and experimental analogy has provided a new vision to technological studies.
KEYWORDS. lithic technology, experimental archaeology, final Neolithic, Chalcolithic
PECHTL J., LAND A. (2019) – Tree rings as a proxy for seasonal precipitation variability and Early Neolithic settlement dynamics in Bavaria, Germany, PLoS ONE, 14(1): e0210438. 2019. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210438
ABSTRACT. Studying the dynamic of Neolithic settlement on a local scale and its connection to climate variability is often difficult due to missing on-site climate reconstructions from natural archives. Here we bring together archaeological settlement data and a regional climate reconstruction from precipitation-sensitive trees. Both archives hold information about regional settlement dynamics and hydroclimate variability spanning the time of the first farming communities, the so called Linearbandkeramik (LBK) in Bavaria, Germany. Precipitation-sensitive tree-ring series from subfossil oak are used to develop a spring-summer precipitation reconstruction (5700–4800 B.C.E.) representative for southern Germany. Early Neolithic settlement data from Bavaria, mainly for the duration of the LBK settlement activities, are critically evaluated and compared to this unique regional hydroclimate reconstruction as well as to reconstructions of Greenland temperature, summer sea surface temperature, delta 18O and global solar irradiance to investigate the potential impact of climate on Neolithic settlers and their settlement dynamic during the LBK. Our hydroclimate reconstruction demonstrates an extraordinarily high frequency of severe dry and wet spring-summer seasons during the entire LBK, with particularly high year-to-year variability from 5400 to 5101 B.C.E. and with lower fluctuations until 4801 B.C.E. A significant influence of regional climate on the dynamic of the LBK is possible (e.g. around 4960 B.C.E.), but should be interpreted very carefully due to asynchronous trends in settlement dynamics. Thus, we conclude that even when a climate proxy such as tree rings that has excellent spatio-temporal resolution is available, it remains difficult to establish potential connections between the settlement dynamic of the LBK and climate variability.
ALBIZURI S., NADAL J., MARTIN P., GIBAJA J. F., MARTIN COLLIGA A., ESTEVE X., OMS X., MARTI M., POU R., LOPEZ-ONAINDIA D., SUBIRA M. E. (2019) – Dogs in funerary contexts during the Middle Neolithic in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula (5th–early 4th millennium BCE), Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Vol. 24, 2019, p. 198-207. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.004
ABSTRACT. In this article, a zooarchaeological and isotopic analysis is presented for 26 dog exemplars (Canis familiaris). These dogs were deposited in burial and ceremonial structures in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Neolithic, within the Pit Grave cultural horizon (ca. 4200–3600 cal BC). Four archaeological sites of the Catalonian coastal strip are studied: Camí de Can Grau, La Serreta, Ca l'Arnella, and Bòbila Madurell (one of the most important necropolises of the Iberian Peninsula). The presence of these dogs is interpreted as evidence of accompanying offerings and represents the most ancient use of this animal in the context of burials within the studied territory. Although it is a not a globally recorded gesture during this period, in light of the present results, it can be considered as a stereotyped ritual activity and evidence of the close relationship between these animals and the human communities. The diet of most of the dogs must be considered mixed and very similar to that of the humans, including consumption of herbivores and terrestrial plants.
KEYWORDS. Dog deposits, NE Iberian peninsula, Middle Neolithic, Ritual practices, Stable isotopes.
LOPEZ ACOSTA G. (2018) – Valoración y discusión de los sistemas de cierre (fosos y murallas) de los poblados del valle del Guadalquivir durante el Neolítico Reciente y el Calcolítico, Arqueología y Territorio, Vol. 15, 2018, p. 1-18.
ABSTRACT. The present work analyses the fortifications and closure systems of Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements on Valle del Guadalquivir area, in the South of the Iberian Peninsula, taking in to account especially closure systems, walls and moats, both in its function and its purpose. The paper assess the territorial organization and the social and economic models to which they gave rise during the processes of sedentarization of these societies, and, the relation with the social conflicts derived from the processes of hierarchization and control of the territory and the labor force during the Neolithic. The study of closure systems, started with their discovery, leading to the definition of the so called “Culture of Silos Fields” in the Guadalquivir Valley, and since it has gone through various interpretations about its origin, its construction and its purpose, reaching up to the hypothesis of defense and, putting them finally in relation with the social conflicts and the processes of social development of these societies. The symbolic charge of these structures plays an important role, especially in the debates that have taken place in recent years, always opposed to their interpretation as military elements.
SANTANA J., RODRIGUEZ‐SANTOS F. J., CAMALICH‐MASSIEU M. D., MARTIN‐SOCAS D., FREGEL R. (2019) – Aggressive or funerary cannibalism? Skull‐cup and human bone manipulation in Cueva de El Toro (Early Neolithic, southern Iberia), American Journal of Physical Anthropology, First published 25 february 2019. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23805
ABSTRACT. We analyze the processing sequence involved in the manufacture of a skull‐cup and the manipulation of human bones from the Early Neolithic of Cueva de El Toro (Málaga, Spain). The Early Neolithic material studied includes human remains found in two separate assemblages. Assemblage A consists of one skull‐cup, a non‐manipulated adult human mandible, and four ceramic vessels. Assemblage B contains manipulated and non‐manipulated human remains that appeared mingled with domestic waste. Using a taphonomic approach, we evaluate the skull‐cup processing and the anthropogenic alteration of human bones. The skull‐cup was processed by careful paring away of skin, fragmentation of the facial skeleton and base of the skull, and controlled percussion of the edges of the calotte to achieve a regular shape. It was later boiled for some time in a container that caused pot polish in a specific area. The other human bones appeared scattered throughout the living area, mixed with other remains of domestic activity. Some of these bones show cut marks, percussion damage for marrow extraction, and tooth/chewing marks. Evidence from Cueva de El Toro suggests that cannibalism was conducted in the domestic sphere, likely following ritualized practices where the skull‐cup could have played a part. Interpretation of this evidence suggests two hypotheses: (a) aggressive cannibalism relates to extreme inter‐group violence; and (b) funerary cannibalism is a facet of multi‐stage burial practices. Similar evidence has been found in other Neolithic sites of this region and suggests that cannibalism and skull‐cups were elements widespread in these communities. These practices may be linked to significant transformations associated with the end of the Early Neolithic in southern Iberia.
KEYWORDS. Andalusia, funerary practice, human skull‐cup, Neolithic, prehistoric cannibalism.
MANEN C., PERRIN T., GUILAINE J., BOUBY L., BREHARD S., BRIOIS F., DURAND F. MARINVAL P. VIGNE J.D. (2019) – The Neolithic transition in the western Mediterranean: a complex and non-linear diffusion process—the radiocarbon record revisited, Radiocarbon, Vol 61, Nr 2, 2019, p 531–571. DOI:10.1017/RDC.2018.98
ABSTRACT. The Neolithic transition is a particularly favorable field of research for the study of the emergence and evolution of cultures and cultural phenomena. In this framework, high-precision chronologies are essential for decrypting the rhythms of emergence of new techno-economic traits. As part of a project exploring the conditions underlying the emergence and dynamics of the development of the first agro-pastoral societies in the Western Mediterranean, this paper proposes a new chronological modeling. Based on 45 new radiocarbon (14C) dates and on a Bayesian statistical framework, this work examines the rhythms and dispersal paths of the Neolithic economy both on coastal and continental areas. These new data highlight a complex and far less unidirectional dissemination process than that envisaged so far.
KEYWORDS: chronological modeling, coastal colonization, cultural diversity, Neolithic transition, rhythms and dispersal paths, Western Mediterranean.
ROSENBERG M., ROCEKB T.R. (2019) – Socio-political organization in the Aceramic Neolithic of southwestern Asia: The complex evolution of socio-political complexity, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Vol. 54, 2019, p. 17-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2019.01.006
ABSTRACT. Attempts to address the socio-political organization of the early Neolithic mega-sites in southwestern Asia have generally been hampered by expectations derived from a view of socio-political evolution rooted in a binary opposition of egalitarianism and hierarchy. We propose that the egalitarianism-hierarchy dichotomy can be unpacked with reference to the distinction between ideology and practice. Both social relations can coexist, with egalitarian ideologies constraining hierarchical practices, producing seemingly egalitarian leadership despite hierarchical practices. We also propose that there were ceremonial sodalities in these early Neolithic societies and that sodalities can be effective agents of social control, exemplifying this interaction of ideology and practice. We argue that the existence of sodalities in any given society is independent of any political hierarchy as may or may not also exist and that the political role of sodalities is independent of the influence-authority distinction underlying step-wise socio-political evolutionary stages, invalidating such stages. Instead, we propose that there exist (reversible) threshold social conditions, only some contingently sequential, which falsely convey a sense of categorical evolutionary stages based solely on the presence of some threshold condition. The early Neolithic mega-sites illustrate the far broader spectrum and multidimensional range of possible sociopolitical organization produced by cultural evolution.
KEYWORDS: Neolithic, Southwestern Asia, Sodalities, Socio-political evolution, Cultural evolution.
DAURA J., SANZA M., OMS X., PEDRO M., MARTINEZ P., MENDIELA S., POVEDA M. O., GIBAJA J. F., MOZOTA M., ALONSO-EGUILUZ M., ALBERT R. A., ALLUEJ E., BAÑULS-CARDONA S., LOPEZ-GARCIA J. M., SANTOS AREVALO F. J., FULLOLA J. M. (2019) - Deciphering Neolithic activities from a Cardial burial site (Cova Bonica) on the western Mediterranean coast, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Vol. 23, 2019, Pages 324-347. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.10.036
ABSTRACT. Cova Bonica has yielded one of the few assemblages of Cardial Neolithic records of directly dated human remains (c. 5470 and 5220 years cal. BC – unmodelled) in the Iberian Peninsula and has provided the first complete genome of an Iberian farmer. A minimum of seven individuals and six age clusters have been ascribed on the basis of the disarticulated human bones. A large number of archaeological artifacts have likewise been identified in the same layer, preserved in a small number of remnants in different areas of the cave. This study presents the results of a multi-proxy archaeological analysis of the spatial distribution, human remains, small and large mammals, palaeobotanical remains, lithics, ceramics and radiocarbon dating, with the aim of reconstructing the cave's history and the context of the layer containing the human remains. The results suggest the cave was used for at least two distinct purposes: one related to its use for funerary practices, as documented by a small group of artifacts (ornamental objects, ceramics, tools), charcoal and small mammals; the other related to its use as a sheep pen as indicated by reworked fumier, the results of a zooarchaeological study and an ovicaprine palaeodemographic profile. The paper concludes that the funerary and ritualistic practices of the Cardial Neolithic in SW Europe are difficult to reconstruct because human remains are often scattered in archaeological layers where other human activities may also have been conducted. For this reason, artifacts associated with human remains do not constitute a solid foundation on which to reconstruct funerary practices. Indeed, only a multi-proxy analysis of the archaeological material is capable of evaluating different geological and/or archaeological processes and their associated activities.
KEYWORDS. Multi-proxy analysis, Cova Bonica, Cardial, Neolithic, Iberian Peninsula.
MALONE C., CUTAJAR N., MCLAUGHLIN T. R., MERCIECA-SPITERI B., PACE A., POWER R. K. STODDART S., SULTANA S., BRONK RAMSEY C., DUNBAR E., BAYLISS A., HEALY F., WHITTLE A. (2019) – Island questions: the chronology of the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra, Gozo, and its significance for the Neolithic sequence on Malta, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, First Online: 20 February 2019, 56 p. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00790-y
ABSTRACT. Bayesian chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates from the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra, Gozo, Malta (achieved through the ToTL and FRAGSUS projects), provides a more precise chronology for the sequence of development and use of a cave complex. Artefacts show that the site was in use from the Żebbuġ period of the late 5th/early 4th millennium cal BC to the Tarxien Cemetery phase of the later 3rd/early 2nd millennia cal BC. Absolutely dated funerary activity, however, starts with a small rock-cut tomb, probably in use in the mid to late fourth millennium cal BC, in the Ġgantija period. After an interval of centuries, burial resumed on a larger scale, probably in the thirtieth century cal BC, associated with Tarxien cultural material, with the use of the cave for collective burial and other depositions, with a series of structures, most notably altar-like settings built from massive stone slabs, which served to monumentalise the space. This process continued at intervals until the deposition of the last burials, probably in the twenty-fourth century cal BC; ceremonial activity may have ended at this time or a little later, to be followed by occupation in the Tarxien Cemetery period. The implications for the development of Neolithic society on Malta are discussed, as well as the changing character of Neolithic Malta in comparison to contemporary communities in Sicily, peninsular Italy and southern Iberia. It is argued that underground settings and temples on Malta may have served to reinforce locally important values of cooperation and consensus, against a wider tide of differentiation and accumulation, but that there could also have been increasing control of the treatment of the dead through time. The end of the Maltese Neolithic is also briefly discussed.
KEYWORDS. Malta, Neolithic, Radiocarbon, Bayesian chronological modelling, Monumentalised cave, Collective burials.
DE GROOT B.G. (2019) – A Diachronic Study of Networks of Ceramic Assemblage Similarity in Neolithic Western Anatolia, the Aegean and the Balkans (c.6600–5500 bc), Archaeometry, First published: 18 January 2019, 14 p. DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12450
ABSTRACT. This study compares the results of Jaccard and Kulczynski‐2 similarity measures on a sample of ceramic assemblages to reveal spatio‐temporal patterns in the relationship between Neolithic sites in western Anatolia and south‐eastern Europe (c.6600–5500 bc). The results show that the relationship between spatial distance and ceramic assemblage similarity has increased through time, which supports previous interpretations of leapfrog migrations and subsequent regionalization in ceramic assemblages during the Neolithic. A diachronic network analysis demonstrates the continuation of Aegean networking after the spread of farming.
KEYWORDS. Anatolia, southeastern Europe, Neolithic, network analysis, isolation by distance, ceramics.
RASCOVAN N., SJÖGREN K.-G., KRISTIANSEN K., NIELSEN R., WILLERSLEV E., DESNUES C., RASMUSSEN S. (2019) – Emergence and Spread of Basal Lineages of Yersinia pestis during the Neolithic Decline, Cell, Vol. 176, Issues 1–2, 2019, p. 295-305.e10. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.11.005
ABSTRACT. Between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, many Neolithic societies declined throughout western Eurasia due to a combination of factors that are still largely debated. Here, we report the discovery and genome reconstruction of Yersinia pestis, the etiological agent of plague, in Neolithic farmers in Sweden, pre-dating and basal to all modern and ancient known strains of this pathogen. We investigated the history of this strain by combining phylogenetic and molecular clock analyses of the bacterial genome, detailed archaeological information, and genomic analyses from infected individuals and hundreds of ancient human samples across Eurasia. These analyses revealed that multiple and independent lineages of Y. pestis branched and expanded across Eurasia during the Neolithic decline, spreading most likely through early trade networks rather than massive human migrations. Our results are consistent with the existence of a prehistoric plague pandemic that likely contributed to the decay of Neolithic populations in Europe.
KEYWORDS. Yersinia pestis, plague, ancient DNA, Neolithic decline, mega settlements, pathogen evolution, emergence and spread of infectious diseases, metagenomics.
MARCUS J. H., POSTH C., RINGBAUER H., LAI L., SKEATES R., SIDORE C., BECKETT J., FURTWÄNGLER A., OLIVIERI A., CHIANG C., AL-ASADI H., DEY K., JOSEPH T. A., DER SARKISSIAN C., RADZEVICIUTE R., GIUSEPPINA GRADOLI M., HAAK W., REICH D., SCHLESSINGER D., CUCCA F., KRAUSE J., NOVEMBRE J. (2019) – Population history from the Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia: An ancient DNA perspective, bioRxiv, march 21, 2019. DOI: 10.1101/583104
ABSTRACT. Recent ancient DNA studies of western Eurasia have revealed a dynamic history of admixture, with evidence for major migrations during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The population of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia has been notable in these studies – Neolithic individuals from mainland Europe cluster more closely with Sardinian individuals than with all other present-day Europeans. The current model to explain this result is that Sardinia received an initial influx of Neolithic ancestry and then remained relatively isolated from expansions in the later Neolithic and Bronze Age that took place in continental Europe. To test this model, we generated genome-wide capture data (approximately 1.2 million variants) for 43 ancient Sardinian individuals spanning the Neolithic through the Bronze Age, including individuals from Sardinia’s Nuragic culture, which is known for the construction of numerous large stone towers throughout the island. We analyze these new samples in the context of previously generated genome-wide ancient DNA data from 972 ancient individuals across western Eurasia and whole-genome sequence data from approximately 1,500 modern individuals from Sardinia. The ancient Sardinian individuals show a strong affinity to western Mediterranean Neolithic populations and we infer a high degree of genetic continuity on the island from the Neolithic (around fifth millennium BCE) through the Nuragic period (second millennium BCE). In particular, during the Bronze Age in Sardinia, we do not find significant levels of the “Steppe” ancestry that was spreading in many other parts of Europe at that time. We also characterize subsequent genetic influx between the Nuragic period and the present. We detect novel, modest signals of admixture between 1,000 BCE and present-day, from ancestry sources in the eastern and northern Mediterranean. Within Sardinia, we confirm that populations from the more geographically isolated mountainous provinces have experienced elevated levels of genetic drift and that northern and southwestern regions of the island received more gene flow from outside Sardinia. Overall, our genetic analysis sheds new light on the origin of Neolithic settlement on Sardinia, reinforces models of genetic continuity on the island, and provides enhanced power to detect post-Bronze-Age gene flow. Together, these findings offer a refined demographic model for future medical genetic studies in Sardinia.
Preprint – not peer-reviewed
WAINWRIGHT J., AYALA G. (2019) – Teleconnections and environmental determinism: Was there really a climate-driven collapse at Late Neolithic Çatalhöyük?, PNAS, February 26, Vol. 116 (9), 2019, p. 3343-3344. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1818336116
ABSTRACT. In PNAS, Roffet-Salque et al. (1) present an innovative paleoclimatic reconstruction using biomarkers to suggest that δ2H measurements on animal fat residues from pottery vary through time at the important Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük. The interpretation of these changes in relation to a teleconnection with the 8.2-kyBP climate event is problematic. First, a t test is used to suggest that δ2H18:0 values in the phase TP-O are significantly different from the values in the other archaeological levels; however, the result of this test is insignificant (P = 0.10). Analysis of variance of the samples from the different levels is a more appropriate test but suggests no significant variability between the levels (P = 0.385). Temporal and measurement uncertainties suggest that variability within the data is more important than the mean values and that there is a clear overlap throughout the data series (Fig. 1A).
With replies.
NICOD P.-Y., PERRIN T., LE BOURDONNEC F.-X., PHILIBERT S., OBERLIN C., BESSE M. (2019) – First Obsidian in the Northern French Alps during the Early Neolithic, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 44 (3), 2019, p. 180-194. DOI: 10.1080/00934690.2019.1580077
ABSTRACT. An exceptional discovery was made in 2013 in the northern French Alps, at the Grande Rivoire site in Sassenage (Isère department): an obsidian bladelet from Sardinia was found in a cultural horizon dated to about 5360–5210 CAL B.C. The abundant arrowheads found with it are characteristic of the Early Neolithic in the South of France (Cardial/Epicardial). Yet there was no pottery or domestic fauna, and only discrete markers of farming. The typological, technological and micro-wear analysis of this bladelet, as well as the determination of the origin of the raw material, open new avenues of reflection for the neolithization of the northern Alps, in particular concerning the role played by the Early Neolithic cultures of northern Italy.
KEYWORDS. Early Neolithic, Alps, obsidian, typology, technology, micro-wear, raw material.
LAMBERT C., VIDAL M., PENAUD A., LE ROY P., GOUBERT E., PAILLER Y., STEPHAN P., EHRHOLD A. (2018) – Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions during the Meso- to Neolithic transition (9.2–5.3 cal. ka BP) in Northwestern France: Palynological evidences, The Holocene, vol. 29, Issue 3, 2019, p. 380-402. DOI: 10.1177/0959683618816457
ABSTRACT. Sedimentological, palynological, and micropalaeontological studies carried out throughout the first half of the Holocene, during the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition in the Bay of Brest (i.e. 9200–9000 and 6600–5300 cal. BP) and in the Bay of Douarnenez (i.e. 9200–8400 cal. BP), allowed characterizing coastal environmental changes under the increasing influence of the relative sea-level rise. The gradual flooding of the two studied sites implied a transition from river valleys to oceanic bays as revealed by the gradual retreat of salt marsh environments, as detected through palynological analysis. In addition, these high-resolution studies highlight the regional imprint of the North Atlantic millennial climate variability in north-western coastal environments. Two cold climate events are indeed suggested to have been locally marked by a moisture increase, mainly detected by increases in Lingulodinium machaerophorum, Corylus, and Alnus percentages at 8550 cal. BP in the Bay of Douarnenez and at 6250 cal. BP in the Bay of Brest. Moreover, regarding the Neolithic transition timing in the Bay of Douarnenez, large pollen grains of Poaceae (i.e. Cerealia-type pollen grains) have been detected at around 8600 cal. BP, that is, 1500 years before the general accepted cereal cropping appearance in Western France. These results, consistent with other palynological studies conducted in the French Atlantic coast, could underline a Mesolithic ‘proto-agriculture’ in Brittany.
KEYWORDS. benthic foraminifera, climate variability, dinoflagellate cysts, human impacts, palaeoenvironments reconstructions, pollen grains.
ONFRAY M. (2019) – Revisiter le paradigme du « sol néolithique disparu » : géoarchéologie des modes d’occupation de la fin du Néolithique dans le sud-ouest du Bassin parisien. Le cas du site « les Grands Noyers » à Gas (Eure-et-Loir), Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, Tome 116, n°1, 2019, p. 41-72.
ABSTRACT. The sedentary lifestyle of Neolithic societies places the settlement at the heart of archaeological issues. In northern France, research has mainly focused on sites with negative structures, whereas the frequent presence of clusters of artefacts was not considered as a potential element of the settlement structuration. However, the archaeological floor carrying essential data does approach this research question. Historically, at the beginning of the research on early Neolithic settlements in the Aisne Valley and throughout Eastern Europe, the soil, as an archaeological entity, was not identified. Also, it was considered, except for a few isolated cases, as not preserved. Since then, this observation has been challenged and the lack of detecting floors has limited our understanding of Neolithic settlements.
The south-west of the Paris basin provides a relevant framework to investigate Neolithic soils and to question their absence. The end of the Neolithic in this region is still poorly culturally defined and building plans are largely unknown: buildings on posts of small modules and one monumental building. Nevertheless, numerous sites not stratified with artefact clusters (35 among the 79 sites identified) are discovered. In this context, where settlements are largely still poorly documented, it seems necessary to test if the cluster of artefacts constitutes a witness to the floor. We engaged an original geoarchaeological approach based on soil micromorphology to examine the sediment that contains these artefacts and thus characterise the formation processes of these archaeological layers. These elements then allow us to question ourselves on:
??? the nature of the Neolithic floor and its variability to document the construction and functioning of inhabited spaces?
??? the way in which they contribute to characterising the dynamics of occupation of sites at the end of the Neolithic period?
To answer these questions, the study material comes from five sites located in the Beauce (Sours, Gas and Poupry) and Touraine (Pussigny and Maillé) regions. The methodological approach is related to the geoarchaeology using soil micromorphology as a toolset. The strategy of sampling is twofold: stratigraphic sampling integrating all the thickness
of the stratigraphy and the transition with the substrate and associated with a spatial sampling (37 sedimentary sequences). The study of thin sections allow to identify sedimentary organisations defined as "micro-ethnofacies". Resuming the patterns introduced since the 1990s and according to the constants observed, a first qualitative model of the Neolithic floor expressed by a classification of micro-ethnofacies is proposed according to layout and functioning. Then, the phasing of the set of micro-ethnofaciès sequence from microstratigraphy analyses allows to restitute the partition of space according to the nature of the activities and trace its evolution depending on time.
To illustrate the potential of the geaoarchaeological study, we rely on the example of the "les Grands Noyers"site at Gas with a thin stratigraphy which allows to propose a reconstitution of its functional history. The establishment of the settlement is characterised by extensive earthworks activities and levelling of the field beforehand to the construction of a building whose architectural foundations are in cob. The floors of the building are regularly spread screeds and recorded a high trampling. A courtyard floor develops on the outside above a slab of earth that creates a platform. Courtyard floors are sometimes maintained which underlines a rotation in the functioning of the activities that are dedicated to it. Once the space has been abandoned, the earthen architecture, subject to temperate climatic conditions, breaks up and ended up in its collapse.
These original results confirm the preservation of human acts and practices in Neolithic floors. The identification of floors, constructed or not, and of their division in the space testifies, on the contrary, of the well conservation of the recorded information. According to the first observations, this is probably related in large part to the collapses of the cob construction or to rapid overlays such as colluvium. These results also contribute to highlight the informative potential of these thin stratified sites with clusters of artefacts which are a settlement with cob buildings and structured outdoor spaces of the courtyard type.
Soil analysis demonstrates that Neolithic settlements had a though-out project involving earthworks and levelling activities. The floors are in most cases built according to several construction techniques. The relationship between the bases of the walls and the cluster of artefacts leads to the formation of wall effects (internal and external) and the walls can therefore be considered as structuring elements of occupying grounds. The sedimentary archives are true cultural documents and the results obtained bring new palethnographic data. They emphasise an important variability between the soils which belong to a partition of the space where the floor is characterised according to the nature, the time and the organisation of the activities. For the inner space, the typical floor is a very heavily used (intense trampling) constructed floor. However, the absence in most cases of microartefacts does not make it possible to specify the nature of the activities practised, perhaps because of conservation problems or waste management. These soils are distinguished by the maintenance they show as they are regularly maintained. The typical outer floors are courtyard floors where the cluster of artefacts reflects a space frequented and maintained at an irregular pace. Here again, the rarity of microartefacts tends to limit the identification of the activities practised. The paradigm of the disappeared Neolithic soil??? is fading away, opening up rich palethnographic perspectives
BUENO-RAMIREZ P., BARROSO-BERMEJO R., de BALBIN-BEHRMANN R. (2019) – Funerary red (cinnabar versus ochre) and megalithic rituals in the central Iberian peninsula. The hypogean necropolis of Valle de las Higueras, Huecas, Toledo, Spain, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, Tome 116, n°1, 2019, p. 73-93.
ABSTACT. The presence of cinnabar in collective graves in the interior of the Iberia reveals a symbolic role identifying ritual practices well known in megaliths in the south of the peninsula. The data from the necropolis of Valle de las Higueras at Toledo, in the context of the Chalcolithic of the peninsula interior (from the 4th to the 3rd millennium cal BC), provide a point of reference for discussing "funerary red" in later Prehistory. The exotic source of cinnabar, probably from Almadén, adds an original aspect. While cinnabar was the "specific" funerary red of the south of the Iberia, the evidence found in Catalonia and south-eastern France reflects the major role played by the Ebro valley. Combined with the circuits for ivory, amber and gold, it underlines the role of the south in the emergence of funerary models that became particularly important across Europe in the 3rd millennium (at the same time as use of bell beakers reaches its hight).
The data from Iberian megaliths from which pigment samples have been taken, shows a clear difference between the red used for the constructional features of the tombs, in stone or earth, and the red used for bones and human figurines. Cinnabar was reserved for the latter, while walls were decorated with iron oxides. The engraved decorations associated with painting on figurines are convincing proof of the importance of dyed clothing, as well as the more than probable presence of ceremonial garments, shrouds, body paint, tatoos or masks.
Through the source of their red colour, the deceased possibly display narratives that come from their everyday life, such as the work of miners, or else their social position through clothes, tatoos and funerary body paint. On the basis of the archaeological evidence analysed here, various explanations can be suggested for the use of cinnabar: a rituality in which red plays the role of a sign of life and death with symbols that persist throughout the Iberian Neolithic and Chalcolithic.
IMBEAUX M., AFFOLTER J., MARTINEAU R. (2018) – Diffusion du silex crétacé des minières de Saint-Gond (Marne, France) au Néolithique récent et final, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°4, p. 733-767.
ABSTRACT. This article is about the study of the dissemination of the productions of the Saint-Gond Marshes region’s flint mines using sedimentary facies characterisation. The determination of the sedimentary facies gives us a description that is sufficiently detailed to recognize the Saint-Gond flint among the archaeological record. The Saint-Gond Marshes region has been well known since the end of the 19th century for its numerous hypogea, collective burials hollowed in the chalk, dated from the Late Neolithic period phase 1 (3500-3000 BC). 150 hypogea are known in the Marne department and 120 of them are located in the Saint-Gond Marshes region in 15 necropolises. This region is less known for its flint resources and its Neolithic flint mines. There are now about 17 flint mines that have been identified in this region since 1872. One of our objectives is to establish the link between the population of the hypogea and the mining activity. For this, we used the sedimentary facies description to characterise the Saint-Gond flint, to determine its diffusion and quantify exogenous sources in the collective burials and the settlements of the Late Neolithic period (3500-2200 BC). Our aim is to show whether if the mines of this region were exploited during the Late Neolithic period, which is best represented by the numerous collective burials. We attempted to reconstruct the chronological dynamics of extraction and production of the flint. At the local scale, it should specify the organisation of the exploitation and the miners’ identity. The flint used to define the sedimentary facies come from five flint mines that have been excavated since the 19th century. Our corpus is composed of two settlements, three hypogea necropolises, and a gallery grave. These sites are all dated from the Late Final Neolithic period phase 1 except for one settlement which is dated in the beginning of the Late Neolithic period phase 2 (3000-2200 BC).
Flint is a siliceous accident. It is formed by the precipitation of silica during the carbonate sediment diagenesis in marine or continental environments. This diagenetic process does not distort the sediment, does not change its structure and preserves the allochems. The allochems allow us to define sedimentary facies and paleoenvironments in which the sediment has deposed, and the flint then formed. We obtain a unique description of the flint for one environment from a sufficiently restricted region for our study scale. The Saint-Gond flint is recognisable from the other Cretaceous flint because they were formed in different environments of the Chalk Sea, and in several cases, during different periods. The Saint-Gond facies had been describing. It presents little variation sufficient to define five sub-facies for each sampled mine. We distinguish the sub-facies of Coizard, Vert-la-Gravelle, Loisy-en-Brie, Villevenard and Vertus. This possibility yields a particularly interesting archaeological opportunity. It is possible to recognise the flint of the South-West of the Marne department, and also the mining sector that it came from. It is now possible to reconstruct the diffusion of the Saint-Gond flint at the local, regional and extra-regional scales. Our results show that the Saint-Gond flint is present in all the lithic collections of the studied sites. It is the most abundant facies in all sites, except for the gallery grave. Concerning the distribution of the Saint-Gond sub-facies, apart for two sites, all of them are present, in varying proportions. The sub-facies of Vert-la-Gravelle and Loisy-en-Brie appears to have been the most diffused. There does not seem to be any correlation between the type of objects and the sub-facies. All the artefacts have been made from different flint of the Saint-Gond Marshes region. Exogenous facies are present in the lithic collection of the studied sites. We identified notably two Cretaceous marine facies. The first corresponds to a deep part of the Chalk Sea and we suppose that it comes from the north of the Parisian Basin. The second probably comes from a region close to the Saint-Gond Marshes. We also identified several tertiary continental facies that mostly concern the polished axes like the flint from Flins-sur-Seine region (Yvelines), Mont-les-Etrelles (Haute-Saône), the Petit Morin Valley, and Lhéry (Marne). These exogenous proveniences are certainly trade markers and display a good insertion inside an exchange network at a large scale between the Neolithic populations. According to some researchers, it also seems that the Saint-Gond flint had been quite widely distributed since the Early Neolithic period in the northern and the eastern part of the Parisian Basin. These results of several studies suggest that the mining exploitation in the Saint-Gond Marshes region has probably begun in the early times of the Neolithic period. The results obtained in this study evidence that there exists a link between the flint exploited in the mines and the settlements or the collective burials of the Saint-Gond Marshes region. However, we do not know if the inhabitants of the settlements, or the populations of the collective burials, have directly exploited the flint mines. We could have expected that the raw material of a site came specifically from one flint mine, indicating that one group has exploited a mining sector. We can also ask ourselves if there was a population of miners, which has controlled or owned the mines and redistributed the flint to the local populations. This study raises the question of the local organisation of the flint exploitation and its diffusion at a regional and a larger scale. What were the modalities and the social organisation of the exploitation of the flint mines in the Late Neolithic period in this region? All the sites of the Saint-Gond Marshes region yield us a large corpus of flint artefacts that will provide us a way to understand the organisation of the populations in this region during the Late Neolithic period.
KEYWORDS. Neolithic, flint, mines, sedimentary facies, exploitation, sourcing, dissemination, exchange networks.
SALAVERT A., BOULEN M., COUBRAY S., DUFRAISSE A., AMPOSTA A., BOSTYN F., CONSTANTIN C., MARTIAL E., MONCHABLON C., NEGRONI S., PANLOUPS E., PRAUD I. (2018) – Environnement végétal et collecte du bois de feu au Néolithique dans le sud du bassin de l’Escaut (5 200-2 200 BC), Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, 4, p. 701-731.
ABSTRACT. This comparison of palynological (73 spectra) and anthracological (9 sites, 305 samples) results aims to understand the environment in which the sites are located and the vegetation dynamics during the Neolithic period in the southern Scheldt basin (5 200-2 200 BC). The seven regional palynological sequences cover the first part of the Atlantic to the Subboreal chronozone (i.e. 6 500 to 1 000 BC). The palynological spectra are distributed over seven sequences that come mainly from valley bottoms, near or at some distance from Neolithic sites. Others come from riverbank dated by archaeological material and radiocarbon dates. A sequence comes from a stratified archaeological structure whose primary use is interpreted as a flax retting pit. Regarding charcoal analysis, the Early Neolithic period is represented by one Linearbandkeramik site that includes two phases of occupation. The four sites from the Middle Neolithic II period (4 200-3 800 BC) belong to the Spiere group. The Final Neolithic period (2 900-2 200 BC) is constitute of four sites attributed to the Deûle-Escaut group. Two types of sites are distinguished. Aubechies, Sauchy-Lestrée, Marquion and Rebreuve-Ranchicourt are habitat sites without palisades or enclosures, located on well-drained soils. The ditches and/or fencing enclosures of Spiere, Carvin, and the two sites of Houplin-Ancoisne are located on wet soils, with or without preserved houses. The charcoal fragments come from detrital fillings of hollow structures (pit, posthole, ditch segment) or riverbank deposits. In these contexts, charcoals are generally diffuse in the sediment and may correspond to firewood, that is to say wood harvested in the first instance for combustion activities. Nevertheless, the anthropic activities at the origin of charcoal deposits can be heterogeneous. Some of the charcoal fragments could correspond to by-products of timber processing used, in a second stage, as firewood. Two methods of counting are applied to observe the relative importance of each taxon during the Neolithic period. First, the fragments are counted for each identified taxa. It is the classical method applied in anthracology. Secondly, the number of occurrences is calculated in each assemblage for each taxa (i.e. each taxa determined in a given sample is counted as a single individual). This is equivalent to calculate the minimum number of logs set on fire for each taxa on the Neolithic site. It offsets the risk of over-representation of some taxa that are regularly presents but with a small charcoal quantity.
Over 300 samples and 7 000 fragments are taking into account. Beyond 700 fragments identified at the site scale, the taxonomic list does not increase. The number of taxa seems to be more influenced by the number of samples studied. From a methodological point of view, this means that the multiplication of sampling on the field (in at least 15 contemporary structures) makes it possible to obtain an anthracological assemblage representative of the diversity of the forest formations travelled for firewood. Furthermore, the rank of taxa calculating according to the two methods is generally coherent. The importance of oak is somewhat reduced with the occurrence calculation.
Seventeen wood taxa are recorded and could correspond to three forestry groups. The oak forest is constitute of a more or less diversified undergrowth including hazelnut. It develops on stations with moderate to no drainage, and is supplement with ash on wet stations. Forest edges characterized by the importance of Rosaceae (Maloideae and Prunoideae) accompanied by a procession of shrub species that appreciate light and tolerate semi-shade. Currently, secondary groves with Maloideae appear after abandoning agricultural activities, forest clearing or are the result of anthropogenic disturbances. The alder forest is also visible thanks to the alder tree, which is the main representative in its mature state. It grows in alluvial forests whose soils are waterlogged all year round. The poplar-willow is, with the birch, characteristic of the pioneering stage of the development of the riverside vegetation.
Palynological synthesis indicates that the first Neolithic groups of the southern Scheldt basin arrived in a forested environment where lime (Tilia sp.), hazelnut (Corylus avellana) and oak (Quercus sp.) are predominant. The importance of hazelnut in the Early Neolithic (5 200-5 000 BC), at the sources of the Dendre river, may be linked to a delay in the recovery of the locally deciduous oak forest, but also to previous Mesolithic human practices that could have favored the development of the tree. Lime dominates the majority of palynological sequences in the Atlantic chronozone. The taxon is therefore under-represented in firewood resources compared to its availability near Neolithic sites. The species has a soft wood resulting to small and light charcoal fragments. Moreover, lime is used to make textile, like rope, during the Neolithic, that could therefore imply a preservation of lime stands, and result in the low representation of the taxa in the charcoal assemblages. During the second half of the Atlantic, the woody environment changes little, except for the alder (Alnus sp.) forest, which develops at the bottom of the valley. The Spiere communities (4 200-3 800 BC) travelled through diverse environments for fuel gathering. Oak is generally widely dominant, raising the question of its over-representation in anthracology to the detriment of lime and hazelnut, which are still clearly visible in palynology. Oak could correspond to by-product of timber reused in a second phase for fuel. The use of oak for timber is attested on several sites of south Scheldt basin. Anthracology also well record the riverside vegetation, at different stages of its development depending of the site. The mature alder forest is mainly visible on sites with enclosures whereas the pioneer riparian forest is recorded on habitat sites. The gathering of forest edges, with Maloideae, is particularly marked during the Middle Neolithic II. In the Subboreal, the increased atmospheric humidity is noted with the arrival of beech (Fagus sp.) in palynology and yew (Taxus baccata) in anthracology. The Deûle-Escaut groups (2 900-2 200 BC) collected their fuel from oak-ash forests. Edges on dry soils are more visible on habitat sites and mature alder forests on enclosure sites. For example, alder signal is decreasing on a palynological sequence near a final Neolithic enclosed site where alder charcoal fragments are particularly numerous. The importance of the riverside vegetation and ash can thus be correlated with the location of sites along the riverbank, but perhaps also with the setting up of wetlands for human installation. In addition to yew, maple is also characteristic of the Deûle-Escaut period.
KEYWORDS. charcoal analysis, palynology, firewood, environment, Neolithic, Linearbankeramik, Spiere, Deûle-Escaut.
GEHRES B. (2018) – Matières premières argileuses et valeur ajoutée : le rôle des terres dans la diffusion des céramiques du Massif armoricain au Néolithique récent et à l'âge du Fer, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°2, p. 309-326.
ABSTRACT. Many aspects can motivate the diffusion of ceramics, both in terms of the « chaîne opératoire »; the complexity of the realisation, the time and energy invested in the making of the object; but also by its use, ornamentation, form or content. However, new research on the raw materials used in the ceramics of the Armorican massif (western France) has demonstrated the distribution of specific types of pastes (the result of the alteration of the crystalline base) over distances superior to those observed for potteries shaped from common clay. These raw materials are characterised by their rarity and by the presence of mineral inclusions conferring particular physical and mechanical properties to the ceramics, such as better resistance to thermal shocks, a more homogeneous diffusion of heat or even greater impermeability. Taking these observations into consideration, can ceramics be exchanged in relation to the use of a specific raw material, and in this case, be considered as a value-added object and thus exchanged as such as is the case for lithic artefacts such as jadeite axes, or even variscite beads and pendants?
In order to develop new research prospects centred around the production and diffusion of ceramics in western France, the results of the petrographic studies of the potteries of several occupations located on the Armorican massif and dating from the Late Neolithic (3800-2800 BC) and the Late Iron Age (450-50 BC) will be presented. This massif has the particularity of being composed of a great diversity of magmatic and metamorphic rocks, such as granite, micaschiste or gabbro, and the potters had at their disposal a multitude of types of clay. These raw materials possess mineral inclusions having physical and mechanical characteristics, which can influence the quality of the pastes. For the Late Neolithic, we observed the privileged diffusion over more than 50 km of ceramics shaped using clays containing the alterations of talcschistes, which are only found on the island of Groix (Morbihan). These exchanged ceramics have been found on sites with specialised activities, such as Saint-Nicolas-des-Glénan (Glénan Archipelago, Finistère) and Er Yoh (Houat Island, Morbihan). The vessels are characterised by an abundance of sheaves of talc within their pastes, giving the containers a greater impermeability, and blue amphibole grains, confirming that the island of Groix is the origin of the raw material. The status of value-added goods has an influence on the management of the raw materials and pottery production. Indeed, we can argue that the ceramics of this period were produced in the household and were distributed within family units or at a community level to meet subsistence needs. However, what about the potteries made with specific raw materials and used in exchange systems to obtain other value-added goods? Do they originate from different production systems such as specialised workshops, or do they originate from domestic units and then pooled for exchange? Also, how were the resources controlled, but only part of the population or was it a self-service?
During the Late Iron Age, several specialised pottery workshops appeared in areas where unusual raw materials such as the gabbroic massifs of Saint-Jean-Du-Doigt (Finistère) and Trégomar (Côtes-d'Armor) were found. Their ceramics are characterised by a large quantity of amphibole grains, and the paste of these vessels possesses a better diffusion of heat and a greater resistance to thermal shocks. Finally, potters also exploited the alteration products of the serpentinite deposits of Ty-Lan (Finistère), whose so-called proto-unctuous vases were recognised by a soft and soapy feel, but also by the large amount of talc inclusions within them, giving them greater impermeability. These production areas distribute their ceramics, most often shaped locally and for domestic use, over several tens or even hundreds of kilometres, far beyond the other types of vessels. Furthermore, the greater the distance between the source of raw material and the final destination of the vases, the more these ceramics are discovered in ritual rather than domestic contexts. This is the case on the sites of Mez Notariou (Ouessant island, Finistère), Karreg Ar Skariked (Finistère) or the Moutons island (Finistère).
Furthermore, the use of clay with superior physical and mechanical characteristics has been documented since the beginning of the Neolithic period on the Armorican massif. This perpetuation in the use of these raw materials tends to show that craftspeople quickly understood the interest of these raw materials and sought out such clays. Moreover, it is rare to observe in this region such practices for the other clayey raw materials, whose sources are more common and numerous.
It seems, therefore, that as in the case of lithic materials, uncommon clays acquire a different status according to their physical and mechanical quality, as well as their remoteness from the deposit. In this paper, we propose to engage in a reflection on the raw material used to shape ceramics as one of the factors that determine the diffusion of these products. Finally, the criteria by which consumers could "identify" the raw materials used, not easily differentiated by the naked eye, need to be defined. We can assume that the reputation of the fencers and/or potters could be an important criterion based on an established trust between the consumer and the producer. However, the mass of the vessel and its soapy feel, in particular for pottery with talc inclusions would also have been used to determine quality. This problematic needs to be explored further, notably by studying pottery discovered in ritual contexts and tombs but also in areas where other prestigious artefacts were produced (such as the Grand Pressigny region). It will thus be possible to reach a greater understanding of the circulation of ceramics but also to shed new light on the occupations where these types of vases are found.
KEYWORDS. Armorican massif, ceramics, raw materials, added value, Neolithic, Metal Ages, petrography, geochemistry, diffusion.
SELLIER D. (2018) – Formes d'érosion prémégalithiques et postmégalithiques sur les menhirs de calcaire du causse Méjean (Lozère), Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°2, p. 289-308.
ABSTRACT. The article deals with the interpretation of the observable forms of erosion on the standing stones erected on the limestone plateau of Causse Méjéan (Lozère) using the geomorphological analysis method. These forms are the result of two successive morphogenetic sequences, separated by the erection of the standing stones. Some are pre-megalithic and were created on the limestone blocks used as standing stones at the time they were outcrops. Others are post-megalithic and have continued to evolve since the stones were placed in their upright position and transformed into standing stones.
Causse Méjean is a limestone plateau of about 1,100 m in height, made from Jurassic limestone from two main categories: massive limestone and sublithographic limestone. A lot of standing stones have been destroyed in the past. Fifteen of them, that are still standing and have for the majority been restored, have been examined. The analysis focuses on four different topics: the overall form of the blocks used as standing stones, the morphology of the pans, the inventory of pre-megalithic and post-megalithic forms and the conditions of the surfaces.
The standing stones of Causse Méjean have two parallel faces, of opposite morphological characteristics, determined by bedding planes. Some were outcrops or were sticking out from the ground before the megalith was erected and therefore correspond to the exposed sides. Others were on the side where the rock that was previously used, rooted in the substratum, before being extracted and erected as standing stones and those correspond to the quarried sides. Exposed sides, having been subject to erosion for a long time before being used as standing stones are often very karstified. The quarried sides have only been exposed at the time of the erection of the standing stone and therefore have only been exposed to the actions of weathering for a few thousand years.
Pre-megalithic forms of erosion mainly come from the dissolution process of limestone, occurring on the surface of the banks or deeper. Pre-megalithic basins associated with the exposed sides, are the result of a punctual dissolution of the limestone. Formed horizontally, on the surface of the limestone banks, they are found in a vertical position after the erection of the standing stones. The other pre-megalithic forms are microflutings, biopedogenic karrens and cryptokarst cavities. Pre-megalithic karst erosion forms can be exokarst-shaped, they are then created on the rock outcrop (basins, microflutings) or endokarst-shaped where the forms are created on the inside of the rock (biopedogenic karrens, crypto-karst cavities and also perforating cavities that spike through some standing stones).
Post-megalithic erosion forms are the result of the process of karst dissolution and frost wedging. The markings of post-megalithic karst erosion started to develop after the limestone blocks were placed in their upright position as standing stones. They formed at the top of the summits or from the summits down. Rock top basins are depressions formed at the top of the monument. Gutters are the microrelief in linear hollows. Karrens are a result of the coalescence of several basins or gutters. Post-megalithic flutings are gutters carved from the summit of the standing stones along their faces. Moreover, frost wedging markings, either inherited or functional, can be observed on sublithographic limestone standing stones. They are made up of frost wedging chips on the summits of standing stones and frost wedging scales formed on their faces or sides.
Causse Méjean's standing stones have contributed to showing the interest in a dual approach, geomorphological and archeological, of megalithic sites. The method originally elaborated from granite menhirs (Sellier, 2013), has turned out to be applicable on limestone standing stones, providing that the properties of these rocks are taken into consideration. Causse Méjean's standing stones, taken as a research subject, allow the two elements of this method to be applied: the morphological distinction between exposed and quarried sides and the chronological distinction between pre-megalithic and post-megalithic erosion forms. The breaking down of the different types of forms depends on the type of pans. All the rocks that have been examined, show the impacts of two generations of erosion markings, some predating, others postdating the erection of the standing stones.
The method used has several applications from an archaeological point of view. It determines the origin of the rocks and the way the megaliths have weathered since their erection. It can also help deal with attribution problems raised by certain blocks that now lie on the ground. The presence of opposite exposed and quarried sides as well as the presence of two different generations of erosion types indicate the prehistoric origin of an isolated rock; the forms that have developed at the summits indicate the direction of standing stones before falling.
The method presents conversely, several applications from a geomorphological point of view. It indicates the ways in which the limestone has weathered in temperate climates since the erection of the standing stones over the last few thousand years. Measuring post-megalithic microreliefs in hollows, such as basins and gutters, provides information on the weathering rates of the limestone. The depth of post-megalithic basins varies between 3 and 11 cm. That of gutters and karrens is between 3 and 25 cm. The speed of the corresponding erosion could be of 0.6 to 5.5 cm per thousand years, which is a reasonable order of magnitude. However, the erection of megaliths, being an archaeological event, becomes, in this case, a significant chronological marker that explains the conditions of the evolution of geomorphological processes.
Keywords. standing stones, limestone, causse Méjean, weathering rate, karst, frost actions.
RENARD C. M. (2018) – Caractérisation de l'industrie lithique de la fin du Néolithique, dans le bassin de la Seine (de la deuxième moitié du IVe millénaire à la fin du IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.), Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°2, p. 253-288.
ABSTRACT. This article, based on a PhD (Renard, 2010), represents the first characterization of the lithic industry from the end of the Neolithic in the Seine River Basin (between 3500 and 2100 BC). This research takes place a little more than ninety years after the first mention of the « Seine-Oise-Marne » (Bosch-Gimpera et Serra-Ràfols, 1926), a culture that was until recently integrated to the recent Neolithic in the North Center region of France. Starting in the 2000s, and following from several earlier works (Bailloud, 1974; Blanchet, 1984; Blanchet et Lambot, 1985; Briard et Mohen, 1983; Brunet, 1986; Burnez-Lanotte, 1987; Martial, 1995, among others), the research led by the PCR « The IIIrd millennium BC in the North Center of France: definitions and interactions of cultural groups » (Salanova and Cottiaux dir. 2014) tried to solve research questions connected to the spatial and chronological division of the recent Neolithic and the final Neolithic in the Seine River Basin. Several works were made, improving and enriching every time the knowledge of this period: syntheses on the recent Neolithic (Augereau et al., 2007 ; Cottiaux and Salanova dir., 2014), on the chronological divisions (Salanova et al., 2011), studies on ceramic (Brunet et al., 2008), university research on the industry on hard animal materials (Maingaud, 2003a, 2003b, 2004), on jewelry (Polloni, 2007, 2008), on funeral practices (Sohn, 2006, 2008) and finally on the lithic industry. Then, new research focused on a sector of our present area of study (Langry-François, 2002, 2004) or on the Seine River Basin generally but only on specific aspects of the tool-kit (arrowheads: Renard, 2003, 2004) or on the materials of three sites only (Renard, 2002).
This article aims at characterizing the lithic tool-kit of the Late Neolithic period (between 3500 and 2100 BC) in the Seine basin, by distinguish the lithic industry from the recent Neolithic from the one of the final Neolithic. More generally, the objective is to clarify the definition of cultural groups, their location and chronology through the study of lithic artefacts in domestic and burial contexts.
The body of research includes fifty-six sites, either studied directly (n = 17) or through publications (n = 39), mainly distributed between the Seine downstream, the Oise, Marne and Aisne valleys and the Seine-Yonne-Vanne crossroads.
The characterization of the lithic industry is made of different stages, the first of which involves the macroscopic determination of raw materials, enabling a discussion on procurement strategies. During this study, knapping techniques have been identified, as well as production objectives and the retouched blanks have been analyzed in order to establish the usual tool-kit. There are also specific contextual characteristics (tools overrepresented in burial or in habitat) and geographical specificities (tool-types absent from an area, for example).
It thus appears that, for the recent and final Neolithic, the procurement is generally made near the settlements. During the recent and final Neolithic, two aspects of the procurement trend for imported non-local raw materials are the same: the direction of circulation of secondary and tertiary flint artefacts and the shape in which these pieces circulate. The final Neolithic, however, has a distinctive feature: the diffusion of artefacts made on green stone (jadeite, fibrolite, dolerite) and upper Turonian flint from the Grand-Pressigny region.
The flake production, common throughout the end of the Neolithic period, is achieved through direct percussion with a hard stone hammer. The final Neolithic distinguishes itself by a higher frequency of multipolar debitage and by a particular geographical distribution of these debitages (on the coastline of the Channel). Sites that have delivered this type of cores are located north and northeast of our study area. In other instances, the reduction sequence represents a random exploitation of the volume of the core, where the negative of each new flake is used as a striking platform for the subsequent removal.
The other input of this thesis concerns bladelet production. Other than irregular bladelets that can be unintentionally produced during the blade debitage, several aspects indicate the presence of a bladelet production, marginal but real. Even if in the present state of research it is delicate to determine the purpose of these bladelets, it seems that an occasional production exists, which it would be interesting to characterize more precisely.
The blade production during the recent Neolithic period has some notable features in terms of percussion techniques used (indirect percussion and direct soft hammer percussion). It also has distinctive features in terms of geographical distribution of these techniques and on the status of blade artefacts in burial context. While blade cores come from habitats, blades deposited in sepulchral contexts present several peculiarities: their quantity is sometimes greater than the quantity of flakes and they are of larger dimensions than in domestic context.
Moreover, several indications suggest that there likely is a slowdown in domestic production of blades during the final Neolithic. The percussion techniques used during this period for blade production are varied and it is difficult to demonstrate a trend. Finally, beyond the composition of the tool-kit, the final Neolithic is characterized by more diverse tool types.
The comparative study of several regions of the Seine basin highlights temporal and spatial variability and questions the validity of regional facies (Augereau et al., 2007). The existence of a « Marne facies », proposed following a series of syntheses on funeral practices, hard animal materials and adornments, is once more validated by the lithic industry. The circulation of raw materials and finished tools, and the legacies, borrowings and rejections of specific features are demonstrated; the ceramic material of the recent Neolithic, do not make it possible to highlight these phenomena.
KEYWORDS. lithic industry, technology, settlement, collective burial, Recent Neolithic, Final Neolithic, IVth millennium, IIIrd millennium, Seine River Basin.
REMICOURT M., SAINTOT S., REY P.-J. (2018) – Les armatures à encoches latérales et à encoches basilaires à la fin du Néolithique, des Alpes à la façade atlantique, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°1, p. 125-147.
ABSTRACT. Notched arrowheads have long been considered as one of the leading fossils of the Late Neolithic in France and Western Switzerland, in the Jura, the Western Alps and the Saône valley. However, the distribution maps of these artefacts prove that they are not limited to this geographical area. An inventory based on both our work and more extensive bibliographic research enabled us to identify 236 points on 142 deposits, and we propose a revision of knowledge concerning this particular artefact. The distribution of notched arrowheads encompasses southern Burgundy, southern Jura, western Switzerland, Savoie and Dauphiné, but also the Drôme, Ardèche and Charente-Maritime. In Provence, in eastern Languedoc and in the Grands Causses their distribution is more limited and in northern Italy their presence is anecdotal.
For the southern zone, the arrowheads discovered in Ardèche, Languedoc, Provence and in the middle Rhone valley in reliable contexts correspond to the interval 2900–2600 BCE. In the Jura and Alpine regions, the oldest lateral notched points are represented in the Clairvaux group from the 31st century, between 3050 and 2950 BCE. However, most of the Jura and Western Switzerland models belong either to the recent Lüscherz or to the recent Clairvaux, between 2900 and 2700 BCE, or to the early phases of the Auvernier-Cordé or to those of the later Chalain group. Lastly, between the Charente and the Gironde estuary, there is a concentration of points with basal notches, which appeared in 3100 BCE in Artenac I contexts for the oldest specimens.
Although many examples are of siliceous raw material of undetermined or indeterminable origin, the few points analysed are often shaped from regional or local raw materials. Therefore, while some of these are imported in the form of finished products, many are produced locally. Several types of notched arrowheads constitute the series. The notched arrowheads are basically round (type 1), or crushed, straight or convex base models, sometimes with spurs or lugs (type 2). Other types are lozenge-shaped (type 3) or lanceolate (type 4) with more or less median notches. Finally, some foliate models with a rounded or acute base are also represented within the lithic assemblages (type 5). Some types seem to be common in the various geographical areas (type 1a), while others have their distribution restricted to small territories (type 2c, for example). According to the general shape of these different models, no morphotype seems directly associated with the presence of notches.
In general, lozenge-shaped and straight sections dominate. From a chronological point of view, it is difficult to observe a precise succession between the different models. The basal groove points (type 1a) appear in both the Ferrieres and Clairvaux series, but also in the Artenac I series. This type is the most frequent and is also the one most widespread geographically. Subsequently, in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, arrowheads with lateral notches and basal notches varied in shape (lanceolate, ogival, foliaceous or lozenge-shaped), in their notches (deep or not very marked), or in their base (straight, rounded, squared or escutcheon). Similarly, there are certain peculiarities in the geographical distribution of types. The Artenacian complex shows a clear dominance of type 1a, while the Languedoc and Provençal sectors, found in Ardèche and Drôme, are distinguished by a good representation of types 5b and 1a, and are also the only ones to deliver type 2c. Western Switzerland and the Dauphiné / Savoie sector show a dominance of type 5a and more or less similar rates for seven other types. The Southern Jura shows a good representation of type 3a with respect to types 5a, 1a, and even 3c, the latter three being however represented among the Jura models. In the Saône-Rhône group, type 3 is dominant, but types 1b, 2a and 5a are also present. The distribution of these elements is therefore restricted to well-defined geographical areas, which reinforces the impression that it is a specific artefact for certain groups.
Morphometrically, the points also exhibit great variability. However, the length / width ratio is generally 2:1, while the criterion of thickness is more random. Unlike the shaping of certain late Neolithic points, no intention of producing a stereotyped form can be clearly established for the manufacture of the notched arrowheads.
Observation of the measurements of the pieces according to the geographical sectors shows, despite the general variability, that the largest pieces inventoried are generally in the south. Overall, their measurements are compatible with efficient use. Most individuals are present in domestic contexts, with 74 deposits for 157 pieces, and 42 individuals delivered in 33 funerary sites. For the eastern specimens, there appears to be a north-south gradient in the status of these pieces, which could be explained in the South of France by a secondary use of these points in deposits and funeral endowments - gestures or intentions rarely or never documented among the elements of the Segonian, Jurassian and circum-Alpine domains. This phenomenon is, moreover, a constant which applies to all the Late Neolithic arrowheads on these territories.
The question of the geographical origin of these elements remains complex because the oldest well-dated cases appear almost synchronously in the Charente and in the southern Jura, which supports the hypothesis of contacts between these zones. Contacts are documented by other categories of material culture. The possible preferential direction of these influences cannot yet be specified on the basis of archaeological documents. However, the relationship that can be proposed with the evolution of flint daggers could suggest a conceptual influence originating in central and northern Italy.
Their development takes place in a chrono-cultural sequence which sees the multiplication of types of arrowheads in both the south of France and in the Alpine and Jurassian domains. This multiplication constitutes a specificity of the late Neolithic period in southern France and in western Switzerland. This general phenomenon, which enables the coexistence of up to a dozen morphotypes to be observed, is commonly interpreted as an exacerbation of social competition in a society in full hierarchical mutation, or even as an affirmation of values relating to identity in a warlike context.
KEYWORDS. notched arrowheads, Late Neolithic, types and subtypes, distribution, contact.
VAQUER J., PHILIBERT S., TORCHY L., Du FAYET de la TOUR A. (2018) – Les outils à moissonner de la grotte de Foissac (Aveyron) dans le cadre du Néolithique final dans le Sud-Ouest de la France, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°1, p. 99-124.
ABSTRACT. The Late Neolithic harvesting tools of south-western France were often mentioned in archaeological literature as glossy sickles, but few tools of this kind have been the subject of detailed analysis. The Chalcolithic cave of Foissac (Aveyron) is one of the most representative settlements of this period and famous for the discovery of harvesting tools, two of which were found with their axial side handle in bone. No weed seeds were among the carbonized cereal deposits in the cave and these two tools were therefore considered to have been used for cutting grain crop ears, by a high cut, or by pulling out the ears. These tools were quoted repeatedly in archaeological literature but were never studied exhaustively in spite of their unusual character. It is the reason why we were anxious to analyse them further and place them in their precise geographical and chronological frame, before trying to identify their significance in relation to other reaping tools of the same kind, found in the same region and further afield.
As regards the intrinsic data of these two harvesting knives, it proved possible to obtain several new results. The examination of the lithofacies and the biofacies of the used flint indicates that they are blades in oligocene lacustrine flint from Mur-de-Barrez ( Aveyron); such blades circulated regionally in the south-west of the Massif Central during the Late Neolithic period. The analysis of microscopic use-wear confirms that these tools were used for cutting cereals in a longitudinal action. The handles were shaped from sections of bones of large ruminants and drilled so as to improve the link between the tool and the hand. The extrinsic data regarding the discovery context of these tools are not very reliable because the cave has no stratigraphy but juxtaposed objects were deposited on the cave floor over a long period of time covering the whole 3rd millennium BCE. We note however the closeness of one knife to a pot decorated with an arch-shaped cordon which is typical of the early stage of the Treilles culture belonging to the Late Neolithic 2 (between 3200 and 2800 BCE). The morphological similarities between both the harvesting knives of Foissac and the compact models with wooden handles of the northern Alpine lakeside domain (knives of the Claivaux type of the NMB and the Horgen-type knife) consolidate this dating proposal. During the comparative investigation with other bone handles we noticed that the specimens from the Sargel cave, sometimes quoted as identical to those from Foissac, are actually different because they do not have a lithic blade. They may perhaps have used reaping knives just of bone.
Other harvesting tools from the Foissac cave belong to the notched saw type. They are represented by three specimens of Grand-Pressigny flint blades found in other unstratified sectors of the cave. However, thanks to other assemblages from several sites in Quercy we know that notched saws became widespread in the same region during the Late Neolithic 3 (between 2800-2400 BCE), in either the form of imports of Grand-Pressigny flint, or of imitations in local flints or rocks. The microscopic use-wear analysis of these blades indicates that these tools were also used for the cutting of cereals in a longitudinal action and reveals that these tools had been resharpened and refitted to prolong their use. Their handles are not documented, but they are too narrow to have been used directly in the hand and we presume that the notches were used to fix them to a handle by means of dowels, bindings, or other methods.
The harvesting knives from the Foissac cave suggest that one evolution occurred in this region between the Late Neolithic 2 and the Late Neolithic 3. The oldest stage is represented in Aveyron by the Treilles culture which implemented and developed a regional network of blades in flint from Mur-de-Barrez. These were used for tools similar to those of the lakeside domain in the north-western Alps. They are knives with a flat or pointed lithic end which were attached to a side and axial handle with two perforations to attach a wrist-strap. During the recent stage, represented locally by the Loupiac/Marsa group, imports of Grand-Pressigny flint became the dominant form, in particular the use of notched saws. This change in the supply of lithic tools must be put into context with the arrival of some ceramic elements of the Artenac culture in the local group. Notched saws imported from Touraine were highly successful in Quercy and the west of Aveyron where they were imitated using local flints. Further south we also know of numerous imitations of wider notched saws which were made from flakes of metamorphic rocks in the Véraza culture group which occupied all the upper part of the Garonne basin. This transmission of notched saws in the form of imports or in the form of imitations does not seem to have been pursued in the Mediterranean zone of Languedoc.
The technical evolution of harvesting tools found in the Foissac cave is representative of the oceanic south-west of France during the Late Neolithic period. It presents common points with those observed in Western European Late Neolithic times where harvesting knives or reaping knives developed under the influence of improvements in agricultural practices of the period, in particular selective harvesting of only the ears and denser sowings prepared by the use of the ard plough.
KEYWORDS. harvesting knives, Late Neolithic, Mur-de Barrez flint, bone handle, use-wear analysis, notched saw, Treilles group, Grand-Pressigny flint.
HELMER D., BLAISE E., GOURICHON L., SAÑA-SEGUI M. (2018) – Using cattle for traction and transport during the Neolithic period. Contribution of the study of the first and second phalanxes, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°1, p. 71-98.
ABSTRACT. During the Neolithic period, cattle were used not only for their meat and their milk but also for their strength. Unfortunately, apart from the discovery of specific instruments (yokes, travois, wheels, ards, etc.), it is not easy to demonstrate archaeologically their use for work. Nevertheless, the bone pathologies related to this activity can be analyzed. The methodological approach employed in this study is based on multivariate analyses (PCA) applied to the dimensions of the first and second phalanxes, as well as to shape indices of the same bones determined by the Mosimann method. The measurements of aurochs and domestic cattle bones from nineteen Mesolithic and Neolithic sites form the data matrix. The results of this study attest, on the one hand, that cattle were used for draught and transport during the Neolithic in various parts of Europe and the Near East and, on the other hand, that this use and its corollary, castration, are practices that can be dated back earlier than is generally accepted.
KEYWORDS. Neolithic, cattle, castration, draught, transport, phalanxes.
DARMANGEAT C. (2018) – Le « surplus » et la stratification socioéconomique. Une causalité au-dessus de tout soupçon, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, tome 115, n°1, p. 53-70.
ABSTRACT. An extensive tradition of sociological and archaeological thought gives the concept of ’surplus’ a pivotal role in the process of socio-economic stratification. It is especially true with the Marxist current, which links this surplus to work productivity. Its increase during the Neolithic is supposed to explain the origin of exploitation and its generalization. Engels had already stated that if exploitation did not exist in foraging societies, it was because the hunter and the gatherer could not produce a regular surplus susceptible to be seized. This surplus came into existence along with the exploitation of human labour, as a result of agriculture and animal husbandry.
This article aims at putting forward the main logical and empirical problems to which this reasoning gives rise.
First, it brings to light the multiple meanings of ’surplus’ which have contributed greatly to obscuring discussion. Surplus is an excess in the amount of something, but if one does not specify the nature of that excess, one perpetuates ambiguity and confusion. In fact, scientific literature commonly mentions four main forms of surplus:
– Sectorial surplus: that which producers of a given economic sector produce besides what they themselves consume. The sectorial surplus on which attention has been focused for a long time is the food surplus, traditionally regarded as the key factor in the sectorial division of labour.
– Physiological surplus is defined as the excess of production of a society over and beyond its vital needs. It is a surplus dealt with by cultural ecology.
– Social surplus is the fraction of production which is not appropriated by workers and which therefore corresponds to exploitation. This social surplus stands, of course, at the heart of Marxist analysis.
– Temporal surplus is the excess of production over consumption during a given period of time. If this surplus is regular, it will very probably take the shape of stocks.
The main point is that, contrary to what intuition may suggest, these four forms mutually have very weak links of causality, especially physiological surplus which is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition to social surplus. A society may enjoy some level of material comfort without necessarily giving birth to a layer of exploiters. Conversely, assuming that manpower comes from an external source, it is possible to exploit it without even allowing its reproduction. Regarding stocks, they are, on the analytical level, completely independent of the other forms of surplus.
This article then strives to demonstrate that labour productivity was already sufficient to make exploitation possible in nomadic foraging societies. Each worker had to feed unproductive people (children, sick people, elders…) and it would therefore have been possible to exploit the labour of certain adults, for instance, prisoners of war. The question of work productivity among hunter-gatherers, especially in the production of food, is very closely linked to their demography. Recent research has shown how combined oscillations of the number of humans and natural resources could explain that long periods of dietary comfort were interrupted by more or less severe crises – which were not, as a principle, incompatible with the survival of unproductive individuals.
An increase of labour productivity during the Neolithic could only have been in three forms: a decrease in working time, an improvement of the standard of living of the producers, or the appropriation of the ’surplus’ thus created by the dominant layers of society. The archaeological and ethnological material, even if it does not allow any certain conclusion, does not contribute many elements in favour of the first two options. On the contrary, it is worth thinking that, on the one hand, working time actually increased with the Neolithisation process and, on the other, that this process, at least on the nutritional level, induced a decline compared with foraging economies. Concerning the development of an exploiting stratum and the material achievements connected with it, they do not prove a corresponding increase of work productivity as much as is commonly believed. The other—and, as we are trying to demonstrate, the more plausible—hypothesis is that of overproduction that remained relatively meagre for each producer, but which could henceforth be more easily levied on a large number of individuals.
These societies were indeed doomed to be subject, to a large extent, to what is called the ’Malthusian trap’: technical progress increased available means of livelihood, enabled more individuals to survive, and thus the growing population, living among limited natural resources, faced the law of diminishing returns. The potential increase in labour productivity was thus, if not entirely, at least to a large extent, converted into an increase of land productivity (these two notions, although very different, are often confused under the general term of ’productivity’ or ’intensification’).
This considerable augmentation of human density due to the Neolithisation process (or to sedentariness alone, in the case of stocking hunter-gatherers) may have contributed to make exploitation more profitable, not by increasing the gross product that every worker could generate (the common ’surplus theory’ reasoning) but by reducing the costs of its control and of overproduction extortion – that is, by increasing its net product.
However, in order to explain the rise of exploitation relationships, one must also take into account the birth of wealth that brings together social means and goals. Following a path opened by A. Testart, we consider as a crucial upheaval the introduction of payments in goods (as opposed to compensation with work or with blood), the most common being the bride price and the Wergild. Once again, the materialist perspective gives fruitful elements of understanding. While A. Testart has emphasized the key role played by storage, the case of some societies with payments but deprived of storage leads us to restate the techno-economical conditions of the transition towards payments. We have identified these conditions in the presence, on a sufficiently large scale, of the production of goods that were moveable, lasting, and the manufacture of which required a large amount of work—these goods are precisely those that become a substitute to direct work in matrimonial compensations (bride price). Thus, stocks did indeed play a decisive role in the birth of socio-economic inequalities, and then of social classes; not, per se, because they were embodying a “surplus” due to an increase of labour productivity, but because they were part of a material form of production that induced a deep reconfiguration of social relations.
KEYWORDS. surplus, exploitation, Marxism, productivity, intensification, Neolithisation, social stratification
