Journal of Neolithic Archaeology
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The Concept of Monumentality in the Research into Neolithic Megaliths in Western France
Get PDFThis paper focuses on reviewing the monumentality associated with Neolithic megaliths in western France, in all its diversity. This region cannot claim to encompass the most megaliths in Europe, but it is, on the other hand, one of the rare regions where megaliths were built recurrently for nearly three millennia, by very different human groups. We will first of all define the terms of the debate by explaining what we mean by the words monuments and megaliths and what they imply for the corresponding past societies in terms of materiality, conception of space, time and rhythms. The notion of the architectural project is central to this debate and it will be presented for each stage of this very long sequence. This will then lead to a discussion of the modes of human action on materials and the shared choices of certain past societies, which sometimes inspire us to group very different structures under the same label. For nearly 60 years, archaeologists in Europe have attempted to define the characteristics of each megalith-building human group, in terms of material cultures, funerary practices, symbolic representations and other remains of daily life. This was part of the opposition to the excesses of unbridled diffusionism or hasty functionalist comparisons, for example. With the radiocarbon revolution, new chronologies have been established and regional studies have proliferated. Today, some authors rightfully highlight the unique and incomparable aspects of the biography of each of these sites. Reflections on their common denominators have petered out, while the same term, however, still distinguishes them from all other monumental forms
Exploring the Monumentality of Khasi-Jaintia Hills Megaliths
Get PDFTo the Khasi-Pnar community, who are considered to be the authochthons of the Khasi-Jaintia hills of Meghalaya in northeastern India, the importance of their megalithic monuments is evident in their language itself, since the word “Kyn-maw” or “memory” derives from the word “Maw” or “stone.” The present paper deals with the general understanding of the megalithic monuments from these hills where the practice of erecting such monuments is a living tradition. The paper presents a summary of the functions and role of the megalithic monuments found in every nook and corner of the Khasi-Jaintia hills landscape and provides a close examination of the clan cists which are directly connected with the funerary practice of the people and their significance in the entire megalithic tradition
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
Get PDFThe 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
V-Shaped Columns at Kachari Monolithic Rajbari Site in Dimapur, Nagaland: Their Architectural and Social Reflections
Get PDFMonolithism has been, since prehistoric days, a very common cultural practice in the northeastern region of India. Lingering Neolithic tradition, sustained amidst the varied topography formed of hills and plains, seem to have maintained the remaining monolithic traditions there.Remarkably, the existence of the specially designed, carved, ornamented or dressed monoliths is therefore a specialty in the field of monolithic interment in this region. Such dressed varieties of monoliths stood for different meanings and purposes. At the Dimapur monolithic site, three groups of monolithic structures have been found, with evidence of Chessman, Large Isolated Chessman, and Vshaped Monolithic Columns. In this paper, the V-shaped Monolithic Columns found particularly in Nagaland have been taken up for study to trace their significance, structurally and culturally, as historical material
Collective and individual burial practices. Changing patterns at the beginning of the third millennium BC: The megalithic grave of Altendorf
Get PDFThe re-analyses of the Altendorf gallery grave reveal three different phases of inhumation burial practices: collective burials of a whole community (3250–3100 BC), a hiatus in burial practice (3100–2600 BC), and fewer but continuous single inhumations (2600–1450 BC). These changes can be associated with the abandonment of collective social practices all over Central Europe at the end of the fourth millennium BC, and the establishment of new ideologies and the re-use of older monuments by 2600 BC. In Altendorf, this last phase extends to the next pan-European change in burial practices, and reveals an enduring relationship with a local burial monument
Bell Beaker Archers: Warriors or an Ideology?
Get PDFIn terms of funerary archaeology, the Bell Beaker period in Europe exhibits two main burial complexes: collective burials in the West and single graves in the East. This study focuses on the implication of stone wristguards, as well as other objects associated with archery, included in select single inhumation burials of the Eastern complex. Such stone wristguards are currently interpreted as a piece of protective equipment used by archers; however their fabrications in stone and the overall lack of evidence for usage raises the question of practicality. Were these wristguards used in the everyday lives of warriors or were they symbolic? And were the individuals interred with these wristguards archers themselves? Answering these questions could address a bigger question concerning the presence of a social class of archers and its implications towards the importance of warfare at a time of transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.
In order to respond to these questions, this paper first examines the evidence and the archaeological perspective on archery and warfare throughout the Neolithic, culminating in the Bell Beaker period. This is followed by an anthropological approach attempting to identify specialized archery from the osteological remains of 27 Bell Beaker individuals from Bohemia (Czech Republic), 10 of whom were buried in the presence of stone wristguards thus classifying them as "suspected archers".
Anthropological analyses involved integrating the human biomechanics of archery with classifications of entheseal changes in order to postulate on an individual’s likelihood of having been a specialized archer. While these analyses revealed minimal differences between specific points on the skeletons of the suspected and non-suspected archers, the suspected archers do share some common characteristics. This study validates the use of anthropological analyses in identifying specialized archers. These results also indicate that the individuals interred with stone wristguards were likely archers themselves. Identifying a specialized archer in the presence of artisanal archery goods provides additional evidence for a class of archers during the Bell Beaker period
Campaniforme: a long term phenomenon in the Portuguese Douro basin
No full textThis paper exposes and discusses the bell beaker phenomenon in the lower Douro river basin, in Portugal (Northwest of Iberian Peninsula) focusing on pottery. It analyses the style, the respective archaeological context, the inner geographic distribution of ceramics and discusses the absolute and relative chronology of about half a hundred sites. We highlight here four case studies and concluded that all styles are present – classic maritime (linear, herringbone); comb-geometric; Palmela / Ciempozuelos, AOC and mixed C / ZM styles and have grosso modo the same chronology, i.e., they are dated of at least the second quarter of the 3rd millennium BCE. Nevertheless the campaniform continued to be used in the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE in this region, being a long duration phenomenon. This paper also emphasize the spatial segregation of the use of bell beaker ceramics, related to ritualized social practices, which purposes would have to do with identity management, regional conflicts or marriage alliance. In Crasto de Palheiros these practices would be of a commensal nature as of intentional deposition
Heiloo-Craenenbroeck: A peat-covered Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age site with one or two house-plans and ard-marks in the western coastal area of the Netherlands
No full textThe present paper discusses a site in the western coastal district of the Dutch province of Noord-Holland. Discovered were one or two partially two- and partially three-aisled house-plans and ard-marks on the transition of a dune, lying on top of a coastal barrier, to a dune valley. The stratigraphical evidence indicates that the habitation preceded the agricultural activities. All together this human presence dates somewhere between c. 2000-1850 BC, the final stage of the Bell Beaker Culture and the onset of the Barbed Wire Beaker Culture in the Netherland
Think and Act. Local Data and Global Perspectives in Bell Beaker Archaeology
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Question of chert exploiting on the Stránská skála Hill (Brno-Slatina, Czech Republic) by the Bell Beaker People
No full textStránská skála is a limestone hill in the eastern part of Brno, Czech Republic. Local Upper Jurassic cherts, referred as the Stránská skála type were used as raw materials in various prehistoric periods, especially at the turn of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic and in the Old Eneolithic. Among archaeological remains discovered on the hill there is a dug-in settlement structure linked with a younger stage of the Moravian Bell Beaker culture (abbr. MBBC), excavated in 2016. The paper raises the question of exploitation of Stránská skála cherts by MBBC people