Journal of Neolithic Archaeology
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Truls Hoj – A Passage Grave and Related Monuments
Get PDFAccording to an old oral tradition, there were once two burial mounds in the south-western part of Barsebäck foreland in west Scania in southern Sweden. No traces of the mounds have been seen above the topsoil. Since Svenska Kraftnät AB (an electricity transmission system operator in Sweden) planned to build a new substation in the area, we archaeologists were given the opportunity to examine the truth of the oral tradition. When the topsoil was stripped off by machine an area with stone impressions in earth and stone packings was revealed. The subsequent manual excavation revealed that the structure constituted the bottom layer of a destroyed and ploughed-out passage grave. Later years of agricultural work have seriously damaged the structure, but traces of two border chains, a chamber and the passage as well as a pit could be discerned. Previous years’ archaeological investigations have only investigated surfaces around dolmens. At Barsebäck the picture is supplemented because this is the first time we could also study larger areas around a passage grave. The monument at the location, just like the dolmens in other places, was surrounded by ritual activities, in the form of façades (standing stones), a cult house and a flat-earth grave. This article presents the site and the remains are placed in a Scandinavian perspective
Trepanationen der Mittelelbe-Saale-Schnurkeramik − besondere Personen?
Get PDFObwohl seit über 140 Jahren Trepanationen archäologisch und anthropologisch untersucht werden, sind die Ursachen noch nicht erforscht. Verschiedene Theorien wurden im Laufe der Jahre aufgestellt und wieder verworfen. Immer noch werden in der Literatur medizinische Indikationen und rituelle Motive besprochen, um das Phänomen der Schädeloperationen zu deuten. Besonders der Status der trepanierten Individuen wird hervorgehoben, um die geringe Anzahl innerhalb der vielen schnurkeramischen Funde in Mitteldeutschland zu erklären. Trotzdem wurden die Trepanationen häufig nur in engen Zusammenhängen untersucht.Dabei bleibt meistens außer Acht, dass die Eingriffe im kulturbezogenen Kontext untersucht werden und dass vor allem ein interdisziplinärer Austausch verschiedener Fachrichtungen stattfinden muss. In dieser Arbeit wurde angestrebt, die archäologischen Zusammenhänge zu erfassen und auszuwerten. Außerdem wurden anthropologische Parameter aufgenommen und miteinander verglichen. Die Anfertigung eines Katalogs, sowie von vier Datenlisten ermöglicht, dass das vorhandene Material für weitere Untersuchungen zur Verfügung steht.Insgesamt wurden 18 Gräber mit Eingriffen mit 40 Vergleichsgräbern der Schnurkeramik verglichen. Als zentrale Fragestellung wurde der soziale Status der trepanierten Individuen untersucht. Durch ein eng eingegrenztes Untersuchungsgebiet und zeitlich auf eine Kulturgruppe beschränkt, wurde versucht die Stellung der Individuen innerhalb der Bevölkerungsgruppe zu analysieren. Dazu wurde einerseits der Gesamtkontext der Schnurkeramiker verglichen und andererseits ein kleinregionaler Bezug innerhalb einiger Gräberfelder hergestellt
A propos des conditions de formation des assemblages osseux archéologique dans les sociétés pré-littéraires disparues européennes: Une analyse ethnoarchéologique dans deux sociétés vivantes de l’Asie du Sud-Est.
No full textStudies on the meaning of animal bone assemblages in non-state societies from European recent Prehistory (Neolithic and Metal Ages) are based on a series of presuppositions: breeding serves to meet the nutritional needs of the population; it is rationally organized in relation to this imperative; according to the degree of analyse, bone assemblages reflect the breeding and consumption practices of the household or of the village community; households are economically self-sufficient; they produce very few surplus food and exchanges concern mainly prestige or rare, unevenly spatially distributed, goods; meat consumption is adjusted to account for the natural growth of the cattle and distributed as evenly as possible all over the year, following rhythms that are being repeated from one year to the next. However, studies on feasting economy, initiated by B. Hayden and M. Dietler in particular, have showed that there are non-state societies, notably in South-eastern Asia, in which breeding does not meet any of these presuppositions. The main domestic cattle (buffalo and pig) are regarded as ritual goods, in the same way as precious fabric, gongs, and silver or gold ornaments, and play absolutely no part in food economy. They are consumed on the occasion of festive contexts, following irregular annual schedules that vary from one year to the next, and circulate intensively according to modalities similar to manufactured prestige goods. Data available for European Prehistory suggest that there is no reason why, in our study of faunal remains, we should reject a priori such an operating mode.
In an ethno-archaeological perspective, our aim is to evaluate the consequences of this operating mode on the formation, composition and meaning of bone assemblages and to develop a model that could serve as a guide for the analyse of the European prehistoric bone assemblages. We provide here the first results of a study on two societies from the Indonesian Archipelago, settled respectively on the island of Sumba and in the south-eastern part of the island of Sulawesi, in Toraja land. In these two areas, buffalo and pig are exchanged and consumed during ceremonies, the two most significant being, from our study point of view, funerals and the rebuilding of the ancestral house. The circulation of living animals and of meat is conditioned mostly by religious and social factors. It is organized according to the kinship lines and produces bone assemblages that in no way reflect the breeding practices and ordinary consumption habits, either on the scale of the household or of the settlement.
Even though it does not enable to take into account all the mechanisms at work, the most relevant degree of analyse seems to be that of the descent group (patrilineal clan in Sumba and cognatic descent group in Toraja land).The last section of the article analyses how this model, which is shared by most of the south-east Asian “hill tribes” societies, influences our understanding of European prehistoric faunal bone assemblages. Taking into account the model of ritual economy seems today crucial to make our interpretations of animal bone assemblages from European recent prehistoric contexts more plausible. Hopefully, identifying configurations (composition, variability and spatial distribution of assemblages) that would fit this model will, on the basis of osteological analyses taking into consideration the spatial dimension on a scale necessarily exceeding that of the settlement, help to understand the forms of social organization in European Recent Prehistory
Early Neolithic Landscape and Society in Southwest Scania – New Results and Perspectives
Get PDFThe last two decades of excavations in southwest Scania, Sweden, have given substantial new results regarding Early Neolithic society (4000–3300 cal. BC). The overall aim here is to discuss and synthesize these results, and a number of important excavations are also presented in detail. The results are both on a macro scale concerning overall settlement pattern, landscape use and the scale of monumental landscapes, and on a micro scale concerning, for example, houses and huts, monumental sites and their complexity, and pits and depositional practices on different types of sites. Also, the economy of the region as well as the socio-political organization are discussed based on interpretations of the material presented
Spatial organization and population size of small Cucuteni-Tripolye settlements: Results of geomagnetic surveys in Baia and Adâncata, Suceava County, Bucovina, Eastern Romania
Get PDFGeomagnetic research and drillings provide new results regarding settlement organisation and population size of three small settlements from the Pre-Cucuteni and Cucuteni AB period in the Suceva County in Romanian Bucovina. In these settlements from different stages of the Pre-Cucuteni complex domestic dwellings can be distinguished from clearly oversized (special?) buildings which are situated in central positions and which contain partly special inventories. Different principles of settlement organisation are visible which show each far-reaching references to the Central Balkans on the one hand and the Bug-Dnieper interfluve on the other hand. Consistently populations with less than 200 inhabitants are reconstructed based on analogies to other Cucuteni-Tripolye sites
The Verteba Cave: A Subterranean Sanctuary of the Cucuteni-Trypillia Culture in Western Ukraine
Get PDFIn Eneolithic Europe, the complexity of mortuary differentiation increased with the complexity of the society at large. Human remains from the Verteba Cave provide a unique opportunity to study the lives, deaths and cultural practices of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture in Western Ukraine. The subterranean sanctuary of Verteba was without a doubt a rallying point of both religious and social significance. Therefore, this investigation focuses on the role and character of ritual activities, the diversity and variety of religious orientations in the Eneolithic period and the question of how and for what reason this particular cave was modified from a natural space to a sacred place. We also seek to clarify the research potential of the site in relation to highly developed and relatively wide-spread religion with direct implications for the Cucuteni-Trypillia social structure
The dogma of the Iberian origin of the Bell Beaker: attempting its deconstruction
Get PDFThe hypothesis of an Iberian origin of the Bell Beaker has been advanced from the beginning of the 20th century on. For a time challenged by the assumption of a cradle located rather in the north-western part of continental Europe, it is currently making a comeback and is supported by most specialists of the Bell Beaker phenomenon. An examination of the conditions related to its construction demonstrates that its dominant position owes more to contingent causes such as the charismatic personalities of its creators and their study areas than to an objective analysis of the archaeological record. A small exercise of archaeology-fiction in which we will trace back the history of research based on the assumption of a central-European origin highlights the structural weakness and the dogmatic character of the hypothesis of the Iberian cradle.
Tripolje Großsiedlungen - Geomagnetische Prospektion und architektursoziologische Perspektiven
Get PDFTrypillia settlements of the Southern Buh-Dnipro interfluve are among the largest sites of prehistoric Eurasia and their emergence and decline is yet poorly understood. The renewed geophysical survey between 2011 and 2012 produced methodological opportunities for advanced spatial analysis of social space which are presented in this paper. With up to 3000 buildings, their exact location, size as well as an architectural overlap of only 1%, settlements of the Tomashivska local group represent an exceptionally high quality dataset. Now it is possible to construct an internal settlement pattern by using methods of urban planning in combination with radiocarbon dating and demographic estimates to detect cognition based social space for these sites. With significant differences in building size it is also possible to ask questions of social differentiations and the beginning of urbanisation processes via neighbourhood formation. Based on the results a social structure of these sites is proposed
Stabilization Points in Carrying Capacity: Population Growth and Migrations
Get PDFThis study focuses on stabilization points in carrying capacity. Using simulations based upon well-known mathematical approaches in theoretical ecology, one calculates carrying capacity out of trends in demographic development. It is an alternative to most of approaches in Archaeology and Anthropology concerning potential resources and cost of labor. Finally, this approach is also useful for analysis of migrations and site catchments
SDS – Systematic, digital collection of data sets of stone artefacts - Supplement K-list, vers. 1.0.12.11 (Classification and denomination of projectiles and inset-blades), list of accordance of the west and central European forms
Get PDFDie Konkordanzliste west- und mitteleuropäischer Projektil- und Einsatzformen ist ein ergänzender Bestandteil des Formblatts 4 des SDS-Merkmalkatalogs (Drafehn u.a. 2008). Sie ist als Arbeitserleichterung gedacht, um die in der Literatur verfügbaren Vergleichsstudien und -stücke unterschiedlicher Bearbeiter zu erschließen und homogen zu systematisieren. Zudem erhalten eigene Inventare eine einheitliche Nomenklatur, was einen schnellen Einstieg in rechnergestützte Analysen mittels uniformer Datensätze ermöglicht. Aus diesem Grund wird die Liste stetig erweitert; die jeweils aktuelle Fassung wird vom Autor bereitgestellt und kann dort bezogen werden.Wichtig: Die Liste ist keine Anleitung zum Erkennen und Bestimmen von Projektil- und Einsatzformen, sondern dient ausschließlich der Gliederung und einheitlichen Bezeichnung der einzelnen Formen.This list of western and central European projectiles and inset blades is a supplement to Form 4 of of the SDS-atrributes catalogue (Drafehn et al. 2008). The list is supposed to facilitate the establishment of a homogenous system between comparative studies of different researchers that are available in literature. At the same time, the researcher´s own study follows a consistent nomenclature, which promotes access to computer-aided data analyses. For this reason, the list is continously extended and updated and the latest version may be obtained directly from the author. Although the list does not help to identify and distinguish artefacts, it is a useful tool to obtain consistent, expediently strucutured data. The microliths are categorized into four basic levels: quantum, group, form, and variety. According to these levels, the microliths are labelled with the respective four-letter combination. The groups and the different varieties are described and summarized. The images of the microliths are highly conventionalized and a certain tolerance as to form and size should be kept in mind