Harry Kenneth Robson

Museum Lolland-Falster

Artificial illumination is a fundamental human need. Burning wood and other materials usually in hearths and fireplaces extended daylight hours, whilst the use of flammable substances in torches offered light on the move. It is increasingly understood that pottery played a role in light production. In this study, we focus on ceramic oval bowls, mad...

Shell middens are intentional anthropogenic accumulations in which marine or terrestrial mollusks play an important role. In many such accumulations, shell remains provide the structure for all or some of the deposits and thus provide a preservation environment predominantly influenced by the chemical buffer and shelter the hard carbonate mollusks...

The detection of dairy processing is pivotal to our understanding of ancient subsistence strategies. This culinary process is linked to key arguments surrounding the evolution of lactase persistence in prehistory. Despite extensive evidence indicating the presence of dairy products in ceramics in the European Neolithic, questions remain about the n...

To investigate changes in culinary practices associated with the arrival of farming, we analysed the organic residues of over 1,000 pottery vessels from hunter-gatherer-fisher and early agricultural sites across Northern Europe from the Lower Rhine Basin to the Northeastern Baltic. Here, pottery was widely used by hunter-gatherer-fishers prior to t...

Oysters (Ostreidae) play a pivotal role in the health and productivity of marine ecosystems. Their unique ability to filter water, provide habitat, and contribute to nutrient cycling has remained underused in many parts of Europe following the destruction of vast oyster beds in the 19th and 20th centuries. The burgeoning field of oyster restoration...

Protecting ocean habitats is critical for international efforts to mitigate climate impacts and ensure food security, but the ecological data upon which policy makers base conservation and restoration targets often reflect ecosystems that have already been deeply impacted by anthropogenic change. The archaeological record is a biomolecular archive...

Despite an increasing number of studies, the application of stable sulfur (δ 34 S) isotope analysis to prehistoric bone collagen remains in its infancy. Conventionally, stable sulfur isotope compositions reflect coastal proximity and the interaction between humans and animals. Here, we undertook stable carbon (δ 13 C), nitrogen (δ 15 N) and sulfur...

Since 1992 the prehistoric Nivåfjord in northeast Zealand, Denmark, has yielded an appreciable number of inhumation burials and cremations dating to the Mesolithic, especially the sites of Nivå 10 and Nivågård. Unfortunately, the micro-region is characterised by poor organic preservation, restricting the successful application of biomolecular techn...

Gron K.J., Gröcke D.R., Rowley-Conwy P., Patterson W.P., Van Neer W., Robson H.K., Church M.J. 2023. Stable isotopes reveal agricultural practices in the Swifterbant period. In: T.J. ten Anscher, S. Knippenberg, C.M. van der Linde, W. Roessingh & N.W. Willemse (red.), Doorbraken aan de Rijn. Een Swifterbant-gehucht, een Hazendonk-nederzetting en er...

This paper presents the first results of both dryland and underwater investigations at the multi-period Garnys riverine site situated on the Žeimena River in eastern Lithuania. There, during 2017–2020 a professional diver and amateur archaeologist collected hundreds of Mesolithic-Neolithic archaeological finds made of wood, bone, antler, stone, and...

The transition from foraging to farming was a key turning point in ancient socio-economies. Yet, the complexities and regional variations of this transformation are still poorly understood. This multi-proxy study provides a new understanding of the introduction and spread of early farming, challenging the notions of hierarchical economies. The most...

Mesolithic Miscellany

Until now, Šventoji in northwest Lithuania was considered the most northern site of the Neolithic Globular Amphora Culture (hereafter GAC; ca. 3400–2500 cal BC) in Europe. Recently, however, ceramics typologically resembling GAC ware were identified among the materials from the multi-period sites of Abora 1 and Iča in Latvia and further to the nort...

Slate was a prominent tool material in the Scandinavian Stone Age. However, details of tool function have relied on morphology and have added little to our understanding of their role in hunting and processing. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to identify both the use-wear traces and residues from slate knives from northern Norway. By apply...

Until relatively recently, stable sulphur isotope analysis of bone collagen was seldom undertaken in bioarchaeological research. With increasing frequency, its application has proven useful in reconstructing palaeodiets and palaeoecologies, as well as identifying potential migration and mobility patterns. Here, sulphur (δ34S) isotope analysis, toge...

Human history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of what enabled these processes is limited. Here, we explore the behavioural mechanisms that led to the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer communities in Europe during the mid-Holocene. Through radiocarbon dating, we propose this dispersal occurred at...

Mobility is one of the most fundamental aspects of a foraging society. Since prehistoric mobility is often difficult to identify in the archaeological record, our understanding is largely based on comparison with ethnographic communities. In recent years the application of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope analysis has, however, greatly broadened our knowledge of...

In a recent article, Lewis et al. (2020) advance the hypothesis that an increase in the marine fertility of Danish waters from ca. 7600 cal BP onwards fuelled an intensification in the marine economy and a fourfold population increase in the later Mesolithic period. This hypothesis is severely compromised by: (a) reliance on archaeological data fro...

We measured 87 Sr/ 86 Sr for all available human remains (n = 40) dating from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (ca. 6400–800 cal BC) in Lithuania. In addition, local baselines of archaeological fauna from the same area were constructed. We identified significant and systematic offsets between 87 Sr/86 Sr values of modern soils and animals and archa...

Whilst the analysis of strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) of human remains enables mobility patterns and migration events to be identified archaeologically, its potential is dependent on the heterogeneity of the underlying geology in the research area, and the knowledge of 87Sr/86Sr ratio variation in the biologically available strontium. In Lith...

Numerous archaeozoological studies, as well as the development of biomolecular approaches (stable isotope analysis, organic residue analysis, etc.) have revealed the important contribution of fish to human diets through space and time. In some cases, for example in a number of Mesolithic contexts, fishing constituted the main part of the subsistenc...

The remains of those who perished at Herculaneum in 79 CE offer a unique opportunity to examine lifeways across an ancient community who lived and died together. Historical sources often allude to differential access to foodstuffs across Roman society but provide no direct or quantitative information. By determining the stable isotope values of ami...

The Early Bronze Age (1800–1100 cal BC) is among one of the most poorly understood prehistoric periods in the southeastern Baltic region. Here, we present the multidisciplinary results obtained from the recent excavations undertaken at the site of Kvietiniai in western Lithuania, including radiocarbon (14C) measurements and the stable isotope analy...

Ceramic containers, intentionally deposited into wetlands, offer detailed insights into Early Neolithic culinary practices. Additionally, they are key for ascertaining the Neolithisation process in Denmark since they appear to form a typo-chronological sequence. Here, we use a combination of organic residue analysis (ORA) of pottery alongside Bayes...

The goal of this contribution is to stimulate a wider reflection on the role of food consumption practices throughout prehistory. We focussed on the Jōmon communities of Hokkaidō Island in Northern Japan since these mobile foragers underwent a process of economic diversification and intensification, eventually leading to higher levels of sedentism...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192016.].

Between 2800 and 2400 cal BC pastoralists from Central Europe migrated into the eastern Baltic paving the way for the Corded Ware Culture (CWC), and a new type of economy, animal husbandry. Traditionally the CWC people were viewed as highly mobile due to the lack of substantial traces of dwellings and material culture at settlement sites; they were...

Between 2800 and 2400 cal BC pastoralists from Central Europe migrated into the eastern Baltic paving the way for the Corded Ware Culture (CWC), and a new type of economy, animal husbandry. Traditionally the CWC people were viewed as highly mobile due to the lack of substantial traces of dwellings and material culture at settlement sites; they were...

The introduction of farming had far-reaching impacts on health, social structure and demography. Although the spread of domesticated plants and animals has been extensively tracked, it is unclear how these nascent economies developed within different environmental and cultural settings. Using molecular and isotopic analysis of lipids from pottery,...

The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter-gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivat...

Annual growth patterns in marine mollusc shells are valuable indicators of the condition of marine ecology through time. In archaeological contexts, the mollusc's time of death (i.e. the last season of growth) is an indicator of human exploitation patterns throughout the year, enabling the reconstruction of when and how often gathering occurred as...

Annual growth patterns in marine mollusc shells are valuable indicators of the condition of marine ecologies through time. In archaeological contexts, the mollusc’s time of death (i.e. the last season of growth) is an indicator of human exploitation patterns throughout the year, enabling the reconstruction of when and how often gathering occurred a...

With the arrival of the Early Neolithic Globular Amphora and CordedWare cultures into the southeastern Baltic, ca. 2900/2800–2400 cal BC, a new type of economy was introduced, animal husbandry. However, the degree to which this transformed the subsistence economy is unknown. Here, we conducted organic residue analyses of 64 ceramic vessels to ident...

Small-scale fisheries provide food and livelihoods for thousands of people along the Brazilian coastline. However, considerable uncertainties still surround the extent to which artisanal and subsistence fisheries contribute to the total of national landings and their historical ecological significance. Fisheries monitoring is deficient in Brazil an...

The papers in this special issue of the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (IJO) were presented at the 19th biennial meeting of the Fish Remains Working Group (FRWG) of the International Council of Archaeozoology (ICAZ), which was held in Alghero and Stintino, Sardinia, Italy, from October 1–7, 2017. Entitled Fish and Fishing Communities: Un...

This paper comments on the bone and antler assemblages excavated from the Early Preboreal site of Star Carr (North Yorkshire, United Kingdom) between 2004 and 2015. It examines the spatial distribution of osseous material across the site, and discusses the various depositional processes which have led to their accumulation. As a previously excavate...

Southern Scandinavian Mesolithic research has one of the longest traditions within archaeology, dating back to the 1820s and 1830s. However, a combination of site visibility and an emphasis on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition has meant that research has primarily been directed towards the Late Mesolithic Erte-bølle culture (c. 5400-4000 cal. BC)...

Annual growth patterns in marine mollusc shells are valuable indicators of the condition of marine ecologies through time. In archaeological contexts, the mollusc’s time of death (i.e. the last season of growth) is an indicator of human exploitation patterns throughout the year, enabling the reconstruction of when and how often gathering occured as...

With the arrival of the Early Neolithic Globular Amphora and CordedWare cultures into the southeastern Baltic, ca. 2900/2800–2400 cal BC, a new type of economy was introduced, animal husbandry. However, the degree to which this transformed the subsistence economy is unknown. Here, we conducted organic residue analyses of 64 ceramic vessels to ident...

This three-volume publication presents an up-to-date overview on the human colonisation of Northern Europe across the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in Scandinavia, the Eastern Baltic and Great Britain. Volume 1, Ecology of early settlement in Northern Europe , is a collection of 17 articles focusing on subsistence strategies and technologies, eco...

Recent studies have shown that faunal assemblages from Mesolithic sites in inland Northern Europe contain more fish remains than previously thought, but the archaeological and archaeozoological record does not reveal the dietary importance of aquatic species to hunter-gatherer-fishers, even at a societal level. For example, the function of bone poi...

Around 2900–2300 cal BCE, mobile stockbreeders introduced the Neolithic Corded Ware culture (CWC) into the Eastern Baltic. Here, a Central or Northern European Neolithic economy and ideology took hold despite differences in burial practices. Although around 90 CWC graves are known in the region their contents have not been intensively studied. Here...

Around 2900–2300 cal BCE, mobile stockbreeders introduced the Neolithic Corded Ware culture (CWC) into the Eastern Baltic. Here, a Central or Northern European Neolithic economy and ideology took hold despite differences in burial practices. Although around 90 CWC graves are known in the region their contents have not been intensively studied. Here...

Supplementary Information for The impact of environmental change on the use of early pottery by East Asian hunter-gatherers

Significance The motivations for the widespread adoption of pottery is a key theme in world prehistory and is often linked to climate warming at the start of the Holocene. Through organic residue analysis, we investigated the contents of >800 ceramic samples from across the Japanese archipelago, a unique assemblage that transcends the Pleistocene–H...

Skipsea Withow is well known for producing a barbed point and faunal remains, thought to date to the Early Mesolithic period, over a century ago. More recently bones were recovered from the eroding cliff face and have been analysed. Although it was considered that they might be elk (Alces alces) due to their large size, it was demonstrated that the...

In this contribution we dismantle the perceived role of marine resources and plant foods in the subsistence economy of Holocene foragers of the Central Mediterranean using a combination of dental calculus and stable isotope analyses. The discovery of fish scales and flesh fragments, starch granules and other plant and animal micro-debris in the den...

http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/files/reviews/Fishing_H_Robson.pdf