Kevan Edinborough

University of Melbourne | MSD · Melbourne Dental School

New radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) dates suggest a simultaneous appearance of two technologically and geographically distinct axe production practices in Neolithic Britain; igneous open-air quarries in Great Langdale, Cumbria, and from flint mines in southern England at ~4000–3700 cal BC. In light of the recent evidence that farming was introduced at this tim...

The discovery of a dismantled stone circle—close to Stonehenge's bluestone quarries in west Wales—raises the possibility that a 900-year-old legend about Stonehenge being built from an earlier stone circle contains a grain of truth. Radiocarbon and OSL dating of Waun Mawn indicate construction c. 3000 BC, shortly before the initial construction of...

We present and model new radiocarbon data for the Neolithic marshes of Marais de Saint-Gond Marne in France. We then provide the first radiocarbon-based synthesis of human activity in this region. The earliest flint mine pits dug in France were dated to between 7518 and 7356 cal BC (95% probability) in the Mesolithic period. A Neolithic sequence of...

The ability to detect pregnancies from archeological human teeth using Tooth Cementum Annulation (TCA) method continues to challenge bioarcheologists. We discuss the serious methodological limitations of the TCA technique when applied to studying fertility in the past. This discussion is prompted by a recent publication on these two topics (see Pen...

In response to Timothy Darvill's article, ‘Mythical rings?’ (this issue), which argues for an alternative interpretation of Waun Mawn circle and its relationship with Stonehenge, Parker Pearson and colleagues report new evidence from the Welsh site and elaborate on aspects of their original argument. The discovery of a hearth at the centre of the c...

Modelling in demographic ecology offers insights into population stability and instability in village societies. In this study we explore the hypothesis that among storage dependent fisher-hunter-gatherers, access to high resource diversity favors reduced demographic volatility over time. To better understand this relationship, we generate summed p...

en We present three unreported U/Th dates on coral abraders recovered from Lapita occupations at the ‘Otea and Vuna sites, in Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga. Integrated with existing radiocarbon and U/Th dates for Vava'u, we also provide a single‐phase Bayesian model for Lapita chronology in these islands. RÉSUMÉ es Nous présentons trois dates U/Th sur...

The authors of this article consider the relationship in European prehistory between the procurement of high-quality stones (for axeheads, daggers, and other tools) on the one hand, and the early mining, crafting, and deposition of copper on the other. The data consist of radiocarbon dates for the exploitation of stone quarries, flint mines, and co...

Following some 30 years of radiocarbon research during which the mathematical principles of 14C-calibration have been on loan to Bayesian statistics, here they are returned to quantum physics. The return is based on recognition that 14C-calibration can be described as a Fourier transform. Following its introduction as such, there is need to reconce...

Neolithic stone axeheads from Britain provide an unusually rich, well-provenanced set of evidence with which to consider patterns of prehistoric production and exchange. It is no surprise then that these objects have often been subject to spatial analysis in terms of the relationship between particular stone source areas and the distribution of axe...

Due to a typesetting mistake, the images of Figs 2 and 3 were mistakenly switched. The original version has been corrected.

Life-history parameters such as pregnancies, skeletal trauma, and renal disease have previously been identified from hypomineralised growth layers (incremental lines) of acellular extrinsic fibre cementum (AEFC) using optical microscopy. We show that the precise periodicity of these growth layers remains poorly understood, so life history parameter...

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...

Life-history parameters such as pregnancies, skeletal trauma, and renal disease have previously been identified from hypomineralized growth layers (incremental lines) of acellular extrinsic fiber cementum (AEFC). The precise periodicity of these growth layers remains vaguely approximated, so causal life-history explanations using tooth cementum can...

The best method for quantifying the marine reservoir effect (MRE) using the global IntCal Marine13 calibration curve remains unresolved. Archaeologists frequently quantify uncertainty on MRE values as errors computed from single pairs of marine-terrestrial radiocarbon ages, which we argue significantly overstates their accuracy and precision. Here,...

Archaeological interpretations of continuity and abandonment can have significant implications for descendant communities. Such interpretations are contingent on the social and spatial scale of analysis. We assess the evidence for continuity among the Coast Salish at four of social-spatial scales using a suite of radiocarbon dates derived from Tslei...

We investigated the changing role of climate, forest fires and human population size in the broad-scale compositional changes in Holocene vegetation dynamics before and after the onset of farming in Sweden (at 6,000 cal yr BP) and in Finland (at 4,000 cal yr BP). Southern and central Sweden, SW and SE Finland. Holocene regional plant abundances wer...

We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Northern tsimshian archaeology. We define the condition of urbanism through four traits, each of which we associate with measurable variables. We explore changes in these across the study area in 100-year time bins over 6000 years. We also consider urbanism...

Significance Indigenous oral traditions remain a very controversial source of historical knowledge in Western scientific, humanistic, and legal traditions. Likewise, demographic models using radiocarbon-based simulation methods are controversial. We rigorously test the historicity of indigenous Tsimshian oral records ( adawx ) using an extended sim...

Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH), on the north Pacific Coast of British Columbia, contains at least 157 shell middens, of which 66 are known villages, in an area of approximately 180 km2. These sites span the last 9500 yr and in some cases are immense, exceeding 20,000 m2 surface area and several meters in depth. Recent archaeological research in PRH ha...

The florescence of large, regional radiocarbon data sets allows archaeologists to examine fine-scale, local changes in demography and settlement that are not tied to regional culture historical frameworks. We compile 599 radiocarbon dates from 95 archaeological sites in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia and use two complimentary approaches to e...

Edinborough, K.S.A.; (2005) Evolution of bow-arrow technology. Doctoral thesis, University of London. Abstract: This thesis examines the development of bow-arrow technology in terms of modem evolutionary theory. Previous approaches that propose functional-adaptive technological trajectories are critiqued. Different theoretical approaches towards te...

The long-distance transport of the bluestones from south Wales to Stonehenge is one of the most remarkable achievements of Neolithic societies in north-west Europe. Where precisely these stones were quarried, when they were extracted and how they were transported has long been a subject of speculation, experiment and controversy. The discovery of a...

The calibration of radiocarbon measurements is based on a number of mathematical assumptions that are rarely considered by users of the various available calibration programs. As 14C ages take on mathematical properties best known from quantum physics, a quantum theoretical approach provides a useful basis to evaluate the reliability of processes o...

The data-set described here comprises cranial pathology data and cranial age assessment for 113 individuals from four Mesolithic-Neolithic sites in the Danube Gorges, Serbia. Calibrated radiocarbon dates by archaeological site were included where available. The data were collected after anthropological analysis of this collection. This dataset is a...

First settlement of Polynesia, and population expansion throughout the ancestral Polynesian homeland are foundation events for global history. A precise chronology is paramount to informed archaeological interpretation of these events and their consequences. Recently applied chronometric hygiene protocols excluding radiocarbon dates on wood charcoa...

If archaeology is to take a leading role in the social sciences, new theoretical and methodological advances emerging from the natural sciences cannot be ignored. This requires considerable retooling for archaeology as a discipline at a population scale of analysis. Such an approach is not easy to carry through, especially owing to historically con...

In a previous study we presented a new method that used summed probability distributions (SPD) of radiocarbon dates as a proxy for population levels, and Monte-Carlo simulation to test the significance of the observed fluctuations in the context of uncertainty in the calibration curve and archaeological sampling. The method allowed us to identify p...

Archaeologists have long sought appropriate ways to describe the duration and floruit of archaeological cultures in statistical terms. Thus far, chronological reasoning has been largely reliant on typological sequences. Using summed probability distributions, the authors here compare radiocarbon dates for a series of European Neolithic cultures wit...

This dataset comprises of cranial pathology data and cranial age assessment, on 113 individuals from four Mesolithic-Neolithic sites in the Danube Gorges, Serbia. This data includes a summary diagram of the spread of the associated individual’s calibrated radiocarbon date ranges, and their cultural affiliations. The data was collected after anthrop...

A wide range of theories and methods inspired from evolutionary biology have recently been used to investigate temporal changes in the frequency of archaeological material. Here we follow this research agenda and present a novel approach based on Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC), which enables the evaluation of multiple competing evolutionary...

The evolution of lithic arrowhead complexity in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Europe is reclassified with a new (paradigmatic) taxonomic system. Archaeological context, sample size and time-averaging issues are identified and addressed. We examine the cultural distance between consecutive phases at each site using a new method, and demonstrate how...

Analysis of the proportion of immature skeletons recovered from European prehistoric cemeteries has shown that the transition to agriculture after 9000 BP triggered a long-term increase in human fertility. Here we compare the largest analysis of European cemeteries to date with an independent line of evidence, the summed calibrated date probability...

The transformation of natural landscapes in Middle Europe began in the Neolithic as a result of the introduction of food-producing economies. This paper examines the relation between land-cover and demographic change in a regionally restricted case study. The study area is the Western Lake Constance area which has very detailed palynological as wel...

This impressive work lays bare the complexities of studying hunter-gatherers both past and present, and works academic wonders on multiple levels. Kelly’s thoughtful prose expands on the author’s previous approaches in the Foraging Spectrum (1995) by introducing the uninitiated — or simply interested — reader to a more nuanced way of understanding...

The Fijian archaeological record is segmented into a series of phases based on distinctive transformations in ceramic forms. Interpretations of the mid-sequence (1500-1300cal BP) transition between the Fijian Plainware phase and the Navatu phase are contentious, with alternative explanations of population replacement versus internal processes of cu...

Transitions, such as the one from the Upper to Late Palaeolithic in Europe, are episodes of cultural and demographic change, which raise questions about possible causal connections between environmental changes and human behaviour. The workshop The Upper-Late Palaeolithic Transition in Western Central Europe. Typology, Technology, Environment and D...

Following its initial arrival in SE Europe 8,500 years ago agriculture spread throughout the continent, changing food production and consumption patterns and increasing population densities. Here we show that, in contrast to the steady population growth usually assumed, the introduction of agriculture into Europe was followed by a boom-and-bust pat...

A series of radiocarbon dates from two Epipalaeolithic sites – Kharaneh IV and Ayn Qasiyya – in the Azraq Basin of eastern Jordan provide a new perspective on the chronology and settlement patterns of this part of southwest Asia during the Late Pleistocene. We discuss the implications to our understanding of the chronology of Late Pleistocene lithi...

During late Greenland Interstadial 1 (the Allerød chronozone), southern Scandinavia witnessed an abrupt cultural transition. This period marks the end of Late Magdalenian/Final Palaeolithic Federmessergruppen in the region, and the beginning of the Bromme culture. The latter is characterised by a restricted territorial range, loss of bow-arrow tech...

In this paper we explore the meaning of the word probability, not in general terms, but restricted to the field of radiocarbon dating, where it has the meaning of ‘dating probability assigned to calibrated 14C-ages’. The intention of our study is to improve our understanding of certain properties of radiocarbon dates, which – although mathematicall...

Archaeologists disagree about how farming began in Britain. Some argue it was a result of indigenous groups adopting domesticates and cultigens via trade and exchange. Others contend it was the consequence of a migration of farmers from mainland Europe. To shed light on this debate, we used radiocarbon dates to estimate changes in population densit...

ABSTRACT – In this paper we explore the meaning of the word probability, not in general terms, but restricted to the field of radiocarbon dating, where it has the meaning of ‘dating probability assigned to calibrated 14C-ages’. The intention of our study is to improve our understanding of certain properties of radiocarbon dates, which – although ma...

Theories of cultural evolution have developed rapidly in recent years, but the number of archaeological case studies that make use of these ideas to develop and test hypotheses remains small. This chapter addresses the specific evolutionary mechanisms affecting technological stability and change in projectile point technology in data-rich Mesolithi...

This fieldwork report presents the results of the ground survey phase of fieldwork of the Minufiyeh Archaeological Survey during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. These seasons also saw the continuation of investigations into the cemetery and Sacred Falcon Necropolis at the Quesna archaeological area and into the archaeological remains at Kom el-Ahmar, Mi...

Recently it has been suggested that one or more large extraterrestrial (ET) objects struck northern North America 12,900 ± 100 calendar years before present (calBP) [Firestone RB, et al. (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104: 16016–16021]. This impact is claimed to have triggered the Younger Dryas major cooling event and resulted in the extinction of t...

Around 8200 calBP, large parts of the now submerged North Sea continental shelf ('Dog-gerland') were catastrophically flooded by the Storegga Slide tsunami, one of the largest tsunamis known for the Holocene, which was generated on the Norwegian coastal margin by a submarine landslide. In the present paper, we derive a precise calendric date for th...

Summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates are used to make inferences about the history of population fluctuations from the Mesolithic to the late Neolithic for three countries in central and northern Europe: Germany, Poland and Denmark. Two different methods of summing the dates produce very similar overall patterns. The validity of th...

We have collated an extensive regional radiocarbon database for the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Northwest Europe in the age range 10,000 to 4000 yrs 14 C-BP (i.e. 11.7 ka calBP to 5000 calBP). The database contains more than 4100 individual 14 C-ages (each defined by its specific laboratory code), and which are derived from c. 1000 different...

This paper presents some results from my doctoral research into the evolution of bow-arrow technology using archaeological data from the south Scandinavian Mesolithic (Edinborough 2004). A quantitative approach is used to describe the morphological variation found in samples taken from over 3600 armatures from nine Danish and Swedish lithic assembl...

Narratives of cultural change during the Mesolithic tend to be underwritten by assumptions of stable or steadily growing human population densities. In this paper, we show that a) on theoretical and empirical grounds human populations cannot be assumed to be stable over long time periods, and that b) radiocarbon dates can be used to track past popu...