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Warfare in the European Neolithic
... Неки аутори су понудили дефиниције рата и сукоба (в. Keeley 1996;Simons 1999;Christensen 2004;Klastr 2004;Otterbein 2004), како је до њих могло да дође и које су њихове последице. Ипак, њихове перспективе нису понудиле објашњења како би сукоби могли да изгледају у неолиту, већ више теже да се савременим термином, који носи врло јасну поруку при писању или изговарању, опише феномен сукоба у праисторији. ...
... У раду ће бити коришћени термини насиље, сукоб и борба, али је неопходно нагласити да не уважавам специфична значења ових термина у различитим временским раздобљима. Важно је нагласити да термин рат (који се чешће употребљава у западној литератури) често подразумева постојање добро организоване војске и прецизно планирање војне тактике (Keeley 1996;Thorpe 2003;Christensen 2004;Otterbein 2004). Како за неолитски период не постоје показатељи оваквог облика друштвеног организовања, овај термин неће бити коришћен. ...
... Већина ових насеља је подигнута на узвишењима или поред водених токова који су са једне стране представљали природну границу, а пружала су и добру прегледност околног терена. У вези са тим прихватљива је и интерпретација различитих аутора о евентуалној одбрамбеној тактици људи који су живели у насељима (Chapman 1999a;Kelly 2000;Christensen 2004). Сама употреба термина ,,војна тактика" доста је проблематична, јер намеће размишљање о савременим начинима борбе, а истовремено подразумева да је током неолита постојао јасно раслојен друштвени систем. ...
... The Talheim mass grave and the bodies found in the ditches at Asparn/Schletz belong to this category, as well as the LBK mass grave of Wiederstedt, Germany, which lacks obvious signs of violence (35,40). Other sites that initially were regarded as massacre-related by some, such as the enclosure ditch cemetery of Vaihingen/Enz or the supraregional ritual place of Herxheim (15,16,41), are now seen in another light (18,20,21). ...
... The Kilianstädten massacre, which occurred within an archaeologically suggested border zone of different LBK subgroups (43,80), with its high potential for intergroup conflict (54,76), provides an illuminating example of characteristics of nonstate warfare identified earlier from the ethnographic record; the abduction of younger women and the torture, mutilation, and killing of enemies can be seen clearly in the osteological record of Early Neolithic Central Europe (54). Although some earlier works supporting the notion of widespread warfare during the later LBK were based, at least in part, on a premature interpretation of several LBK sites (15,16,41) that now are interpreted differently (20)(21)(22)(23), the evidence has become more conclusive again with the Kilianstädten site. Importantly, more skeletal remains, the only direct evidence for collective lethal violence, are now available (16,41,49). ...
... Although some earlier works supporting the notion of widespread warfare during the later LBK were based, at least in part, on a premature interpretation of several LBK sites (15,16,41) that now are interpreted differently (20)(21)(22)(23), the evidence has become more conclusive again with the Kilianstädten site. Importantly, more skeletal remains, the only direct evidence for collective lethal violence, are now available (16,41,49). Although the underlying supraregional causes for the recognized increase in mass violence in the late LBK undoubtedly were complex and multifactorial, a significant increase in population followed by adverse climatic conditions (drought), possibly coupled with the inability of long-settled farmers to practice the avoidance behavior by which hunter-gatherers typically evade conflict (75), seems to have been an important component of the overall picture (4). ...
Significance
The Early Neolithic massacre-related mass grave of Schöneck-Kilianstädten presented here provides new data and insights for the ongoing discussions of prehistoric warfare in Central Europe. Although several characteristics gleaned from the analysis of the human skeletal remains support and strengthen previous hypotheses based on the few known massacre sites of this time, a pattern of intentional mutilation of violence victims identified here is of special significance. Adding another key site to the evidence for Early Neolithic warfare generally allows more robust and reliable reconstructions of the possible reasons for the extent and frequency of outbreaks of lethal mass violence and the general impact these events had on shaping the further development of the Central European Neolithic.
... indicators of violent behaviour during the Neolithic/Eneolithic in the region. One such clue is the occurrence of ditches and palisades around settlements (already during the Early and especially during the Middle Neolithic), which in some instances have been interpreted as the protection from attacks from the outside (Christensen, 2004;Kokkinidou & Nikolaidou, 1999;Runnels et al., 2009). According to some authors (e.g., Chapman, 1999;Runnels et al., 2009;Vencl, 1999) The Smilči c skeleton is also the first documented case of a Neolithic weapon still lodged in the skeleton from the territory of Croatia. ...
... However, CT shows a hyperdense area surrounding the foreign body with thickness of 1-2 mm, which corresponds to osteogenic sclerotic reaction around the fragment (Figure 5), indicating that the individual survived long enough for this reaction to take place.4 | DISCUSSIONIn recent years, numerous cases of violence have been recorded in a number of Neolithic sites across Europe (e.g.,Fernández-Crespo, 2017;Meyer, Lohr, Gronenborn, & Alt, 2015;Roksandic, Djuri c, Rakočevi c, & Seguin, 2006;Schutkowski, Schultz, & Holzgraefe, 1996).Additionally, skeletal evidence of injuries in prehistoric Europe has been thoroughly discussed inArmit, Knüsel, Robb, and Schulting (2006),Christensen (2004),Guilaine and Zammit (2005),Schulting and Fibiger (2012), and references therein. There is ample evidence of violent practices during the Neolithic in Central Europe, seen in the occurrence of mass graves with perimortem trauma dated to Linear Pottery Culture such as Asparn/Schletz,(Teschler-Nicola et al., 1999), Talheim(Wahl & Trautmann, 2012), and Schöneck-Kilianstädten(Meyer et al., 2015).At the moment, the case from Smilči c represents the earliest documented example of interpersonal violence on the eastern Adriatic coast. ...
Archaeological excavations at the Early/Middle Neolithic site at Smilčić‐Barice in 2016/2017, revealed skeletal remains of four people. Of particular interest is the skeleton from Grave 2, directly dated to 5616 and 5485 cal BCE, i.e. to the Early Neolithic Impresso Pottery Culture. The skeleton was positioned on its left side, in a crouched position with bended knees and its right arm flexed at the elbow. Based on metric and morphological observations, the skeleton belongs to a young male, aged between 25 and 35 years. The most interesting feature is a penetrating trauma, probably caused by a projectile, located at intertrochanteric crest on the posterior proximal side on the left femur. A 15x4x3 mm lithic fragment is still embedded in the bone. Due to post‐mortem damage around the injury it was not possible to establish possible signs of healing and/or inflammation. However, osteogenic reaction around the fragment is noted on CT, indicating survival for a longer period. This is the earliest example of interpersonal violence recorded on the eastern Adriatic coast.
... Since then, we have seen debates over the scale and implications of warfare in prehistoric Europe, where new empirical evidence has demonstrated a prevalence of violence in both societies with low hierarchies and even in organized egalitarian societies (Schulting 2013). The violent nature of Neolithic and Copper-Age societies has been demonstrated by a number of spectacular finds and findings, from the family massacre in a Corded Ware society in Eulau in Central Germany (Muhl et al. 2010) to similar massacres in Globular Amphora (Przybyla et al. 2013) and Linear Band ceramic communities (Christensen 2004;P e t r a s c h1999; Teschler-Nicola et al. 1997;W a h l and König 1987;c . f .S c h u l t i n ga n dF i b i g e r2012). ...
Warfare in Bronze Age Society takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society. The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture, materialized in a package of new efficient weapons that remained in use for millennia to come. Warfare became institutionalized and professionalized during the Bronze Age, and a new class of warriors made their appearance. Evidence for this development is reflected in the ostentatious display of weapons in burials and hoards, and in iconography, from rock art to palace frescoes. These new manifestations of martial culture constructed the warrior as a 'Hero' and warfare as 'Heroic'. The case studies, written by an international team of scholars, discuss these and other new aspects of Bronze Age warfare. Moreover, the essays show that warriors also facilitated mobility and innovation as new weapons would have quickly spread from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.
... If we move from units to institutions, while the causes of war have presented themselves as a focus of IR research since the discipline's inception, the discipline has been slow to pick up on archaeological debates about this issue (but see Snyder 2002 ). Where IR debates have largely focused on causes linked to human nature, regime types, and systemic factors ( Waltz 1959 ;Hobson 2017 ), archaeological debates tend to focus on the systemic question of scarcity of resources ( Keeley 1996 ;Carman and Harding 1999 ;Christensen 2004 ;Fry 2006 ). The fact that the oldest securely dated extant finds of skeletons suggesting violent death in numbers coincide with the beginnings of sedentarization in the old world as well as in the "new" one ( Carman and Harding 1999 , but see Keeley 1996 , 36ff.) strengthens explanations stressing systemic causes. ...
Archaeologically produced knowledge of prehistory has grown to a point where international relations (IR) may begin to incorporate it in their own work. In this article, we try to facilitate this process by introducing IR scholars to archaeology's material data and ways of thinking about it. New types of system units, such as households and kinship, emerged in prehistory and had effects on temporality and territoriality as well as knock-on effects on institutions, such as war and trade. If we understand the origins of these phenomena better, we are better equipped to understand how they work at the present time. Focusing on a key topic in IR, namely systems emergence, we splice archaeological and IR approaches to systems. Four key factors for systems emergence appear: competition for resources, interaction capacity, social imitation, and stable food resources. We then show how these factors were at work in the two earliest proto-systems to be found in Europe, namely House Polity Proto-systems (9000–4500 BCE) and Segmentary Polity Proto-systems (4500–2500 BCE). They are still active. We conclude that when studies of prehistoric systems, institutions, and practices point up deep structural factors like, we should not expect them to lose their relevance any time soon.
... importance of a given site. In general, and probably serving for defensive purposes, there would be huge ditches several metres deep accompanied by ramparts, palisades and/or stone walls, possibly including more complex constructions consisting of two or three ditches and/or ramparts in succession (e.g., Christensen, 2004;Osgood et al., 2000). Considerably, smaller ditches or isolated ramparts without ditches might delineate hillforts built only for special purposes, such as cultural, religious or astronomical (e.g., Oliva, 2004;Parkinson & Duffy, 2007;Zotti & Neubauer, 2011), but an absence of more complex fortification can be related also to the terrain situation at a given site or to a region or cultural period. ...
Hillforts are fortified archaeological sites built from the Neolithic to Early Middle Ages within the area of Europe. They were usually surrounded by fortifications consisting of various combinations of ramparts and ditches, which today constitute their most striking remains. Although magnetometry surveys are commonly used for spatial identification of ramparts and ditches, a different method must be employed for directly obtaining depth information. Hence, we evaluate the potential of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) for surveying hillfort fortifications. Within three hillforts of different ages in the Czech Republic, we investigated various features affecting the imaging ability of ERT, including bedrock type, building material, present‐day condition of fortification, impact of past or recent agricultural activities, and field settings of the ERT method. Supported by additional information from magnetometry and electromagnetic surveys, the results show that ERT is most applicable in cases of stony ramparts, ditches carved into rocky bedrock or well‐preserved earthen ramparts. Poorer results were achieved upon active and/or recently active agricultural lands, where fortifications have been gradually destroyed by ploughing. The remains of stony ramparts remained distinguishable in the latter case, but mere traces of earthen ramparts and ditches were invisible to ERT due to mixing of fortification material with on‐site soil. ERT is a unique method for detailed investigation of both ramparts and ditches by which a structure and its extent can be evaluated to indicate the function of a settlement and obtain information about former environmental conditions, population, land use and/or human–environmental interaction.
... Krigsførelse i bondestenalderen er fremlagt i bøger og artikler, bl.a. af L. H. Keeley, J. Guilaine og J. Zammit samt af J. Christensen (Keeley 1996;Guilaine og Zammit 1998;Christensen 2004). Her kan man laese om hvilke anlaeg og fund disse forfattere benytter til deres studier for at bevise forekomsten af krig i bondestenalderen. ...
... For instance, the first attempt at identifying the reasons for the violent death of late medieval individuals buried in a mass grave from the University Square (Bucharest, Romania) was recently documented 22 . Comparable examples to the analyzed sample set in terms of demographic profiles (high number of women and children) were best explained by raids 23 , attacks that usually result in killing everyone encountered 24 . The disorganized body positions and the absence of religious rites specific to the medieval period observed in the C58 complex suggest that these individuals were perhaps outsiders (geographical, social or religious), unwanted or without rights in the local community whose representatives are not evident, at this point, in the adjacent necropolis. ...
The historical province of Dobruja, located in southeastern Romania, has experienced intense human population movement, invasions, and conflictual episodes during the Middle Ages, being an important intersection point between Asia and Europe. The most informative source of maternal population histories is the complete mitochondrial genome of archaeological specimens, but currently, there is insufficient ancient DNA data available for the medieval period in this geographical region to complement the archaeological findings. In this study, we reconstructed, by using Next Generation Sequencing, the entire mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of six medieval individuals neglectfully buried in a multiple burial from Capidava necropolis (Dobruja), some presenting signs of a violent death. Six distinct maternal lineages (H11a1, U4d2, J1c15, U6a1a1, T2b, and N1a3a) with different phylogenetic background were identified, pointing out the heterogeneous genetic aspect of the analyzed medieval group. Using population genetic analysis based on high-resolution mitochondrial data, we inferred the genetic affinities of the available medieval dataset from Capidava to other ancient Eurasian populations. The genetic data were integrated with the archaeological and anthropological information in order to sketch a small, local piece of the mosaic that is the image of medieval European population history.
... Violence targeted at the integrity of the human body may affect both individuals and populations and may be intentionally lethal or non-lethal, depending on scale and specific context. Compared to indirect archaeological evidence of violence, like weapons or defensive structures (Christensen 2004), the human skeleton is the sole direct indicator for violent episodes targeted at people that actually occurred in the prehistoric past and which thereby may provide insight into their social meanings (Martin and Harrod 2015). While isolated cases of individual victims of violence are known for several species of fossil hominids (e.g. ...
In Central Europe, the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) is the first archaeological culture that left behind a significant number of standardised grave features. These are mostly individual burials in cemeteries or settlements, in which the deceased were placed with care and were often accompanied by various grave goods. In addition, several sites of mass burial are now known for the LBK, which are mainly characterised by haphazard body positions, the absence of grave goods, and, in most cases, obvious signs of perimortem lethal violence. The number of individuals from the deviant mass burial sites allows the identification of significant demographic and injury patterns, which likely reflect the different contextual backgrounds for each site and may inform about past social practices. These patterns are examined in this paper.
... Since then, we have seen debates over the scale and implications of warfare in prehistoric Europe, where new empirical evidence has demonstrated a prevalence of violence in both societies with low hierarchies and even in organized egalitarian societies (Schulting 2013). The violent nature of Neolithic and Copper-Age societies has been demonstrated by a number of spectacular finds and findings, from the family massacre in a Corded Ware society in Eulau in Central Germany (Muhl et al. 2010) to similar massacres in Globular Amphora (Przybyla et al. 2013) and Linear Band ceramic communities (Christensen 2004;P e t r a s c h1999; Teschler-Nicola et al. 1997;W a h l and König 1987;c . f .S c h u l t i n ga n dF i b i g e r2012). ...
Warfare in Bronze Age Society takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society. The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture, materialized in a package of new efficient weapons that remained in use for millennia to come. Warfare became institutionalized and professionalized during the Bronze Age, and a new class of warriors made their appearance. Evidence for this development is reflected in the ostentatious display of weapons in burials and hoards, and in iconography, from rock art to palace frescoes. These new manifestations of martial culture constructed the warrior as a 'Hero' and warfare as 'Heroic'. The case studies, written by an international team of scholars, discuss these and other new aspects of Bronze Age warfare. Moreover, the essays show that warriors also facilitated mobility and innovation as new weapons would have quickly spread from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.
... According to most researchers the identifi cation of specialized combat weapons before the Bronze Age is debatable and problematic and probably in attacks items were used which could have been made primarily for hunting (arrows, spears, slings) or working purposes (axes, adzes) (e.g. Vencl 1999;Chapman 1999;Christensen 2004 et al.). Only the stone mace heads are almost unanimously assumed to have been used for close combat (Keeley 1996, 50;Chapman 1999, 111;Hamblin 2006, 20). ...
... Chapman 1999;Roksandic et al. 2006; Ivanova 2007;2008;Runnels et al. 2009. 2 E.g., Chapman 1999Christensen 2004. 3 Boyadzhiev K. 2011 Boyadzhiev K. 2014a. ...
This paper considers the available evidence on warfare in the Chalcolithic of Bulgaria (fifth millennium BC) such as
weapons, fortifications, skeletal traumas etc., on the background of the cultural and social transformations that took
place during this period. The analysis shows that armed conflicts were probably among the principal factors involved
in the processes that led to the formation of the large Late Chalcolithic cultural complexes in the Balkans and in the
causes for their collapse.
... Such a pattern may be explained by population growth or the emergence of new cultivation methods, which allowed people to exploit an increasing amount of land, including more marginal areas. This resulted in increased territorial demands, thus leading to the construction of causewayed enclosures from around 4400 cal BC, which may have served as structures of refuge in times of stress and conflict (e.g., Christensen 2004;Gronenborn 2010). Continuous conflicts in Michelsberg society over territorial rights and struggle for arable land could have served as a push effect, which may have led to the contemporary migration of pioneering farmers to the British Isles, Netherlands, northern Germany, northern Poland and South Scandinavia around 4000 cal BC (e.g., Louwe Kooijmans 2007;Hartz et al. 2007;Sheridan 2010;Rowley-Conwy 2011;Papiernik 2012;Sørensen, Karg 2014;Sørensen 2014) ( Fig. 21). ...
In this paper, it is argued that agriculture is a very complex technology, which takes a long time to learn, thus making it very difficult for agrarian practises to spread as ideas. Instead, based on a detailed survey of primary agrarian evidence (direct 14C dates of cereals and domesticated animals) and secondary evidence of material culture (polished axes and pottery), it is claimed that the expansions of agrarian practises in South Scandinavia are associated with the migration of farmers who were related to the Michelsberg Culture. These incoming farmers had the appropriate skills and the ability to teach the indigenous hunter-gatherer populations about agriculture by establishing communities of practice, a fact which supports the theory of integrationism. The engagement in these communities of practise changed the identity and material culture of the immigrating farmers, as well as the indigenous hunter-gatherers, thus creating new agrarian societies in South Scandinavia which were interconnected in a regional as well as larger European network.
... In the nine studied sites, either the wall or the trench (or both) topographies are still visible on the LiDAR images, or clear references in the literature exist about the archaeological stratigraphy and the spatial distribution of the archaeological remains. We refer to the settlements with surrounding walls as fortresses or fortified settlements, as for the Neolithic period it is unclear whether all these walls assumed a defensive role in war times (Florescu, 1966(Florescu, , 1971Christensen, 2005;Parkinson and Duffy, 2007). For example, Florescu (1971) reports that Hallstatt and La T ene Thraco-Getic fortresses were used mainly for protection when the surrounding settlements were under attack. ...
Landslides are widespread phenomena that contribute to shape the landscape. Assessing the time
sequence of landslide activity during the Holocene can help (i) better frame the present day landslide
distribution in the wider context of climate change and (ii) better define landslide hazard to take
adequate mitigation measures to preserve the elements at risk such as archaeological heritage and
currently used structures and infrastructures. Rigorous image interpretation criteria applied to the
interpretation of remote sensing images can be a valuable tool to derive information on landslide spatial
and temporal distribution. However, it only allows to broadly estimate the relative age of landslides
based on their morphologic signature. In this work, we investigate the topological relations between
landslides and archaeologic sites for nine selected settlements in the Moldavian Plateau, situated on
ridges and hillslopes. Landslides and sites were mapped using high resolution LiDAR DEMs and extensive
field validation activities. Landslides were classified as very old (relict), old, and recent, according to their
morphologic appearance. We argue the possibility of (i) assigning a relative age to the three main classes
of landslides as they appear on the present day topography, and (ii) assessing the landslide activity
during the Holocene. Using this information, we set up a model of landslide evolution during the Ho-
locene for the lowland of Eastern Carpathians. Based on collected data, we cannot exclude the Pleisto-
cene age for some very old landslides, whereas the old and recent landslides appeared during the
Holocene. We think this approach can be extended to other archaeological sites of the study area, and to
other areas. Furthermore, similar studies can prove useful for landslide hazard analyses, helping to adopt
adequate protection and mitigation measures, framed in a climate change scenario.
... Keywords: LBK, human skeletons, manipulation, warfare, crisis, trauma Obwohl als generelles Phänomen immer wieder postuliert, sind archäologisch-anthropologische Belege für krisenhafte Zustände im Neolithikum nach wie vor selten. Die Identifikation eindeutiger Hinweise auf kriegerische Ereignisse im archäologischen und osteologischen Fundmaterial ist mitunter problematisch (Christensen 2004). Die deutlichsten Belege für gewalttätige Auseinandersetzungen datieren in das Frühneolithikum und sind mit der Linienbandkeramik (LBK) in Verbindung zu bringen; über die Verwendung der Bezeichnung "Krieg" in diesem Zusammenhang existieren allerdings unterschiedliche Ansichten und Definitionen (Peter-Röcher 2007, 14-26). ...
Warfare in Bronze Age Society takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society. The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture, materialized in a package of new efficient weapons that remained in use for millennia to come. Warfare became institutionalized and professionalized during the Bronze Age, and a new class of warriors made their appearance. Evidence for this development is reflected in the ostentatious display of weapons in burials and hoards, and in iconography, from rock art to palace frescoes. These new manifestations of martial culture constructed the warrior as a 'Hero' and warfare as 'Heroic'. The case studies, written by an international team of scholars, discuss these and other new aspects of Bronze Age warfare. Moreover, the essays show that warriors also facilitated mobility and innovation as new weapons would have quickly spread from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.
Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species… will tend to the preservation of that individual and will generally be inherited by its offspring.
Armaments from the Lower Oder Basin in the Roman Period on the Basis of Burial Grounds at Czelin (ex-Zellin), Stare Łysogórki (ex-Alt Lietzegöricke), and Żelisławiec (ex-Sinzlow), distr. GryfinoInvestigations of the burial ground at Czelin, Gryfino district, site 23 (AZP 45-04/5) yielded 191 features dated from phase A3 of the Late Pre-Roman Period to subphase C1b of the Roman Period. Cremation burials are in the majority. Only one inhumation grave was discovered. The collection of the recovered weapons includes nine swords (five single-edged, i.a. types Biborski B/1, D/1, and D/2), four double-edged (i.a. types Vimose-Illerup, Lachmirowice-Apa, and agladius), 29 heads of shafted weapons (i.a. groups Kaczanowski I, II, III, VIII, X, XVII), 19 shield-bosses (Jahn 5, Jahn 6, Jahn 7, and Jahn 8), 14 shield grips (Jahn 6, Jahn 7, and Jahn 9), four spurs, and two arrowheads. The most interesting weapons are the above-mentioned Vimose-Illerup sword, Pompeii gladius, and decorated spearheads. The typological identifications of the weapons refer to the Przeworsk culture ones, and the pottery vessels correspond with atradition from the Elbe River area. Scandinavian influence is also noticeable in the weapons (aHval-type head, an Illerup Ådal-type sword) and tools, such as needle-shaped strike-a-lights. This is typical situation in the lower Oder River region.
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The archaeology of warfare and violent conflict has made many advances over the past three decades. However, the Funnel‐beaker Culture (TRB) is mostly absent from these discussions and the presence of warriors is assigned to the succeeding periods. This contribution takes a new look at a conspicuous object from northern TRB contexts: the so‐called thick flint points or halberds (dan. dolkstaver). Their functionality as a specialized weapon is discussed through their use wear, contexts and European comparisons. Afterwards the evidence for violent conflict in the region is explored thematically, including paleo‐demography, victims, enemies, and fortifications. Based on this it is argued that warfare existed during the TRB culture and that warriors may emerge in a society that seems of a largely egalitarian structure.
For over a century the causewayed enclosures have defined an increasing part of the research in Early Neolithic Britain. These enigmatic monuments have been interpreted as all from defensive structures to settlements and rally point. Through use‐wear analysis of flint artefacts from selected sites such as Etton, Staines, Windmill Hill, Caerau in Wales this thesis seeks to characterise some of the activities that these artefacts represent. By generating life‐biographies of the flint artefacts, the thesis explores and compares the tradition of deposition across the Early Neolithic in northern Europe. Therefore, as a comparison, the causewayed enclosure Sarup I from Denmark has been incorporated to accentuate the similarities or differences between the two regions. In addition to the enclosures, two other sites have been selected to investigate the potential similarities in activities between these sites. One site is the long barrow Ascott‐under‐Wychwood, which is a site with settlement areas, such as a house and a midden before a long barrow is constructed over the domestic areas. This site has enabled an insight into the diachronic change from a living space to a space for the dead. The other site is a contemporary settlement, Skaghorn (Denmark), that equally has served to compare activities between the enclosures and more mundane sites.
This study has qualified a rare and nuanced understanding of the role that flint artefacts played in the event of deposition at the causewayed enclosures. The flint artefacts are involved in both cycles of curation and immediate use in the event of deposition in the ditches at the monuments.Moreover, the use‐wear analysis of the deposited flint artefacts highlights the selectiveness behind the composition of structured deposit at the selected causewayed enclosures.
Inferred European Holocene population size exhibits large fluctuations, particularly around the onset of farming. We attempt to find explanations for these fluctuations by employing the concept of cycling, especially that of the Adaptive Cycle. We base our analysis on chronologically and chorologically highly resolved ceramic and site data from the Linear Pottery culture (Germ. Linearbandkermik) of the early Neolithic of southwestern Central Europe. Typological seriation with dendrochronological anchor dates provides the age model for these data. Ceramic motifs are analysed with respect to the temporally changing diversity in decoration. The temporal sequence of major decoration motifs is interpreted as an indicator of social diversity: when stylistic diversity is low, social diversity is low and vice versa. The sequence of secondary decoration motifs is interpreted in terms of individual lineage emphasis: when this diversity is low, there is strong emphasis on individual lineage and vice versa. The diversity time series are complemented by a relative population size indicator derived from the count of occupational features. Diversity and population size share a shape that is typical for (part of) an Adaptive Cycle, and they differ in their positioning on the time axis-they are time-lagged. By relating the different curves to the (metaphorical) stages of the Adaptive Cycle, we find that these cycles progress at non-identical speed in different aspects of a social system. By relating the social dynamics to well-dated and highly resolved climate fluctuation records, we find evidence that severe climate excursions shaped the location of tipping points in the social system and that these social tipping points precede inferred population decline by several generations.
Inferred European Holocene population size exhibits large fluctuations, particularly around the onset of farming. We attempt to find explanations for these fluctuations by employing the concept of cycling, especially that of the Adaptive Cycle. We base our analysis on chronologically and chorologically highly resolved ceramic and site data from the Linear Pottery culture (Germ. Linearbandkermik) of the early Neolithic of southwestern Central Europe. Typological seriation with dendrochronological anchor dates provides the age model for these data. Ceramic motifs are analysed with respect to the temporally changing diversity in decoration. The temporal sequence of major decoration motifs is interpreted as an indicator of social diversity: when stylistic diversity is low, social diversity is low and vice versa. The sequence of secondary decoration motifs is interpreted in terms of individual lineage emphasis: when this diversity is low, there is strong emphasis on individual lineage and vice versa. The diversity time series are complemented by a relative population size indicator derived from the count of occupational features. Diversity and population size share a shape that is typical for (part of) an Adaptive Cycle, and they differ in their positioning on the time axis-they are time-lagged. By relating the different curves to the (metaphorical) stages of the Adaptive Cycle, we find that these cycles progress at non-identical speed in different aspects of a social system. By relating the social dynamics to well-dated and highly resolved climate fluctuation records, we find evidence that severe climate excursions shaped the location of tipping points in the social system and that these social tipping points precede inferred population decline by several generations.
This paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that partly originated in the culturally-heterogeneous Middle Neolithic. Four aspects seem to have been essential to this process: the rise of the warrior figure, the reintroduction of metal, increased agricultural production, and the establishment of one of the characteristic features of the Bronze Age, the chieftain hall. These aspects do not appear simultaneously but are introduced stepby- step starting out in the late Middle Neolithic and early Late Neolithic to fully develop around 2000 BC. Consequently, this paper argues that the final Late Neolithic (LN II, c. 1950-1700 BC) was de facto part of the Earliest Bronze Age.
The difficulty in identifying acts of intentional injury in the past has limited the extent to which archaeologists have been able to discuss the nature of interpersonal violence in prehistory. Experimental replication of cranial trauma has proved particularly problematic due to the lack of test analogues that are sufficiently comparable to the human skull. A new material now overcomes this issue, and for the first time allows accurate insight into the effects of different weapons and different blows in inflicting cranial injury; in this case, blunt force trauma caused using a replica of the 'Thames Beater' Neolithic wooden club.
The Neolithic and the spread of agriculture saw several introductions of insect species associated with the environments and activities of the first farmers. Fossil insect research from the Neolithic lake settlement of Dispilio in Macedonia, northern Greece, provides evidence for the early European introduction of a flightless weevil, the granary weevil, Sitophilus granarius, which has since become cosmopolitan and one of the most important pests of stored cereals. The records of the granary weevil from the middle Neolithic in northern Greece illuminate the significance of surplus storage for the spread of agriculture. The granary weevil and the house fly, Musca domestica were also introduced in the Neolithic of central Europe, with the expansion of Linear Band Keramik (LBK) culture groups. This paper reviews Neolithic insect introductions in Europe, including storage pests, discusses their distribution during different periods and the reasons behind the trends observed. Storage farming may be differentiated from pastoral farming on the basis of insect introductions arriving with incoming agricultural groups.
The influence of products and urban structures on citizens’ security has been explored and exploited across civilisations. Rarely, though, has the research in this field been as vibrant as now. Examples of research and development work can be found in many disciplines and on various scales. They concern the design of street furniture to prevent bicycle theft, identification of urban topological structures that can reduce drug dealing, development of structures that can resist pressure waves from explosive devices, and improvement of buildings’ resilience to toxic agents. In spite of this breadth of knowledge, there is still a significant gap between architecture, design and crime science. To shed a light on the underexploited connections between these disciplines, we examine the cultural and methodological differences that characterise them. Using the problem-solving approach promoted by crime scientists as support for cross-disciplinary analysis, we then discuss its compatibility with architecture and design practices. Finally, we summarise our analysis with a list of recommendations for the development of postgraduate course curricula that support collaborative work in security and crime science.
RESUMEN La llegada del Neolítico supuso una serie de cambios de gran trascendencia que no afectaron únicamente a la subsistencia, la economía y los patrones de asentamiento, sino también al ámbito funerario y al comportamiento ritual y simbólico. Acercarse a esta dimensión simbólica es una ardua tarea desde el punto de vista arqueológico, algo que se acentúa en el caso del Neolítico antiguo al ser mucho más reducidas sus manifestaciones funerarias. Acudiendo a la antropología y especialmente a la etnoarqueología, que nos ofrece un sinfín de situaciones y ejemplos, trataremos de desentrañar el significado de las evidencias arqueológicas tan variadas que podemos encontrar en el tratamiento del cuerpo humano en los primeros momentos de la neolitización.
Palabras Clave: Neolítico antiguo, enterramientos, etnoarqueología, ritual, simbolismo.
ABSTRACT The arrival of the Neolithic brought important changes which had an impact not only on aspects such as economy, human settlement or subsistence, but also on funerary practices, rituals and symbolism. The aim of this paper is to make an approach to these mortuary rites in the Early Neolithic in an specific area, the Northern Plateau (Spain). Evidences in relation to these kind of practices are scarce but very meaningful. Anthropology and ethnoarqueology can be very useful in the study of the funerary practices. Therefore we compare the archaeological record with other mortuary practices from ethnographic societies. The purpose of this work is to find a relationship between archaeological evidence and ethnographic practice to understand the symbolic world of prehistoric populations.
Inferred European Holocene population size exhibits large fluctuations, particularly around the onset of
farming. We attempt to find explanations for these fluctuations by employing the concept of cycling,
especially that of the Adaptive Cycle. We base our analysis on chronologically and chorologically highly
resolved ceramic and site data from the Linear Pottery culture (Germ. Linearbandkermik) of the early
Neolithic of southwestern Central Europe. Typological seriation with dendrochronological anchor dates
provides the age model for these data. Ceramic motifs are analysed with respect to the temporally
changing diversity in decoration. The temporal sequence of major decoration motifs is interpreted as an
indicator of social diversity: when stylistic diversity is low, social diversity is low and vice versa. The
sequence of secondary decoration motifs is interpreted in terms of individual lineage emphasis: when
this diversity is low, there is strong emphasis on individual lineage and vice versa. The diversity time
series are complemented by a relative population size indicator derived from the count of occupational
features. Diversity and population size share a shape that is typical for (part of) an Adaptive Cycle, and
they differ in their positioning on the time axisdthey are time-lagged. By relating the different curves to
the (metaphorical) stages of the Adaptive Cycle, we find that these cycles progress at non-identical speed
in different aspects of a social system. By relating the social dynamics to well-dated and highly resolved
climate fluctuation records, we find evidence that severe climate excursions shaped the location of
tipping points in the social system and that these social tipping points precede inferred population
decline by several generations.
This review focuses on the technical and social details of production, training, and use of archery equipment by a Native American tribe, the Apaches. The study aims to understand the use of the bow in the Mesolithic and Early and Middle Neolithic societies of the Old World. The paper further describes arrow ballistics. An arrow and bow with similar dimensions and materials to those used by the Apaches was reconstructed and used in ballistic experiments. Shooting and the subsequent model calculation showed that the effective range of arrows made of reed and projected by a bow of medium strength (16–18kg) was not more than approx. 20m. Due to the initial flat part of the ballistic trajectory, such arrows were quite efficient in close-range contests. Within the model calculation, a regression procedure was introduced to determine the arrow air-drag parameters from an ensemble of shots.
The three main types of tanged flint arrowheads (A, B, and C) characteristic of the Neolithic Pitted Ware hunter, fisher and gatherers of southwestern Scandinavia are traditionally viewed as chronological conditioned. However, recent studies have shown their simultaneity during the early 3rd millennium BC. Based on a study of more than 1500 arrowheads from Denmark and western Sweden, this paper explains the stylistic variation of the Pitted Ware arrowheads as functional determined representing two main categories: relatively short and wide hunting arrowheads (type A) and long and slender war arrowheads (type C). Type B represents a multifunctional group of arrowheads that mixes features from type A and C. Furthermore, diverging production schemes (schema opératoire) used for the shaping of hunting arrowheads has helped to identify social groupings within the larger southwestern Scandinavian Pitted Ware complex and contact across the Kattegat during the Middle Neolithic.
The Neolithic and Eneolithic settlement site at Alba Iulia-Lumea Nouă was discovered by chance in the early 1940’s, when the area was subject to public utility works. The site has provided evidence of habitation by Vinča, Lumea Nouă, Foeni, and Petreşti cultures, spanning the Transylvanian middle Neolithic to the middle Eneolithic, c. 5000-4250 BC. Continuing residential development of the area necessitated a rescue excavation at the Lumea Nouă site in August and September 2015. This paper introduces the results from that archaeological excavation, and the osteological analysis undertaken on commingled human material recovered from a burial pit discovered during the excavation.
The aim of this paper is to provide an osteological analysis of the disarticulated human skeletal remains excavated in Trench I/2011 at Alba Iulia-Lumea Noua (Romania), which will reveal crucial evidence into the lifestyle and culture of this population and will also provide important clues about burial customs and the treatment of the dead during the Early Eneolithic period. It is important to emphasise that a full skeletal inventory has yet to be undertaken and may provide further information for the interpretation of the data.
Continuing residential development of the area necessitated a rescue excavation at the Lumea Noua site in August and September 2015. This paper introduces the results from the archaeological excavation, and the osteological analysis undertaken on human material recovered from a burial pit discovered during excavation. Initial analysis of the burial sequence in the pit shows deposition of single, disarticulated skeletal elements, articulated limbs detached from the rest of the body, and articulated whole bodies. The human material from the burial pit at Lumea Noua 2015, currently comprises 16 individuals. There are seven adults; three females aged 40-45+, two males aged between 17 and 30 years old, and two individuals of indeterminate sex aged between 17 and 35 years old. There are one adolescent (<18 years), two nine year olds, one six year old and one 4 year old. There are also one adolescent, a three year old, a one year old and a perinate (near birth or new-born), along with various un- Associated skeletal elements. Blunt force trauma to the skull - single and multiple impact zones - was observed in nine of the skeletons (unhealed fractures). Using a Bayesian analysis, we have modelled the dates from Pit 1 - Trench II/2015, which suggests a time frame of around 4400 BC: Start 4691-4372 BC (95.4%), mean 4512 BC; End 4456-4186 BC (95.4%), mean 4352 BC. It is believed that the human remains from the Pit 1 (Trench II/2015) were deposited around this time.
Zusammenfassung
Stabdolche gelten nach wie vor in weiten Teilen der europäischen Forschung als relativ kurzlebige Erscheinung der Frühbronzezeit. In diesem Beitrag wird für eine erste Nachweisbarkeit von Stabdolchen aus Kupfer und Kupferlegierungen in der ersten Hälfte des 4. Jts. v. Chr. plädiert. Im Weiteren wird aufgezeigt, dass die Idee, Klingen und Spitzen stabdolchartig zu schäften, bereits im vierten und frühen dritten Jts. v. Chr. von Zentralitalien bis nach Südskandinavien weit verbreitet war. Diskutiert werden eine rechtwinklige Schäftung und der Gebrauch „dicker Spitzen“ der Trichterbecherkultur als Waffe. In die Diskussion einbezogen werden Gebrauchsspuranalysen von 115 Klingen. Erörtert wird eine Waffenfunktion der sog. Geweihspitzen aus den Seeufersiedlungen der Schweiz sowie der Versuch einiger Forscher, die Idee, Waffen stabdolchartig zu schäften, zeitlich und geografisch zu verorten. Als technologischer Ursprung werden Werkzeuge benannt, die es aufgrund ihrer Multifunktionalität möglich erscheinen lassen, dass sich Stabdolche als innovative neue Waffe an verschiedenen Orten und zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten entwickelten.
This volume provides the results of a 30-year excavation, reconstruction, and public interpretation campaign at the late prehistoric inland promontory settlement of Castell Henllys, here focusing on the defensive sequence and the role of monumentality in later prehistory. The site has international significance because of the extensive excavations of the Iron Age palisaded settlement and later earthen ramparts, complex gateway, and chevaux-de-frise of upright stones. It is now widely recognised that the Iron Age consisted of many regional cultural traditions, and the excavations at Castell Henllys provide a vital contrast to the well-known large hillfort communities in other parts of England and Wales as well as across Europe. As such, it is a unique window into a widespread but largely ignored site category and form of social and economic organisation. The publication will provide a case study for the construction and use of the earthworks of a major European late prehistoric settlement type - the Iron Age hillfort; the monumental construction is compared with other communal investments such as the Mississippian mounds. It will also offer an innovative form of site reporting, including alternative interpretations of the earthworks as either military defences or the community-binding symbols. Along with Excavation, Experiment and Heritage Interpretation: Castell Henllys Hillfort Then and Now, these books will be required reading by those studying the late prehistoric archaeology of Britain and Europe at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate level, and by those in North America studying complex societies, monumentality and ways of writing archaeology. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013. All rights are reserved.
The cultural change during the process of neolithisation in the Weser-Harz region did not take place in revolutionary rapidity but, as elsewhere, extended over a long period of time. This can be investigated on the basis of different scale levels. At the north-western periphery of the LBK ecumenic territory the regionally differentiated agricultural colonization can be traced in an exemplary manner. It is noteworthy that not all available loess areas were settled. Under conditions favourable for observation - as they are for instance found in the Golden Mark - the process of neolithisation can be followed in detail. The interpretation of several assemblages of material as supposed meso-neolithic contact finds does not stand to reason of critical examination.
This thesis focuses on a diachronic investigation of the agrarian expansions in Scandinavia from the early 4th millennium to the end of the 1st millennium BC, and presents a wide range of new data from stray finds and 14C dates of domesticated animals, as well gathering previously published data relating to agrarian evidence and material culture. Its temporal and geographical range provides the basis for a discussion of some of the overall questions associated with when, how and why these expansions of agrarian societies occurred in Scandinavia. It is argued that agriculture is a very complex technology, which takes a long time to learn, thus making it very difficult for agrarian practices to spread as an idea. Instead, based on a detailed survey of primary agrarian evidence and secondary evidence of material culture, it is suggested that the expansions of agrarian practices in Scandinavia are associated with the migration of people. These people had the right competences and the ability to teach the indigenous population about agriculture by establishing communities of practice, thus supporting the theory of integrationism. The engagement in these communities of practice would have changed the identity and material culture of the immigrating farmers, as well as the indigenous hunter-gatherers, thus creating new agrarian societies. A major part of the thesis focuses on the earliest agrarian expansion during the early Funnel Beaker culture, which may have been brought about by immigrating farmers, who originated from the Michelsberg culture. The reasons why the earliest expansion during the Early Funnel Beaker culture stopped in Central Sweden, may have included that the regions further north were characterized by poorer soils and a colder climate, thus decreasing the possibilities for agrarian activities. Furthermore, the greater distances between people could have made it more difficult to maintain connections with any larger agrarian networks. A secondary focus was placed upon the expansion from South Scandinavia towards Central Scandinavia during the late 3rd millennium BC, which may have been associated with the Bell Beaker culture and the Late Neolithic period. In addition, another expansion from Central Scandinavia towards North Scandinavia was associated with the Nordic Bronze Age. These expansions to Central and northern Scandinavia seem to have been dependent on innovations of a logistical nature, which made it possible to maintain contact with a larger network. Such innovations first emerged with the construction of large seagoing ships during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. In connection with the agrarian expansions, it was possible to identify certain patterns and stages of migrations, which included evidence associated with scouting expeditions, push and pull effects, pioneering phases, return migrations and consolidation phases. Scouting expeditions may have been initiated due to several push effects at the place of origin, which often included an intensified use of the landscape caused by population growth or the emergence of new agrarian technologies. The scouting expeditions were followed by an actual pioneering phase, characterized by a rapid appearance of agrarian evidence and an agrarian material culture distributed in small islands of sites, which could be interpreted as enclaves of migrating farmers, as observed in South Scandinavia during the Early Funnel Beaker culture or south-western Norway in the Late Neolithic. The pioneering phases were often followed by a consolidation phase, in which technological innovations of an economic, logistic and symbolic character could create the foundations for an intensified usage of the landscape, which later may have resulted in further scouting expeditions and pioneering expansions.
This excellent introductory textbook describes and explains the origins of modern culture- the dawn of agriculture in the Neolithic area. Written in an easy-to-read style, this lively and engaging book familiarises the reader with essential archaeological and genetic terms and concepts, explores the latest evidence from scientific analyses as varied as deep sea coring, pollen identification, radiometric dating and DNA research, condensing them into an up-to-date academic account, specifically written to be clear even the novice reader. Focusing primarily on sites in southwest Asia, Neolithic addresses questions such as: • Which plants and animals were the first to be domesticated, and how? • How did life change when people began farming? • What were the first villages like? • What do we know about the social, political and religious life of these newly founded societies? • What happened to human health as a result of the Neolithic Revolution? Lavishly illustrated with almost a hundred images, this enjoyable book is an ideal introduction both for students of archaeology and for general readers interested in our past.
The paper deals with the question of the existence and intensity of armed violence at different stages of the Palaeolithic. The first two sections provide a review and analysis of the osteological and representational evidence relevant to the question. The third section considers the problem of changes in the frequency of violence and how, or whether, it can be assessed. With this purpose in mind, the author compiles data on the age and character of all the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic human and animal bones with embedded projectiles, which are available in the literature (tabl. 1 and 2). It turns out that while for the time prior to ∼ 15 ka only animal bones with imbedded projectiles are known in the Old World (10 bones of 10 animals from 9 sites in Western and Eastern Europe, Western Asia and Siberia), the subsequent period shows a sharp increase in the number of human bones of the kind, which became nearly as numerous (29 bones of 27 persons from 17 sites) as the animal ones. Given that the quantity of excavated faunal remains is several orders of magnitude greater than the quantity of paleoanthropological finds, the parity in the numbers of projectile-pierced remains may signify some important changes in the dynamics of violence (and social life in general) at the end of the Palaeolithic.
Die archäologische Erforschung des Phänomens »Krieg« führte in den letzten 25 Jahren zu einem außerordentlichen Erkenntnisgewinn: Schlachtfelder und Befestigungen wur-den ausgegraben, Massengräber geborgen, unzählige Skelette mit Verletzungsspuren untersucht, Waffen sowie bildhafte Darstellungen und historische Texte analysiert. In diesem Begleitband zur Sonderausstellung im Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale) wird der Frage nachgegangen, wann Krieg erstmals in Erscheinung tritt und wie es dazu kommt. Nach Überlegungen zur Definition von »Krieg« und Bezügen zur Ethnologie sowie zum Konfliktverhalten von Schimpansen wird der Mensch und sein kriegerisches Verhalten in den Vordergrund gerückt: beginnend mit den frühesten nachweis baren Konflikten der Menschheitsgeschichte in der Steinzeit und endend mit umfangreichen kriege rischen Auseinandersetzungen während der Bronzezeit. Hier spielt das neu entdeckte, mehr als 3000 Jahre alte Schlachtfeld vom Tollensetal eine besondere Rolle. Die aktuellen Forschungen auf dem Schlachtfeld von Lützen (1632) lenken schlaglichtartig den Blick in die jüngere Vergangenheit: Am Beispiel eines ge-borgenen Massengrabes werden die Spuren aufgedeckt, die der Dreißigjährige Krieg in Mitteldeutschland hinterlassen hat.
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