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Papers by Paul Halstead

Environmental Archaeology, Jun 1, 1998

Peeters Publishers eBooks, Aug 4, 2021

Journal of Archaeological Science, Nov 1, 1986

The Annual of the British School at Athens, Nov 1, 1977

One of the specialist contributions often appended to an archaeological report is the analysis of... more One of the specialist contributions often appended to an archaeological report is the analysis of human skeletal material. Such an analysis is rarely of sufficient interest to be included in the main report, largely because the excavator has not set pertinent and soluble problems for the analyst. The time of specialists has been wasted measuring morphological minutiae in a vain attempt to track down quasi-tribal entities in which archaeologists no longer believe. The assessment of the age and sex of a skeleton, however, follows a firm methodology, is far less time-consuming, and yields relevant information.

Antiquity, Dec 1, 1989

Ritual, or apparently ritual, burials of Iron Age date are not uncommon in Britain. However, most... more Ritual, or apparently ritual, burials of Iron Age date are not uncommon in Britain. However, most of those for which records survive were recovered in less than ideal circumstances or from sites which are not securely dated. This example was recovered in recent excavations of a well-dated site, and from an area of Britain for which evidence of Iron Age burial practices is unusually scanty.

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research eBooks, Sep 10, 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science, Oct 1, 2009

Variations in the 13 C/ 12 C ratios of wheat grain at different spatial and temporal scales are e... more Variations in the 13 C/ 12 C ratios of wheat grain at different spatial and temporal scales are examined by analysis of modern samples, including harvests of einkorn and durum wheat from Greece, and serve as a guide to interpreting data for Bronze Age grains from Assiros Toumba. The normal distribution and low variability of  13 C values of einkorn from 24 containers in the Assiros storerooms are consistent with pooling of local harvests, but less likely to represent the harvest of several years or include grain imported from further afield. Correlation between emmer and spelt  13 C values provides strong support for other evidence that these were grown together as a maslin crop. 13 C discrimination () for the Bronze Age samples is estimated to be 2.5‰ larger than at present, and would be consistent with an intensive, horticultural regime of cereal cultivation, possibly involving some watering.

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Exzellenzcluster 264 Topoi eBooks, Nov 20, 2015

This paper explores the relationship between mundane domestic and more formal meals in recent rur... more This paper explores the relationship between mundane domestic and more formal meals in recent rural Greece, as a prelude to a diachronic examination of the range of commensal behavior through the Neolithic and Bronze Age of the same region. Analysis of recent practices highlights the role of a hierarchy of low-to high-value foods. While Neolithic commensality beyond the household emphasizes equality and collective cohesion, formal commensality takes a strikingly and increasingly diacritical form through the Bronze Age. It is argued that Bronze Age diacritical commensality was part of a broader strategy of elite 'choreography' of social life. A hierarchy of foods, which linked diacritical behavior, labor mobilization and risk buffering, may have played a critical role in driving this trajectory of change.

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Oct 18, 2014

Oxbow Books, Dec 31, 2016

Skrifter utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen, 2013

Table of contents 7 Preface 9 JENNY WALLENSTEN & GUNNEL EKROTH | Introduction: bones of contentio... more Table of contents 7 Preface 9 JENNY WALLENSTEN & GUNNEL EKROTH | Introduction: bones of contention? 15 GUNNEL EKROTH | What we would like the bones to tell us: a sacrificial wish list 31 ARMELLE GARDEISEN | L'assemblage osseux comme un dernier état de la présence animale en contexte archéologique Gestuelle et comportements vis-à-vis de l'animal 51 MARIA VRETEMARK | Evidence of animal offerings in Iron Age Scandinavia 61 KATERINA TRANTALIDOU | Dans l'ombre du rite : vestiges d'animaux et pratiques sacrificielles en Grèce antique Note sur la diversité des contextes et les difficultés de recherche rencontrées

Agronomy for Sustainable Development

Food security depends on the ability of staple crops to tolerate new abiotic and biotic pressures... more Food security depends on the ability of staple crops to tolerate new abiotic and biotic pressures. Wheat, barley, and other small grains face substantial yield losses under all climate change scenarios. Intra-plot diversification is an important strategy for smallholder farmers to mitigate losses due to variable environmental conditions. While this commonly involves sowing polycultures of distinct species from different botanical families in the same field or multiple varieties of the same species (varietal mixtures), mixed plantings of multiple species from the same family are less well known. However, the sowing of maslins, or cereal species mixtures, was formerly widespread in Eurasia and Northern Africa and continues to be employed by smallholder farmers in the Caucasus, Greek Islands, and the Horn of Africa, where they may represent a risk management strategy for climate variability. Here, we review ethnohistorical, agronomic, and ecological literature on maslins with a focus o...

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

Excavations at Knossos have uncovered faunal and archaeobotanical archives spanning the Neolithic... more Excavations at Knossos have uncovered faunal and archaeobotanical archives spanning the Neolithic and Bronze Age (7th–2nd millennia bce), during which one of Europe’s earliest known farming settlements developed into its first major urban settlement and centre of one of its oldest regional states. Through stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N) analysis of seeds and bones (as evidence for the growing conditions of cereal and pulse crops and for the types of forage consumed by livestock), land use and, ultimately, political economy are explored. Changing husbandry conditions overwrite any effects of long-term aridification. Early (7th–6th millennium bce) Knossian farmers grew intensively managed cereals and pulses (probably in rotation) that were closely integrated (as manured sources of forage) with livestock. Through the later Neolithic and Bronze Age, settlement growth accompanied more extensive cultivation (eventually with cereals and pulses not in rotation) and greater use of rough graze an...

Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces II, 2007

This annual publication contains summaries of the Mycenaean Seminar convened by the Institute of ... more This annual publication contains summaries of the Mycenaean Seminar convened by the Institute of Classical Studies. The seminar series has been running since the 1950s, when it focused largely on the exciting new research enabled by the decipherment of Linear B. The series has now evolved to cover Aegean Prehistory in general, and is well known among subject specialists throughout the world. Taken together, the summaries provide a rich resource for Aegean Prehistory, and often provide the only citable instance of new research projects, until their fuller publication becomes possible. The summaries of the seminars have been published as part of BICS since 1963. Starting with the 2015–16 series, the Mycenaean summaries will be published separately online, retaining their original character and their close connection with BICS, and becoming far more widely available as Open Access publications via the Humanities Digital Library.

Environmental Archaeology, Jun 1, 1998

Peeters Publishers eBooks, Aug 4, 2021

Journal of Archaeological Science, Nov 1, 1986

The Annual of the British School at Athens, Nov 1, 1977

One of the specialist contributions often appended to an archaeological report is the analysis of... more One of the specialist contributions often appended to an archaeological report is the analysis of human skeletal material. Such an analysis is rarely of sufficient interest to be included in the main report, largely because the excavator has not set pertinent and soluble problems for the analyst. The time of specialists has been wasted measuring morphological minutiae in a vain attempt to track down quasi-tribal entities in which archaeologists no longer believe. The assessment of the age and sex of a skeleton, however, follows a firm methodology, is far less time-consuming, and yields relevant information.

Antiquity, Dec 1, 1989

Ritual, or apparently ritual, burials of Iron Age date are not uncommon in Britain. However, most... more Ritual, or apparently ritual, burials of Iron Age date are not uncommon in Britain. However, most of those for which records survive were recovered in less than ideal circumstances or from sites which are not securely dated. This example was recovered in recent excavations of a well-dated site, and from an area of Britain for which evidence of Iron Age burial practices is unusually scanty.

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research eBooks, Sep 10, 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science, Oct 1, 2009

Variations in the 13 C/ 12 C ratios of wheat grain at different spatial and temporal scales are e... more Variations in the 13 C/ 12 C ratios of wheat grain at different spatial and temporal scales are examined by analysis of modern samples, including harvests of einkorn and durum wheat from Greece, and serve as a guide to interpreting data for Bronze Age grains from Assiros Toumba. The normal distribution and low variability of  13 C values of einkorn from 24 containers in the Assiros storerooms are consistent with pooling of local harvests, but less likely to represent the harvest of several years or include grain imported from further afield. Correlation between emmer and spelt  13 C values provides strong support for other evidence that these were grown together as a maslin crop. 13 C discrimination () for the Bronze Age samples is estimated to be 2.5‰ larger than at present, and would be consistent with an intensive, horticultural regime of cereal cultivation, possibly involving some watering.

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Exzellenzcluster 264 Topoi eBooks, Nov 20, 2015

This paper explores the relationship between mundane domestic and more formal meals in recent rur... more This paper explores the relationship between mundane domestic and more formal meals in recent rural Greece, as a prelude to a diachronic examination of the range of commensal behavior through the Neolithic and Bronze Age of the same region. Analysis of recent practices highlights the role of a hierarchy of low-to high-value foods. While Neolithic commensality beyond the household emphasizes equality and collective cohesion, formal commensality takes a strikingly and increasingly diacritical form through the Bronze Age. It is argued that Bronze Age diacritical commensality was part of a broader strategy of elite 'choreography' of social life. A hierarchy of foods, which linked diacritical behavior, labor mobilization and risk buffering, may have played a critical role in driving this trajectory of change.

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Oct 18, 2014

Oxbow Books, Dec 31, 2016

Skrifter utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen, 2013

Table of contents 7 Preface 9 JENNY WALLENSTEN & GUNNEL EKROTH | Introduction: bones of contentio... more Table of contents 7 Preface 9 JENNY WALLENSTEN & GUNNEL EKROTH | Introduction: bones of contention? 15 GUNNEL EKROTH | What we would like the bones to tell us: a sacrificial wish list 31 ARMELLE GARDEISEN | L'assemblage osseux comme un dernier état de la présence animale en contexte archéologique Gestuelle et comportements vis-à-vis de l'animal 51 MARIA VRETEMARK | Evidence of animal offerings in Iron Age Scandinavia 61 KATERINA TRANTALIDOU | Dans l'ombre du rite : vestiges d'animaux et pratiques sacrificielles en Grèce antique Note sur la diversité des contextes et les difficultés de recherche rencontrées

Agronomy for Sustainable Development

Food security depends on the ability of staple crops to tolerate new abiotic and biotic pressures... more Food security depends on the ability of staple crops to tolerate new abiotic and biotic pressures. Wheat, barley, and other small grains face substantial yield losses under all climate change scenarios. Intra-plot diversification is an important strategy for smallholder farmers to mitigate losses due to variable environmental conditions. While this commonly involves sowing polycultures of distinct species from different botanical families in the same field or multiple varieties of the same species (varietal mixtures), mixed plantings of multiple species from the same family are less well known. However, the sowing of maslins, or cereal species mixtures, was formerly widespread in Eurasia and Northern Africa and continues to be employed by smallholder farmers in the Caucasus, Greek Islands, and the Horn of Africa, where they may represent a risk management strategy for climate variability. Here, we review ethnohistorical, agronomic, and ecological literature on maslins with a focus o...

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

Excavations at Knossos have uncovered faunal and archaeobotanical archives spanning the Neolithic... more Excavations at Knossos have uncovered faunal and archaeobotanical archives spanning the Neolithic and Bronze Age (7th–2nd millennia bce), during which one of Europe’s earliest known farming settlements developed into its first major urban settlement and centre of one of its oldest regional states. Through stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N) analysis of seeds and bones (as evidence for the growing conditions of cereal and pulse crops and for the types of forage consumed by livestock), land use and, ultimately, political economy are explored. Changing husbandry conditions overwrite any effects of long-term aridification. Early (7th–6th millennium bce) Knossian farmers grew intensively managed cereals and pulses (probably in rotation) that were closely integrated (as manured sources of forage) with livestock. Through the later Neolithic and Bronze Age, settlement growth accompanied more extensive cultivation (eventually with cereals and pulses not in rotation) and greater use of rough graze an...

Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces II, 2007

This annual publication contains summaries of the Mycenaean Seminar convened by the Institute of ... more This annual publication contains summaries of the Mycenaean Seminar convened by the Institute of Classical Studies. The seminar series has been running since the 1950s, when it focused largely on the exciting new research enabled by the decipherment of Linear B. The series has now evolved to cover Aegean Prehistory in general, and is well known among subject specialists throughout the world. Taken together, the summaries provide a rich resource for Aegean Prehistory, and often provide the only citable instance of new research projects, until their fuller publication becomes possible. The summaries of the seminars have been published as part of BICS since 1963. Starting with the 2015–16 series, the Mycenaean summaries will be published separately online, retaining their original character and their close connection with BICS, and becoming far more widely available as Open Access publications via the Humanities Digital Library.

Halstead, P., Tierney, J. with a contribution by Simon Butler and Ymke Mulder. "Leafy Hay: An Eth... more Halstead, P., Tierney, J. with a contribution by Simon Butler and Ymke Mulder. "Leafy Hay: An Ethnoarchaeological Study in NW Greece"

Journal Publication: Environmental Archaeology, 1 (1998) 71-80.

24th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA). 5-8 September 2018. Barcelona, Spain, 2018

The tell site ‘Plateia Magoula Prodromos’, a type site for the early Neolithic in Greece, is loca... more The tell site ‘Plateia Magoula Prodromos’, a type site for the early Neolithic in Greece, is located in the broad alluvial plain of western Thessaly, central Greece. It was rescue excavated in the early 70’s. Regretfully, only short excavation reports with little contextual information are available, while the stratigraphy of a trench is the only physical evidence of the old excavation preserved today.
Given the importance of this key site for the understanding of the lifeways and landscape use of this early agro-pastoral community, the project ‘Long time, no see: land reclamation and the cultural record of central-western plain of Thessaly’ adopted a high-resolution, multi-proxy, palaeoenvironmental approach for the study of cultural sequence of the tell.
This approach combines palynology (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and micro-charcoal), carpology, anthracology and zooarchaeology. Bayesian modelling of AMS radiocarbon dating using short-lived material offered a reliable chronological frame for the different lines of evidence and a combination of dGPS and high-resolution photogrammetrical recording was able to exactly correlate samples all along the cultural sequence.
The combination of data obtained at ‘Plateia Magoula Prodromos’ with the information provided by landscape survey and remote-sensing analysis of the study area, carried out during previous years, provide new evidence on the landscape use of these Early Neolithic Thessalian communities and important insights into the nature of occupation, origins of deposits, range of activities performed on site, environmental conditions, local vegetation, land use, environmental and/or anthropogenic disturbances and human use of fuel and timber.
This paper will present the methodological workflow developed in the project and will discuss its far-reaching preliminary results.

An established method of estimating the trophic level of an organism is through stable isotope an... more An established method of estimating the trophic level of an organism is through stable isotope analysis of its tissues and those of its diet. This method has been used in archaeology to reconstruct past human diet from the stable nitrogen isotope (d15N) values of human and herbivore bone collagen. However, this approach, using the 15N-enrichment of human bone collagen d15N values over associated herbivore bone collagen d15N values to predict the relative importance of animal protein, relies on the assumptions that: (i) the d15N values of plants consumed by humans and herbivores are identical, and (ii) the 15Nenrichment between diet and consumer is consistent. Bone collagen amino acid d15N values have the potential to tackle these uncertainties, as they constrain the factors influencing bone collagen d15N values. In this study, the d15N values of glutamic acid and phenylalanine in human and herbivore bone collagen isolates from Neolithic sites in Germany, Greece and Turkey were deter...