Daniela Hofmann | University of Bergen (original) (raw)

Early Neolithic by Daniela Hofmann

F. Klimscha, M. Heumüller, D.C.M. Raemaekers, H. Peeters and T. Terberger (eds), Stone Age borderland experience: Neolithic and Late Mesolithic parallel societies in the North European Plain, 263-95. Rahden: Marie Leidorf, 2022

Migration is definitely back on the agenda, but so far archaeological contextualisations have lag... more Migration is definitely back on the agenda, but so far archaeological contextualisations have lagged behind the
accumulation of archaeogenetic data, leading to relatively simple ‘either/or’-scenarios. From the perspective of diversity in
social interaction between ‘receiving’ and ‘incoming’ (groups of) individuals, we explore three different situations in which
migration played a role in the uptake of the Neolithic in order to tease out the social processes and complexities hidden under
the blanket term ‘migration’. In the case of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK), potentials for forager-farmer interaction differed
strongly between earlier and later phases and across regions, a pattern connected to changing landscape use and mobility
regimes within the LBK, as well as the changing utilisation of material culture in identity creation. In the Low Countries, it is
much harder to draw a definite line between foragers and farmers based on mobility or environmental impact, and foragers
had been used to dealing with population movements. There is thus far less difference between the actors, and a concomitantly
greater involvement of both in shaping the Neolithic. In contrast, in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany there
is the perennial question of whether the ‘complex’ Ertebølle hunter-gatherers eventually fell for the lures of Neolithic luxury
goods, or should be credited in resisting long enough to drive a Neolithisation on their own terms. However, societies here are
more internally diverse than is generally appreciated, pointing to different interaction mechanisms inland and on the coast.
Overall, several interaction scenarios succeed each other in time and/or space, in each of our regions. This paper hence also
calls for maintaining an archaeological style of enquiry that allows for indeterminacy and open-endedness in the study of
human interactions.

F. Klimscha and L. Wiggering (eds), Die Erfindung der Götter. Steinzeit im Norden. Eine Ausstellung des Niedersächsischen Landesmuseums Hannover, 74-83. Petersberg: Michael Imhof, 2022

Museum catalogue contribution

D’Oberlarg à Wesaluri, itinéraire d’un préhistorien. Mélanges offerts à Christian Jeunesse, AVAGE, Strasbourg, 2022 (Mémoires d’Archéologie du Grand Est 8)., 2022

Please contact me for a PDF There is an emerging consensus from isotopic and aDNA studies tha... more Please contact me for a PDF

There is an emerging consensus from isotopic and aDNA studies
that throughout the Neolithic, women tended to experience
greater mobility over their lifetime than men, and that this is
consistent with patrilocal practices. However, what this means
for the differing experiences of women in these societies is only
beginning to be addressed. Taking our cue from anthropological studies on the diversity of kinship constructions and the differences
in female post-marital status in patrilocal societies, we
re-investigate evidence for Linearbandkeramik (LBK) household
relations and cemetery burial to show the potential for more
diverse narratives.

Danish Journal of Archaeology, 2022

This paper explores the current narratives of migration for the start and spread of the Neolithic... more This paper explores the current narratives of migration for the start and spread of the Neolithic with a particular focus on the role that the new ancient DNA data have provided. While the genetic data are important and instructive, here it is argued that archaeologists should also consider other strands of evidence. More nuanced appreciations of migration as a longterm process can be created by exploring modern mobility studies alongside considerations of continued mobility throughout the Neolithic in Europe. We can also re-interpret the material evidence itself in the light of these approaches to help trace multiple possible links and migrations from multiple different origin points. This involves the investigation of complex, but connected, practices, such as monument construction and deposition across wider areas of northern Europe than are currently normally investigated. Such an approach will enable us to address long-term processes of movement, migration and interaction and investigate how new, shared social experiences emerged in a setting in which mobility and migration may have been the norm.

Idolos-miradas milenarias, 2020

Del barro a la piedra: contraste ente las representaciones antropomorfas en la Europa centro meri... more Del barro a la piedra: contraste ente las representaciones antropomorfas en la Europa centro meridional. In P. Bueno Ramírez and J. A. Soler Díaz (eds), Idolos-miradas milenarias, 114-29. Alicante: Museo Arqueológico de Alicante

Quaternary International, 2020

This paper argues that personal and group migration (as a subset of mobility) was a central featu... more This paper argues that personal and group migration (as a subset of mobility) was a central feature of Linearbandkeramik (c. 5500-4900 cal BC) life, and not confined to short-term events along the agricultural frontier. The first part summarises the data currently available on individual migration (mostly interpreted as female exogamy) and the migration of households or groups of households. It is noted that in current models, migratory behaviour is often seen as pertaining to lower-status groups or that it constitutes a crisis response. In the second part of the paper, I outline the evidence, both isotopic and archaeological, for migration as a constant behaviour and show where this has opened up avenues for new research, notably concerning the use of non-loess areas. In turn, narratives suggesting an increase in hierarchical differences throughout the LBK as a whole are challenged. It is argued that migration was an accepted social strategy that could be used to gain status, and counteracted the creation of hereditary and durable social stratification in established settlement sites. Seeing migration as a constant in LBK life can thus lead to a reinterpretation of other aspects of this early farming society.

In D. Hofmann (ed.), Magical, mundane or marginal? Deposition practices in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik culture, 9-32. Leiden: Sidestone, 2020

Telling apart instances of “ritual” versus “profane” deposition has been a central problem in sev... more Telling apart instances of “ritual” versus “profane” deposition has been a central problem in several European archaeological traditions. In the UK, particularly but not exclusively for the Neolithic, the term “structured deposition” provides an opportunity to transcend this unhelpful duality, but has sometimes been too strongly weighted towards the exceptional. Continental scholars have recognised the same terminological difficulty, but have often been reluctant to directly address how more unusual deposits can provide insights into past worldviews. This has also been the case for the Linearbandkeramik culture. This brief introduction summarises the papers of the volume with a view to establishing a tentative “depositional logical”, outlining similarities and differences between various contexts of practice — burials, enclosures, settlement sites and natural places — as a basis for further targeted investigation. Deliberate destruction, particularly of pottery, emerges as a practice linking several spheres of activity and can be opposed to the deposition of complete items. Through such acts, otherwise mundane objects could become part of ritualised action. Questions for future research are then outlined, focusing in particular on the wider historical context of LBK depositional traditions within the Neolithic sequence, and on possible reasons for differential practices within the LBK itself.
Keywords: Linearbandkeramik; structured deposition; depositional practice; spheres of action

These appendices contain the data used in Hofmann 2020, LBK structured desposits as magical pract... more These appendices contain the data used in Hofmann 2020, LBK structured desposits as magical practices

Magical, Mundane or Marginal? Deposition Practices in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik culture (ed. D. Hofmann, Sidestone Press), 2020

This paper provides the first overview of deliberately placed deposits in the Linearbandkeramik c... more This paper provides the first overview of deliberately placed deposits in the Linearbandkeramik culture. The focus is on “structured” deposits, here seen as those which can be considered to have a ritualised component. After outlining criteria for their definition, the paper distinguishes between single-category deposits (i.e. those with only one kind of item, generally either polished tools, grinding stones, animal bone, chipped stone or pottery) and mixed-category deposits, which
combine a variety of artefact types. Both are generally found on LBK settlement sites, but can also occur in the landscape. Their contents are analysed and compared to those of cemetery graves, pits containing fragmented human remains, and so-called “cenotaphs” (grave-like pits in cemetery sites which do not contain human bone). This reveals a separation of cemetery burials from the other contexts, with
the former more directly focused on the presentation of individual identity (e.g. through ornaments) and the latter including a greater variety of items connected with daily activities, including food production. It is suggested that the use of such seemingly “mundane” items in ritualised contexts could be compatible with a reading as magical practices, given also the great variability of the corpus. Finally,
the implications of this statement for LBK society are considered.
Keywords: Linearbandkeramik; structured deposition; magic; social structure

Migration played a central role throughout the LBK culture. After summarising the motivations for... more Migration played a central role throughout the LBK culture. After summarising the motivations for migration in the earliest LBK, the article outlines how some of these factors remained relevant in later phases. Beyond continued west- and eastward expansion, at regional and site levels migration to better one’s social position provided an alternative to patrilineal land inheritance. The main change between the earliest and later phases is the role of material culture after migration events. Initially a means of creating long-distance connections, it later stressed difference from other groups. This process of ethnogenesis is invisible genetically. Overall, migration emerges as a salient behaviour even in ‘sedentary’ Neolithic societies.

This paper compares exceptionally long houses from five Linearbandkeramik sites, tracing their bi... more This paper compares exceptionally long houses from five Linearbandkeramik sites, tracing their biographies and contextualising them within the histories of their specific sites. This reveales intriguing commonalities in the significance of such monumentalised houses.
A PDF is available on request.

Death embodied: archaeological approaches to the treatment of the corpse (eds: Z. Devlin & E.J. Graham; Oxbow), 2015

Something out of the ordinary, 2016

This paper considers the possible social role of La Hoguette pottery in its dynamic relation to t... more This paper considers the possible social role of La Hoguette pottery in its dynamic relation to the Linearbandkeramik

Something out of the Ordinary?, 2016

This brief introduction charts the role of 'diversity' as an explanatory concept in LBK studies

Something out of the Ordinary? Interpreting Diversity in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik abd Beyond

This paper is concerned with the impact of ancient DNA data on our models of the Mesolithic–Neoli... more This paper is concerned with the impact of ancient DNA data on our models of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in central Europe. Beginning with a brief overview of how genetic data have been received by archaeologists working in this area, it outlines the potential and remaining problems of this kind of evidence. As a migration around the beginning of the Neolithic now seems certain, new research foci are then suggested. One is renewed attention to the motivations and modalities of the migration process. The second is a fundamental change in attitude towards the capabilities of immigrant Neolithic populations to behave in novel and creative ways, abilities which in our transition models were long exclusively associated with hunter-gatherers.

Memory, myth and long-term landscape inhabitation, 2013

The first farmers of central Europe. Diversity in LBK lifeways., 2013

Gives an overview of the LBK archaeology of southern Bavaria and discusses the results of a major... more Gives an overview of the LBK archaeology of southern Bavaria and discusses the results of a major isotope project in the area.

F. Klimscha and L. Wiggering (eds), Die Erfindung der Götter. Steinzeit im Norden. Eine Ausstellung des Niedersächsischen Landesmuseums Hannover, 74-83. Petersberg: Michael Imhof, 2022

Museum catalogue contribution

D’Oberlarg à Wesaluri, itinéraire d’un préhistorien. Mélanges offerts à Christian Jeunesse, AVAGE, Strasbourg, 2022 (Mémoires d’Archéologie du Grand Est 8)., 2022

Please contact me for a PDF There is an emerging consensus from isotopic and aDNA studies tha... more Please contact me for a PDF

Danish Journal of Archaeology, 2022

Idolos-miradas milenarias, 2020

Quaternary International, 2020

In D. Hofmann (ed.), Magical, mundane or marginal? Deposition practices in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik culture, 9-32. Leiden: Sidestone, 2020

Magical, Mundane or Marginal? Deposition Practices in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik culture (ed. D. Hofmann, Sidestone Press), 2020

Death embodied: archaeological approaches to the treatment of the corpse (eds: Z. Devlin & E.J. Graham; Oxbow), 2015

Something out of the ordinary, 2016

Something out of the Ordinary?, 2016

This brief introduction charts the role of 'diversity' as an explanatory concept in LBK studies

Something out of the Ordinary? Interpreting Diversity in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik abd Beyond

Memory, myth and long-term landscape inhabitation, 2013

The first farmers of central Europe. Diversity in LBK lifeways., 2013

Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe Sedentism, Architecture and Practice, 2013

In D. Hofmann and J. Smyth (eds), Tracking the Neolithic house in Europe – sedentism, architectur... more In D. Hofmann and J. Smyth (eds), Tracking the Neolithic house in Europe – sedentism, architecture and practice. New York: Springer

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 2023

In the light of discussions surrounding the social changes attributed to the arrival of the Corde... more In the light of discussions surrounding the social changes attributed to the arrival of the CordedWare culture in
central Europe, here we investigate the economic strategies of one of the cultural complexes of the immediately
preceding Late Neolithic. The Cham culture of southern Bavaria is characterised by a variety of economic
choices but problems remain in synthesising and combining archaeozoological and archaeobotanical evidence.
Using lipid residue analysis from Cham culture pottery excavated at the unenclosed settlement of Riedling,
Lower Bavaria, we succeed in identifying a dairying economy at this time. Compound-specific lipid radiocarbon
dates are then combined with other samples to provide a formal estimate for the duration of activity at Riedling
and the first Bayesian chronological model for the Cham culture as a whole. Although data are currently not
fine-grained enough to distinguish between competing models for site permanence, we suggest that the Cham
culture pattern fits into a wider central European trend of greater mobility and economic flexibility in the pre-
Corded Ware horizon, concluding that key economic strategies previously associated with ‘steppe invasions’
were already present in the preceding centuries. Finally, the demonstrated use of cups for milk-based products,
as opposed to alcoholic drinks as previously suggested, leads us to propose possible alternative uses and users
for these items.

Open Archaeology, 2023

In this article, we critically review recurrent tropes, implicit frameworks, and unexplained conc... more In this article, we critically review recurrent tropes, implicit frameworks, and unexplained concepts in current research on the process of "Neolithisation" in the western part of southern Norway. Two models are on offer, as also seen elsewhere in the European research: either 1) the transition to agriculture is rapid and substantially carried by migrants, or 2) the Late Neolithic transition builds on a long history of local adaptation. After outlining these models, we scrutinise especially west Norwegian evidence, pointing out ambiguities and limitations in the material which mean that neither of the two models fit. In the final section, we consider which new questions could be asked to move beyond the current, somewhat polarised debate: Who are the actors of the transition, how are boundaries between groups created, and can the acknowledgement of the complexity of the process of 'migration' result in new narratives? Addressing these questions remains a fundamental challenge for archaeological migration studies as a whole.

M. Grygiel and P. Obst (eds), Walking among ancient trees. Studies in honour of Ryszard Grygiel and Peter Bogucki on the 45th anniversary of their research collaboration, 293-304. Łódź: Muzeum Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne w Łodzi., 2022

This paper discusses the role of structured deposits, including the deposition of material cultur... more This paper discusses the role of structured deposits, including the deposition of material culture, animal bodies and human remains, in the
southern Bavarian Münchshöfen culture. This is placed in the context of
debates surrounding increasing social inequality in 5th millennium central
Europe. In this case study, there is no compelling evidence for a preoccupation with prestige goods and individual aggrandising behaviour.
Instead, group-oriented strategies such as feasting fit the evidence better.
Competition may have existed at the level of settlement and/or ritual
communities, using structured deposits selectively as one element in defining group boundaries. However, distinctions based on these strategies appear to have been short-lived

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021

Download using this link: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1ddDg,rVDBY7QJ Once run out, contact me.... more Download using this link:
https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1ddDg,rVDBY7QJ
Once run out, contact me.
The Neolithic Münchshofen culture in southern Germany (5th mill. BC) lacks formal burial sites. Primary, secondary and partial burials are evidenced instead. Using the enclosure at Riedling, the largest burial collective known in the area to date, we gained more information on subsistence strategy, population structure and admixture by stable isotope analysis of the human skeletons. The remains of 39 individuals were discovered in the enclosure and the osteological investigation indicates burial of selected individuals. Radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios revealed that nine out of 20 individuals were not local to the site and that some of them had even migrated during childhood. The nearest possible place of origin is found across the Danube river, which obviously did not constitute a geographical obstacle. Isotopic sourcing of collagen δ13C and δ15N ratios revealed marked sex differences in the daily diet and showed that at least some of the non-locals had lived on different diets. Diet and isotopic provenance did not correlate with burial rite and no clear social hierarchies could be inferred. Morphology combined with stable isotope analysis revealed a dynamic Neolithic population with a multi-resource subsistence economy and interaction across a topographical boundary.

Idolos – miradas milenarias, 2020

English version of a paper published in Spanish as: Hofmann, D. 2020. Del barro a la piedra: cont... more English version of a paper published in Spanish as:
Hofmann, D. 2020. Del barro a la piedra: contraste ente las representaciones antropomorfas en la Europa centro meridional [English version: From clay to stone: contrasting human representations in southern central Europe]. In P. Bueno Ramírez and J. A. Soler Díaz (eds), Idolos – miradas milenarias, 114-29. Alicante: Museo Arqueológico de Alicante.

Hungarian Archaeology, 2020

Our study presents a Late Neolithic enclosed settlement from Lower Bavaria. This site arouses int... more Our study presents a Late Neolithic enclosed settlement from Lower Bavaria. This site arouses interest not only regionally but also on a Central European level, as several phenomena emerged during this period along the Danube in Lower Bavaria that are strongly linked to the Carpathian Basin and other parts of Central Europe. In our present report, we focus on one phenomenon of the many at Riedling, the so-called structured deposits. These find assemblages are probably results of intentional selection of the material culture deposited deliberately, perhaps related to single ritual events. (also downloadabale online at http://www.hungarianarchaeology.hu/?page_id=279#post-8604)

Current Swedish Archaeology, 2019

Megaliths, Societies, landscapes. Early monumentality and social differentiation in Neolithic Europe (eds J. Mueller, M. Hinz, M. Wunderlich). Bonn: Habelt, pp 939-56, 2019

In this paper, we briefly discuss the role played by the southern Bavarian Münchshöfen culture (c... more In this paper, we briefly discuss the role played by the southern
Bavarian Münchshöfen culture (c. 4500 – 3900 cal BC) in
the wider European networks of material, social and ritual innovations
which characterise the later Neolithic. Two key aspects
are the construction of monumental enclosures – many
of them causewayed – and the structured deposition of objects,
animals and humans. This is also attested for the Münchshöfen
culture and the paper begins by briefly summarising the current
state of research. However, prestige goods (copper, Alpine
jade axes) are strikingly absent in the study area. In the final
part of the paper, we briefly outline the possible ways in which
this selective pattern of the adoption, adaptation and rejection
of innovations could be further investigated, using the enclosure
site of Riedling as an example. This site is currently the
focus of a newly-established research project but holds the potential
to contribute to these broader questions in the future.

Contacts, boundaries and innovation in the 5th millennium. Exploring developed Neolithic societies in central Europe and beyond, 2019

The fifth millennium is characterized by far-flung contacts and a veritable flood of innovations.... more The fifth millennium is characterized by far-flung contacts and a veritable flood of innovations. While its beginning is still strongly reminiscent of a broadly Line-arbandkeramik way of life, at its end we find new, interregionally valid forms of symbolism, representation and ritual behaviour, changes in the settlement system, in architecture and in routine life. Yet, these interregional tendencies are paired with a profusion of increasingly small-scale archaeological cultures, many of them defined through pottery only. This tension between large-scale interaction and more local developments remains ill understood, largely because interregional comparisons are lacking. Contributors in this volume provide up-to-date regional overviews of the main developments in the fifth millennium and discuss, amongst others, in how far ceramically-defined 'cultures' can be seen as spatially coherent social groups with their own way of life and worldview, and how processes of innovation can be understood. Case studies range from the Neolithisation of the Netherlands, hunter-gatherer-farmer fusions in the Polish Lowlands, to the Italian Neolithic. Amongst others, they cover the circulation of stone disc-rings in western Europe, the formation of post-LBK societies in central Europe and the reliability of pottery as an indicator for social transformations.
Whole book available at: https://www.sidestone.com/books/contacts-boundaries-and-innovation-in-the-fifth-millennium

Die hier vorgestellten Projekte des Instituts für Vor-und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie der Univ... more Die hier vorgestellten Projekte des Instituts für Vor-und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie der Universität Hamburg repräsentieren das breite Spektrum vielfältiger Aktivitäten und Forschungen von Lehrenden und Studierenden, die chronologisch von der Steinzeit bis in die jüngste Vergangenheit und räumlich teils weit über Norddeutschland hinaus reichen. Feldforschungen an Land und unter Wasser, Studienprojekte, Drittmittelvorhaben, Auswertungen älterer und neuerer Grabungen, Studien zur Geschichte des Faches, Geoprospektionen, Experimentalarchäologie, Herstellungs-und Gebrauchsspurenanalysen, 3D-Mikro-skopie und digitale Modellierungen zeigen, wie vielfältig die Vor-und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie an der Universität Hamburg tätig ist. Über all dies wird in diesem Buch exemplarisch und allgemeinverständlich berichtet.

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2017

The link below provides FREE ACESS for 50 days https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1U06q-JVbZRsQ Wit... more The link below provides FREE ACESS for 50 days

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1U06q-JVbZRsQ

Within a project exploring the difference which high-precision chronologies make for narratives of the European Neolithic, this paper examines the place of material culture in the flow of social existence. In
contrast to approaches based on imprecise chronologies and stressing gradual change, we examine increasingly high-resolution dendrochronological data in the Neolithic of the northern Alpine foreland, where sharp boundaries between material styles were not in evidence. While 60-year filters allow a more differentiated analysis of the relative distribution of Cortaillod and Pfyn pottery, higher-resolution dendrochronology enables a very detailed narrative of the rapid introduction of Corded Ware in the Lake Zürich area, highlighting significant differences between eastern and western Switzerland. At the scale of individual sites, Concise shows continuity of the local potting tradition, despite repeated episodes of outside influence. At the short-lived site Arbon Bleiche 3, pottery changes much less than diet. This reveals a complex pattern of exactly contemporary diversity, seen even more sharply at the very briefly occupied settlement of Bad Buchau Torwiesen II. To get at agency within the flow of social life, we need as much temporal and spatial detail as possible, close attention to the material and approaches that allow for nuanced narratives.

The settlement record of the Neolithic of the northern Alpine foreland is used to address the que... more The settlement record of the Neolithic of the northern Alpine foreland is used to address the question of what difference having high-resolution chronology — in this case principally provided by dendrochronology — makes to the kinds of narrative we seek to write about the Neolithic. In a search for detailed histories, three kinds of scale are examined. The longer-term development of cultural patterns and boundaries is found to correlate very imprecisely with the character and architecture of settlements. Individual houses and settlements were generally short-lived, suggesting considerable fluidity in social relations at the local level. Greater continuity can be found in the landscape, perhaps involving more than individual communities. We argue that the particular history of the northern Alpine foreland is best understood by interweaving multiple temporal scales, an approach that will need to be extended to other case studies.

Journal of Iberian Archaeology 9/10, 2007

Relational Archaeologies. Humans, animals, things (ed. C. Watts), May 2013

Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe. Sedentism, Architecture and Practice, Jan 2013

In this brief introduction, the editors outline the structure of the volume and explain its ratio... more In this brief introduction, the editors outline the structure of the volume and explain its rationale, before drawing out some key themes that emerge from the various contributions. In particular, they critically discuss the recent ontological focus on materials and its relation to human agency, the role of architecture in routine practice, the potential cosmological dimensions of the house, and possible avenues for examining transmission and change. They argue for the importance of a stronger comparative focus in re-invigorating the debate on how one kind of building and dwelling could transform into another.

El Neolitico en la Peninsula Iberica y su contexto Europeo (eds M. Rojo Guerra, R. Garrido Pena, I. Garcia Martinez de Lagran)

Prehistoric Europe: theory and practice, Jan 1, 2008

Journal of Iberian Archaeology 8, 2006

The Baltic in the Bronze Age. regional patterns, interactions and boundaries (eds: D. Hofmann, F. Nikulka, R. Schumann), 2022

Whole volume open access at: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-baltic-in-the-bronze-age

European Journal of Archaeology, 2021

World Archaeology, 2019

In this essay, we interrogate how aDNA analyses have been blended with the study of migrations in... more In this essay, we interrogate how aDNA analyses have been blended with the study of migrations in European prehistory. Genetic research into ancient populations has given archaeologists and geneticists a new and rich data-set that sparks media coverage and public fascination. Yet far right wing and racist political activists also report on and repeat the results of archaeogenetic studies because it bolsters their image of ‘Fortress Europe’ under threat from biologically distinct non-Europeans. We worry about the lack of action, even discussion, we perceive among archaeologists and archaeogeneticists faced with this ugly appropriation of their research. In order to address these concerns, we have taken a deliberately provocative style. Even as we realise that the politically questionable interpretive implications of aDNA research are most likely unintended, we strongly believe that we must acknowledge their power before we can ameliorate our approach.

In: Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift 56, 31-35.

This is the introduction to a thematic issue on modern and contemporary funerary practices, inclu... more This is the introduction to a thematic issue on modern and contemporary funerary practices, including contributions from social anthropology, religious studies and historical archaeology. The full issue downloaded for free here: https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/ethnoscripts/issue/view/56/showToc
The introduction reflects on the conditions in which cemeteries develop and offers a summary of the different articles.

Mesolithic studies at the beginning of the …, Jan 1, 2005

As a species, we have always been mobile and migration was a habitual feature of prehistoric life... more As a species, we have always been mobile and migration was a habitual feature of prehistoric life.This open-access volume uses archaeological case studies mainly from the European Neolithic, but also from the Pacific, the US Southwest, the medieval Migration Period and the historical Great Lakes, to discuss how a focus on small-scale inter-personal relations – on the power struggles, negotiations and choices that people make in everyday settings – can help us understand migration events in archaeology. While much archaeological scholarship, using isotopes and aDNA, focuses on migrations as large-scale phenomena and crisis responses, this book offers a new approach by exploring how moving on was embedded in social practice.

This book offers a novel reinterpretation of how the political aspects of migration shaped past people’s worlds in Europe and beyond, drawing on archaeological, historical, linguistic and aDNA evidence. Overall, the conclusion is that a bottom-up approach can help us to understand migration in the past at a variety of scales, in many different regions of the world

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Centre of Advanced Studies in Oslo.

Die hier vorgestellten Projekte des Instituts für Vor-und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie der Univ... more Die hier vorgestellten Projekte des Instituts für Vor-und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie der Universität Hamburg repräsentieren das breite Spektrum vielfältiger Aktivitäten und Forschungen von Lehrenden und Studierenden, die chronologisch von der Steinzeit bis in die jüngste Vergangenheit und räumlich teils weit über Norddeutschland hinaus reichen. Feldforschungen an Land und unter Wasser, Studienprojekte, Drittmittelvorhaben, Auswertungen älterer und neuerer Grabungen, Studien zur Geschichte des Faches, Geoprospektionen, Experimentalarchäologie, Herstellungs-und Gebrauchsspurenanalysen, 3D-Mikroskopie und digitale Modellierungen zeigen, wie vielfältig die Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie an der Universität Hamburg tätig ist. Über all dies wird in diesem Buch exemplarisch und allgemeinverständlich berichtet.

Table of contents only, publisher will not allow to upload whole book - please contact individual... more Table of contents only, publisher will not allow to upload whole book - please contact individual authors for further material.

Praehistorische Zeitschrift, 2022

Germania, 2019

English-language review of Krause and Trappe's popular science book on archaeogenetics

European Journal of Archaeology, 2019

Pre-print version. The real thing is available via the DOI link

Norwegian Archaeological Review, 2019

Archäologische Informationen 42, Early View, 2019

European Journal of Archaeology, 2018

Book review of Guido Brandt, Beständig ist nur der Wandel! Die Rekonstruktion der Besiedlungsgesc... more Book review of Guido Brandt, Beständig ist nur der Wandel! Die Rekonstruktion der Besiedlungsgeschichte Europas während des Neolithikums mittels paläo-und populationsgenetischer Verfahren (Forschungsberichte des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle 9. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt/Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, 2017, 282pp., 40 colour and 1 b/w figure, 17 tables, hbk, ISBN 978-3-944507-27-9).

Love it or loathe it, migration is back on the archaeological agenda. To name but a few examples,... more Love it or loathe it, migration is back on the archaeological agenda. To name but a few examples, Neolithic specialists appear to have rediscovered their long-lost love of "massive migrations", Bronze Age specialists devote a lot of interest to identifying foreign women, and in the Viking Age we are finding, to great amazement, that not everyone was blond and some people may have come to Scandinavia from elsewhere. Of course, it is all for more complicated than that, but many migration scenarios currently on offer either lack any explicit categorisation of political backgrounds and implications-i.e. who moves, who decides, what incentives there are, how migrants and already resident populations interact etc.-or they simply reassert the 19th-century fantasy of patriarchal, top-down leadership and organised colonisation. In addition, we are in a situation in which much of the debate about migration takes place in a context of fast-paced scientific research, filtered through the popular press. In this session, we are primarily interested in the power relationships that govern migration, as well as migration research in the archaeology of all periods. This can be from one of three main angles: • Migration politics in the past. How are power relationships, structures of decision making and social structures bound up with migrations? How do household and kinship politics or gender roles inform migration events? Is migration linked to social status of individuals or groups? What about the interaction between newcomers and locals? • Migration politics in the present. How are our institutional, funding and publication structures contributing to driving particular narratives? Whose voices are (not) heard? • Politics and the public. How are our narratives perceived and used in wider public debates? Is this something we should keep track of, or can we not really influence this?

How does change happen? What role do human relationships and decisions play? Are societal changes... more How does change happen? What role do human relationships and decisions play? Are societal changes only generated by external and uncontrollable large-scale events that predict certain types of inevitable trajectories, or do they on the contrary result from small-scale decisions and interactions between multiple and different human and non-human actors? Archaeological research group "Humans and materiality" calls for papers from scholars of all theoretical persuasions (colleagues from archaeology, social science, history, historical ecology and others) and is happy to offer a platform to discuss these questions together in Bergen!

Not so long ago, one might have been forgiven for thinking that people in prehistoric sedentary s... more Not so long ago, one might have been forgiven for thinking that people in prehistoric sedentary societies did not move around so much. Yet we now command an overwhelming amount of data which seem to show the exact opposite and have blurred the distinction between sedentary and more mobile ways of life. Ancient DNA, isotopes and new insights from human and animal osteology have come to supplement traditional artefact studies to create a picture of people-be it individuals, groups of people or larger social units-, animals and things constantly on the move-for shorter or longer distances, over varying amounts of time, and for widely different reasons. Our main challenge now is how to make sense of this diversity. Mobility occurs at different spatial scales, from short distances travelled for obtaining resources to long travels, perhaps among complete strangers. It can happen at very different rhythms, from daily or seasonal rounds, to settlement relocation at yearly or decadal frequencies, to once-in-a-lifetime journeys. Tracing and identifying these scales, let alone agents and their reasons, makes huge demands on our data, both scientific (i.a. dating methods, isotopes, artefact sourcing studies, DNA) and more traditionally archaeological (stylistic comparisons, data concerning settlement and economy, etc.). However, this necessary attention to detail can make it hard to compare results and patterns across case studies, in order to identify recurrent trends. In this session, we aim to bring together scholars who are working in particular prehistoric contexts in which different forms of mobility co-exist. We would like to focus on how these different mobilities come together to form a particular way of life or dynamic system, and what variables are responsible for creating/changing these patterns. We hope that a broad comparison of synthetic case studies across prehistory can help us grasp the bigger picture.

Session 468 at the EAA in Kiel 2021 - deadline February!

Paläogenetische Forschungsergebnisse der letzten Jahre haben den Fokus der archäologischen Diskus... more Paläogenetische Forschungsergebnisse der letzten Jahre haben den Fokus der archäologischen Diskussion auf mögliche "massive migrations" im dritten Jahrtausend v. Chr. gelenkt. Im Zentrum des Interesses steht dabei zumeist die "Schnurkeramische Kultur", deren "TrägerInnen" als mögli-che Einwanderer aus dem osteuropäischen Raum in Betracht kommen. Auf der einen Seite wird die großflächige Ausbreitung der Schnurkeramik durch eine rasche und massive Einwanderungsbewe-gung erklärt. Auf der anderen Seite stehen Modelle regional unterschiedlicher Transformationspro-zesse lokaler Gruppen, die zeitversetzt und schrittweise erfolgen und auf bereits zuvor etablierte Netzwerke zurückgreifen. Die Einbeziehung des "Vorabends" der Schnurkeramik in diese Diskussion ist also unabdingbar, spielt aber bisher in der Forschung eine untergeordnete Rolle. Der Workshop möchte hier neue Impulse setzen, indem er den Blick auf den deutschsprachigen Raum in der Zeit zwischen 3300 und 2700 v. Chr. richtet. Für diese Phase wurden in der archäologischen Forschung zahlreiche, eher kleinräumig verbreitete "Kulturgruppen" wie die "Wartbergkultur" oder die "Goldberg-III-Gruppe", jedoch auch großräumige Phänomene wie die "Kugelamphorenkultur" definiert. Anhand verschiede-ner Elemente der archäologischen Überlieferung werden jedoch immer wieder Maßstabs-und Abgrenzungsprobleme zwischen verschiedenen "Kulturgruppen" bzw. deren generelle Legimitation diskutiert. Häufig lässt sich kaum feststellen, ob mehr Verbindendes oder mehr Trennendes vorliegt. Diese Definitionsprobleme führen unmittelbar zu der Frage, ob sich bereits die Zeit zwischen dem ausgehenden vierten und dem frühen dritten Jahrtausend v. Chr. als Transformationsphase auffas-sen lässt, welche nachfolgenden Veränderungen kontinentalen Ausmaßes in der Zeit der Becher-kulturen unmittelbar vorgreift oder diese eventuell sogar erst ermöglichte? Zeichnet sich eine Inten-sivierung überregionaler Verbindungen ab und anhand welcher archäologischen Quellengattungen lässt sich diese empirisch nachvollziehen? Zeigen sie sich in der materiellen Kultur, in der Wirt-schaftsweise, in Siedlungsweise und Architektur und im Hinblick auf Rohstoffaustausch? Sind lokale Gruppen mit starker überregionaler Vernetzung noch als eigenständige Gruppen zu sehen? Bildet das traditionelle archäologische Kulturkonzept ein adäquates theoretisches Instrument zur Erfor-schung derartiger Gruppen oder werden Alternativen benötigt? Welche sozialen Strukturen und Veränderungen lassen sich in den verschiedenen Regionen des deutschsprachigen Raumes fassen und sind diese miteinander vergleichbar?

In recent years, archaeogenetics have made huge contributions to the study of prehistoric societi... more In recent years, archaeogenetics have made huge contributions to the study of prehistoric societies. Genetic data have put the issue of large group migrations back on the agenda and the field is now moving on to questions such as marriage, mating patterns and hereditary inequality. However, there has been the inevitable disconnect between euphoria surrounding the potentials of aDNA and the realisation of its complexities and limits. In this case, the 'morning after' effect is increased by a lack of understanding between the sub-disciplines involved. Not all archaeologists feel comfortable with what aDNA actually can (and cannot) tell us, while archaeogeneticists are often accused of oversimplifying and sensationalising their findings without due regards to archaeological complexities. Basic issues, such as the definition of 'populations' and the best scale of analysis (individual and community relations, population genetics…) all remain to be negotiated. In this session, we would like to bring together archaeologists who routinely work with genetic data and those who remain sceptical, as well as archaeogeneticists. The focus is not on presenting specific case studies/results. Instead, we wish to reflect on how the process of knowledge creation has worked for the different participants. What questions were archaeologists, geneticists and others in the team actually interested in? Did these overlap? How were genetic and archaeological data integrated, and was this successful? And where do participants see the field moving next? Can we (and should we) move beyond broad-brush models at the continental scale to site-specific analyses? Should we tackle potentially controversial issues such as racism or sexism in the past, and if so how is this best communicated to colleagues and the wider public?

The period from the 5th to the mid-4th millennium BC in central Europe is a time of fundamental c... more The period from the 5th to the mid-4th millennium BC in central Europe is a time of fundamental change. At one level, there are repeated episodes in which larger-scale cultural entities fragment into small regional groupings. Yet, on the other hand, there are trends and innovations which are shared widely and across such culture boundaries. These include, amongst many others, the purposeful deposition of human remains, animals and selected material culture; the importance of enclosures as landscape centres and ritual spaces; the development of new technological systems concerning for instance metal and the production of high-quality pottery; and the spread of economic innovations which enable life in new landscapes. This means that potentially very different social formations and societies were in intensive and sustained contact with one another, implying considerable personal and group mobility. In this session, we wish to explore how one particular communication corridor, the Danube River and its tributaries, worked in this setting. What is the evidence for long-distance connections along its course? At what times/points were boundaries created and the flow of ideas and objects interrupted? How did this change over time? And how did the societies involved in these networks react to the novelties that reached them? We particularly welcome papers treating the spread of (technological, social or ritual) innovations and material culture, human mobility and boundaries, and the role of meeting sites in the 5th and 4th millennia BC, roughly from the Iron Gates to the sources of the Danube.

The fifth millennium is characterized by far-flung contacts and a veritable flood of innovations.... more The fifth millennium is characterized by far-flung contacts and a veritable flood of innovations. While its beginning is still strongly reminiscent of a broadly Linearbandkeramik way of life, at its end we find new, inter-regionally valid forms of symbolism, representation and ritual behaviour (including possible prestige goods such as jadeite axes and copper objects, but also the deposition of human and animal bodies as well as artefacts), changes in the settlement system (for instance the colonisation of wetland habitats and the establishment of new settlement structures), in architecture
and in routine life (e.g. in domestic dwellings, earthworks, or pottery). Yet, these inter-regional tendencies are paired with a profusion of increasingly small-scale archaeological cultures, many of them defined through pottery only. This tension between large-scale interaction and regional or local developments remains to be adequately addressed. In how far can ceramically-defined ‘cultures’ be seen as spatially coherent social groups with their own way of life and worldview? Which role did ‘outside’ influences play in social change, for instance the emergence of hierarchical relations? Which artefacts and, perhaps more crucially, behaviours are appropriate for
defining social boundaries and identity groups? And what impact do permeable boundaries and polythetic models of culture have on our chronologies (e.g. innovation speed) and our views of Neolithic societies?

Workshop 17th/18th of February in Hamburg In recent years, aDNA has opened completely new perspec... more Workshop 17th/18th of February in Hamburg
In recent years, aDNA has opened completely new perspectives for prehistoric archaeology: suddenly, it is possible to directly address the hitherto rather intractable question of migration. Initial applications to Neolithic skeletons have already revealed that multiple migration events took place, some of them potentially on a large scale. The Neolithic has been a particular focus of aDNA research, which has been combined with archaeological and increasingly also with linguistic evidence to provide (not so?) new and sometimes controversial narratives. Therefore, the need for interdisciplinary dialogue has never been higher. While there has been much productive collaboration already, there are also very different research traditions, expectations and approaches. So how can we best combine 'headlines' in Nature or Science with the details of particular archaeological and linguistic studies? And how can we actually distinguish between different migration scenarios? These are just some of the issues this workshop aims to address. We hope that this will provide an opportunity for archaeologists, archaeogeneticists and linguists, as well as an interested audience, to find space for fruitful discussion. A preliminary programme and registration information is included.

With archaeogenetic data becoming ever more widespread, it is time archaeologists once again took... more With archaeogenetic data becoming ever more widespread, it is time archaeologists once again took the issue of ethnic identity in the past seriously. We now have the tools for identifying migration events, both individual and at the group scale, but we have a limited set of theoretical models of how these events actually worked, as well as a very restricted vocabulary to describe processes of difference, mixing, change, encounter, (dis)continuity and innovation, hybidization and how these affect the self-identification of social groups. This session therefore focuses on the transformation of Neolithic societies at moments of 'rupture', i.e. where significant changes in many or all aspects of life are apparent over a larger area and in a short time window. More specifically, we want to address whether such ruptures were associated with the formation of new ethnic identities (here defined as identity groups beyond the scale of the individual site or lineage/clan and with which people self-identify in opposition to other groups). In particular, we wish to critically discuss the relation between ethnicity, material culture and migration events.

We therefore welcome contributions which reflect on:
• the specific social mechanisms which may connect ethnic groups at larger spatial scales
• the role of material culture in sustaining and altering these mechanisms
• the way in which ruptures relate to reorientations of group identities, whether as cause or effect
• the kinds of situation in which new ethnic identities may arise, including, but not being limited to instances of migration
• the extent to which traditions of practice and behaviour are ways of mediating culture change

Contributors are requested to present their research into the aforementioned topics.

Important dates
The deadline for the submission of papers is 15 March 2017
The deadline for early bird registration is 30 April 2017

Organisers: Ivo van Wijk (Archol BV, The Netherlands), Luc Amkreutz (National Museum of Antiquities, The Netherlands), Daniela Hofmann (University of Hamburg, Germany), Fabian Haack (Landesmuseum Württemberg, Germany) and David Fontijn (Leiden University, The Netherlands)

Supervisors: Ivo van Wijk, Luc Amkreutz, Daniela Hofmann and Fabian Haack
Address: http://www.eaa2017maastricht.nl/

More information E-mail: i.vanwijk@archol.nl
23th EAA Meeting Maastricht 2017

The Bronze Age is a time of increasing interaction. Some parts of it are very well explored, and ... more The Bronze Age is a time of increasing interaction. Some parts of it are very well explored, and for some regions very strong narratives of hierarchisation, dependence on external raw material supplies and speci-alisation have been proposed. Consistent linkages have for instance been drawn between the existence of warfare/ a warrior elite (possibly as a response to climate-induced crises) and enclosures on the one hand and long-distance contacts and prestige goods on the other hand. In other regions, however, only some of these aspects appear (or indeed none of them), even though we can assume that networks of contact would at least have been possible. This is for example the case in the Baltic area, where western and eastern areas show dramatic diff erences in subsistence, the amounts of metal produced and deposited (and therefore presumably the social role of metal), the settlement pattern and scale of social groups. A most interesting question is the intensity of culture contact of the eastern Baltic across the sea with Scandinavia and with directly neighbouring continental regions.

In different times and places, burial grounds have been used for activities other than the dispos... more In different times and places, burial grounds have been used for activities other than the disposal of the dead. This can include commemorative and apotropaic practices, but also settlement activities, the use of cemeteries as market places or even as spaces for games and recreation. In prehistory, such phenomena are only rarely discussed explicitly in a diachronic context, even though there is plentiful evidence for them. This workshop, which will take place in Hamburg on the 10th and 11th of November 2017, aims to address questions concerning these topics by providing specific examples and case studies which together offer a diachronic overview from an interdisciplinary perspective.

If you want to participate, please send an email to the adress given on the poster. Participation... more If you want to participate, please send an email to the adress given on the poster. Participation is free of charge.