Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Research Papers (original) (raw)

Granbackens gravfalt i Mälby. L2025:408–411, L2024:9175, L2017:7442, L2017:7749, L2017:8012, L2017:8013, Gottröra-Mälby 1:7, Gottröra socken, Norrtälje kommun, Stockholms län, Uppland. Arkeologisk förundersökning. Arkeologgruppen AB Rapport 2024:58

2025, Arkeologgruppen AB Rapport

Rapport av resultaten från förundersökning av två gravfält L2017:7749 och L2024:9175, på var sin sida väg 77 i Mälby, utanför Gottröra. Ett av gravfälten, var inte känt sedan tidigare och innehöll ett tiotal stensättningar, samt en hög.... more

2025

Gedruckt mit unterstützung der deutschen forschungsgemeinschaft (DfG) Die Deutsche nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen nationalbibliografie. Detailliertere Informationen sind im Internet über <http abrufbar.

2025, Danish Journal of Archaeology

In this article we aim to highlight the potential of forgotten grave materials in our museum depositories for gaining insights into prehistoric life. By applying a multi-proxy approach to the skeletal remains of two graves of uncertain types from Falbygden in western Sweden, we were able to acquire new knowledge of burial practices, subsistence, health and mobility in Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age communities. One of the studied graves proved to be the earliest attested gallery grave in the area, while the other is one of the few known graves from the first period of the Bronze Age. The results indicate that some overlooked excavated materials in our depositories might stem from certain time periods from which we think archaeological remains are lacking and/or from practices which are not fully understood. These remains may prove to be important for our understanding of prehistoric societies when thoroughly studied combining archaeological, osteological, biochemical and geochemical methods.

2025, Bronzization: Essays in Bronze Age Archaeology

The building tradition in southern Scandinavia underwent a dramatic change in the centuries from the middle of the Late Neolithic (LN) to the end of the Early Nordic Bronze Age (NBA). This development is particularly evident in the archaeological record from Jutland, Denmark, that offers interesting insights into, among other things, the transition from the two-aisled to the three-aisled building tradition (from LN II-NBA III, 1950-1100 BCE). Currently, there are multiple examples of excavated houses dating to LN II and NBA I that demonstrate experimentation with the three-aisled architectural style while the two-aisled tradition was still dominant. There are several examples of houses that combine both architectural styles, a form of hybrid house style, as well as houses built in a fully developed three-aisled style from this transitional period, which spans from LN II (c.
1950 BCE) until the start of NBA II (c. 1500 BCE). After this date, almost all longhouses were built in the three-aisled style. The three-aisled longhouses from NBA II and the beginning of NBA III (1500-1200 BCE) tend to be monumental in size. In Jutland, most of these are built in the timber-intensive bole-walled technique. Whereas the large two-aisled longhouses from LN and NBA I seem to be concentrated in the central and eastern parts of southern Scandinavia, the monumentalisation of house construction moved westwards to Jutland in NBA II. Central and south Jutland in particular stand out with their concentration of large three-aisled bole-walled houses that were contemporary with a network of barrow lines that represented important prehistoric routeways. There is thus a clear link between monuments and political influence.

2025, Stiftelsen för dokumentation av Bohusläns hällristningar. Archaeological report 16

The Rock Carvings of Tanum Municipality. Part I. Mo, Naverstad, Lur and eastern part of Tanum Parish.

Preface by Professor Christopher Tilley.

154 pages.

2025, Stiftelsen för dokumentation av Bohusläns hällristningar. Arkeologisk rapport 14.

The Rock Carvings of Munkedal Municipality. Bärfendal, Svarteborg, Håby, Foss, Hede, Krokstad and Sanne Parish, Bohuslän County, Sweden.

Lasse Bengtsson In Memoriam, by Professor Joakim Goldhahn

190 Pages.

2025, ARTE E ARCHITETTURA NELLA PREISTORIA DELLA SARDEGNA, Le domus de janas, Dossier di candidatura UNESCO, allegato 3, Approfondimenti

2025, Tatiana Cossu, Carlo Lugliè (eds.), La preistoria in Sardegna. I tempo delle comunità umane dal X al II millennio a.C.

The discovery contexts, primarily limited to long-used and perturbed collective burials, the lack of clear evidence from settlement sites, and the limited number of radiocarbon dates make the interpretation of the Bell Beaker phenomenon... more

2024, Комиссаров С.А. Культура Шися (Гуандун, Китай) переходного периода от неолита к бронзе: новые данные // Проблемы археологии, этнографии, антропологии Сибири и сопредельных территорий. Новосибирск: Изд-во ИАЭТ СО РАН, 2024. Т. XXX. С. 537 - 544.

В статье представлен обзор основных результатов исследования культуры Шися в северной части пров. Гуандун, большей частью в пределах последних двух десятилетий. Выделены ее основные характеристики – такие как многочисленные треножники (с туловом в виде горшка, котла, блюда) и сосуды на поддонах, часто перфорированных. Шлифованные мотыги с плечиками, заступы и тесла с уступом относятся к категории каменных орудий, широко распространенных к югу от Янцзы. Многие из т.н. нефритовых изделий (регалии цун, секиры) изготовлялись по образцам из культуры Лянчжу, откуда также была заимствована технология их изготовления. Яркой особенностью погребального обряда является вторичное захоронение со своим сопроводительным инвентарем, которое разрушает первичный набор. На позднем этапе Шися находят бронзовые изделия, возможно, импортные из культуры Учэн. При этом разница в датах между ранним и поздним этапами Шися невелика, находки демонстрируют культурную гомогенность. В хозяйстве преобладало заливное рисоводство, причем выращивался как скороспелый (японика), так и позднеспелый (индика) рис. Полученные даты по радиоуглероду охватывали эпоху от начала до конца III тыс. до н.э., который в китайской археологии в целом соответствует переходу от неолита к ранней бронзе; к этому периоду и следует отнести культуру Шися.
Памятник Яньшаньчжай, исследованный в самые последние годы, полностью соответствует всем признакам культуры Шися. При раскопках вскрыто не более трети всей его площади, поэтому он остается перспективным для дальнейшего исследования. Поскольку уже раскопаны такие объекты как, возможно, общественное здание, фрагмент водопровода (или водостока), печи для обжига керамики, то велика вероятность открыть там поселение с развитой структурой, к которому примыкало кладбище с территориальным разделением погребений по размеру и богатству инвентаря.

2024, Arkeologerna rapport

Under hösten 2024 undersöktes en mindre yta vid Kungsplan i den norra delen av Marstrand, Bohuslän, Västra Götalands län.
Vid undersökningen framkom murar och utfyllnader av sten från 1700–
1800-tal som hör till Fredriksborg (Norra Strandverket) och olika generationer av kajkonstruktioner. Längre åt söder fanns de möjliga spåren av en byggnad från 1700-tal. Längst i söder fanns stenar och block som troligen var en äldre terrassmur (1600-tal).

2024, Antiquity

During the Late Neolithic, a series of short-lived, monumental-scale farmhouses were constructed across southern Scandinavia. The size of these structures is often taken as a tangible manifestation of the elite status of the inhabitants. Here, the author explores the architecture and associated material culture of the six largest known examples, drawing attention to general parallels with smaller farmhouses in the region. The comparison highlights similarities in spatial organisation and function indicating that, despite their size, these monumental houses served the same roles as dwellings and centres of agricultural production. Attention to function rather than size emphasises the importance of food production and control of surpluses in the emergence of social elites at the end of the Neolithic.

2024, Antiquity

Studies of early fourth-millennium BC Britain have typically focused on the Early Neolithic sites of Wessex and Orkney; what can the investigation of sites located in areas beyond these core regions add? The authors report on excavations (2011–2019) at Dorstone Hill in Herefordshire, which have revealed a remarkable complex of Early Neolithic monuments: three long barrows constructed on the footprints of three timber buildings that had been deliberately burned, plus a nearby causewayed enclosure. A Bayesian chronological model demonstrates the precocious character of many of the site's elements and strengthens the evidence for the role of tombs and houses/halls in the creation and commemoration of foundational social groups in Neolithic Britain.

2024, Arkeologhuset Rapporter

Report from the partial excavation of an Iron Age. A stone-setting was excavated which turned out to be partially destroyed by a nearby modern road. The center of the grave was destroyed but a few scattered burnt bones were found, one a fragment from of human eye-brow (arcus supercilliaris), one from an cattle vertebra. C14-dating of Birch charcoal from a sooty patch under the grave's marginal stones gave a date around AD 400.

2023, Grooved Ware in the south west peninsula

This chapter prvides an overview of Grooved War ii the south west peninsula. It reviews the last two decades of developer funder work which has drastically increased the number of sites and radiocarbon dates.

2023, MASF 11

The landscape of Yamna (Yamnaya) studies has undergone a change lately. Nobody would be able to deny the fact of Yamna migration in the Balkans and Carpathian Basin. However, the drivers of this major population movement (or rather movements) need to be clarified. The interpretation is usually built from the possible crucial advantages that the Yamna way of life could propose: horseback riding, wheeled wagons, advanced metalworking, etc. Another variant is based on the drastic climatic deterioration that would force Yamna groups to seek new lands with a milder climate. We propose to take another perspective and study what could attract Yamna people in the West. This migration was not driven by overcrowding, as there was land to spare. Instead, social factors such as prestige or curiosity were likely an incentive to find new lands. In order to carry out this analysis, we suggest a cartographic approach by parallel mapping of prominent metal ores outcrops and Yamna enclaves.

2023, Mesolitiska spår vid Länna. Arkeologisk förundersökning i avgränsande syfte av stenåldersboplats L2013:7875 och fyndplats L2013:7873, fastighet Länna 45:1, Huddinge kommun.

Report from an archaeological investigation of a Mesolithic settlement site at Länna in the Stockholm area, Sweden.

2022

I perioden fra 1.-12. august 2005 ble det undersøkt et jernvinneanlegg med seks kullgroper ved Beito Høyfiellshotell (3/121), Øystre Slidre, Oppland, På lokaliteten ble det påvist deler av en blestertuft (S21) med en bredde på 6,8 m, og med en bevart lengde på 4,6 m. Grunnet modeme forstyrrelser var det ikke mulig å avgjøre dens opprinnelige lengde. Tuften hadde flere likhetstrekk med tufter påvist på anlegg av Larsens (1991) type llIC. I tuften (S21) var det to sjaktovner med sideavtapping av slagg (S8 og S9), og i ytterkant av huskonstruksjonen ble det funnet et malmlager, S 11. I nedkant av tuften lå det to mindre slagghauger, S7 og S20. I begge haugene ble det påvist renneslagg og bunnskoller, og de hadde en samlet totalvekt på anslagsvis 2980 kg, hvorav 1610 kg var slagg. Slagghaug S21. var om lag tre ganger så stor som S7. I tilknytning til jernvinneanlegget befant det seg fem kullgroper (S1-S5), alle med nær kvadratisk bunnplan. Omkring 40 m vest for tuften ble det påvist res...

2022, European Journal of Archaeology

Gender has long been recognized as an important structuring agent in Bronze Age communities across Europe. A strong impression of binary gender emerges from some Early Bronze Age cemeteries, and models of social organization developed from this evidence have greatly influenced understandings of gender across the continent. This article focuses on two regions with more equivocal evidence: Ireland and Scotland, where idiosyncratic practices characterize individual cemeteries alongside wider trends. Expressions of gender varied in radical ways between different communities, and this cannot be captured or explained by the current grand narratives for the European Bronze Age. Instead, the author argues that gender could be subtle, contextual, and of varying importance to individual communities at different times, not necessarily a common feature unifying the European Bronze Age.

2022, Open Journal of Archaeometry

The transition from the Late Neolithic (LN) period (locally also called Final Neolithic or Chalcolithic) to the Early Bronze Age (EBA) in Greece and the Southeast Balkans is an obscure period in human history. Previous radiocarbon evidence showed that in settlements with stratigraphical sequences stretching out on both periods, the absolute dates featured a gap ranging from 700 to 1000 years (roughly between 4000 and 3300/3000 cal. BC). On the other hand, there is only scarce evidence about settlements that would have been founded during the missing period, thus arising questions of paramount importance about the human occupational strategies in this period. Investigation tackling this particular problem is carried out within the framework of a broader research project (Balkans-4000) funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). Here we discuss the latest radiocarbon results from three recently excavated multilayer settlements on the continental Greek Eastern Macedonia: Dikil...

2022, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

This paper examines the containment and covering of people and objects in burials throughout later prehistory in Britain. Recent analyses of grave assemblages with exceptionally well-preserved organic remains have revealed some of the particular roles played by covers in funerary contexts. Beyond these spectacular examples, however, the objects involved in covering and containing have largely been overlooked. Many of the ‘motley crew’ of pots and stones used to wrap, cover, and contain bodies (and objects) were discarded or destroyed by antiquarian investigators in their quest for more immediately dazzling items. Organic containers and covers – bags, coffins, shrouds, blankets – are rarely preserved. Our study brings together the diverse and often elusive objects that played a part in covering and containing prehistoric burials, including items that directly enclosed bodies and objects, and those that potentially pinned together (now mostly absent) organic wraps. Overall, we contend...

2022, Open Journal of Archaeometry

2022, Ophiussa. Revista do Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa

Os dados arqueológicos, pela sua complexidade/multiplicidade, têm sido tratados por várias disciplinas. Esta realidade permitiu aos arqueólogos construir narrativas históricas que se aproximam, mais do que nunca, das comunidades do Passado. Para esta realidade contribuem também os resultados dos trabalhos de ADN antigo que, recentemente, se têm focado no território peninsular. Estes enfatizam complexos contactos (não apenas com áreas hoje europeias), bem como distintos padrões de mobilidade segundo o sexo dos indivíduos. Todavia, a sua principal conclusão prende-se com a identificação de uma ruptura genética na transição entre o Calcolítico e a Idade do Bronze, na qual os genes locais são substituídos, em 99%, por indivíduos com ancestralidade genética do cromossoma Y da estepe Pôntico-Cáspia. Assim, é necessário contextualizar arqueologicamente esta substituição, sugerindo hipóteses que permitam compreender, em que medida, as dinâmicas sugeridas pelo ADN podem contribuir para o con...

2022

1. Abstract …. ………………………………………..…………………….. 1
2. ‘Ain Ghazal ………………………………………………..……………. 1
3. Chronology ……………………………………………………….……… 2
4. Size and Population ………………………………………………… 2
5. Ritual and Art ……………………………………………………………. 2
6. Geology, Environment, and Paleocolo………...………… 3
7. Economy ……………………………………………………………...….. 3
8. Discussion ……………………………………………………..….…….. 4

2022

1. Introduction …………………………………………………….. 1
2. Location of Upright Stones of ‘Ain Ghazal ….. 2
3. Function ……………………………………………..…………… 3
4. Conclusion ……………………………………………………… 5

2022, The Neolithic of Mainland Scotland

This paper is a review of a broad range of evidence for burial practice in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain. The author asks the difficult question – who were these people – in relation to the nameless dead found during excavations. A broad range of evidence is reviewed, including inhumations, cremations and conjoined bodies, and the fixed lines between these categories are questioned. The use of modern concepts such as ‘burial’ are also queried. Set within a chronological framework, this paper offers a challenging and fresh approach to archaeological understandings and interpretations of burial practice.

2022, Open Journal of Archaeometry

2022, Naturalmente Scienza

2022, Bohusläns museum rapport

Gravfält, hällristningar och boplatslämningar i Tanum, Bohuslän. Undersökta 2007. Gravarna har daterats främst till perioden senneolitikum–förromersk järnålder. Boplatslämningarna var från samma tidsperiod men här fanns även ett... more

2021

En overpløjet gravhøj udgravet i 2020 ved Kildebjerg Ry viste sig slet ikke at være så overpløjet endda. I stedet for den forventede centralgrav fra enkeltgravskultur, fremkom resterne af en bulkistebegravelse (ÆBA II), der lå alt andet end centralt. Graven indeholdt enkle bronzesmykker, bælteplade og en bronzedolk og gravlagte har således været en aristokratisk kvinde af lokal slægt. Højen indeholdt herudover to velbevarede hustomter. Kvindens grav lå ved ildstedet i det ene hus, hvorfor det måske har tilhørt hende. Det andet hus var fra overgangen SN/ÆBA og har formentlig tilhørt hendes forfædre.
Efterfølgende er der foretaget yderligere gravlæggelser i højens centrale del, og i gruber omkring højens fod blev der fundet spor efter handlinger, der indikerer at her er foregået kultiske aktiviteter, som knytter sig til højen. Hele komplekset vidner om at højen i et længere perspektiv har været omdrejningspunktet i en stedlig forankret forfædrekult.

2021, Sprawozdania Archeologiczne

On site 53 in Smarglin, the remains of two settlements were found: a settlement
of the Funnel Beaker culture from phase II of its development, and a settlement
from the beginning of the INB. In this paper we attempt to present monographically
the material from the turn of the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The paper consists of
three pars: part I, presenting source information and the method of its analysis;
part II, discussing the problem of homogeneity of the complex; and, part III, discussing the cultural-chronological and genetic identification of the complex.

2021

Επισκόπηση της ερήµωσης και αναβίωσης οικισµών στην Κάλυµνο από τη σκοπιά της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας …………………………………………. ΧΑΡΟΥΛΑ ΦΑΝΤΑΟΥΤΣΑΚΗ: Αρχαιολογικό οδοιπορικό στην Αστυπάλαια ………………………………………………......... ΑΝ∆ΡΕΑΣ Γ. ΒΛΑΧΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ: Βαθύ Αστυπάλαιας: Έρευνα και µελέτη σε ένα διαχρονικό παλίµψηστο της νησιωτικής αρχαιολογίας ………………………………………………………….. ΜΑΡΙΑ ΜΟΥΚΑΖΗ: Λυχνάρια, πύραυνα, θυµιατήρια της εποχής του χαλκού στο Αιγαίο ………………………………………… ΘΕΟ∆ΟΣΗΣ Ν. ∆ΙΑΚΟΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ: Στο Ασκληπιείο της Κω γινόντουσαν θεοκρατικές θεραπείες; ………………………………. ΑΓΓΕΛΙΚΗ ΚΑΤΣΙΩΤΗ: Η κυκλοφορία λυχναριών της ύστερης αρχαιότητας στις Κυκλάδες και τα ∆ωδεκάνησα. Η περίπτωση των λυχναριών «αιγαιακού τύπου» ……………………………. ΚΑΛΛΙΟΠΗ ΜΠΑΪΡΑΜΗ: Ρόδος: Ο απόηχος των ελληνιστικών εργαστηρίων στην γλυπτική παραγωγή του νησιού τη ρωµαϊκή περίοδο. Οι σχέσεις µε τα γειτονικά κέντρα …………………… ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΗΛ. ΒΟΛΑΝΑΚΗΣ: Τα µοναστήρια του όρους Λάτµου της Μικράς Ασίας και η µονή του Αγίου Ιωάννου του Θεολόγου της Πάτµου ……………………………………………. ΕΛΕΝΗ Κ. ΠΑΠΑΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΥ: Ανάγλυφο από τον Άγ. Γεώργιο (Χουρµαλί) στη Μεσαιωνική Πόλη της Ρόδου: Μια πρώτη ανάγνωση και ερµηνεία …………………………………………. ΜΙΧΑΗΛ Ι. ΚΟΥΤΕΛΛΑΣ: Το Μαρτύριο-Βαπτιστήριο της Παλαιοπαναγιάς στον Βαθύ Καλύµνου …………………………… ΙΟΥΛΙΑ Κ. ΠΑΠΑΕΥΤΥΧΙΟΥ: Ξερολιθικά κτίσµατα στο νησί της Καλύµνου. Η αξία και η απαξίωσή τους …………………... ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ ΜΑΣΤΡΟΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ: Εικόνες που ταξιδεύουν… Φορητά ζωγραφικά έργα από την Κύπρο στα νησιά του Αιγαίου… ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ ΜΑΣΤΡΟΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ: Michael Heslop, Medieval Greece. Encounters Between Latins, Greeks, and Others in the Dodecanese and the Mani, εκδ. Routledge, London-New York 2021. (Βιβλιοπαρουσίαση) ……………………………….

2021, Światowit

The production of flint projectile points in the late
stage of the Neman culture shows certain elements which
are clearly similar in terms of technology and typology
to the solutions known from flint-working of the people representing the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures. The occurrence of such features has already been
presented in relation to Neman culture ceramic production which lies at the heart of the concept of separating horizons within Linin type complexes. An in-depth
analysis of the techno-typological features of flintworking in the Neman culture, and especially the typological category of projectile points, reveals similar patterns as well as cultural and chronological references in
the case of ceramics.
The most striking elements show analogies to those
known from the south-eastern area of the cultural groupings influenced by impulses flowing from the civilization
centres of the time. Traces of these influences are clear in
certain typological and technological solutions, such as
the forms of triangular projectile points, or in applying
a trough-like retouch on such points. At the current stage
of research, it is hard to determine whether the analogies observed result from not yet recognised intercultural
contacts, or rather constitute a certain signum temporis
characteristic of production in a wider area but during
a single, specific chronological interval.

2021, Fukuda M., Shevkomud I.Ya., Kunikita D., Dyakonov V.M., Gorshkov M.V., Gabrilchuk M.A. Syalakh-type pottery at the Dalzha-2 site in the Amur River mouth // Записки Гродековского музея. Вып. 39. – Хабаровск: КГБНУК «ХКМ им. Н.И. Гродекова», 2020. – С. 84–94.

The Amur River mouth located around 50° N is a socio-ecological transition zone from the Far Eastern near taiga forest zone to the Far Eastern taiga zone. Around this area, several variations of the ancient round-bottomed pottery style, which is thought to have originated in East Siberia, are often discovered at archaeological sites. Yu. A. Mochanov [1969] first mentioned that the distribution of the Middle Neolithic Belkachi culture found in East Siberia from the Taimyr to the Chukotka regions might have spread to this region. This is probably because when surveys were conducted by his investigation team in the Lower Amur and the Upper Amgun River basins in the 1960s [see Mochanov, Fedoseeva 2013a: 68–69], fragments of round-bottomed vessels with cord-marked decoration had already been collected. Then, following the excavations at the Malaya Gavan multilayer site by A. K. Konopatskiy [e.g., 1993] from 1985 to 1986, Belkachi-type cord-marked pottery of the Lower Amur region drew attention as showing traces of an East Siberian cultural influence [Konopatskiy, Milyutin 1989].
The results of a joint Russia-Japan excavation at the Malaya Gavan site from 2007 to 2008 revealed that the Belkachi phenomenon was parallel to any period of the Middle Neolithic Malyshevo culture in the Lower Amur basin [Fukuda, et al. 2011b]. Furthermore, around the Amur River mouth during the Paleometal age of the late stage of the 1st millennium BC, there was another style of round-bottomed Bolshe-bukhta-type pottery [see Shevkomud 2002], which was characterized by a blister pattern (or “pearl ornaments”) just below the rim. It has been pointed out that there is a relationship with the Ulakhan-Segelennyakh culture of the Bronze age in the Southwestern Yakutia [Dyakonov 2012]. So how should a historical dynamism of cultural contacts in the Holocene between different ecological zones, that is Far East and East Siberia, be described today? That is one of the major concerns for us. In this paper, two potsherds from the Dalzha 2 site located on the bank of Lake Dalzha will be reported on with details of typological features and AMS radiocarbon dates of charred residues.

2021, GEFJON 4

In the years around 1500 BC some important changes took place in architecture and monumental construction. The tradition with two-aisled houses and sunken-floors was completely replaced by the three-aisled building tradition. The new house-type was often built in a very timber-consuming way. At the same time barrow construction culminates in number, dimensions and resources involved. However, the three-aisled construction was known before Early Bronze Age period II. In recent years, more examples of three-aisled houses have been found with radiocarbon datings to the EBA I and even LN II, along with hybrids between two-and three-aisled buildings. These experiments with the three-aisled construction seem to have been most popular in Jutland. Furthermore, this is the area, where the building of monuments in the centuries 1500-1200 BC is most remarkable. Here we find some of the largest and richest barrows together with huge longhouses of the bolewall-type.

2020, Ophiussa - Revista do Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa

2020, The End of the Stone Age on The Stranska skala Hill in Brno - Lithic Production or "Optimalization"

2020, Journal of Archaeological Science

In response to the comment by Crombe and Langohr (2020) on our micromorphological study of Mesolithic pit hearths, we argue that these features are most likely anthropogenic in origin, and that it is therefore unlikely that they are the remains of burned ant nests. Arguments for an anthropogenic origin centre around (1) their regional and temporal distribution, (2) their spatial distribution within archaeological sites, (3) their charcoal spectrum and (4) the presence of cultural remains in the pits. We argue that the absence of fire-related features and apparent discrepancies in dating can be attributed to site-formation and taphonomic processes. Finally, we indicate that, due to a lack of actual observations of the subsurface morphology of burned ant nests, it is impossible to make a valid comparison. Based on the existing literature on ant nests fires, we come to a different model of this morphology than do Crombe and Langohr (2020). We conclude that these pit hearths form an important component of the Mesolithic archaeological record and that new research into their formation and their use may shed more light on their origin and purpose.

2020, Current Anthropology

Given the available space, I will focus on the Nordic Bronze Age (BA). Rich data, evolving methods, and conceptual rejuvenation of continental perspectives, politics, conflict and society, and an appreciation of the diversity and scale of BA economy: Ling et al. aim to pull this body of knowledge together and comparatively interpret it. Factors like the Bell Beaker Culture's (BBC) expansion, maritime capacity, trade, slavery and warriors are essential analytical components, recasting the scale and structure of BA economy, networks and society.

2020, H. Meller/S. Friederich/M. Küßner/H. Stäuble/R. Risch (Hrsg.), Siedlungsarchäologie des Endneolithikums und der frühen Bronzezeit. 11. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom 18. bis 20. Oktober 2018 in Halle (Saale)

Our information about the Late Neolithic period and the Early
Bronze Age in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern comes mainly from
graves, hoards and surface finds. Settlements, on the other
hand, in particular sites with house features, are known only
in very small numbers. Since the mid-199os, however, large-
scale excavations, conducted as part of major infrastructure
projects, have frequently uncovered both settlement features
and house ground plans, the latter usually found in isola-
tion, which have been dated to the Late Neolithic or the Early
Bronze Age. The house ground-plans were mainly of two-
aisled post-built structures whose construction methods had
varying, but easily recognisable, Scandinavian, north-west
or central German parallels. Another catagory of buildings
were pit houses, whose original use, however, is still unclear.
Additionally, and chiefly in areas close to the River Elbe, evi-
dence was found of wall trench structures, constructed either
with sill beams or with wall-posts. Although considerable pro-
gress has been made in recent years, settlements dating from
the Late Neolithic period and the Early Bronze Age are still
under-represented, with the result that our understanding
of house construction and land use in these periods is still
incomplete.

2020, Siedlungsarchäologie des Endneolithikums und der frühen Bronzezeit/ Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Settlement Archaeology

Dwellings and settlements in Thuringia from the Final Neolithic period and the Early Bronze Age between 2500 and 1500 BC The millennium during which the transition from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age took place is very well... more

2020, Studia Universitatis Hereditati

In the last years, the re-examination of old finds, some casual discoveries and recent excavation works allowed us to update our knowledge on the latest phases of the Neolithic and Eneolithic in Friuli. The increasing data at our disposal do not allow to present an organic picture yet, but it depicts a vast occupation area characterised during the Late Neolithic by a Padan cultural influence, whilst during the Eneolithic significant signs of connections with the transalpine and especially the Balkan worlds have emerged.

2019

Archive report from the 2013-15 excavations in Skrivarhelleren rockshelter (in Norwegian)

2019, II i III Pomorska Sesja Sprawozdawcza za rok 2012 i 2014

During rescue research carried out at Reformatów Street in the Wejherowo, unexpected discoveries were made. A unique find of a burial from the Early Bronze Age were found. The single skeletal grave discovered in Wejherowo is the first radiocarbon dated and comprehensively studied grave from the Early Bronze Age in the north part of Eastern Pomerania.
Beside artefacts from Early Bronze Age also relicts of ovens from the early Iron Age and two features of the unknown chronology were found.

2019

Over a period of more than 10 years, Horsens Museum undertook a series of excavations at Østbirk, north of Horsens. These resulted in an extensive and diverse body of evidence from a settlement area with scattered houses and an associated cemetery with barrows and flat-field graves. The two areas lay together within a melt-water valley that also framed their areal extent. In dating terms, the burial ground extends from the Single Grave culture to the early Pre-Ro-man Iron Age, while the settlement is restricted to the period from the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age period IA (EBA IA), 2350-1600 BC. Neither the settlement nor the burial ground have been fully exposed , but collectively these two areas provide an excellent insight into a local agrarian community that, in the course of the Late Ne-olithic, developed under successive external cultural influences. In Late Neolithic I (LN I), these were, in the first instance, from the northern Jutish Bell Beaker environment, while in Late Neolithic II (LN II) they came from southern Sweden and the continental Únětice culture. The changes saw expression in not only a number of new artefact types but also in completely new grave forms and house types. In LN II, the latter included the hybrid house and the three-aisled longhouse, which both occurred together with the traditional two-aisled longhouse with a sunken floor. Throughout the entire habitation period, the settlement consisted of small households that, via economic cooperation, were able to practise intensive arable agriculture aimed at producing an economic surplus. The special significance of arable agriculture is demonstrated , first and foremost, by the farmsteads' utility-or economy buildings, and it was perhaps an increased need for these buildings that led to the development of new types of longhouses at the end of the period. The locality lay on one of the area's important travel and communication routes and later, in the Bronze Age, a palisade was built across the mouth of the valley, probably to regulate or control movement through this natural bottleneck.

2019, Archeologia preventiva e valorizzazione del territorio