scholarly journals Change and Diversity in Neolithic Mortuary Practices on the Isle of Man

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Chris Fowler ◽  
Rachel J. Crellin ◽  
Michelle Gamble
Keyword(s):  
Human Remains ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Isle Of Man

While the Early Neolithic chambered tombs of the Isle of Man are well known and the Late Neolithic has been clearly defined with reference to a distinctive suite of artefacts, little is known about the Middle Neolithic. This article reports on 17 new Neolithic radiocarbon dates from cremated human remains from the Isle of Man. These identify five burials in cists as Middle Neolithic and indicate new sequences of activity at cemeteries starting in the Middle Neolithic. Each of these sites is examined in detail. The dates also spur a reconsideration of the development of Ronaldsway pottery and the integration of Grooved Ware pottery and motifs into early 3rd millennium practice on the island. The paper ends with a consideration of the changing effects of mortuary practices throughout the Neolithic on the Isle of Man and a discussion of connections with Middle and Late Neolithic activity in Ireland and Britain.

scholarly journals Late Neolithic and Late Bronze Age lithic assemblages associated with a cairn and other prehistoric features at Stoneyhill Farm, Longhaven, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, 2002-03

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben Ballin ◽  
Ian Suddaby ◽  
M Cressey ◽  
M Hastie ◽  
A Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Assemblages

Prehistoric remains were recorded by CFA Archaeology Ltd (CFA) in 2002-03 during a programme of fieldwork at the landfill site within the boundaries of Stoneyhill Farm, which lies 7km to the southwest of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. These included a clearance cairn with a Late Bronze Age lithic assemblage and a burial cairn, with Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age lithics and Beaker ceramics. Other lithic scatters of similar date had no certain associations, although pits containing near-contemporary Impressed Wares were nearby. Additional lithic assemblages included material dated to the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. What may be proto-Unstan Wares in an isolated pit were associated with radiocarbon dates (barley) of the first half of the fourth millennium bc. These findings represent a substantial addition to the local area's archaeological record and form an important contribution to the understanding of lithic technology and ceramics in earlier prehistoric Scotland.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Ian Shepherd, whose site visits enlightened this and other projects undertaken by one of the authors (IS).

scholarly journals Cherkasskaya-5 site and its place in the Early Neolithic on the Middle Don River

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 176-189
Author(s):  
Andrey Mikhailovich Skorobogatov
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Animal ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Domestic Species ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Neolithic Age ◽  
Don River ◽  
The Neolithic Age ◽  
Technological Analysis

The paper introduces materials of Cherkasskaya-5 site, located on the Middle Don River in the Pavlovsky district of the Voronezh Region. Under the two-meter thickness of the lake-alluvial layers, more than a thousand pieces of finds have been ceramics, stone, bone products and osteology. While analyzing the materials of the monument a ceramic and flint complex of the Early Neolithic appearance have been distinguished (7-6 thousand BC). The received radiocarbon dates, the data of technical and technological analysis and the features of ornamentation, ceramics, the typology of stone and bone inventory, help to find one of the possible ways of Neolithization of the Middle Don, in which the leading role belongs to the steppe component. Paleozoological analysis showed that the osteological collection is dominated by the bones of birds (64,4% of all bones), there are mammals (21,8%), fish (9,7%), turtle marsh (4,1%). Among domestic mammals domestic species (dog, horse, pig, sheep) are identified. However, the presence of late Neolithic and Eneolithic (srednedonskaya, dnepro-donetskaya, nizhnedonskaya, and srednestogovskaya cultures) in the ceramics layer leaves open the question of the domestic animal species belonging to the early Neolithic. The material of the site makes it possible to characterize this place as a series of seasonal short-term specialized sites intended for conducting network fishing, hunting for waterfowl, catching turtles and collecting shellfish as well as for processing the products of fishing and hunting in the Neolithic age.

scholarly journals Results and Prospects of the Study of Neolithic Sites on the Lake Baikal Coast

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 54-82
Author(s):  
A. G. Novikov ◽  
◽  
O. I. Goriunova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Baikal ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Reliable Source ◽  
Scientific Potential

The article aims to generalize the information on the Neolithic sites of the Baikal coast identified for all period of the research, to evaluate their significance and prospects for further study. It is based on literary, archival materials and the results of our own field work. A list of objects (93 sites) was determined, their mapping was done, preliminary dating was clarified, data on radiocarbon dates ware collected (48 dates for 12 sites). Among the Neolithic objects, microlayered sites containing pure complexes of this time are the most important. 34 such objects have been recorded along the entire coast of Lake Baikal. Excavations were carried out on 17 of them, the rest of the sites were revealed by small excavation works. Approximately a third of objects (29 sites) are identified based on the collection of exposed material. A significant group is represented by macrolayered objects (30 sites), where the Neolithic materials are in a situation of compression with the complexes of other chronological periods. The unevenness of the archaeological study of the Baikal shore is noted. The Cis-Olkhon region has the greatest scientific potential. 10 microlayered sites (out of 22) were comprehensively excavated on this territory. Enough reliable stratigraphy, geological and geomorphological characteristics, qualitative, informative archaeological material, and the series of radiocarbon dates were obtained. The southwestern Baikal shore sites (3 out of 7 microlayered objects have been excavated) and Chivyrkui Bay (1 out of 3 objects) represented a promising material. These archaeological sites are a reliable source base and pivotal in the study of the regional Neolithic. At present, the largest number of sites with complexes of the Early (16 sites) and Late (13 sites) Neolithic have been identified on the Baikal coast. Complexes of the Middle Neolithic in microlayered position are noted at 6 sites. The complexes of the Cis-Olkhon region and the southwestern Baikal coast are provided with radiocarbon dates. For the Late Neolithic there are 25 reliable dates, for the Early Neolithic – 19 dates, for the Middle Neolithic – 4 dates. According to them, the complexes of the Early Neolithic are dated in the range of 7214–6123 BP (8160–6910 cal BP), Middle Neolithic – 5874–5597 BP (6750–6310 cal BP), Late Neolithic – 4967–4217 BP (5840–4630 cal BP). In general, the Neolithic sites of the Baikal coast have great scientific potential and prospects for future research.

scholarly journals Steinalderkeramikken fra Rogaland – en kronologisk studie

Viking ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Bayesian Modelling ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Pottery Sherds ◽  
Neolithic Pottery

From the 1800’s and onwards, pottery sherds have been found at a number of Neolithic occupation sites in Rogaland County, Southwestern Norway. In this paper, pottery assemblages from nine contexts are analyzed in order to produce an interpretative chronology. Typological analysis is combined with correspondence analysis and Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates. The result is a coherent chronological model that accounts for variations in pottery decoration styles between the late Early Neolithic and the Late Neolithic. There is a development in decorative styles from cord and cord-stamp ornamented vessels followed by a period of pots decorated with cord-stamp, small imprints and incisions, and finally a phase with added lines, comb, and cord-stamp. However, the multi-phased nature of the sites suggests that there are still many unanswered questions. New excavations and re-analyses of older sites are necessary for a better understanding of the developments in Neolithic pottery styles. 

scholarly journals New data about the early Neolithic of the steppe Volga Region

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-204
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Ivanovich Yudin ◽  
Aleksandr Alekseevich Vybornov
Keyword(s):  
Organic Materials ◽  
Lower Layer ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Technological Analysis

The issue of early Neolithic isolation in various territories is one of the most difficult to study. The early Neolithic steppe Volga Region was unknown for a long time. This is due to the small number of Neolithic monuments in the region of interest. The situation changed after the study of the Varfolomeevskaya site. The lower layer of this reference monument of the Orel culture belonged to the Middle Neolithic, layers 2B and 2A - to the late Neolithic. This version was based on a limited source base and a few radiocarbon dates, some of which were of a debatable nature. New field surveys in 2014-2017 on three excavations in Oroshaemoe Settlement and significant series of radiocarbon dates for various organic materials obtained in various laboratories (including AMS) allowed us to revise the periodization of both the Varfolomeevskaya site and the Oryol culture on the whole. This allows you to make a typological analysis of materials, as well as technical and technological analysis of ceramic implements. Thus, the earliest ceramics are made from silt with a natural admixture of shells of mollusks. The lower layer of the monument is now defined as Early Neolithic, layer 2B - the Middle Neolithic, layer 2A - late Neolithic.

Mortuary Practices as Evidence of Social Organization in the Neolithic Hypogea of the Paris Basin

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 580-598
Author(s):  
Arnaud Blin
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Paris Basin ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Left Wall ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
West Part ◽  
Female Figures ◽  
Burial Practice

One hundred and sixty hypogea have been discovered in the Paris Basin, concentrated in the south-west part of the Marne department. Radiocarbon dates and archaeological artefacts indicate their construction and use were a phenomenon limited to the Late Neolithic 2, currently estimated as 3350–3000 cal BC. Re-examination of the human skeletal remains, notably those from Les Mournouards II, enables us to improve our understanding of the practices involved in these collective burials, particularly aspects of individual selection and distribution. Age, sex, and social status determined the burial location between and within the artificial caves. Burial positions characterized two groups of hypogea. However, in both groups, most female individuals were buried along the left wall of the monuments, on the same side as the collective grave goods and carved female figures sometimes discovered in the anterooms. The nature and distribution of personal material reflect the existence of particular statuses for some individuals. The burial principles reveal a relative conservatism guaranteeing distinction between individuals of different lifetime statuses. Several competing strategies sought to preserve, in death, this social order. The mortuary practices, then, reflect a codified social organization for a Paris Basin group of the later fourth millennium BC and a burial practice that was less ‘collective’ than might have been imagined.

Social organization in the Orcadian Neolithic: identification of elite domestic structures and settlements through analysis of excavation data

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
David MacInnes
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Qualitative Evidence ◽  
Methods Of Analysis ◽  
The Subject

The nature of social organization during the Orcadian Neolithic has been the subject of discussion for several decades with much of the debate focused on answering an insightful question posed by Colin Renfrew in 1979. He asked, how was society organised to construct the larger, innovative monuments of the Orcadian Late Neolithic that were centralised in the western Mainland? There are many possible answers to the question but little evidence pointing to a probable solution, so the discussion has continued for many years. This paper takes a new approach by asking a different question: what can be learned about Orcadian Neolithic social organization from the quantitative and qualitative evidence accumulating from excavated domestic structures and settlements?In an attempt to answer this question, quantitative and qualitative data about domestic structures and about settlements was collected from published reports on 15 Orcadian Neolithic excavated sites. The published data is less extensive than hoped but is sufficient to support a provisional answer: a social hierarchy probably did not develop in the Early Neolithic but almost certainly did in the Late Neolithic, for which the data is more comprehensive.While this is only one approach of several possible ways to consider the question, it is by exploring different methods of analysis and comparing them that an understanding of the Orcadian Neolithic can move forward.

A Medieval Burial from Graham Street, Leith, Edinburgh

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-169
Author(s):  
Paul R. J. Duffy ◽  
Olivia Lelong
Keyword(s):  
Contextual Information ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Housing Development ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Archaeological Excavation ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Physical Evidence ◽  
Research Division ◽  
The North ◽  
The Individual

Summary An archaeological excavation was carried out at Graham Street, Leith, Edinburgh by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) as part of the Historic Scotland Human Remains Call-off Contract following the discovery of human remains during machine excavation of a foundation trench for a new housing development. Excavation demonstrated that the burial was that of a young adult male who had been interred in a supine position with his head orientated towards the north. Radiocarbon dates obtained from a right tibia suggest the individual died between the 15th and 17th centuries AD. Little contextual information exists in documentary or cartographic sources to supplement this scant physical evidence. Accordingly, it is difficult to further refine the context of burial, although a possible link with a historically attested siege or a plague cannot be discounted.

scholarly journals New Perspectives on Migration into the Tlajinga District of Teotihuacan: A Dual-Isotope Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Gina M. Buckley ◽  
Rebecca Storey ◽  
Fred J. Longstaffe ◽  
David M. Carballo ◽  
Kenneth G. Hirth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotopes ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Urban Center ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Dual Isotope ◽  
West Mexico ◽  
New Finding ◽  
The City

The city of Teotihuacan (AD 1–550) was a major multiethnic urban center that attracted migrants from as far away as west Mexico and the Maya region. Past research in the Tlajinga district at Teotihuacan using oxygen isotopes from human remains estimated that nearly 30% of the population of Tlajinga 33, a single apartment compound, were migrants. This study takes a dual-isotope approach (87Sr/86Sr and δ18O p ) to reevaluate the proportion of in-migration at Tlajinga and includes data from two additional apartment compounds, Tlajinga 17 and 18 (n = 23). New results indicate that migrants comprised ~45% of the Tlajinga population. Previously acquired radiocarbon dates combined with mortuary and isotope data suggest that immigration to Tlajinga was highest during the first centuries of compound occupation. Nevertheless, migration was a continual process throughout its history. Additionally, a new finding suggests that residents of Tlajinga 33 ingested foods with higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios than did those of Tlajinga 17 and 18. We hypothesize that the incorporation of imported lime for the nixtamalization process skewed the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of human remains, a potentially important finding for future studies at Teotihuacan.

scholarly journals Genome diversity in the Neolithic Globular Amphorae culture and the spread of Indo-European languages

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1867) ◽  
pp. 20171540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Tassi ◽  
Stefania Vai ◽  
Silvia Ghirotto ◽  
Martina Lari ◽  
Alessandra Modi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Approximate Bayesian Computation ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Genome Diversity ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Demographic Models ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Complete Sequences ◽  
Approximate Bayesian

It is unclear whether Indo-European languages in Europe spread from the Pontic steppes in the late Neolithic, or from Anatolia in the Early Neolithic. Under the former hypothesis, people of the Globular Amphorae culture (GAC) would be descended from Eastern ancestors, likely representing the Yamnaya culture. However, nuclear (six individuals typed for 597 573 SNPs) and mitochondrial (11 complete sequences) DNA from the GAC appear closer to those of earlier Neolithic groups than to the DNA of all other populations related to the Pontic steppe migration. Explicit comparisons of alternative demographic models via approximate Bayesian computation confirmed this pattern. These results are not in contrast to Late Neolithic gene flow from the Pontic steppes into Central Europe. However, they add nuance to this model, showing that the eastern affinities of the GAC in the archaeological record reflect cultural influences from other groups from the East, rather than the movement of people.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document