Neolithic houses in Ireland: a broader perspective

As one of today’s major oral health issues, periodontal disease affects populations worldwide. Here, methods used to record its past prevalence are reviewed, including the problems associated with the use of measurements to record bone loss. Clinical and bioarchaeological research offers strong support for the Kerr method that records interdental septum morphological changes as a means of identifying gingivitis and periodontal disease. Using Kerr’s approach, four assemblages from Sudan dating to the Neolithic, Kerma and Medieval periods are examined to track the progression of the disease through time. Results show a significantly lower prevalence of periodontal disease and a limited distribution across the mouth in the Neolithic period. Significant differences were found between the sexes at the Medieval sites, which were not present at the Neolithic and Kerma sites. With no patient history and the cumulative effects of a dynamic and episodic disease - only a snapshot of which is captured at death - the concept of ‘oral health’ may be hard to apply in archaeological remains. As suggested by Kerr, it at best provides an insight into the periodontal status at death. Here, this ‘snapshot’ reveals differences across the mouth, over time and between sexes.

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Neolithic Thessaly: radiocarbon dated periods and phases

Documenta Praehistorica ◽

10.4312/dp.44.3 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 34-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Agathe Reingruber ◽

Giorgos Toufexis ◽

Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika ◽

Michalis Anetakis ◽

Yannis Maniatis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Central Greece ◽

Absolute Dating ◽

The Bronze Age

Thessaly in Central Greece is famous for settlement mounds (magoules) that were already partly formed in the Early Neolithic period. Some of these long-lived sites grew to many metres in height during the subsequent Middle, Late and Final Neolithic periods, and were also inhabited in the Bronze Age. Such magoules served as the backbone for defining relative chronological schemes. However, their absolute dating is still a topic of debate: due to a lack of well-defined sequences, different chronological schemes have been proposed. New radiocarbon dates obtained in the last few years allow a better understanding of the duration not only of the main Neolithic periods, but also of the different phases and sub-phases.

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The Pleistocene-Holocene aquatic molluscs as indicators of the past ecosystem changes in Transbaikalia (Eastern Siberia, Russia)

10.1101/2020.06.19.161216 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Olga K. Klishko ◽

Evgeniy V. Kovychev ◽

Maxim V. Vinarski ◽

Arthur E. Bogan ◽

Georgiy. A. Jurgenson

Keyword(s):

Regional Climate ◽

Far East ◽

Marine Species ◽

Drill Hole ◽

Historical Change ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Eastern Siberia ◽

Alluvial Deposits ◽

Fossil Species ◽

The Past

ABSTRACTData on historical change of the Transbaikalian malacofauna in the Neopleistocene and Holocene is presented. Fossil shells from archeological excavations of the ancient settlements dating from the Neolithic period to Medieval and also from a drill hole of the Neopleistocene alluvial deposits were collected. In total nine species of bivalve molluscs from the families Margaritiferidae, Unionidae, Limnocardiidae, Glycymerididae, including one marine species, and two gastropod species from families Viviparidae and Planorbidae were identified. The time of the existence of each fossil species was determined by radiocarbon dating. It was found that the species ranged in age from more 50,000 and 2,080–1,210 years ago. Five species inhabited the Transbaikal region and are locally extirpated in the present. Their disjunctive ranges in the past included southern Europe and Western and Eastern Siberia to Transbaikalia and in the east to Far East and Primorye of Russia. The time of existence and extirpation of the thermophilic species of genera Adacna, Planorbis, Lanceolaria and Amuropaludina corresponds to cycles of the warming and cooling in Pleistocene and Holocene according to regional climate chronological scales. It was possible to separate these species as indicators of paleoclimate. Change of the species composition of the malacofauna of region connected with natural cycles of climatochrons in the Pleistocene and Holocene is the appearance of the climatogenic succession. In the course of this succession the disappearance of the stenothermal species occurred on a regional level and decreasing their global ranges.

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The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to the broader Corded Ware horizon

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2019.1528 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 286 (1912) ◽

pp. 20191528 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Helena Malmström ◽

Torsten Günther ◽

Emma M. Svensson ◽

Anna Juras ◽

Magdalena Fraser ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Published Data ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Cultural Groups ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

Hunter Gatherers ◽

Cultural Transformations ◽

Funnel Beaker Culture ◽

The Baltic ◽

Sea Area ◽

Common Era

The Neolithic period is characterized by major cultural transformations and human migrations, with lasting effects across Europe. To understand the population dynamics in Neolithic Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea area, we investigate the genomes of individuals associated with the Battle Axe Culture (BAC), a Middle Neolithic complex in Scandinavia resembling the continental Corded Ware Culture (CWC). We sequenced 11 individuals (dated to 3330–1665 calibrated before common era (cal BCE)) from modern-day Sweden, Estonia, and Poland to 0.26–3.24× coverage. Three of the individuals were from CWC contexts and two from the central-Swedish BAC burial ‘Bergsgraven’. By analysing these genomes together with the previously published data, we show that the BAC represents a group different from other Neolithic populations in Scandinavia, revealing stratification among cultural groups. Similar to continental CWC, the BAC-associated individuals display ancestry from the Pontic–Caspian steppe herders, as well as smaller components originating from hunter–gatherers and Early Neolithic farmers. Thus, the steppe ancestry seen in these Scandinavian BAC individuals can be explained only by migration into Scandinavia. Furthermore, we highlight the reuse of megalithic tombs of the earlier Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) by people related to BAC. The BAC groups likely mixed with resident middle Neolithic farmers (e.g. FBC) without substantial contributions from Neolithic foragers.

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The Palaeoecology of South Central Anatolia at the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene

Anatolian Studies ◽

10.2307/3642591 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 119-137 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Harold R. Cohen

Keyword(s):

Food Production ◽

Ecological Study ◽

Ice Age ◽

Central Anatolia ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

South Central ◽

Last Ice Age ◽

New Evidence ◽

Considerable Body

The origins of agriculture and domestication have long been identified, in theory, with the beginning of permanent settlements; the beginning of the Early Neolithic Period is known, in fact, to be synchronous with the ending of the Last Ice Age. To some scholars, fact and theory have suggested that this synchronism implies a causal relationship between certain assumed climatic changes and the beginnings of food production; for others, this synchronism is not more than a misleading coincidence. It is not the purpose of the writer to discuss the validity of these assumptions except to indicate that opinion seems to be hardening that food production may have had a more complicated and lengthy history than these assumptions suggest. There has grown up over the last 25 years a considerable body of literature expressing the most varied opinion about the causes for the origins of food production, and its variety has not narrowed with the emergence of new evidence. In my opinion, the basis for the solution of this problem will be derived essentially from palaeoecological analyses of selected areas and regions in various parts of the world, and not only in the Near East. This paper is intended to open such a study for the region of south central Anatolia. As might be expected in an ecological study, the evidence derives from a number of disciplines, and, accordingly, several colleagues have contributed to the formulation of the suggested ecological pattern. That pattern itself, however, is the responsibility of the writer.

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A Henge Too Far? Reinterpreting the Neolithic Monument Complex at Milfield, Northumberland

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00027304 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 73 ◽

pp. 59-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Benjamin Edwards

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Social Reproduction ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

The Past ◽

Regional Basis ◽

The Difference ◽

Definition Of ◽

New Framework

This paper reinterprets the archaeological evidence from the Neolithic monument complex in the Milfield Basin, Northumberland; a palimpsest landscape of earlier Neolithic enclosures, later Neolithic henges and Early Bronze Age burial monuments. Recent interpretative accounts of the Early Neolithic use of this complex have stressed economic factors as the driving-forces behind enclosure construction, whilst the six major later Neolithic henges have been integrated into a scheme of ritual processions. These interpretations are critically evaluated and the sites are placed in their regional and national context in an attempt to provide a new framework for the use and development of the complex. It is concluded that, far from having simplistic economic functions, the earlier Neolithic enclosures could be unique to the area. Representing the formalisation of a community's attempts to ensure social reproduction in times of change, through the articulation of the difference between circular and linear monumental forms. The re-examination of the later Neolithic evidence raises interesting questions as to how far we can ‘read’ monument complexes, and critically evaluates the extent to which we can argue a unity of purpose for these enigmatic accumulations of the past. Importantly, the reinterpretation of the Neolithic activity in this area exposes how readily archaeologists export social models from other regions, such as Wessex, and attempt to fit very diverse evidence into their framework. This paper concludes that we must continue the definition of the British Neolithic on a more regional basis and accept that core-periphery models, even if not explicitly articulated, have no place in archaeological explanation.

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Records and Transformations of Memories in the Cultural Landscape of Idomeni (Kilkis, Northern Greece)

Open Archaeology ◽

10.1515/opar-2019-0035 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 563-585

Author(s):

Stamatis Chatzitoulousis ◽

Vlasis Vlasidis ◽

Apostolos Sarris ◽

Kalliopi Efkleidou ◽

Eleni Kotjabopoulou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Geographical Information Systems ◽

Historical Context ◽

First World War ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

World War ◽

Northern Greece ◽

The Past ◽

The First World War ◽

First World

AbstractFollowing recent excavations and geophysical prospection at Idomeni in the Kilkis prefecture of Northern Greece, this paper attempts to reconstruct through digital means, the tangible and intangible vestiges of historical episodes that come together to form multiple narratives of a diachronically terra incognita site, gradually unlocking its hidden secrets. The digital documentation and processing, with the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), of the spatial remains associated with historical episodes demonstrate the ways in which space at Idomeni was used within a multifaceted, diachronic framework. It is a place that is constantly being transformed over the past 7000 years from a seemingly “peaceful” agricultural community during the Neolithic period to a burial ground for a still invisible Middle Byzantine settlement, and finally, as a place of violence having been one of the battlefields of the First World War. The story of Idomeni has only recently been concluded as the theatre of a dramatic influx of modern refugees. Thus, the “multilayered” identity of a mnemonic place with various representations of the past unfolds: on one hand the distant eras, such as the still unknown Neolithic and Middle Byzantine period, and on the other, the relatively recent “traumatic” (war-related) past. Within the specific historical context of the First World War, this paper discusses the management of memories of locals and non-locals, e.g. the disappearance of entire settlements, or the emergence of new toponyms related to the protagonists and their actions during the war in the area of Idomeni remaining in the memory of locals today.

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Neolithic Thessaly: radiocarbon dated periods and phases

Documenta Praehistorica ◽

10.4312/dp.3 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 34

Author(s):

Agathe Reingruber ◽

Giorgos Toufexis ◽

Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika ◽

Michalis Anetakis ◽

Yannis Maniatis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Central Greece ◽

Absolute Dating ◽

The Bronze Age

Thessaly in Central Greece is famous for settlement mounds (magoules) that were already partly formed in the Early Neolithic period. Some of these long-lived sites grew to many metres in height during the subsequent Middle, Late and Final Neolithic periods, and were also inhabited in the Bronze Age. Such magoules served as the backbone for defining relative chronological schemes. However, their absolute dating is still a topic of debate: due to a lack of well-defined sequences, different chronological schemes have been proposed. New radiocarbon dates obtained in the last few years allow a better understanding of the duration not only of the main Neolithic periods, but also of the different phases and sub-phases.

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A Quantitative Study of the Linear Pottery Culture Cemetery “Aiterhofen-Ödmühle”

Open Archaeology ◽

10.1515/opar-2020-0161 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 972-985

Author(s):

Yanik Hahnekamp

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Study ◽

Interdisciplinary Research ◽

Quantitative Methods ◽

Image Database ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

Site Structure ◽

Distribution Maps ◽

The Past ◽

Grave Good ◽

Good Equipment

Abstract This article emphasises on the results of the master´s thesis “Burials in Bytes. A Quantitative Study of Linear Pottery Cemeteries in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Southern Germany” and further elaborates on interpretations of identified patterns at Early Neolithic cemeteries. The focus will lie on the Lower Bavarian site “Aiterhofen-Ödmühle.” Although the cemetery was subject to different analyses and interdisciplinary research in the past, there are still unsolved issues regarding chronology, structure, meaning of the local mortuary rites and rules, and its significance in the superregional context. The study utilised data acquisition via the Montelius image database and quantitative methods performed through the softwares WinSerion and Google Mapper. These data consisted of various typologies and classifications, while several variations of correspondence analysis, seriation, Analysis N Next Neighbours, and the creation of distribution maps have been involved in the process of evaluation. The results of the evaluations of Aiterhofen-Ödmühle favour a chronological south–north progression. Inhumations and cremations differ in grave good equipment, potentially representing contrasts in gender distribution. Spatial groupings are distinguishable through their properties – open to various ways of interpretation and comparable to clusters of other cemeteries. Differences regarding age and sex were also highlighted. Overall, Aiterhofen-Ödmühle stands out among Early Neolithic cemeteries through region-specific grave goods and death gesture, local peculiarities, variation of burial types, and its site structure. Similarities to other sites include characteristic Linear Pottery traits, although less obvious connections can also be recognised through the quantitative evaluations. Instead of rigid funerary rules, dynamic and flexible rites are suggested.

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