scholarly journals Spatially explicit paleogenomic simulations support cohabitation with limited admixture between Bronze Age Central European populations

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémy Rio ◽  
Claudio S. Quilodrán ◽  
Mathias Currat
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Initial Contact ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Genomic Changes ◽  
Cultural Complex ◽  
Limited Gene Flow

AbstractThe Bronze Age is a complex period of social, cultural and economic changes. Recent paleogenomic studies have documented a large and rapid genetic change in early Bronze Age populations from Central Europe. However, the detailed demographic and genetic processes involved in this change are still debated. Here we have used spatially explicit simulations of genomic components to better characterize the demographic and migratory conditions that may have led to this change. We investigated various scenarios representing the expansion of pastoralists from the Pontic steppe, potentially linked to the Yamnaya cultural complex, and their interactions with local populations in Central Europe, considering various eco-evolutionary factors, such as population admixture, competition and long-distance dispersal. Our results do not support direct competition but rather the cohabitation of pastoralists and farmers in Central Europe, with limited gene flow between populations. They also suggest occasional long-distance migrations accompanying the expansion of pastoralists and a demographic decline in both populations following their initial contact. These results link recent archaeological and paleogenomic observations and move further the debate of genomic changes during the early Bronze Age.

scholarly journals In the Sorraia River Valley (Coruche, Portugal): Settlement Dynamics of Ancient Peasant Societies on the Left Bank of the Lower Tagus River (5500 to 1800 B.C.E.)

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 95-158
Author(s):  
Ana Catarina Sousa ◽  
Victor S. Gonçalves ◽  
André Texugo ◽  
Ana Ramos-Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Left Bank ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Tagus River ◽  
Settlement Dynamics

This article is the result of archaeological and paleoenvironmental investigations carried out within the scope of the ANSOR project in the Sorraia valley (Coruche), on the left bank of the Lower Tagus. In the analysis of settlement dynamics between 5500 and 1800 a.n.e. we considered four moments: 1) The first peasant societies of the ancient Neolithic; 2) The Middle and Late Neolithic; 3) Chalcolithic; 4) The Early Bronze Age. The Sorraia valley was also framed in the framework of the Center and South of Portugal during the period under analysis. Interpretative models are presented for changes in the implantation patterns in the four stages under study, oscillating between paleoenvironmental factors and the socio-economic changes registered in the old peasant societies. 

Eastern Anatolia in the Early Bronze Age

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Marro
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern Anatolia ◽  
Cultural Complex ◽  
Early Transcaucasian Culture

This article presents data on the Early Bronze Age of eastern Anatolia. During the period that for most scholars is recognized as the Early Bronze Age (ca. 3100–2100 BCE), eastern Anatolia was occupied by an intriguing cultural complex related to the Kura–Araxes culture, as it has been described by Kuftin after his excavations in Transcaucasia. This complex has alternatively been called “Karaz,” “Red Black Burnished,” or “Early Transcaucasian,” depending on the viewpoint adopted by successive scholars. Of all the labels used for describing the Early Bronze Age faciès of eastern Anatolia, the term Early Transcaucasian Culture seems to be the most appropriate, as it implies an organic relationship between East Anatolian cultural assemblages and Transcaucasia. Indeed, even if this issue is still a matter of debate, today most of the evidence points to a Transcaucasian origin for the east Anatolian Early Bronze Age.

The stone fortifications of the settlement at Spišský Štvrtok. A contribution to the discussion on the long-distance contacts of the Otomani-Füzesabony culture

2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-304
Author(s):  
Mateusz Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The World ◽  
Long Distance Relationships ◽  
Stone Walls

Zusammenfassung: In den letzten Jahrzehnten nahm die Siedlung von Spišský Štvrtok eine wichtige Rolle in der Debatte über jene Fernbeziehungen ein, die die Welt der mykenischen Kultur mit Mitteleuropa verbanden. Obwohl die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen auf dem Gelände noch immer nicht in ihrer Gesamtheit veröffentlicht sind, postulierte der Ausgräber J. Vladár eine Übereinstimmung der Steinmauern und Bastionen mit solchen mykenischer Architektur und fand für diese Thesen wissenschaftlichen Zuspruch. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird der Annahme jedoch widersprochen. Die Befestigungen von Spišský Štvrtok werden in einem vergleichenden Ansatz diskutiert und Siedlungsstrukturen gegenübergestellt, die aus der Otomani-Füzesabony-Kultur und der mykenischen Kultur bekannt sind. Der Autor zeigt im Vergleich mit weiteren Befunden bronzezeitlicher Verteidigungsarchitektur die Alleinstellung der vorliegenden Anlage. Die dabei sichtbar werdenden Unterschiede rechtfertigen die Notwendigkeit, nach alternativen chronologischen Ansätzen für die steinerne Befestigungsanlage von Spišský Štvrtok zu suchen. Résumé: L’habitat fortifié de Spišský Štvrtok a joué un rôle important au cours des dernières décennies dans le débat sur les relations à longue portée entre le monde de la civilisation mycénienne et l’Europe centrale. Quoique les résultats des fouilles de ce site n’aient pas été entièrement publiés, les opinions de leur auteur, J. Vladár, proposant que les murs et bastions en pierre encerclant le site démontrent des affinités avec l’architecture mycénienne, ont largement été acceptées. L’auteur du présent article conteste cette thèse. Les fortifications de Spišský Štvrtok font ici l’objet d’une approche comparative, les confrontant à d’autres structures d’habitat appartenant à la culture d’Otomani-Füzesabony et à la civilisation mycénienne. L’auteur démontre ainsi le caractère distinct de Spišský Štvrtok par rapport aux modèles courants de l’architecture de l’âge du Bronze. Cette disparité demande un autre modèle pour expliquer la chronologie des fortifications en pierre sur le site en question. Abstract: In recent decades, the settlement at Spišský Štvrtok played an important role in the debate concerning the long-distance relationships linking the world of the Mycenaean civilisation with Central Europe. Although the findings of the excavations at the site have not been published in their entirety, the views of its excavator, J. Vladár, who suggested that the site’s stone walls and bastions bore a similarity to Mycenaean architecture, have been widely accepted. In this article, the author challenges this thesis. The Spišský Štvrtok fortifications are discussed in a comparative approach, set against other settlement structures known from the Otomani-Füzesabony culture and the Mycenaean culture. The author demonstrates the apparent distinctiveness of Spišský Štvrtok when compared with the known models of Bronze Age defensive architecture. The disparity justifies the need to seek an alternative explanation for the chronology of the stone fortifications at the site in question.

scholarly journals Argonauts of the North Sea - a Social Maritime Archaeology for the 2nd Millennium BC

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 267-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Van de Noort
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Maritime Archaeology ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
The North Sea

This paper aims to offer a new analysis of the social dimensions of seafaring in the 2nd millennium BC and a consideration of the role of seafaring in (re)creating the social order at the time through its economic, sociopolitical and ritual significance. It revisits the sewn-plank boats from Ferriby, Kilnsea, Dover, Calidcot, Testwood Lakes, Goldcliff and Brigg, and aspects of the way in which seafarers signified themselves and their world through their imagined relationship with the environment are illuminated. The study argues that in the Early Bronze Age, sewn-plank boats were used for directional, long-distance journeys, aimed at the ‘cosmological acquisition’ of exotic goods, and the contexts of these boats link the overseas journeys to the ancestors. In the Middle and Late Bronze Age, sewn-plank boats were used for down-the-line exchange, and fragments of sewn-plank boats were included in structured deposits, within or near river crossings, reflecting the idioms of transformation and regeneration which are well established for this period. Through the reconstruction of the boats' crews, it is suggested that the development of a retinue was a prerequisite for the successful completion of the long-distance journeys, and the social identities that were cultivated during these voyages are recognised as a potentially important element in the rise of elite groups in the Early Bronze Age.

Long distance trinket trade: Early Bronze Age obsidian from the Negev

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 775-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Rosen ◽  
Robert H. Tykot ◽  
Michael Gottesman
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Long Distance

scholarly journals Ancient genomes provide insights into family structure and the heredity of social status in the early Bronze Age of southeastern Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Žegarac ◽  
L. Winkelbach ◽  
J. Blöcher ◽  
Y. Diekmann ◽  
M. Krečković Gavrilović ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Structure ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Status Differences

AbstractTwenty-four palaeogenomes from Mokrin, a major Early Bronze Age necropolis in southeastern Europe, were sequenced to analyse kinship between individuals and to better understand prehistoric social organization. 15 investigated individuals were involved in genetic relationships of varying degrees. The Mokrin sample resembles a genetically unstructured population, suggesting that the community’s social hierarchies were not accompanied by strict marriage barriers. We find evidence for female exogamy but no indications for strict patrilocality. Individual status differences at Mokrin, as indicated by grave goods, support the inference that females could inherit status, but could not transmit status to all their sons. We further show that sons had the possibility to acquire status during their lifetimes, but not necessarily to inherit it. Taken together, these findings suggest that Southeastern Europe in the Early Bronze Age had a significantly different family and social structure than Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age societies of Central Europe.

scholarly journals The origins of money: Calculation of similarity indexes demonstrates the earliest development of commodity money in prehistoric Central Europe

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0240462
Author(s):  
Maikel H. G. Kuijpers ◽  
Cătălin N. Popa
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Measurement Systems ◽  
Commodity Money ◽  
Human Intellect ◽  
Selection Of

The origins of money and the formulation of coherent weight and measurement systems are amongst the most significant prehistoric developments of the human intellect. We present a method for detecting perceptible standardization of weights and apply this to 5028 Early Bronze Age rings, ribs, and axe blades from Central Europe. We calculate the degree of uniformity on the basis of psychophysics, and quantify this using similarity indexes. The analysis shows that 70.3% of all rings could not be perceptibly distinguished from a ring weighing 195.5 grams, indicating their suitability as commodity money. Perceptive weight equivalence is demonstrated between rings, and a selection of ribs and axe blades. Co-occurrence of these objects evidences their interchangeability. We further suggest that producing copies of rings led to recognition of weight similarities and the independent emergence of a system of weighing in Central Europe at the end of the Early Bronze Age.

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