scholarly journals Genomic Steppe ancestry in skeletons from the Neolithic Single Grave Culture in Denmark

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244872
Author(s):  
Anne Friis-Holm Egfjord ◽  
Ashot Margaryan ◽  
Anders Fischer ◽  
Karl-Göran Sjögren ◽  
T. Douglas Price ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Population Expansion ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Mtdna Haplogroups ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
Single Grave Culture

The Gjerrild burial provides the largest and best-preserved assemblage of human skeletal material presently known from the Single Grave Culture (SGC) in Denmark. For generations it has been debated among archaeologists if the appearance of this archaeological complex represents a continuation of the previous Neolithic communities, or was facilitated by incoming migrants. We sampled and analysed five skeletons from the Gjerrild cist, buried over a period of c. 300 years, 2600/2500–2200 cal BCE. Despite poor DNA preservation, we managed to sequence the genome (>1X) of one individual and the partial genomes (0.007X and 0.02X) of another two individuals. Our genetic data document a female (Gjerrild 1) and two males (Gjerrild 5 + 8), harbouring typical Neolithic K2a and HV0 mtDNA haplogroups, but also a rare basal variant of the R1b1 Y-chromosomal haplogroup. Genome-wide analyses demonstrate that these people had a significant Yamnaya-derived (i.e. steppe) ancestry component and a close genetic resemblance to the Corded Ware (and related) groups that were present in large parts of Northern and Central Europe at the time. Assuming that the Gjerrild skeletons are genetically representative of the population of the SGC in broader terms, the transition from the local Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) to SGC is not characterized by demographic continuity. Rather, the emergence of SGC in Denmark was part of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age population expansion that swept across the European continent in the 3rd millennium BCE, resulting in various degrees of genetic replacement and admixture processes with previous Neolithic populations.

scholarly journals Editorial: Advances in understanding megaliths and related prehistoric lithic monuments

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
G. Terence Meaden
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
European Continent ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
The Mediterranean

Standing stones and megalithic monuments are impressive remains from a remote prehistoric world that for the British Isles began some 6000 years ago and led to a cultural flowering that peaked in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age with the rise of fine megalithic monuments like Newgrange, Knowth, Drombeg, Maeshowe, Avebury and Stonehenge. Nearby on the European continent, what may be called an era involving megalithic culture had begun a few centuries earlier (as at Carnac and Locmariaquer), and still earlier in the Mediterranean lands and islands (e.g., the Tarxien Temple in Malta), south-eastern Europe, the Near and Middle East, and India beyond. 

scholarly journals Editorial: Advances in understanding megaliths and related prehistoric lithic monuments

1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
G. Terence Meaden
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
European Continent ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
The Mediterranean

Standing stones and megalithic monuments are impressive remains from a remote prehistoric world that for the British Isles began some 6000 years ago and led to a cultural flowering that peaked in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age with the rise of fine megalithic monuments like Newgrange, Knowth, Drombeg, Maeshowe, Avebury and Stonehenge. Nearby on the European continent, what may be called an era involving megalithic culture had begun a few centuries earlier (as at Carnac and Locmariaquer), and still earlier in the Mediterranean lands and islands (e.g., the Tarxien Temple in Malta), south-eastern Europe, the Near and Middle East, and India beyond. 

scholarly journals The Emergence of Coercive Societies in Northwestern Scandinavia During the Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
Knut Ivar Austvoll
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Organizational Strategy ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Natural Ecology

AbstractThis paper discusses how coastal societies in northwestern Scandinavia were able to rise in power by strategically utilizing the natural ecology and landscape in which they were situated. From two case studies (the Norwegian regions of Lista and Tananger), it is shown that it was possible to control the flow of goods up and down the coast at certain bottlenecks but that this also created an unstable society in which conflict between neighboring groups occurred often. More specifically the paper outlines an organizational strategy that may be applicable cross-culturally.

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. 

scholarly journals Frequency and chronological distribution of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age population from Żerniki Górne (Poland) – preliminary report

2012 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Tomczyk ◽  
Maria Tomczyk-Gruca ◽  
Marta Zalewska
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Permanent Teeth ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Enamel Hypoplasia ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Linear Enamel Hypoplasia ◽  
Tool Stress ◽  
Health Related

Abstract Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is treated as a nonspecific indicator of stress, but even so, many authors consider it the most reliable tool stress in anthropological research. Its analysis allows the reconstruction of health related to the socio-economic status of the group. This study documents and interprets patterns of LEH in Żerniki Górne (Poland), a settlement which was functional in the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. We examined two successive cultures: the Corded Ware Culture (CWC; 3200-2300BC) and the Trzciniec Culture (TC; 1500-1300BC). In total, there were 1486 permanent teeth (124 adult individuals). The frequency of LEH in the examined cultures shows a small rising trend. In these series from Żernik Górne, males showed a higher occurrence of LEH (16.5%) than females (13.4%). The earliest LEH appeared at similar ages at about 2.0/2.2 years and the last LEH occurred at about 4.2 years of age in both cultures. However, it is worth noting that periods associated with physiological stress were more common but not very long (four months on average) in the CWC. Longer stress periods (nine months on average) were associated with the TC.

/ Schyłek epoki kamienia i początki epoki brązu w okolicach Igołomi i Wawrzeńczyc The end of the Stone Age and the beginning of the Bronze Age in the vicinity of Igołomia and Wawrzeńczyce

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-114
Author(s):  
Piotr Włodarczak
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Funeral Rite ◽  
Loess Hills ◽  
Vistula River ◽  
The North ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Bronze Age

The borderland of the Vistula Plain and the Proszowice Plateau is part of the loess zone extending mainly to the north of the Vistula River, known for numerous discoveries of archaeological sites from the Eneolithic period and the early Bronze Age. The state of reconnaissance of settlement is far from satisfactory here. From the final Eneolithic period primarily cemeteries of the Corded Ware culture (around 2800–2300 BC) are known. Falling within this age range is probably the only burial mound in the area, in Igołomia, which yielded a niche grave of the Corded Ware culture within the eastern part of its cover. Another cemetery was investigated in Rudno Górne, where niche graves of the culture in question were found dug into the embankments of Funnel Beaker culture megalithic graves from the middle Eneolithic period. From the early Bronze Age, the richest and most cognitively significant sites of the Mierzanowice culture (around 2200–1600 BC) are concentrated on loess hills rising above the valleys of Ropotek and Rudnik. They are both cemeteries and large settlements. Particularly valuable results were obtained during research on the cemetery in Szarbia, where as many as 44 graves were found. These findings enable the reconstruction of funeral rite rules from the early Bronze Age.

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