The Late Neolithic cultures of the Aegean archipelago with special reference to the Cyclades:

Since the 1980s, a rapid increase in the number of Mesolithic and Neolithic cremation burials discovered has prompted a substantial re-evaluation of the position of cremation as a prehistoric mortuary ritual in northern Eurasia. Sporadic but persistent appearances of cremation in a wide variety of cultural contexts from early Mesolithic to late Neolithic have undermined the traditional models seeing cremation and inhumation as two radically different ways to treat the deceased. In studies of north-western Europe, from British Isles to southern Scandinavia, it is now widely recognized that inhumation and cremation co-existed in many Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures traditionally treated as textbook cases of mortuary practices emphasizing the corporeal integrity of the deceased. Importantly, the unexpected appearances of cremation are only one part of a wider challenge to the traditional assumption of dominance of primary burial in Mesolithic and non-megalithic Neolithic cultures of northern Europe. One important aspect of this challenge are finds of scattered burnt and unburned human bones in Mesolithic and Neolithic cultural layers, suggesting that articulated pit inhumations may actually represent exceptional cases (e.g. Hallgren 2008; Larsson 2009). North-eastern Europe still remains a white area in regional studies of pre- Bronze Age appearances of cremation in northern Europe. This border generally coincides with the language barrier between Germanic languages and various ‘eastern’ languages in terms of local archaeological research traditions. On the other hand, the border also roughly coincides with many genuine differences in archaeological record. Therefore, there is an obvious danger that differences in archaeological research histories and differences in archaeological phenomena become intermingled, creating ill-founded generalizations and assumptions. This chapter examines the earliest known cases of cremation in Eastern Fennoscandia, the area consisting of Finland, the Kola Peninsula, and Russian Karelia (Fig. 11.1). It is currently the easternmost part of northern Europe where confirmed cases of Mesolithic and Neolithic cremation have appeared so far. Such cases are currently few and little studied but they have a potential to redefine the whole study of prehistoric mortuary rituals in the area. In most of Eastern Fennoscandia acidic soil usually does not preserve any unburned bone material older than about a thousand years.

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DWELLINGS AND HOUSEHOLDS OF THE LATE NEOLITHIC SOSNOVY OSTROV CULTURE IN THE TRANS-URALS: A MODEL OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

VESTNIK ARHEOLOGII ANTROPOLOGII I ETNOGRAFII ◽

10.20874/2071-0437-2019-47-4-8 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 93-105

Author(s):

I.V. Usacheva

Keyword(s):

Border Region ◽

Source Analysis ◽

Taiga Zone ◽

Way Of Life ◽

Economic Activities ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Study Results ◽

Basin Area ◽

Neolithic Cultures

In this work, the author set out to test the procedure for studying the size of dwellings from the perspective of the household using the Sosnovy Ostrov culture of the Late Neolithic as an example. This implies considering the house collective as being maximally adapted to local environmental conditions and as being optimal in size for the implementation of a specific type of economic activity associated with the household. The study covers the south-ern taiga zone of the Tobol basin area (the border region between the Urals and Western Siberia) in the first half of 5th millennium Cal ВС. In the course of the systematic source analysis, the author employed the methods commonly used in natural science, geography and the humanities: topographic, hypsometric, planigraphic, com-parative ethnographic, etc. It was found that the dwellings of the Sosnovy Ostrov culture were large in sizes (60–125 m2) as compared to the dwellings of other Neolithic cultures in the Trans-Urals. In addition, a pattern in the location of villages relative to the water network was shown. They are situated close to lake isthmuses and well-head capes (located downstream of a tributary mouth). The analysis of settlements revealed in-depth long-term dwellings, as well as light structures and utility pits located inside and outside of dwellings. This fact, along with the material distribution, suggests the sedentary lifestyle of the population. A settled way of life in the context of appropriating economy is possible only if the population possess a highly productive skill. The modelling of the situation, drawing on the ethnographic data available for these territories, indicates that the population was en-gaged in weir fishing. This conclusion is consistent with paleoclimatic reconstructions and the topography of the settlements. In addition, it is indirectly confirmed by a large number of woodworking tools in the stone inventory. The construction and maintenance of a weir require the coordinated work of a large team, which correlates with the size of the Sosnovy Ostrov dwellings. The presence of a common hearth in the dwellings suggests that the Sosnovy Ostrov households were built on the principles of undivided authority and existed in the form of large (extended) families. The study results indicate a high informative potential of a dwelling when considered from the perspective of a household adapted to the specific conditions.

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Traces of Mahanjar culture in the forest-steppe Tobol region

Samara Journal of Science ◽

10.17816/snv201983208 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 158-166

Author(s):

Ekaterina Sergeevna Yakovleva

Keyword(s):

Social Ties ◽

Steppe Zone ◽

Forest Steppe ◽

Western Boundary ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

The North ◽

Source Data ◽

Cultural Genesis ◽

Neolithic Cultures

The paper summarizes all currently known source data on the Neolithic Mahanjar culture in the forest-steppe Tobol region. Both scattered archival data - materials from Ubagan 2,3,5, Ust-Suerka 4 and several others - and the results of new archaeological works on such settlements as Kochegarovo 1 and Tashkovo 1 are published, which allows a significant expansion of the periphery of the Mahanjar culture to the north boundaries of the forest-steppe zone of the Tobol region. The western boundary of the periphery requires further work. The author traced geographical dependence in the distribution of materials in the composition of monuments with other Neolithic cultures. Based on the available absolute dates and the fixation of some facts of ceramics stratification, conclusions are drawn about the coexistence of Mahanjar complexes in the Tobol region with carriers of early Neolithic - Kozlovskaya and Koshkinskaya - and Late Neolithic - Poludenskaya and Boborykinskaya ceramic traditions from the end of early Neolithic to the mid of late Neolithic. It is assumed that the spread of the Mahanjar culture in the forest-steppe zone proceeded by including its carriers among the local inhabitants through social ties. The inclusion of the Mahanjar antiquities of the forest-steppe Tobol region in the corpus of sources allows us to expand our understanding of cultural genesis and migrations at the end of the early Neolithic.

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The Possible Stimulation of the Mid-Holocene Period’s Initial Hydrological Recession on the Development of Neolithic Cultures along the Margin of the East Asian Summer Monsoon

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11216146 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (21) ◽

pp. 6146

Author(s):

Wenping Xue ◽

Heling Jin ◽

Bing Liu ◽

Liangying Sun ◽

Zhenyu Liu

Keyword(s):

Asian Summer Monsoon ◽

Global Climate ◽

East Asian ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Element Analysis ◽

The North ◽

Neolithic Culture ◽

Asian Summer ◽

The Relationship ◽

Neolithic Cultures

A better understanding of past East Asian summer monsoonal (EASM) variations, which play a key role in the development of the largely rain-watered agriculture in China, could contribute to better appraising potential impacts on EASM with regard to global climate change. However, our knowledge of the relationship between mid-Holocene hydrological recession and the development of Neolithic culture is limited due to a lack of joint studies and a compilation of spatiotemporal data, especially on the episode of ~6–5 ka from the mid-Holocene Optimum (HO) along the peripheral realm of the EASM. Here, we suggest that the hydrological recession between ~6–5 ka, on the basis of lithology and geochemical element analysis, occurred not only in the Horqin sandy land, but also in other fluvial-lacustrine, stalagmitic, loess, and aeolian records across the whole monsoon-influenced boundary belt. These records indicated varied, more or less synchronous, and coherent moisture changes, yet with not entirely consistent onsets, durations, and degrees. We attributed this spatiotemporal complexity to the orbit-induced weakening of summer solar insolation, and the interactions of the Asian monsoon (AM) and westerlies, as well as topography and regional vegetation factors. Furthermore, the mid-Holocene initial hydroclimatic recession during ~6–5 ka within the thresholds of an eco-environment bearing a capacity system, might have facilitated the development of mid–late Neolithic culture and stimulated the north and northwest expansion and integration of region-specific Neolithic culture.

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Radiocarbon Dating of Sopot Culture Sites (Late Neolithic) in Eastern Croatia

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200039564 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 245-258 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Bogomil Obelić ◽

Marija Krznarić Škrivanko ◽

Boško Marijan ◽

Ines Krajcar Bronić

Keyword(s):

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Stage Ii ◽

Phase Iii ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Neolithic Cultures

The results of radiocarbon dating of several Late Neolithic archaeological sites in Slavonia, eastern Croatia, are presented. According to the archaeological findings, the sites belong to the Sopot culture. Stages I-B, II-A, II-B, and III were identified at the eponym site Sopot near Vinkovci, stages I-B and II at the site Dubovo-Košno near Županja, while findings for other investigated sites (Herrmann's Vineyard near Osijek, Mandek's Vineyard from Otok, Privlaka near Vinkovci, and Slavča near Nova Gradiška) were placed to phases II and III.14C results place the I-B stage to the period 5480–5070 cal BC, stage II-A to 5030–4770 cal BC, stage II-B to 4800–4250 cal BC, and phase III to 4340–3790 cal BC. These dates were compared to those obtained for other Late Neolithic cultures in the Pannonian Valley. The results confirmed the Protolengyel character of Sopot culture.

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Ancient DNA Evidence for a Homogeneous Maternal Gene Pool in Sixth Millennium cal bc Hungary and the Central European LBK

Early Farmers ◽

10.5871/bacad/9780197265758.003.0005 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anna Szécsényi-Nagy ◽

Victoria Keerl ◽

János Jakucs ◽

Guido Brandt ◽

Eszter Bánffy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ancient Dna ◽

Gene Pool ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Central European ◽

Dna Evidence ◽

Mitochondrial Data ◽

European Neolithic ◽

Cultural Formations ◽

Neolithic Cultures ◽

Maternal Gene

Two sixth millennium cal BC cultural formations from the Carpathian Basin are discussed: the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) in Transdanubia, and the Szakálhát culture from the Great Hungarian Plain. Our aim was to address genetic connections between these cultural units and how they were related to the populations of the central European Neolithic. Mitochondrial data from 33 specimens from the Szakálhát culture were compared with 39 samples from the LBK and analysed in the light of previously published ancient DNA studies. The maternal gene pool of the LBK in Transdanubia and the Szakálhát culture are highly similar to each other. Furthermore, both groups show a remarkable affinity to the LBK and the subsequent fifth–fourth millennia cal BC cultures in central Europe. On the other hand, these Neolithic cultural formations can be clearly distinguished from Mesolithic pan-European hunter-gatherer data as well as from published Iberian Neolithic and central European Late Neolithic cultures.

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Role of the mid-Holocene environmental transition in the decline of late Neolithic cultures in the deserts of NE China

Quaternary Science Reviews ◽

10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.04.017 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 190 ◽

pp. 98-113 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Licheng Guo ◽

Shangfa Xiong ◽

Zhongli Ding ◽

Guiyun Jin ◽

Jiabin Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Late Neolithic ◽

Ne China ◽

Neolithic Cultures

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The Jade Age Revisited, ca. 3500–2000 BCE

The Oxford Handbook of Early China ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199328369.013.5 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 100-117

Author(s):

Elizabeth Childs-Johnson

Keyword(s):

Political Life ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Greater China ◽

Neolithic Cultures

Late Neolithic–period China went through what I have identified is a Jade Age, from ca. 3500–2000 bce. The era involved three key successive yet overlapping chronological cultures, including the Hongshan of the northeast, Liangzhu of the southeast, and Longshan of greater China. Jade was the material par excellence that was exploited as a symbol of economic, social, and religious power. Exploiting jade and its concomitant symbols stimulated advances that led to the flowering of civilization and China’s earliest dynasties. This chapter explores how, in contrast to other late Neolithic cultures, jade-working cultures achieved advances in socio-political life.

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Early British craftsmen

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00058841 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 60 (230) ◽

pp. 189-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stuart Piggott

Keyword(s):

Special Reference ◽

British Isles ◽

Roman Britain ◽

University Library ◽

Neolithic Cultures

Professor Stuart Piggott published his British prehistory in the Home University Library in 1949, and his Neolithic cultures of the British Isles five years later. Now a third of a century later he reviews five new books dealing with pre-Roman Britain, with special reference to early Celtic art (listed below). His comments on the 1921 and 1939 finds from Grimes Graves are intriguing.

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