scholarly journals Symbolic Burials and Grief : Coping with Trauma in the Carpathian Basin’s Neolithic and Copper Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-21
Author(s):  
Zsuzsa Hegedűs

In the Late Neolithic and Copper Age of the Carpathian Basin, we can find several examples of burials without bodies – symbolic burials. One of the main goals of their creation may have been to give a focal point to funerary rites in cases when a member of the community could not have been laid to rest properly. Thus, we can assume they played a key role in coping with bereavement and trauma. In some cases, the analysis of the finds of symbolic burials provides an opportunity to reconstruct the identities associated with them to a certain degree.

2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragoş Diaconescu

Methoden derLes nouvelles méthodes de datation et d’analyse des correspondances et AMS nous permettent de préciser et d’améliorer les schémas de chronologie relative dont nous disposons. Ainsi, pour la culture de Lengyel, (également connue sous le nom de Groupe morave-autrichien oriental), des schémas de chronologie absolue sont disponibles, mais la situation du Bassin des Carpates est actuellement différente: il n’existe pratiquement aucune date publiée pour la culture de Lengyel dans cette région. Un nouveau modèle chronologique pour la culture de Lengyel est proposé ici, sur la base d’une étude de la céramique retrouvée dans les ensembles funéraires qui fait usage de la méthode de l’analyse des correspondances et des approches Bayésiennes. Il en résulte que certains synchronismes (tels Lengyel I and II = Néolithique final = cultures de Tisza-Herpály: Lengyel III = Chalcolithique ancien = culture de Tiszapolgár) ne semblent plus valables.The AMS data and correspondence analysis methodology could correct and improve the relative chronology picture. For Lengyel culture (also named Moravian-Eastern-Austrian group) absolute chronological models have already been proposed. In Carpathian Basin the situation is quite different for the moment. Almost no absolute data are published for Lengyel culture in this area. A new chronological model for Lengyel culture is proposed based on the morphological aspects of the pottery inventory from funerary contexts and using correspondence analysis cross-checked by Bayesian approaches. The most interesting fact is that relative chronology synchronisms such as Lengyel I and II = Late Neolithic = Tisza-Herpály cultures and Lengyel III = Early Copper Age = Tiszapolgár culture do not seem to be valid anymoreModelarea datelor AMS şi utilizarea analizei de corespondenţă, ca şi metode de lucru, pot îmbunătăţi şi corecta tabloul cronologiei relative. Pentru cultura Lengyel (numită şi Grupul Morav – est-austriac) au fost deja propuse modele cronologice absolute. În Bazinul Carpatic situaţia este la acest moment un pic diferită. Extrem de puţine date radiocarbon pentru cultura Lengyel sunt publicate pentru acest areal. Un nou model cronologic al culturii Lengyel este propus aici, bazat pe analiza aspectelor morfologice ale inventarului ceramic provenit din contexte funerare. Analiza de corespondenţă, dublată de abordări Bayesiene ale datelor 14C, au fost folosite ca şi metode de lucru. Cel mai interesant aspect al rezultatelor obţinute este faptul că sincronisme ale cronologiei relative de tip Lengyel I–II = Neolitic Târziu = culturile Tisza-Herpály şi Lengyel III = Epoca Timpurie a Cuprului = cultura Tiszapolgár par a nu mai fi valabile.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 268-282
Author(s):  
Dimitrij Mlekuž Vrhovnik

The paper tackles the spatio-temporal patterns of Neolithic and Copper Age settlement dynamics in the Western Carpathian Basin and Eastern Alps with spatially explicit use of radiocarbon dates. It focuses on the spatial process of spread, movement, aggregation and segregation in the time frame between 8500 and 5000 cal BP. The distribution of Neolithic and Copper Age sites in the study area is clustered and patchy. The first Neolithic settlements appear as isolated islands or enclaves which then slowly expand to fill neighbouring regions. After 6300 cal BP the study area experienced a significant reduction in the extent of settlement systems, associated with the Late Neolithic to Copper Age transition.  


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 268-282
Author(s):  
Dimitrij Mlekuž Vrhovnik

The paper tackles the spatio-temporal patterns of Neolithic and Copper Age settlement dynamics in the Western Carpathian Basin and Eastern Alps with spatially explicit use of radiocarbon dates. It focuses on the spatial process of spread, movement, aggregation and segregation in the time frame between 8500 and 5000 cal BP. The distribution of Neolithic and Copper Age sites in the study area is clustered and patchy. The first Neolithic settlements appear as isolated islands or enclaves which then slowly expand to fill neighbouring regions. After 6300 cal BP the study area experienced a significant reduction in the extent of settlement systems, associated with the Late Neolithic to Copper Age transition.  


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-199
Author(s):  
Viktor Vladimirovich Morozov

The paper deals with the analysis of the Novoilyinskaya culture sites existed in the Lower Kama region between the Kama Neolithic culture collapse and the Copper Age cultures with porous (shell tempered) ceramics appearance. The analysis of the ceramic complex of the Novoilyinskaya culture shows its similarity with the comb ornamented pottery of the Kama Neolithic culture according to a number of indicators. A lack of clear data on stratigraphy and spatial distribution of finds as well as a small series of absolute dates do not give a clear idea of the formation time and the development of the Novoilyinskaya culture. Currently available data show that the Samara collar (Ivanovskaya) traditions disappeared until the last quarter of the 5th Millennium cal BC. Specific ceramics of the Neolithic-type shape is formed in the Lower Kama region. At the same time the Novoilyinskaya culture ceramics of the Ik and Belaya Rivers interfluve has some features which are the reminiscences of the Levshinskaya stage which are not characteristic for the Middle and Upper Kama region. These features are: thickening on the inner side of the rim; rows of pits and bulges (formed by pits imprinted from the inner side) under the rim; closed forms of the pots and an ornamentation - stepping comb impressions. The proximity of the ceramic complexes of the Novoilyinskaya culture sites to the Late Neolithic ceramics of the Kama culture as well as the radiocarbon dates and the absence of the metalworking evidences prove the functioning of the Novoilyinskaya culture sites of the Lower Kama region during the border of the Stone Age and the period of Early Metals. Another important question is - which southern components took part in the formation of the Novoilyinskaya type or influenced it. Researchers of the forest-steppe Copper Age cultures supposed that in the process of forest Copper Age cultures formation - the Garin and Bor cultures as well as the Middle Volga variant of the Volosovo culture - the Tok and even Altata elements took part. In our opinion, the influence of the Tok traditions is already clearly visible on the Novoilyinskaya culture ceramics. This conclusion is supported by the ⁴C dates which established the synchronicity of the Tok and Novoilyinskaya sites.


2015 ◽  
pp. 377-403
Author(s):  
Daniel Neumann ◽  
Zsuzsa Siklósi ◽  
Roman Scholz ◽  
Márton Szilágyi

This study aims to present the first results of fieldwork conducted by the teams of the Römisch-Germanische Kommission (Frankfurt am Main) and the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest) in the scope of a joint project. The investigated tell site, Berettyóújfalu-Szilhalom is well known by prehistoric archaeology due to earlier excavations. The main goals of the project were to gain a better understanding of Late Neolithic tell formation processes, to investigate the relations of a tell and its adjacent horizontal settlement and to get a more detailed picture on the Late Neolithic–Early Copper Age transition. Therefore we re-opened the refilled trench of the excavation carried out in 1976, collected bone, soil and micromorphological samples for further examinations, performed geomagnetic prospections, made drillings and field surveys.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-91
Author(s):  
Gheorghe Lazarovici ◽  
Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici

Abstract In this study we have resumed the problem of Neolithic settlements with a complex architecture (defense systems with ditches, palisades, towers, bastions; residential buildings; cult constructions; social constructions) which support the idea of a proto-urban organization since the PPN. We have analyzed current definitions of cities and fairs, which mainly reflect situations from classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, but they cannot be applied to prehistoric realities, which, according to interdisciplinary research, offer another perspective. We also believe that religion too has played an important part in these sites, some of them being real centers of worship.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan T. Thomas

From an analysis of over 3,000 beads and pendants from seven contemporary Late Neolithic/Copper Age (3500–2500 BC) sites in the Portuguese Estremadura, two dominant patterns emerge: (1) most beads show a high degree of standardization in terms of size and shape and are made from local materials; and (2) a minority are made from non-local, rare, and visually distinctive materials (e.g.variscite, ivory), and are less standardized and more labour-intensive. The emphasis on a wide-range of materials suggests that uncommon ornaments may have functioned as ‘value added' materials with special significance, enhancing potential design combinations. Material preferences for beads, bracelets, pendants, plaques, and ground stone tools (da Veiga Ferreira 1951; Lillios 1997, 2008) appear to mirror other Western Mediterranean raw material preferences for ornaments and other polished stone objects (Goñi Quinteiro et al. 1999; Harrison and Orozco Köhler 2001; Pascual Benito 1998; Skeates 2010; Teruel Berbell 1986) suggesting that the Estremadura participated in aspects of a wider system of shared symbolic values.


Author(s):  
Tünde Horváth

This article focus on the status of the woman in the main cultures (Baden complex and Yamna) of the Late Copper Age (3600–2800 BC) and the transitional period (2800–2600 BC). Although the Bell Beaker complex belongs to the Early Bronze Age in Hungary (2500–1900 BC), in European terminologies it is a Late Neolithic culture and belongs to the Reinecke A0 horizon in its late phase, which is why I included it into my research. I identify charismatic people displaying signs of agression in these three culture complexes, whose personalities are associated with warfare. In all three cultures there were women with specialised status: their knowledge, property and profession raised them above the average man and woman.


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