scholarly journals Early ceramic styles and technologies in the Aegean and the Balkans:

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 158-172
Author(s):  
Lily Bonga
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Early Ceramic

Ceramics have always played a central role in defining the Neolithic period in southeastern Europe. Early Neolithic ceramic assemblages, forming techniques, clay recipes, shapes, decoration, and vessel function have been traditionally used to establish the chronology and cultural groups of a region based on a handful of purported type-sites. This paper presents a critical review of the literature on Early Neolithic pottery in Greece, highlighting how preconceptions shaped the research and interpretation of the data of not only the ceramics themselves, but also how those interpretive conclusions were projected into other aspects of Early Neolithic life, such as the gender and status of potters and the socio-functional use of pottery. The recent reevaluation of old and new absolute dates through Bayesian analysis, statistical modelling, and stratigraphic considerations has also helped to provide a more nuanced use of relative pottery chronologies. New archaeological evidence from Northern Greece as well as reevaluations of Knossos and the Franchthi Cave are highlighted.

scholarly journals Early ceramic styles and technologies in the Aegean and the Balkans:

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 158-172
Author(s):  
Lily Bonga
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Early Ceramic

Ceramics have always played a central role in defining the Neolithic period in southeastern Europe. Early Neolithic ceramic assemblages, forming techniques, clay recipes, shapes, decoration, and vessel function have been traditionally used to establish the chronology and cultural groups of a region based on a handful of purported type-sites. This paper presents a critical review of the literature on Early Neolithic pottery in Greece, highlighting how preconceptions shaped the research and interpretation of the data of not only the ceramics themselves, but also how those interpretive conclusions were projected into other aspects of Early Neolithic life, such as the gender and status of potters and the socio-functional use of pottery. The recent reevaluation of old and new absolute dates through Bayesian analysis, statistical modelling, and stratigraphic considerations has also helped to provide a more nuanced use of relative pottery chronologies. New archaeological evidence from Northern Greece as well as reevaluations of Knossos and the Franchthi Cave are highlighted.

scholarly journals The Consumption of Bone Powder in the Early Neolithic Societies of Southeastern Europe: Evidence of a Diet Stress?

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Vieugué ◽  
Laure Salanova ◽  
Martine Regert ◽  
Sigrid Mirabaud ◽  
Anne-Solenn Le Hô ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Chemical Analyses ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Bone Powder ◽  
Inner Surface ◽  
Dietary Transition ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Diet Behaviour

Research performed on Early Neolithic ceramic assemblages from southwestern Bulgaria has revealed that several categories of pottery were used for the preparation of foodstuffs. One particular type of beige residue has been identified on the inner surface of ceramic vessels from several sites. Chemical analyses of mineral residues, combined with the stylistic characteristics of ceramic vessels, have shown the consumption of bone powder. This consumption, far from being anecdotal, raises several questions regarding the diet behaviour of the earliest Neolithic communities in the Balkans, which have obviously sought a complementary source of calcium. Would the dietary transition at the beginning of the Neolithic period correspond to a diet stress?

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1912) ◽  
pp. 20191528 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals The Early Neolithic pottery of Keçiçayiri and its place in the North-western Anatolian Neolithisation process

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 138-156
Author(s):  
Deniz Sari ◽  
Semsettin Akyol
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Mountainous Area ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western

The region of Inner North-western Anatolia was a key node in the transmission of the Neolithic lifestyle from the Near East to Marmara, and from there to the Balkans and the rest of Europe. It formed the intersection between several important routes and trade networks, and the settlement of Keçiçayırı, the subject of this paper, had an essential role in the transfer of cultural elements during the Neolithic. The settlement is located on a natural communication route that connects the region of Emirdag-Bolvadin with Eskisehir across the mountainous area of Phrygia, between the distribution areas of the Hacılar and Fikirtepe cultural groups. Finds from the site include both Pre-Pottery Neolithic material and Early Neolithic ceramics, and it is therefore among the earliest permanent settlements of the Eskisehir region, and contains some of the earliest evidence for the Neolithisation process. In this paper, the pottery assemblage of the Early Neolithic settlement at Keçiçayırı is discussed, and its place in the spread of Neolithisation from the Near East to Northwestern Anatolia is evaluated when compared to other known sites.

scholarly journals The Early Neolithic pottery of Keçiçayiri and its place in the North-western Anatolian Neolithisation process

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 138-156
Author(s):  
Deniz Sari ◽  
Semsettin Akyol
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Mountainous Area ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western

The region of Inner North-western Anatolia was a key node in the transmission of the Neolithic lifestyle from the Near East to Marmara, and from there to the Balkans and the rest of Europe. It formed the intersection between several important routes and trade networks, and the settlement of Keçiçayırı, the subject of this paper, had an essential role in the transfer of cultural elements during the Neolithic. The settlement is located on a natural communication route that connects the region of Emirdag-Bolvadin with Eskisehir across the mountainous area of Phrygia, between the distribution areas of the Hacılar and Fikirtepe cultural groups. Finds from the site include both Pre-Pottery Neolithic material and Early Neolithic ceramics, and it is therefore among the earliest permanent settlements of the Eskisehir region, and contains some of the earliest evidence for the Neolithisation process. In this paper, the pottery assemblage of the Early Neolithic settlement at Keçiçayırı is discussed, and its place in the spread of Neolithisation from the Near East to Northwestern Anatolia is evaluated when compared to other known sites.

scholarly journals Seals, contracts and tokens in the Balkans Early Neolithic: where in the puzzle

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 115-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihael Budja
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Population Replacement ◽  
Exchange Networks ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Selective Integration ◽  
Demic Diffusion

Paper discusses Early Neolithic seals, contracts and tokens in the context of Neolithization processes in southeastern Europe. Paper analyses the assemblages, contexts and the patterns of regional and interregional distributions. The results contradict traditional models as the objects appearance and distributions can no longer support the models of colonization, demic diffusion and population replacement in the context of the transition to farming in the Balkans. The paper argues they were well embeddedin the Early Neolithic Balkans koine, where the transformation of hunter- gathering into farming societies took place in an arena of selective integration of the new technologies and social practices as much as the result of intensive connections and exchange networks.

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