scholarly journals The first vs. second stage of neolithisation in Polish territories (to say nothing of the third?)

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 102-127
Author(s):  
Marek Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Linear Groups ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Linear Band ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Late Mesolithic

The origins of the Neolithic in Polish territories are associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) after the mid-6th millennium BC. Communities of this culture only settled in enclaves distinguished by ecological conditions favourable to farming (‘LBK neolithisation’). This situation persisted into the 5th millennium BC, when these enclaves were inhabited by post-Linear groups. This state of affairs changed from c. 4000 BC onwards due to the formation and spectacular territorial expansion of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). In the territories under consideration this expansion covered the areas previously inhabited by both hunter-gatherers (‘TRB neolithisation’) and farmers. Some of the Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers did not accept TRB patterns. They successfully carried on their traditional lifestyle until the Early Bronze Age although some changes in their material culture are visible (including ‘ceramisation’).

scholarly journals The first vs. second stage of neolithisation in Polish territories (to say nothing of the third?)

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 102-127
Author(s):  
Marek Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Linear Groups ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Linear Band ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Late Mesolithic

The origins of the Neolithic in Polish territories are associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) after the mid-6th millennium BC. Communities of this culture only settled in enclaves distinguished by ecological conditions favourable to farming (‘LBK neolithisation’). This situation persisted into the 5th millennium BC, when these enclaves were inhabited by post-Linear groups. This state of affairs changed from c. 4000 BC onwards due to the formation and spectacular territorial expansion of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). In the territories under consideration this expansion covered the areas previously inhabited by both hunter-gatherers (‘TRB neolithisation’) and farmers. Some of the Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers did not accept TRB patterns. They successfully carried on their traditional lifestyle until the Early Bronze Age although some changes in their material culture are visible (including ‘ceramisation’).

scholarly journals The second stage of Neolithisation and para-Neolithic in the southern Baltic

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 116-124
Author(s):  
Marek Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Territorial Development ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Linear Band ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
Food Economy

The origins of the Neolithic, understood as a phenomenon with food economy dependent on agriculture, in east-central Europe are associated with the appearance of communities reflected by the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) in ca . 5500 BC. These communities settled only small enclaves, distinguished by ecological conditions favourable to farming. Situation of this kind persisted in the 5th millennium BC, when territories under discussion were inhabited by post-Linear groups. Consequently, at that time, hunter-gatherers still occupied ca. 70% of these territories. Such situation changed from 4200/4100 BC onwards, due to the formation and spectacular territorial expansion of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). This expansion covered both the areas previously inhabited by hunter-gatherers and farmers. Around 3500 BC Neolithic formation encompassed virtually the whole of this part of Central Europe. Parallel to the first and second Neolithisations, independent processes of ceramisation of the Late Mesolithic communities proceeded. While in the 5th millennium BC they were fairly selective, in the 4th millennium BC they were quite intensive. A new cultural model formed here which might be called para-Neolithic. Archaeological data indicate contacts between TRB and para-Neolithic communities. The latter phenomena (mainly the Neman culture) show also a significant territorial development.

scholarly journals Different Paths of Neolithisation of the North-Eastern Part of Central Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1582-1601
Author(s):  
Marek Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
The North ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
First Time ◽  
Late Mesolithic ◽  
North Eastern Part ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Origins of the Neolithic in the north-eastern part of Central Europe were associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Pottery culture after the mid-sixth millennium BC, as in other parts of Central Europe. During these migrations, a careful selection of settlement regions took place, in terms of the ecological conditions most favourable for agriculture. The enclave-like pattern of the Neolithic settlement persisted into the fifth millennium BC when these enclaves were inhabited by post-Linear groups. The remaining areas, inhabited by hunter-gatherers, were not subject to direct Neolithisation. However, there are some indications of contact between farmers and hunter-gatherers. This situation changed from c. 4000 BC onwards because of the formation and spectacular territorial expansion of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). This archaeological unit for the first time covered in a relatively compact way the territory under consideration. The human substratum of this process consisted of both hunter-gatherers and farmers. Consequently, one can discourse about Neolithisation as such only in the former case. Not all Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers accepted TRB patterns. Those communities still successfully carried on traditional lifestyle, gradually supplementing it with pottery (para-Neolithic). Their Neolithisation ended perhaps only in the first half of the second millennium BC.

scholarly journals Genomic and dietary transitions during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Sicily

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke S. van de Loosdrecht ◽  
Marcello A. Mannino ◽  
Sahra Talamo ◽  
Vanessa Villalba-Mouco ◽  
Cosimo Posth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
Early Farmers ◽  
Late Mesolithic

AbstractSouthern Italy is a key region for understanding the agricultural transition in the Mediterranean due to its central position. We present a genomic transect for 19 prehistoric Sicilians that covers the Early Mesolithic to Early Neolithic period. We find that the Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (HGs) are a highly drifted sister lineage to Early Holocene western European HGs, whereas a quarter of the Late Mesolithic HGs ancestry is related to HGs from eastern Europe and the Near East. This indicates substantial gene flow from (south-)eastern Europe between the Early and Late Mesolithic. The Early Neolithic farmers are genetically most similar to those from the Balkan and Greece, and carry only a maximum of ∼7% ancestry from Sicilian Mesolithic HGs. Ancestry changes match changes in dietary profile and material culture, except for two individuals who may provide tentative initial evidence that HGs adopted elements of farming in Sicily.One-sentence summaryGenome-wide and isotopic data from prehistoric Sicilians reveal a pre-farming connection to (south-) eastern Europe, and tentative initial evidence that hunter-gatherers adopted some Neolithic aspects prior to near-total replacement by early farmers.

scholarly journals Middle and Late Holocene hunter-gatherers in East Central Europe: changing paradigms of the ‘non-Neolithic’ way of life

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 89-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Mesolithic ◽  
Middle And Late Holocene

According to traditional views, the main reason for ‘demesolithisation’ in East Central Europe was the spread of the Neolithic oecumene, particularly from c. 4000 BC. Simultaneously, the disintegrated Late Mesolithic world gradually underwent typological unification, and finally reached the stage that is sometimes described as pre-Neolithic. However, we definitely have to bear in mind that as a matter of fact we deal only with the ‘history’ of archaeological artefacts that are treated as typical attributes of hunter-gatherers. The analyses of chronological, technological, settlement, economic, and social data referring to foragers of East Central Europe demonstrate that the quantitative decrease and changes of their archaeological attributes in the fifth, fourth, and third millennia were not connected with a profound reorientation of their spatial and ideological existence. It was rather a continuation of previous patterns, even though territories settled by farming societies were steadily growing in size. The final disappearance of Central European hunter-gatherers – but only in a strictly typological dimension – took place in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.

The Political Machine

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam T. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Organized Violence ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Political Machine ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
The Bronze Age

This book investigates the essential role that material culture plays in the practices and maintenance of political sovereignty. Through an archaeological exploration of the Bronze Age Caucasus, the book demonstrates that beyond assemblies of people, polities are just as importantly assemblages of things—from ballots and bullets to crowns, regalia, and licenses. The book looks at the ways that these assemblages help to forge cohesive publics, separate sovereigns from a wider social mass, and formalize governance—and it considers how these developments continue to shape politics today. The book shows that the formation of polities is as much about the process of manufacturing assemblages as it is about disciplining subjects, and that these material objects or “machines” sustain communities, orders, and institutions. The sensibilities, senses, and sentiments connecting people to things enabled political authority during the Bronze Age and fortifies political power even in the contemporary world. The book provides a detailed account of the transformation of communities in the Caucasus, from small-scale early Bronze Age villages committed to egalitarianism, to Late Bronze Age polities predicated on radical inequality, organized violence, and a centralized apparatus of rule. From Bronze Age traditions of mortuary ritual and divination to current controversies over flag pins and Predator drones, this book sheds new light on how material goods authorize and defend political order.

Cultural change and population dynamics during the Bronze Age: Integrating archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence for Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1607-1621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Kneisel ◽  
Walter Dörfler ◽  
Stefan Dreibrodt ◽  
Stefanie Schaefer-Di Maida ◽  
Ingo Feeser
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Boom And Bust ◽  
The Bronze Age

In archaeology, change in material culture is viewed as indicating social or cultural transformation and is the basis of our typo-chronological classification of phases and periods. The material culture from northern Germany reveals both quantitative and qualitative changes during the Bronze Age. At the same time, there is also evidence for ‘boom and bust’ cycles in population density/size, as indicated by changing human impact on the environment in several Bronze Age palaeoenvironmental records. These demographic fluctuations may relate to the observed changes in social phenomena in aspects of ideology, technology, food production and habitation. For example, innovations in food production, such as the adoption of new crops and agricultural techniques, could have led to population growth. While usually viewed by archaeologists as a ‘negative’ development, population stress or collapse may have favoured the emergence of new cultural phenomena. In order to test the cause-and-effect relationship between population dynamics and sociocultural change, we synthesise the archaeological evidence – qualitative and quantitative information from settlements, deposition finds (hoards), burials, material culture and architectural remains – for the Bronze Age in northern Germany, mainly Schleswig-Holstein, and compare it with the boom and bust pattern seen in the palaeoenvironmental record. The synchronicity of changes at ca. 1500 BC and ca. 1100 BC reflects the relationship between phases of major sociocultural transformation in the archaeological datasets and booms and busts in the palaeoenvironmental record of the region seen as a proxies for palaeo-demography. This sets the stage for a better understanding of the transformation of practices and relationships in the Bronze Age communities of the region.

scholarly journals Non-discursive Knowledge and the Construction of Identity Potters, Potting and Performance at the Bronze Age Tell of Százhalombatta, Hungary

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Budden ◽  
Joanna Sofaer
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
Differential Acquisition ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article explores the relationship between the making of things and the making of people at the Bronze Age tell at Százhalombatta, Hungary. Focusing on potters and potting, we explore how the performance of non-discursive knowledge was critical to the construction of social categories. Potters literally came into being as potters through repeated bodily enactment of potting skills. Potters also gained their identity in the social sphere through the connection between their potting performance and their audience. We trace degrees of skill in the ceramic record to reveal the material articulation of non-discursive knowledge and consider the ramifications of the differential acquisition of non-discursive knowledge for the expression of different kinds of potter's identities. The creation of potters as a social category was essential to the ongoing creation of specific forms of material culture. We examine the implications of altered potters' performances and the role of non-discursive knowledge in the construction of social models of the Bronze Age.

Social change in the Later Neolithic of Central Europe

Antiquity ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 59 (225) ◽  
pp. 30-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Starling
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Uniform Pattern ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
Small Sites ◽  
Important Shift ◽  
Complete Collapse

Profound changes occurred in central and northern Europe towards the end of the 3rd millennium bcX, when a uniform pattern of settlement, burial and material culture-the Corded Ware complexreplaced the diversity of the middle neolithic groups of the TRB (or Funnel Beaker Culture). Collective graves and large settlement sites gave way to individual burials in a largely dispersed pattern of settlement based on small sites. This was accompanied by a spread of sites into hitherto uncolonized areas, and a greater variety of locations used for settlement. This major change might at first seem to indicate a complete collapse of the earlier system, with an undifferentiated pattern replacing the apparent beginnings of hierarchies indicated by the Middle Neolithic. Kristiansen ( I 982) has recently suggested for Denmark that the middle neolithic system disintegrated, fitting a model of cyclical tribal development. It is suggested here, however, that the transformation of the middle neolithic pattern is better seen as a changed structure, which does not involve concepts such as disintegration or collapse, but marks an important shift in the organization of neolithic societies.

From Texts and Iconography to Use-Wear Analysis of Ceramic Vessels

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-210
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Lis ◽  
Trevor Van Damme
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
Funerary Rites

While handwashing is attested in the Bronze Age cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and appears in both Linear B records and Homeric epics, the custom has not been discussed with regard to the material culture of Mycenaean Greece. On analogy with Egyptian handwashing equipment, we explore the possibility that a conical bowl made of bronze and copied in clay was introduced in Greece early in the Late Bronze Age for this specific use. We integrate epigraphic, iconographic and formal analyses to support this claim, but in order to interrogate the quotidian function of ceramic lekanes, we present the results of use-wear analysis performed on 130 examples. As use-wear develops from repeated use over a long time, it is a good indicator of normative behaviour, particularly when large datasets are amassed and contrasted with other shapes. While not conclusive, our results allow us to rule out a function as tableware for food consumption, and in combination with all other analyses support the interpretation of lekanes as handwashing basins. We then trace the development of this custom from its initial adoption by elite groups to its spread among new social classes and venues after the collapse of the palace system: at home, as part of communal feasting and sacrifice or as an element of funerary rites. The widespread distribution of handwashing equipment after 1200 bc closely mirrors the situation in our earliest surviving Greek Iron Age texts and joins a growing body of evidence pointing to strong continuity in social practices between the Postpalatial period and the early Iron Age in Greece.

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