scholarly journals Neolithic demic diffusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Guido Barbujani
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Deep Structure ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
European Population ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Gene Frequencies ◽  
Neolithic Transition ◽  
Demographic Models ◽  
Demic Diffusion

In 1978, Paolo Menozzi, Alberto Piazza, and Luca Cavalli-Sforza paved the ground for a new multidisciplinary approach to the study of human prehistory, interpreting genetic evidence in the light of archaeological information. By producing synthetic maps of allele frequencies and summarizing them by principal component analysis (PCA), they identified an association between patterns in genetic diversity across Europe and in the Neolithic archaeological record showing the earliest documented dates of farming societies. Based on this observation, they proposed a model of demic diffusion from the Near East. They argued that the observed patterns were the result of population growth due to increased food availability in early farming communities, westward dispersal of early farmers, and relative isolation between dispersing farmers and local hunter-gatherers. These results played a major role in our understanding of the Neolithic transition, but were also criticized on methodological grounds. For instance, it has become increasingly clear that the interpretation of PCA plots is less straightforward than originally thought, and correlations should be corroborated by explicit comparison of alternative demographic models. Despite these valid criticisms, genetic and genomic studies, including those involving ancient DNA, have largely confirmed the crucial role of the Neolithic transition as a process of demographic change in European prehistory, with some qualifications. Today, there is still much to be learned about the details of that complex history, but many researchers regard the European population structure as largely reflecting the genetic consequences of three major migrations: from Africa in Upper Paleolithic times, from the Near East at the beginning of the Neolithic, and from the eastern steppes in the Bronze Age. This deep structure has not been erased, despite many additional processes involving historical migrations, isolation (i.e., drift) and local gene flow, and has been recognized thanks to the pioneering work of Menozzi, Piazza and Cavalli-Sforza. Based on “Menozzi P, Piazza A, Cavalli-Sforza LL Synthetic maps of human gene frequencies in Europeans. Science 1978;201:786-792.”

Continuity or change?

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Henty
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Small Area ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Neolithic Transition ◽  
The Bronze Age

General archaeological accounts of Scotland tend to demonstrate broad ideas of the Neolithic transition to farming and the subsequent economic changes in the Bronze Age. Whilst they concentrate on important economic and cultural advancement they tend to lack discussions on cosmological change. This paper looks at one small area in Aberdeenshire to examine four different classes of monument that are found there: long mounds and long cairns; Recumbent Stone Circles; henges and Beaker burial sites. It argues that skyscape archaeology, through the use of archaeoastronomical techniques, can provide clues to cosmological change.

Dairy Queen. Churns and milk products in the Aegean Bronze Age

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah P. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Dairy Products ◽  
Near East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Milk Products ◽  
The Third ◽  
Household Processing

This article assembles examples of an unusual vessel found in domestic contexts of the Early Bronze Age around the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean. Identified as a “barrel vessel” by the excavators of Troy, Lesbos (Thermi), Lemnos (Poliochni), and various sites in the Chalkidike, the shape finds its best parallels in containers identified as churns in the Chalcolithic Levant, and related vessels from the Eneolithic Balkans. Levantine parallels also exist in miniature form, as in the Aegean at Troy, Thermi, and Poliochni, and appear as part of votive figures in the Near East. My interpretation of their use and development will consider how they compare to similar shapes in the archaeological record, especially in Aegean prehistory, and what possible transregional relationships they may express along with their specific function as household processing vessels for dairy products during the third millennium BC.

Earthquake-Resistant Construction and the Wrath of the "Earth-Shaker"

1987 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Driessen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
Earthquake Resistant ◽  
Partition Walls

The writer investigates possible anti-seismic construction techniques used in Minoan architecture on Bronze Age Crete. The frequency of earthquakes in the Aegean seems to imply the presence of such techniques. Starting by noting the methods still in use in Turkey and other dangerous areas, the writer looks at the practice of projections and setbacks, the near absence of windows, room dimensions, roof and floor construction, the presence of partition walls, the size and number of stories, town planning, the presence of cornices and ring beams, and other construction details which helped to improve the anti-seismic capability of Minoan houses. Attention is given to the location of houses and to the question of whether or not the Minoans used these methods consciously. The writer believes they did, not only because of the frequency of these earthquakes but also because of the religious connotations and the existence of an architectural koiné in earthquake-stricken areas in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, in contrast with Egypt.

scholarly journals Dogs accompanied humans during the Neolithic expansion into Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 20180286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgane Ollivier ◽  
Anne Tresset ◽  
Laurent A. F. Frantz ◽  
Stéphanie Bréhard ◽  
Adrian Bălăşescu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Near East ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Mitochondrial Lineage ◽  
Domestic Species ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Neolithic Expansion ◽  
The Bronze Age

Near Eastern Neolithic farmers introduced several species of domestic plants and animals as they dispersed into Europe. Dogs were the only domestic species present in both Europe and the Near East prior to the Neolithic. Here, we assessed whether early Near Eastern dogs possessed a unique mitochondrial lineage that differentiated them from Mesolithic European populations. We then analysed mitochondrial DNA sequences from 99 ancient European and Near Eastern dogs spanning the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age to assess if incoming farmers brought Near Eastern dogs with them, or instead primarily adopted indigenous European dogs after they arrived. Our results show that European pre-Neolithic dogs all possessed the mitochondrial haplogroup C, and that the Neolithic and Post-Neolithic dogs associated with farmers from Southeastern Europe mainly possessed haplogroup D. Thus, the appearance of haplogroup D most probably resulted from the dissemination of dogs from the Near East into Europe. In Western and Northern Europe, the turnover is incomplete and haplogroup C persists well into the Chalcolithic at least. These results suggest that dogs were an integral component of the Neolithic farming package and a mitochondrial lineage associated with the Near East was introduced into Europe alongside pigs, cows, sheep and goats. It got diluted into the native dog population when reaching the Western and Northern margins of Europe.

The cretulae and the Linear A accounting system

1960 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 200-210
Author(s):  
Maurice Pope
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Coherent System ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Seal Impressions ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Proper Analysis

Cretulae is the name given in this article to the small clay nodules, stamped with one or more seal impressions, that have been found in quantity at most Bronze Age sites in the Near East. The Minoan examples are generally smaller than those found at other sites, and the great majority of them have a hole through which string once passed. That is to say, they are lumps of clay squeezed round string and then sealed. At most of the sites in Crete where they are known, they have been found in conjunction with inscribed clay tablets and clay disks. At Hagia Triada they are unique in being for the most part countermarked with a sign of the Linear A script. The interrelationships of the countermarks and sealings have not previously been recorded, and it is the primary purpose of this article to publish them. The catalogue will be found in Appendix A. Proper analysis of it should shed light on Minoan methods of administration, and perhaps too on the purpose of the Linear A tablets. That the tablets, or some of them, belong to a coherent system of administration, and are not all mere inventory lists of what happened to be coming into or going out of store at a particular moment, seems guaranteed by the fact, to which I shall revert later, that totals in the same numerical proportion are found at widely distant sites.

scholarly journals Wealth Inequality in the Ancient Near East: A Preliminary Assessment Using Gini Coefficients and Household Size

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-704
Author(s):  
Pertev Basri ◽  
Dan Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Household Size ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Rural Sites

Investigating how different forms of inequality arose and were sustained through time is key to understanding the emergence of complex social systems. Due to its long-term perspective, archaeology has much to contribute to this discussion. However, comparing inequality in different societies through time, especially in prehistory, is difficult because comparable metrics of value are not available. Here we use a recently developed technique which assumes a correlation between household size and household wealth to investigate inequality in the ancient Near East. If this assumption is correct, our results show that inequality increased from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, and we link this increase to changing forms of social and political organization. We see a step change in levels of inequality around the time of the emergence of urban sites at the beginning of the Bronze Age. However, urban and rural sites were similarly unequal, suggesting that outside the elite, the inhabitants of each encompassed a similar range of wealth levels. The situation changes during the Iron Age, when inequality in urban environments increases and rural sites become more equal.

scholarly journals Study on Western Asiatic cast ribbed rectangular beads from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey, by using portable X-ray fluorescence

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Izumi Nakai ◽  
Kriengkamol Tantrakarn ◽  
Yoshinari Abe ◽  
Sachihiro Omura
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Glass Beads ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Ancient Trade ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Excavation Site ◽  
Plant Ash ◽  
Xrf Analyses

In this article we report a comparative study on excavated objects and artifact from museums to reveal an aspect of ancient trade. The target artifact is Western Asiatic cast ribbed rectangular beads excavated from an architectural remain at Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey. Blue glass beads of this type have been excavated in Western Asia from north Iran and Iraq to the Syro-Palestinian coast from second half of 16th to 14th century BC. The analysis of the samples was carried out by using a portable Xray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer developed by us. The instrument was brought to the excavation site in Turkey as well as to the museums to analyse typologically similar glass beads from the collection of Okayama Orient Museum and MIHO MUSEUM in Japan, for comparison. Our XRF analyses suggested that all analysed glass artifacts are plant ash sodalime silica glass with 2-4 wt% magnesium and potassium. The three glass beads exhibited similar compositional characteristic, i.e. they contain Sb, Pb, Fe, Cu and Sr in similar quantities. A typological and principal component analysis comparison of the glass beads unearthed from Kaman- Kalehöyük site with those of the museums and literature data support that they should have a similar origin. In addition, archaeological context of the glass from Kaman-Kalehöyük also supports that the artifact belongs to the Middle-Late Bronze Age (16th to 15th centuries BC). This is the first scientific material evidence that shows the possibility of a cultural flow from Mesopotamia region to Kaman-Kalehöyük during Middle- Late Bronze Age.

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