Social arrangements. Kinship, descent and affinity in the mortuary architecture of Early Neolithic Britain and Ireland

This article reassesses the social significance of Early Neolithic chambered tombs. It critically evaluates inferences about social organization drawn from tomb architecture and interpretations of kinship based on aDNA analyses of human remains from tombs. Adopting the perspective that kinship is a multifaceted and ongoing field of practice, it argues that the arrangement of tomb chambers was related to the negotiation of Early Neolithic kinship. Drawing together inferences about biological relatedness from aDNA analyses with interpretations of chamber arrangements, it suggests that variation in the architectural arrangements and sequential modification of chambered tombs relates to different ways of negotiating aspects of kinship, particularly descent and affinity. It presents interpretations of how kinship was negotiated at Early Neolithic tombs in different regions of Britain and Ireland and concludes that it is increasingly possible to gauge pattern and diversity in Neolithic negotiations of kinship, descent and affinity by combining different strands of evidence, including architectural arrangement.

A Fundamental Investigation of the Early Neolithic of Southern China

The reviewed investigation made by Stanisław Robert Kuczera “The Antique and Ancient History of China. Early Neolithic of the South” (Moscow, St. Peterburg, Nestor-Istoriya, 2020, 596 p.) provides an overview of the main early Neolithic complexes in the south of China. The work has been carried out for several dozens of years and is based on the analysis of more than 2000 different scientific publications. In terms of its depth and thoroughness of presented research, this monograph has no analogues in the Russian language. Based on the systematization and analysis of the scientific articles of Chinese archaeologists it presents an overview of migrations, emergence of ceramics, methods of stone processing, domestication of plants and animals in the Early Neolithic of southern China. Radiocarbon data of the archaeological sites is being widely presented in Russian for the first time. Four chapters provide a comprehensive investigation of different aspects of the Neolithic economy of the region.

Steinalderkeramikken fra Rogaland – en kronologisk studie

From the 1800’s and onwards, pottery sherds have been found at a number of Neolithic occupation sites in Rogaland County, Southwestern Norway. In this paper, pottery assemblages from nine contexts are analyzed in order to produce an interpretative chronology. Typological analysis is combined with correspondence analysis and Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates. The result is a coherent chronological model that accounts for variations in pottery decoration styles between the late Early Neolithic and the Late Neolithic. There is a development in decorative styles from cord and cord-stamp ornamented vessels followed by a period of pots decorated with cord-stamp, small imprints and incisions, and finally a phase with added lines, comb, and cord-stamp. However, the multi-phased nature of the sites suggests that there are still many unanswered questions. New excavations and re-analyses of older sites are necessary for a better understanding of the developments in Neolithic pottery styles.