7 results
Search Results
2. The Neolithic ceremonial centre at Nowe Objezierze (NW Poland) and its biography from the perspective of the palynological record.
- Author
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Czerniak, Lech, Pędziszewska, Anna, Święta-Musznicka, Joanna, Goslar, Tomasz, Matuszewska, Agnieszka, Niska, Monika, Podlasiński, Marek, and Tylmann, Wojciech
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LAKE sediment analysis , *NEOLITHIC Period , *WEED competition , *PALYNOLOGY , *MATERIAL culture , *TREE felling , *AGRICULTURE - Abstract
• The pollen indicators of farming in Central European Plain c.a. 5050–4800 BCE excludes depopulation after the LBK collapse. • Rondels as the ceremonial centers played a leading role in building a new network social ties after the LBK collapse. • The pollen and radiocarbon data indicate that some rondelles had solid construction and could functioned nearly 300 years. Rondels are the oldest monumental ceremonial objects in Europe. They appeared some 200 years after the demise of the Linear Pottery culture (c. 4800 BCE). They have given a new shape to the resurgent 'Danubian Neolithic World'. However, despite intensive research, it is still unclear (1) how the transition process took place after the fall of the LBK; (2) how long rondels were function; and (3) under what circumstances they were abandoned. In this paper, we present a new approach to this problem based on an analysis of the biography of a single object based on the integration of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data. We assume that the high-resolution pollen analysis of lake sediments provides critical data on the dynamics of population change (hiatuses, sharp declines and increases in population size) and how the environment is affected (felling of specific tree species, fires, cultivation of particular crops, grazing intensity). They provide a better understanding of the sequence of settlement and construction changes as well as alterations in material culture available in the archaeological record. The subject of the analysis is a site in the Lower Oder Valley (north-west Poland), at the furthest northern periphery of the 'Danubian World'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. The Early Acheulian of north-western Europe.
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Moncel, Marie-Helene, Ashton, Nick, Lamotte, Agnes, Tuffreau, Alain, Cliquet, Dominique, and Despriée, Jackie
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ACHEULIAN culture , *PALEOLITHIC Period , *LAND use planning , *LANDSCAPES , *SOCIAL structure - Abstract
The introduction of biface technology in the Lower Palaeolithic arguably marked a fundamental change in how early hominins dealt with their world. It is suggested to reflect changes not just in tool form and innovative shaping, but also in planning depth, landscape use and social structures. This paper examines in detail the chronology of the first Acheulian industries in north-west Europe with the earliest sites from c. 700 ka through to later sites at c. 400 ka. It asks whether evidence from these sites can further our understanding of how the Acheulian and the bifacial technology emerged in this region, but more critically whether it was the underlying behavioural changes that enabled the more sustained occupation of northern latitudes. In particular the paper assesses whether cultural signatures can be identified and whether this reflects changes in group dynamics and social structures that could be a fundamental aspect of surviving in more seasonal, cooler climates. To achieve this, the industries are examined in their chronological and biogeographical framework and compared over time and with the south European sites. The study discusses the influencing factors on variability such as raw material, site function, palaeogeography and questions regarding the background conditions for the introduction of the bifacial technology in Europe. The flexibility in behaviour makes the identification of cultural traditions across Europe difficult due to the situational responses of the early hominins. The large geographical area, the long time period, the fragmented record and a chronology, that still needs improvement, all mean that only glimpses of traditions can be identified, usually at a very local level. However, due to the more extreme climatic cycles of northern Europe, compared to southern Europe, it seems inevitable that populations colonized repeatedly from south to north as climate warmed and retreated or populations became locally extinct as climate cooled. Although there are broad similarities in technology, attempts to identify cultural links have been hampered by the greater variety of raw materials in the south compared to the generally better quality siliceous raw materials in the north. Broad patterns over time might be discernible, with perhaps a refinement through time, but there are also many exceptions to this observation. What seems clearer are other technological innovations from 600 to 500 ka that seem part of an Acheulian package and might reflect other changes in human cultures and societies. It is suggested that these developments were a critical part of more sustained occupation of northern latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Palynological studies shed new light on the Neolithisation process in central Europe.
- Author
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Czerniak, Lech, Święta-Musznicka, Joanna, Pędziszewska, Anna, Goslar, Tomasz, and Matuszewska, Agnieszka
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CULTURAL pluralism , *AGRICULTURE , *COMMUNITY involvement , *PALYNOLOGY , *COMMUNITIES , *COOPERATION - Abstract
• Palynology is the leading method when testing human footprints in ancient landscapes. • Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) is the oldest farming culture in central Europe. • The discovery of cereals 300 years older than the model of Neolithisation predicted. • The results postulate to reject demographic pressure as a main factor of Neolithisation. A precisely dated, high-resolution palynological profile shows that around 5680 BCE a community that grew crops and raised livestock settled on the northern periphery of the area later covered by the LBK colonisations. This indicates that pioneer farmers reached this region around 300 years earlier than estimated by recognised models of the Neolithisation process. These findings point to the need for a revision of the Neolithisation model, not only regarding dating but also in terms of reassessing the role played by demographic pressure. The authors believe that the impact of the latter is widely overestimated, because the migration could also be caused by conflicts resulting from ethnic diversity and competition for prestige and access to the most valuable lands. Cooperation with hunter-gatherer communities could have been an additional factor that may have been particularly significant during the period of pioneering colonisation. The paper discusses the role of palynology in contemporary research on Neolithisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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5. Caching your savings: The use of small-scale storage in European prehistory
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Cunningham, Penny
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STORAGE , *ARCHAEOLOGY , *ETHNOGRAPHIC analysis , *SOCIAL history , *TECHNOLOGICAL complexity , *MESOLITHIC Period , *HUNTER-gatherer societies , *AGRICULTURE - Abstract
Abstract: Understanding of European prehistoric storage practices tends to focus on the long-term and large-scale storage of cereals from the Neolithic onwards. In addition, storage is often associated with the development of sedentism and social complexity. Through the use of anthropological and ethnographic data this paper demonstrates that storage by both hunter–gatherers and farmers is more complex. New storage categories, such as closed and open caches, and portable storage, are suggested as ways of understanding whether similar storage practices were used during European prehistory. We learn that although direct evidence for storage is difficult to find in the archaeological record, a combination of ethnographic data and indirect evidence demonstrates that storage, especially this use of small-scale storage, was practiced in prehistory. In the conclusion, this paper demonstrates that storage during the Mesolithic (11,300–6000 BP) would have played a vital role in the lifeways of hunter–gatherers and that for the Neolithic (6000–4500 BP) the use of small-scale storage of a variety of foods would have been equally important as the storage of grain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2011
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6. Resources and spatial analysis at actual Nenets campsites: Ethnoarchaeological implications
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Svoboda, Jiří, Sázelová, Sandra, Kosintsev, Pavel A., Jankovská, Vlasta, and Holub, Martin
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SPATIAL analysis (Statistics) in archaeology , *ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY , *GEOLOGICAL formations , *PALEOLITHIC Period , *LANDSCAPES , *NATURAL resources - Abstract
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present and discuss empirical evidence on the dynamics of occupation and site formation processes from contemporary mobile campsites in Northwest Siberia. The questions posed are derived generally from archaeological studies of Upper Paleolithic record in Europe. We document the active Nenets summer camps at lakes and the abandoned winter and spring camps in the open tundra and the forest tundra. Analysis of the floral and zoological resources shows that plant resources and fish are available predominantly in the summer while reindeer are abundant in these regions in fall and winter when they return from summer pastures further north. When natural resources are not available, groups supplement with food purchased at shops. Within these living camps, “structures évidentes” and “structures latentes” of classical French paleoethnology cannot be distinguished as clearly as at Upper Paleolithic sites: and architectural remains, ash from hearths, and other objects may be removed from the central areas towards the site peripheries. However the investigated camps preserve a discrete structure with interior living areas (including children’s playgrounds), exterior areas with evidence of reindeer carcass processing, woodworking, and other activities, peripheral toss zones, and dispersed activity remains in the surrounding landscape. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
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7. Landscapes, environments and societies: The development of culture in Lower Palaeolithic Europe.
- Author
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Davis, Rob and Ashton, Nick
- Subjects
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MATERIAL culture , *CULTURAL identity , *CLIMATE change , *SOCIAL groups , *CULTURE , *LOCAL culture - Abstract
• Technological and behavioural developments in Europe at 400,000 years ago. • Model of landscape and resources shaping development of localised material culture. • Model of population movement triggered by shifts in climate or environment. • Estimates of social group and territory size for Middle Pleistocene Europe. Identification of cultural groups is rare in the early Palaeolithic due to site formation processes including taphonomy and the effect of raw material and site function. This paper reviews a critical period in Europe at about 400 ka (MIS 11) when we may be able to identify such groups. This period, sees more sustained occupation and evidence of new technologies, including bone and wooden tools, hunting and fire-use. Importantly, brain size had begun to approach modern capacity. The fine-tuned record from Britain enables correlation of sites and new models of human behaviour to be developed. Millennial-scale changes in material culture can now be recognised, which can be interpreted as brief incursions by different cultural groups into Britain from mainland Europe. We suggest that population movement was primarily driven by changes in climate and environment. We further propose that variation in material culture is a reflection of local resources and landscape and that during stable environment localised expressions of culture emerge. This can be applied to Europe, where it is suggested that a complex mosaic of small-scale cultural groupings can be identified, some with and some without handaxes, but underpinned by a common set of technologies and behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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