Search

The recent discovery of several late Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in Central Europe, including Vrable in south-west Slovakia, has revealed evidence for increasing diversity in Neolithic mortuary practices, which may reflect inter-community war and sociopolitical crisis at the end of the LBK. Here, the authors combine osteological and radiocarbon analyses of inhumations from Vrable. Rather than a straightforward sign of inter-community conflict and war, this development reflects a culmination of internal conflict and a diversification in the ritual treatment of human bodies. The emerging variability in LBK methods of manipulating and depositing dead bodies can be interpreted as an experimental approach in how to negotiate social conflicts and community boundaries. Keywords: Central Europe, Slovakia, Neolithic, Linearbandkeramik, mortuary practice, Introduction The Linearbandkeramik (LBK, c. 5500-4950 cal BC) is considered one of the few examples of a Neolithic culture with an individualised, clearly gendered and elaborate mortuary tradition (Robb & [...]

Joanna Bruck's (2021) article is a timely intervention into the current debate about the use of ancient DNA (aDNA) data to reconstruct prehistoric kinship, based on the archaeological record. Her [...]

B.A. OLSEN, T. OLANDER & K. KRISTIANSEN (ed.). 2019. Tracing the Indo-Europeans: new evidence from archaeology and historical linguistics. Oxford: Oxbow; 978-1-78925-270-5 paperback 25 [pounds sterling]. Reviewing this book was [...]

The internal layout of early settlements can provide insight into social organisation and the processes of Neolithic expansion into Europe. Analysis of variables describing 71 sites revealed a spectrum extending between two distinct settlement types that can be regionally and chronologically situated. The very early 'Anatolian village' in the south-east exhibits multi-level organisation, reflected in concentrated residence and temporal stability; the younger (post 6000 BC) 'Balkan village' in the north-west represents a new model with less centralised control of space and a less permanent layout. Between these types is a transitional domain of more heterogeneous, and ever-changing settlement layouts, which is characterised as a 'third space' of hybridised traditions. Keywords: Europe, Neolithic, settlement, social organisation, correspondence analysis, Introduction The earliest Neolithic settlements in Europe were founded around 6500 cal BC in Greece and north-western Turkey, and they seem to have their roots in Anatolia (Brami & Heyd [...]