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The North Pontic region, which encompasses present-day Ukraine, was a crossroads of migration, connecting the vast Eurasian Steppe with Central Europe. We generated shotgun-sequenced genomic data for 91 individuals dating from around 7000 BCE to 1800 CE to study migration and mobility history in the region, with a particular focus on historically attested migrating groups during the Iron Age and the medieval period. We infer a high degree of temporal heterogeneity in ancestry, with fluctuating genetic affinities to different present-day Eurasian groups. We also infer high heterogeneity in ancestry within geographically, culturally, and socially defined groups. Despite this, we find that ancestry components which are widespread in Eastern and Central Europe have been present in the Ukraine region since the Bronze Age. In short, our study reveals a diverse range of ancestries in the Ukraine region through time as a result of frequent movements, assimilation, and contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustained archaeometallurgical research since 2008 has permitted the Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project (SEALIP) to establish the general anthropological and geochemical parameters of late prehistoric and early historic regional nonferrous base metal exchange networks. A 79 artefact assemblage from the mid-late Iron Age (2nd-8th c. AD) settlement and residential burial site of Non Ban Jak (NBJ) in lower northeast Thailand gave an opportunity to generate a fine-grained interpretation of copper-base metal supply and demand at the cusp of mainland state formation. Previous hints that the central Thai copper production centres in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley (KWPV) were only weakly active during the Iron Age, were reinforced by the near total absence of the KWPV signature at NBJ, only 165 km to the east. Since 2011, copper production at the Vilabouly Complex (VC) in central Laos has dominated regional consumption signatures, and a simple reading of the NBJ dataset would support this thesis. However, a high-density sampling shows that VC production is not actually consistent with much of NBJ consumption, and thus we must search for other Southeast Asian copper production loci. Finally, being able to analyse multiple artefacts of a range of typologies enables us to identify material culture associations between individuals at NBJ, those at other lower northeast Thai sites, and even between individuals at contemporary sites in northwest Cambodia. Intriguingly, these potential consistencies between individuals at an international scale all concern middle-aged men, possibly reinforcing regional bioarchaeological interpretations of matrilocality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its discovery in 1981, the site at Traunkirchen has remained among the very few Iron Age lakeshore settlements in the Circum-Alpine region. Micromorphological and archaeobotanical analyses of drilled cores from the lake bottom help to reconstruct the taphonomy of the Early Iron Age cultural layers and past environmental conditions. Our study also reveals that the water level of Lake Traunsee dropped twice by ca. 2.5/3 m within approximately 100–150 years during the Early Iron Age. The accumulation of well-preserved organic debris indicates the presence of building features in a shallow-water area, protected by a thick layer of lake marl. Carpological remains also provide insights into the local plant diet and land use based on cereals, legumes, edible fruits and nuts, all commonly used during the Iron Age. Our observations contribute to understanding Traunkirchen as an Iron Age key site, which was presumably involved in the distribution of salt from the mine at Hallstatt, down the Traun River and across Lake Traunsee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the interplay between relative sea‐level changes, the development of human settlements and land‐cover changes in the Västervik–Gamlebyviken region on the southeast coast of Sweden, an important archaeological area from the Mesolithic until recent times. The reconstruction of shore displacement was based on diatom analysis of radiocarbon‐dated sediment cores from three lake basins combined with previously published lake isolation data. The resulting curve was used to construct palaeogeographical maps for selected time windows. Land‐cover changes were inferred from pollen data from three lakes using the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm with its two models REVEALS and LOVE. Our data suggest that people took advantage of the land gained due to an overall fall in relative sea level from ~35 to ~3 metres above sea level (m a.s.l.) over the last 10 000 years, interrupted by periods of transgression and highstands. A sea‐level regression of ~16 m occurred between 10 000 and 8500 cal a bp followed by an ~3–4‐m sea‐level rise, reaching ~22 m a.s.l. at ~7500 cal a bp, which corresponds to the maximum Littorina Sea shoreline in the area. The available archaeological findings for the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic (8950–5450 cal a bp) agree well with the shore displacement curve showing that settlements and human activities were concentrated along or above the shorelines as defined from our study. During the transgression after 8500 cal a bp, however, seasonal settlements were submerged (as shown by findings of polished stone tools and hearths buried in sand) and used again during the subsequent regression after 4600 cal a bp. The Iron Age (2450–900 cal a bp) corresponds partly to a highstand at ~11 m a.s.l. between 3600 and 2000 cal a bp and partly to a rapid regression of ~8 m between 2000 and 1500 cal a bp, and both periods coincide with known human activities along the contemporaneous shoreline. The rapid regression after 2000 cal a bp corresponds to an increase of both regional and local landscape openness and the beginning of a continuous record of crop cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of pottery-producing communities in Central Africa has long been seen as a study of its spread. While this process started about two-and-a-half millennia ago, it is often linked with the so-called ‘Bantu Expansion’. Linguistic studies claimed substantial migratory events through the so-called ‘Sangha River Interval’, which mostly coincides with the Sangha river valley and the western part of the Congo Basin. This region is viewed as a ‘gateway’ communities followed to cross the equatorial rainforest during their spread south. This paper presents novel data on the oldest widespread pottery from that region, the Pikunda-Munda style. Its emergence in the last century BCE is equally shrouded in secret as its disappearance in the fifth to sixth century CE. The latter coincides with a distinct period of low human activity (600–1000 CE) observed throughout Central Africa. New research into the technological decisions or chaînes opératoires of the potters’ communities that produced Pikunda-Munda pottery revealed that they followed a distinct path, different from that in adjacent regions such as the Inner Congo Basin. Only regarding clay procurement and processing similar preferences for fluvial clay sources rich in sponge spicules can be seen. Drawing of a ring is the primary shaping or roughing-out technique and differences in how the bottoms were attached or closed indicate differences in trans-generational training networks among potters’ communities of practice. The disappearances of the Pikunda-Munda pottery mark an apparent abandonment of pottery production along the middle and lower Sangha river, with knowledge networks established earlier falling apart. There is little evidence for the persistence of the specific knowledge of Pikunda-Munda potters’ communities. All groups encountered after the setback show evidence of them originating from groups found in the Inner Congo Basin or northwards. Potters’ communities responsible for the Pikunda-Munda pottery were among those whose knowledge transfer was interrupted by the widespread setback in human activity observed throughout the wider region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Uden–Slabroek cemetery yielded one of the richest Early Iron Age burials found in the Netherlands: an inhumation grave of a person wearing elaborate bronze and iron ornaments (ca. 8th century BC). Exceptionally mineralised fragments of wool textiles were found inside the corrosion layer of the bronze anklets and bracelets. Advanced multidisciplinary analysis of these textiles identified them as the remains of the oldest garment of the Netherlands, made from a bright red and blue wool twill fabric woven in a shepherd's check pattern. Advanced mass spectrometry analysis provided direct identification of dyes, including cochineal — the earliest evidence of a red dye for the entire region (especially the precious insect dye variant). Virtual synchrotron-based 3D analysis of the fragments documented the textile weave types and the morphometry of surface and buried layers. The correlation of the two approaches makes it possible to recover an entire, now-vanished, colour pattern from highly altered fabrics. • Textiles from one of the richest Early Iron Age graves (c. 800 BC) were studied. • We observed a red/blue wool in a shepherd's check pattern. • We report the first modern red dye in the supra-region. • Synchrotron imaging and dye analysis were combined in an innovative way. • We discuss the significance of the oldest coloured garment in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]