Returns to Ancestral Monuments. The Transition of Funerary Areas During the 4th and 3rd Millennia BC in Bohemia

Although the earliest permanent settlements based on agriculture originated in Anatolia and Levant regions neighbouring to Mesopotamia and receiving sufficient rainfall, the first cities in the world history are seen in the southern Mesopotamia. In other words, the seeds which would establish the city had emerged in the neighbouring regions, but the place where this seeds turned into cities as we today know was Mesopotamian lands. In this context, Mesopotamia, which is accepted as the cradle of civilization, has been home of the second revolution humankind achieved, which is the Urbanization Revolution. Since Mesopotamia was the region where urbanization first emerged, it is generally accepted that the emergence of the first cities in this region was independent of other cultures and was the result of a local development. It has been found that the foundations of the developments that would lead to urban life were laid in the Ubayd period. The first city in its real sense and the city life related to this concept is found in the south of Mesopotamia but only in the Uruk Period. Thus, the process of urbanised life which started in southern Mesopotamia during the Ubeyd Period in the middle of the 6th millennium BC led to an urbanised world during the Uruk Period in 4th millennium BC. This procedure then characterised the Early Dynasty period in 3rd millennium BC, which was the golden age of the city-states. In this article, the traces of the developments outlined above will be examined and how this process took place in Mesopotamia will be detailed. In this sense, the chronological framework of the essay will cover a period that starts from the 6th millennium BC when the earliest settlements emerged in Southern Mesopotamia and that reaches out the 4th millennium BC when the cities were established and finally to the 3rd millennium BC when the city-states spread. This process will be presented by foregrounding Ubeyd and Uruk settlements where the findings that characterize these developments have first been revealed.

Although the earliest permanent settlements based on agriculture originated in Anatolia and Levant regions neighbouring to Mesopotamia and receiving sufficient rainfall, the first cities in the world history are seen in the southern Mesopotamia. In other words, the seeds which would establish the city had emerged in the neighbouring regions, but the place where this seeds turned into cities as we today know was Mesopotamian lands. In this context, Mesopotamia, which is accepted as the cradle of civilization, has been home of the second revolution humankind achieved, which is the Urbanization Revolution. Since Mesopotamia was the region where urbanization first emerged, it is generally accepted that the emergence of the first cities in this region was independent of other cultures and was the result of a local development. It has been found that the foundations of the developments that would lead to urban life were laid in the Ubayd period. The first city in its real sense and the city life related to this concept is found in the south of Mesopotamia but only in the Uruk Period. Thus, the process of urbanised life which started in southern Mesopotamia during the Ubeyd Period in the middle of the 6th millennium BC led to an urbanised world during the Uruk Period in 4th millennium BC. This procedure then characterised the Early Dynasty period in 3rd millennium BC, which was the golden age of the city-states. In this article, the traces of the developments outlined above will be examined and how this process took place in Mesopotamia will be detailed. In this sense, the chronological framework of the essay will cover a period that starts from the 6th millennium BC when the earliest settlements emerged in Southern Mesopotamia and that reaches out the 4th millennium BC when the cities were established and finally to the 3rd millennium BC when the city-states spread. This process will be presented by foregrounding Ubeyd and Uruk settlements where the findings that characterize these developments have first been revealed.

A case study of the Neolithic comb ceramic site Pezmog 4 of the Kama culture presents a situation when results of radiocarbon dating change long-existing concepts concerning the development of archaeological events. Until the early 2000s, the chronology of the Kama culture, distributed mainly in the Kama and Vychegda River basins, has been based on comparative-typological analysis. Estimates of the age of this culture changed from the 3rd millennium BC in the 1950s to the 1st half of the 4th millennium BC by the 1990s. Research concerning the Pezmog 4 site in the central Vychegda River basin in 1999–2002 has abruptly changed this chronological understanding. The data obtained put the age of the early stage of Kama culture within the time range 5750–5620 cal BC and allowed us to propose the existence of another way of early pottery distribution in the forest zone of eastern Europe at the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. This innovation probably penetrated from the trans-Ural region.

Godin VI Painted Pottery in the Eastern Central Zagros

Changes in the Near Eastern chronology between the 5th and the 3rd millennium BC: New AMS 14C dates from Arslantepe (Turkey)

Due to a significant replenishment of the sources at the beginning of the 21stcentury, there was a change of conceptions on the Neolithization process on the territory of Ukraine. The south-east version of neolithization of Ukraine, which was well-known at the second half of the 20th century with the name of «eastern stock breeding impulse», was not confirmed. On the other hand, there are numerous archaeological, palaeozoological and palaeobotanic data in behalf of south-western variant of neolithization of Ukraine. Ukraine, and first of all the Dnipro right bank territory, switched to the Neolithic at the end of the 6th - 5th millennia BC (cal.), the way the whole Central Europe did. It happened in the mode of «balkanization» due to the four main waves of the Neolithic farmers-colonists from the Balkans and the Danube River region: 1) Hrebenyky culture (the second half of the 7th millennium BC); 2) Criș (the first half of the 6th millennium BC); 3) Linear Pottery culture (second half of the 6th millennium BC); 4) Cucuteni-Trypillia (the 5th millennium BC). As in Central Europe, on territory of Ukraine, there were two types of the Neolithic: north-eastern woodland and south-western agriculture and cattle breeding ones. To the south-west province of the Neolithic in Ukraine included farmers and cattle breeders of the Criș, Linear Pottery, and Cucuteni-Trypillia cultures, genetically related to the Neolithic of the Balkans and the Danube region. The woodland Neolithic of the region covers the cultures of indigenous hunters and fishers, who were already acquainted with clay ware, but did not yet own the skills of productive economy. They were the Dnipro-Donetsk, Pit-Comb Ware, Volynian, Surska, Donetsk, and Tash-Air cultures. The earliest in Ukraine reliable traces of substantiated economy are observed in the Körös culture materials of Zakarpattia region (first part of the 6th millennium BC (cal.)) and the Linear Pottery culture of Volyn and Dnister region (second half of the 6th millennium BC (cal.)). Finally, in the 5th millennium BC, the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture population arriving from the south-west to Neolithic Ukraine completely neolithizated the Right-Bank forest-steppe region from the Carpathians to the Dnipro River. The Buh-Dnister culture (BDC) developed under the Criș culture’s influence from Moldova territory between the Dnister and the South Buh Rivers in the middle of the 6th millennium BC (cal.). Pressed by the new migration waves of the farmers from the Danube region (Linear Band Pottery and Cucuteni-Trypillia), the BDC bearers moved aside in the north-east direction in Kyiv and Cherkasy Dnipro regions, where the Dnipro-Donets culture appeared at the end of the 6thmillennium BC (cal.). The historical value of the Trypillia culture for the Ukrainian prehistory is in final victory of production economy on the Dnipro’s right bank first, and later, on the south of Left-Bank Ukraine. In fact, the population of the Black Sea steppe region, the Sea of Azov, and Donbas regions obtained the first skills of cattle breeding and agriculture from the Trypillians in the 5th and the 4th millennia BC (cal.). These Neolithic innovations from Trypillia to the steppe Eneolithic of the Black and Azov Seas regions were provided by so called «steppe Trypillia», known by the burials of Zhyvotyliv-Vovcha type. Consequently, the Neolithic of Ukraine is not an exception from the whole-European context. Right-Bank Ukraine was neolithizated synchronously with Central Europe as a result of colonization by the oldest farmers-colonists from the Danube region in the 6th-5th millennia BC (cal.). While in the 5th-4th millennia BC, Neolithic innovations from forest-steppe of Right-Bank Ukraine spread northward to Polissia and to the east and south-east of Ukraine. At the beginning of the 21st century, there was a change of conceptions of neolithization of the region in archaeology of Ukraine. The old south-west conception was replaced by the south-western one which corresponds to a general-European vision of the Neolithic revolution in Central Europe by its colonization in the 7th-5th millennia BC by the Neolithic farmers from the Balkans through the Danube region

This research article is concerned with marine communications of the pit grave and catacomb population from the Troad and the Eastern Mediterranean.Relevance of the research. The territory of Ukraine had been influenced by the Ancient Middle- East civilization center since the Neolithic period, which constantly affected the development of the population of the South of Ukraine, especially its steppe part. In the 3rd millennium BC, an important trading center for the entire Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea region was Troy. The aim of the research is to observe a connection between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Northern Black Sea region. Methodology of the research is based on the use of the theory of space geography, system approach, and the comparative historical and chronological methods.All trade space structures tend to form regular hexagons. There are some structures, which centres are to the seacoasts. In plan, they feature sectors of a circle. Such a configuration of space structures means that sea communications play a very important role in the economy and social life of these peoples. Antique social organisms expand their sphere of influence, move to the steppe, and attract local tribes to their structures.Scientific novelty lies in fact that all known significant catacomb and pit grave settlements are also located in the lower reaches of the rivers flowing into the Black and Azov Seas. This is the catacomb layer of Liventsivsky I settlement. It is located in the Don River delta. The social centre on the Molochna River is located near the sea. Matviyivske settlement of the Ingul culture is located in the northern border district of Mykolayiv city. The most ancient significant sites of the Donetsk culture, according to the research of S. N. Bratchenko, are concentrated along the shores of the Azov Sea. According to S.V. Ivanova`s study, the pit grave social centre in the Bugeac steppe was located in the Dniester river delta, not far from the Black Sea. Mikhalivske settlement (ancient settlement), where both pit grave and catacomb artefacts were found in the upper layer, was located below the Dnieper rapids. Novotytorovsky social centre was located in the lower reaches of the Kuban River. The social centres of the pit grave and catacomb society were attracted by the coast of the Black and Azov seas. The successful trade relations with the Eastern Mediterranean and in particular with Troy could cause it. The trade relations between the Northern Bleak Sea region and Troad could take place, the bones of the dolphin in the settlement of Matviyivka 1, and a type-setting boat in the flooring of the pit burial place in the Odesa region proved it circumstantial. The Egyptian scarab was found near Melitopol, and pasta beads from the graves of the pit and catacomb communities were found too. Dishes that are similar to Cyclades`; Troy`s polished axes can also be evidence of these connections. The treasure, found in 2012 in Sadove village in the Crimea, provides much to identify the close relations between these regions. It contains 24 items of Anatolian, Trojan and Northern Black Sea origin. It suggests that rather close exchange relation existed between Troad and the Black Sea regions.Conclusions. It is determined that Troy did intermediary trade mainly, supplying certain goods from all over the Eastern Mediterranean to the northern coast of the Black Sea. Analysis of the treasure from Sadove confirms the connection between the Early Bronze Age cultures of the Northern Black Sea region and the more southern regions of the world. The results of the research can be used in generalizing works on archaeology and history of Ukraine

In 2021, excavations of a barrow were conducted on the Pamukli Bair hill in Malomirovo, Elhovo municipality, Upper Thrace, Bulgaria. These excavations yielded a remarkable discovery – a sequence of graves dating back to the late fourth and third millennium BC. Notably, these findings prominently featured elements of the early Pit-Grave culture, also known as the Yamna culture. However, the commencement of this burial sequence was marked by graves that diverged from the norms of the Yamna culture. These early graves contained individuals interred in a crouched position, with their heads oriented towards the east. Unlike the prevalent use of ochre in the Yamna culture, this type of funeral ritual exhibited a limited presence of ochre. Comparable central graves of this kind have also been documented in other barrows throughout the Middle Tundzha region and various parts of Upper Thrace, particularly in the “Maritsa-Iztok” area. These burials can be dated to the end of the fourth millennium BC and display similarities to both local funeral traditions (Ezero A1) and graves analogous to the Cernavodă/Nizhna Mikhailivka traditions. The horizon of barrow necropolises featuring these distinctive burials is clearly discernible within the Upper Thrace region and seamlessly connects to the horizon of the early Pit-Grave culture.

Neolithic research in Switzerland is inseparably bound with its numerous lake side settlements. They were already discovered in the middle of the 19th century and became famous as „Pfahlbauten“. The concept of Neolithic Cultures that was developed in the 1930’s by Emil Vogt was undoubtedly influenced by contemporaneous ethnological thinking („Kulturkreislehre“). In his publications Vogt expresses the conviction that „Neolithic Cultures“ are identical with population groups, tribes or peoples. As modern methods of absolute datings did not exist at that time his observations were dependant on typological comparisons. Most importantly, he could not differentiate chronological gaps of several hundred years. Without natural scientific dating methods and relying solely on topography he developed the view that the evolution of ceramics in a region can only be explained by the immigration of foreign people. His proposed chronological chart, which was updated in the 1960/70’s, is still in use today. However, in our opinion it is antiquated.During the last two decades dendrochronology and C14 has offered a large number of absolute datings for the Neolithic period. This encourages us to follow new approaches of interpretation. Our concept is based on the well dated material of lake side settlements from Switzerland and Southern Germany. We propose a new time/space regionally defined chronological system that is primarily based on absolute dating taking also into consideration that different geographic regions show different evolutions. The idea of Neolithic „Cultures“ and associate folk behind them is abandoned and replaced by the neutral notion of „specific groupings of material finds („Fundkomplexgruppen“). Our proposed overview of the Neolithic in Switzerland elucidates more the gradual evolution of the archaeological material («Kulturwandel») in the 4th millennium BC on theSwiss Plateau. Influences reach this zone variably from Western or Eastern directions depending on the historic period of time we are looking at. The appearance of the Europe-wide discernible beaker phenomena (corded ware/bell beakers) in the 3rd millennium BC also calls for new models of explanation.

Un grand nombre d’idiophones et de membranophones ont survécu en Égypte jusqu’à la fin du Nouvel Empire mais leurs premiers représentants les précèdent d’environ 2000 ans. Cette étude analyse quels idiophones et quels membranophones spécifiques à l’Égypte sont suffisamment documentés et la date de leur apparition. Les différentes datations proposées dans des publications plus anciennes sont amenées à être révisées au regard des dernières trouvailles. Ainsi l’enquête montre que les hochets sont attestés au Ve millénaire av. J.-C., les claquoirs mille ans plus tard au IVe millénaire av. J.-C. et le daraboukah à nouveau mile ans plus tard au IIIe millénaire av. J.-C. Environ 160 ans plus tard, le premier tambour sur cadre apparaît et environ 150 ans plus tard, vers 2300 av. J.-C. c’est le menat qui est attesté, au même moment que les indices à propos du sistre se font plus importants. Nous analyserons également l’interaction entre idiophones et membranophones.

A method of the Holocene paleoenvironment reconstruction based on the analysis of pedobiomarkers in tell deposits is suggested. On the Yunacite tell, such a reconstruction has been accomplished applying two types of environmental records: (a) soil records documented in the profiles of two soils within the middle and lower parts of the tell and reflecting changes in the conditions of pedogenesis averaged over relatively long periods and (b) soil-sedimentary records in the cultural deposits of the Eneolithic and the Early Bronze Ages (3.5 and 2.5 m in thickness, respectively). The lower soil identified at the depth of 9.2–10.0 m was buried about 5000 cal BC (the chronology is based on calibrated 14C dates). The low humus and high carbonate contents indicate arid climate conditions in the 6th millennium BC. The middle soil at a depth of 5 m was formed for about 1500 years (4350–2850 cal BC) according to 14C data. According to chemical and micromorphological analyses, it has a higher humus content and is more leached of CaCO3, as it was formed under more humid climate conditions. A detailed time record of CaCO3 leaching processes has been revealed in the sediments of the Eneolithic and the Bronze ages that were accumulating for about 600 years in the 5th millennium BC and for about 350 years in the 3rd millennium BC. Due to the increase in climate humidity, the leaching process was intensified twice: about 4500 and 2800 cal BC. In the same two periods, especially in the former period, the proportion of residues of hydrophilic beech increases significantly, and the proportion of oak residues decreases. Similar data have been obtained by the analysis of phytoliths and pollen.

VIRVELINĖS KERAMIKOS KULTŪRA LIETUVOJE 2800–2400 cal BC

The Structure and Dynamics of Dry-Farming States in Upper Mesopotamia [and Comments and Reply

The second volume on the “Archaeology of the Volga-Urals” considers the Eneolithic and Bronze Age of the region. This early metal period, which began with the first attempts to develop copper metallurgy in the 5th millennium BC, resulted in the appearance of the first metal products in the Volga-Urals, but did not displace stone tools from use. Communities emerged in the south of the region, which transitioned from appropriating to producing economy, and cattle breeding appeared. The spread of bronze, a copper alloy with arsenic, tin and other metals, began in the region in the 3rd millennium BC. The source of metals was local copper and imported copper and tin deposits. The absence of tin deposits in the region accounted for the fact that until the end of the Bronze Age, copper and stone products were widely used along with bronze tools. Together with the increase in the variety of metal products, the area of the manufacturing economy also expanded, household cattle breeding spread to the forest-steppe, the broad-leaved forest zone, and the subtaiga landscape zone.

In 2015 started the international research project “Beyond lake villages: Studying Neolithic environmental changes and human impact at small lakes in Switzerland, Germany and Austria.” (University of Bern in collaboration with Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Wurtemberg and University of Vienna, funding: SNF-DFG-FFW). Three archaeological and three palaeoecological teams work together on three small lakes on the Northern side of the Alps. The aim is to compare environmental changes and human impact of Neolithic societies. The Swiss study area is Lake Burgaschi, a small water body in the central part of the Swiss Midlands. Archaeological research started already in 1877 and several major excavation campaigns took place in the 1940ies and 1950ies. Up to now four settlement of the 4th millennium BC areas are known and single finds indicate settlement activities during the 5th and 3rd millennia BC. The presentation gives an overview on former and recent activities in one of the classic find spots of Swiss pile-dwellings research. A special focus will be put on new archaeological and palaeoecological results.