The Corded Ware Phenomenon Reconsidered

The general aim of the thesis was a chronological genetic investigation of archaeological horse remains from Switzerland including mitochondrial d-loop variation, coat colour and sex identification. Three main subjects were in the focus. Firstly, mtDNA preservation of archaeologic horse remains in the context of different burial conditions. A systematic synthesis of the influence of different burial conditions on DNA amplification success concerning teeth and bones from open dry and wetland sites and caves from the Pleistocene until Roman times has been made. It led to the conclusion that Pleistocene material from cave and abri (rockshelter) sites is generally genetically well preserved and it was even possible to obtain genetic information from Neolithic waterlogged bones. The depositional environment is the most influential factor affecting DNA preservation. The age of the specimens also plays a crucial role, although it transpired that samples from very favourable conditions, like deep caves, can be better preserved than younger material. Under similar conditions, older samples are less well preserved and accumulated more post mortem damage derived lesion. Within this project, for the first time all Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites with more than one remain of a certain species, the horse, and a preliminary selection of Iron Age and Roman time samples have been screened for DNA preservation in Switzerland. The outcome of this test is very promising and applicable to other species and further investigations of demographic developments and phenotypic characteristics. The continuous augmentation of data from different depositional contexts and periods is warranted. Secondly, mtDNA d-loop variation of Pleistocene and Early Holocene wild horse populations was investigated and put in context with palaeoclimatological, palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data. For Switzerland, a discontinuous population history within the last 50 k years was described. The demographic development, an expansion after the LGM, was in disagreement to the development in other parts of Eurasia, particularly north eastern Asia, where abundance peaked during the LGM and decreased from then on. The yet low sample sizes from the transition time Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene allows only tentative speculating on the local dispersal/replacement/extinction pattern of wild horses. Beside the methodological challenges due to the discontinuous and unbalanced representation of equid sequences this analysis provided the first comprehensive investigation of wild horse remains from one restricted region. This approach has offered the opportunity to focus on aspects of horse population development that might be overlooked in the global picture by demonstrating sensitive reaction patterns to changing environmental conditions. To draw a picture of Eurasian horse demographic development, it is necessary to follow a comprehensive geographically and chronologically dense sampling approach, comparable to the Swiss example. Thirdly, we examined mtDNA d-loop variation and coat colour of Iron Age domestic horses. A possible genetic differentiation of morphologically different animals was enquired via matrilinear diversity, and the investigation of coat colouration served to detect phenotypical noticeable individuals and to relate their incidence to the archaeological context. Female lineages were highly diverse, yet coat colourations were limited to the basic colours bay, black and chestnut. The few larger horses in our dataset were not genetically distinct from the smaller majority. Breeding interests were apparently focussed on good performance and low maintenance horses, and to avoid inbreeding. This emphasises the skill and expertise Celtic stock keepers executed on this highly valuable and prestigious animal. The lineage diversity present in Iron Age Switzerland does not differ from (roughly) contemporaneous variation in the rest of Europe except for Iberia and is particularly similar to eastern Europe. This finding supports the hypothesis, based on archaeological evidence of e.g. eastern European type bridle fragments, of an eastern origin of Swiss domestic horses. A contribution of local wild mares to the domestic gene pool can be ranked low, not least because they were most probably on the edge of extinction by the 3rd millennium BC. The contextualisation of Swiss wild and ancient domestic horses with the Eurasian variation revealed that, at our current state of knowledge, domestics had higher nucleotide diversity than wild horses. This observation contradicts the general ideas of domestication (bottleneck) and of the velocity of mutation rates (within 5 ka since domestication started). Predictably this ratio will be adjusted as more pre-domestic specimens from Eurasia will be sequenced. Recent technical progress and leaps in the understanding of wild horse genetics (Orlando et al., 2013, Schubert et al., 2014, Imsland et al., 2016) as well as regional approaches to chronological genetic investigations as presented here, are heralding fascinating new insights into the evolution and history of a species as much appreciated as the horse.

Religionsskiftet i sen vikingetid – Belyst ud fra Harvey Whitehouses teori om religiøse modaliteter

В статье подробно рассматриваются предметы из женского погребения кургана 6, могильника Таксай-1, расположенного в Западно-Казахстанской области, Теректинском районе, близ поселка Долинное. Сложное архитектурное надмогильное сооружение, сопутствующий обряд захоронения с применением огня, наличие богатой одежды с разнообразными украшениями, комплекс специфичных предметов, обнаруженных в яме, свидетельствуют об особом статусе погребенной. Все археологические материалы из центральной ямы кургана 6 выполняли определенную роль в жизни ранних кочевников, составляли комплекс ритуальных вещей для совершения особых обрядов. Предназначение, функциональная значимость всех артефактов, выявленных в могиле, подчеркивают отношение погребенной к жреческому сословию. В научной литературе нет единого мнения о существовании в древности жречества как профессии, но у ранних кочевников почитался культ женщины-прародительницы, а жрицы являлись проводниками, хранительницами огня, Солнца, почитали богиню, отвечающую за плодородие. Захоронения богатых жриц отличаются особой пышностью погребального ритуала, наличием золотых украшений и индивидуальным составом инвентаря. Все эти характерные черты прослеживаются в кургане 6 могильника Таксай-1, он является культовым памятником, подтверждающим существование в социальной организации кочевого общества особого жреческого статуса.

The thesis examines the art and epitaphs of five princess tombs of the Chinese medieval Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) against the background of the historical period and ritual concepts. The thesis discovers that the tomb of a princess did not depict her former life but that its scale, epitaph, and art reflected the status that the tomb builders planned for the deceased, the current political situation, and contemporary concepts of death and burial. Ritual is the grammar with which image and text built their representation of the princess's last abode. The first chapter provides a survey of the field, theoretical perspective and research methodology, and a broad narrative account of the five tombs using archaeological reports and firsthand fieldwork observation. Chapter Two explores the historical background of the sixty-four year period (643-706 A.D.) in which these tombs were built, the conflicts over the extent of princess influence and prestige and the relationship between status and representation. Chapter Three uses ritual texts to reconstruct the possible structure of the transition of the princesses from life to death and the codification of their commemoration, beginning from the living household of the princess and ending at the tomb, her new abode-in-death. The preparations and the burial itself could take anywhere from one to seven months. I argue that these ritual actions and concepts created a space in which the classic stages of rites of passage-separation, liminality, and re-incorporation-occur. Chapter Four shows how princess identities were codified at death by epitaphs which followed a ritually- prescribed plan in describing the princesses' lives. Chapter Five discusses how murals, pottery figurines, and the line engravings on stone together contribute to a coherent program depicting the entry and settlement of the deceased into her new home.

Whether religious or secular, ritual is intrinsically fascinating. Ritual is an activity which when isolated from its context cannot be studied fully. It is defined by the society that practices it, and as such, needs to be studied in its proper social and material contexts. But how does one do so when the rituals being studied are known primarily in burial remains of ancient societies? In China, for example, mortuary settings are the primary locus of findings for remains from the late prehistoric and early dynastic periods. The ritualized context of burial can and has been seen as a mechanism for the shaping of beliefs, ideologies, and identities; or as a source of social power for those who participate in, control, or create them, thus revealing of a great deal about the given society and its dynamics. They can also be seen as a focal node of social networks, or as a means of illuminating the hopes and desires of a given society. Ritual and the materialization of belief has more recently been seen as an important and informative class of social action, or even as a social construction of the sacred. This paper will consider the material contents of tombs, especially in China, and propose ways to understand and explain them within this sort of ritualized context. Others have studied their placement and distribution in tombs as well as their visual countenance, and also have brought to bear non-archaeological evidence such as ethno-historical accounts and historical texts, although they are not straightforward accounts of historical events or beliefs. Moreover, the notion of continuity (of a motif, for instance) which has often been used to such an exaggerated extent that any pattern observed in the Neolithic layers that has even the slightest similarity to a motif from the dynastic periods will be questioned as insufficient to argue for the existence of a certain ritual or meaning in a later period. With this appeal for the assessment of how we have dealt with the remains of ancient societies, I hope to recognize and propose ways to understand more fully the complexity of the treatment of the dead.

Despite highlighting the implications of resource over utilization and scarcity on social systems, recent studies under explore the impact of environmental stress on culture. Specifically, further research is needed to understand the importance of natural resources for ritual practices. This study utilizes structural ritualization theory to analyze historical periods characterized by ecological degradation and deritualization. The period examined corresponds to the former and latter Han Dynasties, a moment in time that saw the first universal history of China written and where discussion of ritual appears prominently in historical documents. In addition to primary texts, secondary sources are used to examine deritualization and the continuity, abandonment, and emergence of new ritual practices. The results demonstrate that despite periods of resource unavailability social rituals survive. By tracing the introduction of Chinese ceramics and burial practices into the Korean peninsula and Japan, we see the strategies human communities employ when they can no longer obtain needed materials to practice specific rituals. Key words: Structural ritualization, environment, dark ages, ritual.

As an alternative to the traditional practice of cultural history using a monothetic classification of material, creating “archaeological cultures”, a polythetic culture model based on Strauss´s social worlds and Wenger´s communities of practice is proposed, which better represents the archaeological record dated to the 3rd millennium BC in Central Europe. Based on this approach current migration models elaborated for the 3rd millennium in connection with aDNA evidence are re-evaluated. It is argued that the use of “archaeological cultures” misleads our understanding of population movements. Steppe ancestry, as representing migrants or their descendants, is not primarily connected to specific “cultures” such as the Corded Ware or the Bell Beaker, but rather to a specific social world, a new set of burial practices, i.e. the Late Neolithic complex of individual, gender-specific burials with strict rules of orientation. A strong expression of a new cosmological understanding, a specific set of values is the migration process, rather than specific pottery styles, specific weapons or specific tool types. Including the differential patterns of material culture in the archaeological record results in suggestions of different scenarios of population mixing and social change.

Sociokulturel betydning af tragtbægerkulturens tidligneolitiske flintøkser

To the ears of first century hearers and to Asians, Jesus’ harsh saying, “Let the dead bury their own dead,” is not only insensitive and unsympathetic but a blatant transgression of law and tradition. Evidence from the Hebrew Bible to rabbinic sources and even from the wider Greco-Roman sources supports the importance to burying the dead, especially one’s parents. Given the importance of the sacred obligation and cultural expectation to bury one’s parents, Jesus’ statement is both shocking and scandalous. To properly interpret this difficult saying, appropriate contexts are needed. The author demonstrates that the most plausible social context is not connected to the ritual of the primary burial but rather the secondary burial. The practice of secondary burial, which is the gathering of decomposed remains (bones) into ossuaries, primarily served as a fashion statement to enhance the social status of the wealthy class residing primarily in Jerusalem. Contrary to various popular interpretations, the author proposes that the saying is not about the subordination of family ties or about the opposition of filial piety; rather, with this saying Jesus severely opposed the Roman burial practice that had little or no religious significance but rather promoted a practice that preserved the social status of an elite wealthy class. Consequently, the social context of secondary burial provides a new lens and perspective to correctly interpret and understand one of Jesus’ most problematic and enigmatic sayings.

Recent political developments and the large-scale onslaught of neo-liberal capital through its alliance with the forces of Hindu nationalism has forced scholars to relook at the problem of ritual and cultural practice in adivasi/tribal societies. The articulation of adivasi identity (which embodies within it a celebration of ritual and cultural practice) is not necessarily an alternative to these hegemonic and oppressive forces. Rather, as this essay shows, they may in fact get incorporated into dominant cultural practice. In order to explore this proposition, this essay reconstructs the contemporary history of the ways in which culture has been studied and practiced in adivasi life. Apart from the introduction and conclusion, this essay is divided into six sections. The first two sections are conceptual, as they explore the theoretical perspectives and set up the argument to see ritual and cultural practice as socially and politically constructed entities. The third section further extends this argument by exploring the dialectical relationship between adivasi symbolism and their changing material reality. The last three sections locate the empirical history of adivasi politics and cultural practice within this context. Essentially, they look at the interaction between adivasi politics, cultural practice and the changing character of hegemonic forces. Within this structure, the essay argues for a more reflexive and complex way of understanding between class, culture and adivasi politics.

This study examines archaistic objects from Southern Song caches in Sichuan by comparing them with objects from tombs, underground vaults and other archaeological sites, in order to understand the contextual meanings of these objects. Archaistic objects appeared in large number during the Southern Song as a result of the Song antiquarian movement which paid careful attention to the formal elements, among other features, of ancient objects. Although Sichuan caches produced numerous examples of Song archaistic objects, their socio-cultural significance prior to the burials has been overlooked due to a predominant view about these caches which focuses primarily on the materiality of the objects as potential war-time loot in the Mongol invasion of the region during the thirteenth century. This study analyzes Song archaistic objects in three contextual categories related to state rituals, religious rituals, and literati culture. It is concluded that a large number of Song archaistic objects were produced in the context of the state sacrifices and local Confucian rituals which were characterized by their formal features and ritual functionality closely resembling the Shang-Zhou models. On the other hand, many archaistic objects used in Buddhist or Daoist rituals were adopted for their functionality as altar pieces, primarily offering vases and incense burners, which exhibited a wide range of form and decor. The archaistic objects associated with literati life-style were often found with paraphernalia from a scholar's studio. These objects demonstrated the refined taste and aesthetic values indicative of the cultured life-style of Song literati. In addition to the contextual analyses of Song archaistic objects, this study also reveals that Song archaistic objects were defined by both the affinity to antiquity through their formal resemblance and the deviation from antiquity signified with a combination of eclectic motifs from the ancient and contemporary sources.

The article provided cultural reconstruction style formation the twentieth century. Determined that non-conformism as a stage style dynamics shaping occurs in the context where culture or cultural practices reach by Leontiev. In non-conformism intention incompleteness, incompleteness thoughts and redundancy imaginative innovation (synthesis of style artifacts) overflowing. It is proved that non-conformism is characteristic model configuration predetermined external display that always connects art with rules and models imitation behavior and immanent reality denial of these standards, providing a discourse that captures the flow changes, openness and incompleteness of creative innovation.In non-conformism style is a secondary phenomenon, because the non-reality tends to the creative eclecticism. Non-conformism – is no dichotomy alternatives, a conscious choice – creative thinking.Language, speech, discourse is always figurative, pictographic focus and can not be abstractly defined.The discourse of non-conformism – is always incomplete image culture, are a symptom of incomplete permanent continuous formation of images, image, ideals and standards.Arts and signify this way as non-conformism purely artistic.So we fix two stages in the transition style formation – internal (non-conformism as immanent transformation blossoming complexity stationary style) and foreign – denial following the previous style, which takes place in the context of the stage of simple radical actions (fusion – Art Nouveau, demonstrations objection classical culture in the forefront; frakalnyh genetic algorithm searches micro intervals as denial culture of postmodernism in general).What is called of cultures, interaction is at the stage of primary and secondary simplification cultures and their practices, which is a prerequisite not synthesis, symbiosis, and proper dialogue – preserve the authenticity of cultural artifacts.In style are created under: proto phase which defines metaphysical little principle shaping style as the previous final stylistic development; stage primary shaping simplicity of style that correlates with the simplicity of the style of the previous finals; flowering stage as excess complexity of a system that produces nonkonformni intentions – the search for organic art systems; retrospective stage or second stage of simplification, which correlates with the stage of primary simplicity of style and produces denial stage of ease in the next style.If we are talking about non-conformism, then he characterized predetermined outer configuration model that always connects art with the rules and realities of those who create designs of imitation behavior.Difficulties stylistic interpretations are not only non-conformism that is hard to describe internal and external determinants, difficult to describe how one goes in a different style in the context of multi stylistic reality culture of the twentieth century.Artistic innovation of the twentieth century chronologically by avant-garde. Vanguard returned to the simple and clear configurations. This is the avant-garde, which itself represents a return to the stage poetics of the first prophets of the first analysts and synthetic vision as a world vanguard aesthetics.Phase vanguard nonconformity that occurs as a reflection and embodiment of avant-garde creative intuitions that require new (fractal) monism.At the forefront can see the different stages: the first stage, which is the following of modern intuitions Nouveau as a negation of antiquity, held in eclecticism, vidtvorylasya as a radical negation, negation of the entire classical culture, sharp break, demonstration of the world.In figurative art, architecture did not experience such a sharp breaking, as it happens in music. It may be noted that all the talk about symmetry, which helps to structure the twentieth century, a certain diversity of art practices as one big song is not productive.We are not trying to draw parallels between music and architecture Art Nouveau, our task – only to determine that modern non-conformism nose in a new model of budivnoyi design.It can be said that the style is not modern two stages: eclecticism and its own modernist style, but the third stage of primary simplicity (eclectic), stage and stage Nouveau dual simplification (retrospection, or so-called modern classicism).When it comes to modern style, it is often too formally define it as purely linear, focused on plastics plant type shaping. It is a style that existed in the late twentieth century until the First World War, according to a number of theorists on art, architecture, design. However – this is superficial and artificial interpretation style.Homelessness exist in space, devoid of big narratives, do adds nothing to understanding discourse nonconformity? Non-conformism (art, music) is an extremely versatile product culture, product multidimensional, synthetic, if not eclectic. However it is eclectic topic as guidance nonconformity is the closest to the value style. Stylistic features nonconformity difficult to specify because we have a discourse specifies located in marginal space.The discourse of non-conformism – is always incomplete image culture, are a symptom of incomplete permanent continuous formation of images, image, ideals and standards. That is not about the system and by the system characteristics that plunge man without a conscious or deliberate over the act and encourage artistic intuition and faith.

Africa continent has been said to lag behind in agricultural growth and development which has led to organizational and structural failures. Many factors have been investigated to this effect such as poor infrastructure, inadequate factors of production, poor energy, lack of modern agricultural facilities, etc. Cultural practices and the acceptability of advanced skills and knowledge have been less investigated as militating factors against agricultural growth and development. This chapter evaluates the Isi-Zulu cultural agricultural views and management practices of livestock on its productivity. A study was conducted at Umsinga municipality (Southeast of South Africa), dominated by Zulu culture. Small scaled farmers within the communities were engaged through a survey and focused group discussion. Prior research visits were made to the communities with chiefs and agricultural extension workers. A total of 90 small scaled farmers were selected across the municipality for this study. A survey was administered in the local language of the correspondence. Data showed that cultural purposes and management practices have been a limiting factor in livestock production. These have hindered agricultural growth and commercialization of livestock within municipality and province.

This chapter addresses a number of questions regarding the significance of changes in the spatial disposition, ritual treatment and grouping of the dead, long-term changes and synchronic variation in tomb architecture, the evidence for social hierarchy and prestige symbolism in Late Cypriot burial assemblages, and the implications of declining mortuary consumption over the course of the Late Cypriot period.The chapter argues that these developments overall reflect the changing significance of mortuary ritual in stratified, socially heterogeneous urban communities, where status differentials were no longer primarily created through periodic, ritualized exhibitions among competitive kin groups, but were instead increasingly based upon differential access to copper, trade goods, and positions attained within a variety of court and temple institutions. In this altered sociopolitical context, mortuary ritual would have remained a crucial arena for the expression and reproduction of status differentials, but it most probably ceased to be the principal venue for their production.

Las excavaciones en las tierras bajas del este de México, Guatemala y Belice han revelado patrones generalizados en la práctica ritual, incluyendo patrones en los tipos de materiales usados en ofrendas rituales y entierros humanos colocados dentro de los pisos y plazas de templos públicos y casas privadas. Sin embargo, los rastros materiales de eventos ritualizados pasados parecen ser marcadamente diferentes en las Tierras Bajas occidentales, particularmente la ciudad de Palenque. Este articulo discute las ofrendas de los templos de Palenque, así como los resultados preliminares de excavaciones realizadas en un grupo residencial y encuentra que los materiales incluidos en los depósitos rituales de Palenque a menudo incluyen materiales orgánicos posibles en lugar de los materiales típicos encontrados en los ejemplos de Tierras Bajas del este. Para considerar cómo la práctica era distinta en esta región, se propone un enfoque más integral de una arqueología del ritual, que incluya una consideración para los restos de microescala de las acciones ritualizadas.