European Archaeology Research Articles

Hallstatt Period Rectangular Farmsteads in the Old Bavarian Loess Landscape: The Hascherkeller Site Revisited

Abstract In the occasionally lively debate about the social structure of the Central European Early Iron Age, the Herrenhof as the presumed seat of a high-status farmer now also plays a role. A rectangular farmstead of this type is the famous Hascherkeller site on the northern outskirts of Landshut. The first magnetic prospection ever conducted at such an archaeological structure was carried out here in 1978. The site became widely known for its distinctive complex appearance and the excavations undertaken there between 1978 and 1981 by Peter S. Wells, then assistant curator of European archaeology at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. After four decades, an opportunity arose to resume excavations in areas not explored at the time and bring them to a conclusion. The most important result of the recent field work, which was completed in 2022, is the stratigraphic disentanglement of the numerous ditches. The loess terrace, most likely, was initially divided by a ditch running across the terrain. This separating landscape feature may have been contemporaneous with the palisaded farmstead on the eastern edge of the study area. Later, the two rectangular ditched enclosures were constructed, probably the eastern one first. In another, more recent phase, they were joined together by connecting ditches to form a larger settlement complex. Already during the investigation, it was revealed that the middle one of the once assumed three rectangular farmsteads had never existed. In addition, about 200 m further to the southwest, a similar double enclosure was discovered. Here, too, two rectangular enclosures were apparently joined by connecting ditches to form a larger settlement area in a more recent phase. About 5 km to the northeast, in the area of the hamlet Holzen not far from Altheim, a group of unconnected rectangular farmsteads dating from the Hallstatt period has recently been magnetically surveyed. These are characterised by a larger number of long, narrow pits indicating former house sites. The following remarks focus on the latest excavation results and the role of the type of habitation known as Herrenhof in the Early Iron Age settlement system.

Digital Archiving in Archaeology: Assessing the State of the Art

The Saving European Archaeology from Digital Dark Age (SEADDA) COST Action (CA18128) is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union and aims to create a network for archaeologists and digital specialists to build capacity for the long-term preservation of digital data for archaeology. More than 20 countries are involved in SEADDA, and have undertaken surveys, publications, workshops, STSMs (Short Term Scientific Missions) and other activities carried out to increase awareness and share expertise. Within the scope of the project, Internet Archeology 58 2021, titled "Digital Archiving in Archeology: Assessing the State of the Art", and then Internet Archeology 63 2023, titled "Digital Archiving in Archeology: Additional State of the Art and Further Analyzes" were published. This article will give a brief introduction to SEADDA but will focus primarily on what we are learning from Internet Archaeology 58 and Internet Archaeology 63, how it is helping us to understand digital archaeological data around the world. In this study, 37 articles from 31 different countries were examined, according to three main categories: administrative structure, physical and digital archives for archaeological data. In the light of the data obtained, it is difficult to generalize about archaeological data processes and management; however, different countries and regions are applying different methods to create repositories. Legislation, budgets, and human resources are all factors which affect these processes for preserving digital archaeological data for future generations. But, all countries need to share expertise, and engage in capacity building, especially around legislations, human resources, standards and guidelines, whilst financial support needs to be prioritized.

Mortuary palisades, single graves and cultural admixture: The establishment of Corded Ware culture on the Jutland Peninsula

Abstract The emergence and nature of the supra-regional Corded Ware complex in the 3rd millennium BCE is a longstanding, classical question in European archaeology. While recent genomic and genome-wide aDNA analyses have shown that migration was part of the process by which this phenomenon spread across a vast part of Central and northern Europe, the archaeological record of the same area makes equally clear that the character of its more specific regional manifestations was not uniform. This combination calls for renewed regional studies aimed at understanding the pre-existing contexts, the situated processes and the variable outcomes of this new cultural formation, taking a contribution of migration as a starting premise rather than an explanatory end goal. This article presents such a study, focusing on a particular aspect of the so-called Single Grave burial custom on the Jutland Peninsula, which constitutes the most obvious element of Corded Ware culture in the region. Dating to the early part of this tradition (c. 2850–2600 BCE), circular arrangements of wooden posts or planks lodged vertically in a ditch to form a circular palisade are frequently found encircling a contemporaneous human grave. Here, we provide the first systematic study of these structures, which we argue are most meaningfully referred to as mortuary palisades. We present their distribution, chronology and basic morphology as well as their association with graves and relation to burial mounds, leading to a discussion of their probable ritual function in connection with a particular, processual understanding and handling of death. Based on this general presentation, we then analyse geographical variation in the manifestation of the mortuary palisade custom and discuss potentially underlying causes, emphasizing widely differing degrees of cultural admixture of Corded Ware culture and local, pre-existing traditions and preferences in different parts of the Jutland Peninsula.

Harassment, assault, bullying and intimidation (HABI) in archaeology: a Europe-wide survey

Awareness of, and debate about, harassment, assault, bullying and intimidation (HABI) in archaeology has grown in recent years, but the issue remains under-researched. Here, the authors present the first Europe-wide survey to evaluate HABI in archaeological environments, from field to laboratory and classroom. The survey covers 18 forms of HABI, collecting more than 1000 responses from archaeologists of 49 nationalities. A total of 82 per cent of respondents report at least one HABI experience. The authors conclude that HABI is endemic in European archaeology, being experienced by all genders and ages, in multiple settings and countries. Documenting these behaviours is a critical first step to eradicating them and to achieving equity and safety in the discipline.

REVISITING ARCHIVED RYE GRAINS DISCOVERED AT THE NEOLITHIC SITE CUNEŞTI (ROMANIA)

ABSTRACTDirect accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating is crucial for a correct integration of plant remains in the (pre)history of crops, particularly for those that do not belong to the Neolithic package and are known to arrive in Europe much later. This paper reviews one of the earliest records of rye from Romania. The grains were discovered in the tell settlement of Cunești, which belongs to the Gumelnița communities (ca. 4600–3900 BC). In 1954, due to Danube flooding, a large portion of the south part of the tell collapsed, and between the burnt dwelling visible in the resulting profile, a large number of sherds from three typical Gumelnița pots were identified. According to the excavation’s author, rye grains were found in association with those sherds, and it was assumed that a batch was stored in these Eneolithic vessels. Consequently, the rye was published as belonging to the Gumelnița period. Our reanalysis led to two radiocarbon (14C) dates, from two different laboratories, which indicate that the Cunești rye is not prehistoric but dates to the medieval period. To correct this error concerning this rye batch and the implications for European archaeology, we decided to republish these grains in an updated chronological framework. In addition, we performed stable isotope analyses on the charred grains, confirming they were cultivated on dry land, as well as a 3D morphometric investigation. Our research brings new and original data on rye cultures from the medieval period in southeastern Europe.

The Soils of Early Farmers and Their Neighbors in the Southern Buh Catchment (Ukraine): Micromorphology and Archaeological Context

The problems regarding hunter-gatherer/early farmer interactions are quite an important topic in southeast European archaeology. According to the available data, the two economic subsistence systems have coexisted for some 2000 years during the 6th–4th millennia cal BC (Telegin 1985; Lillie et al., 2001). In some areas, hunter-gatherer and early farmer sites are located just a few kilometers apart. The Southern Buh River valley has yielded evidence of Linear Pottery culture, early Trypillia and Trypillia B1 Neolithic settlements as well as hunter-gatherer sites with pottery attributable to the so-called sub-Neolithic or para-Neolithic (Haskevych et al., 2019; Kiosak et al., 2021). Trial-trenches have been opened within some of these sites, which have been radiocarbon-dated from Bern University laboratory (LARA). Soil samples for micromorphological analysis have been collected from these sites to interpret their paleogenetic formation. The soil development is attested since, at least, the beginning of the 5th mill BC, followed by the developed of chernozem soils, which was interrupted by an erosional episode in the end of 5th millennium BC. The available data show that the soils of early farmers arable as are the present day ones. The early farmers were able to exploit relatively heavy soils to cultivate wheat and barley as early as 5250–5050 cal BC. In contrast, the sites of ceramic hunter-gatherers were often located on the soils which formed under wet conditions along seasonally flooded riverbanks, which were almost unsuitable for agricultural practices.

You May Destroy This Village, But You Cannot Destroy the Power Which Created It

AbstractTo develop a historical archaeology of hope, post-medieval European archaeology should shift the focus beyond dark heritage to sites and events opposed to daily destruction and alienation. This case study of an antinuclear protest camp in 1980s Germany shows that cracks in capitalism formed when people protested for something; as they experimented with alternative lifeways and envisioned an alternative future. Archaeological intervention can help to reveal these fault lines in capitalism as we remember these heritage sites of hope, but intervention also reveals a cautionary tale of how these blurry pictures of an alternative future can so easily be concealed.

Archiving Digital Archaeological Data - Evaluation of a Survey in Germany

Archiving of digital research data based on established standards and methods is an important part of the research data lifecycle. It guarantees the long-term transparency and reusability of research results. In the case of archaeological data, this is of particular importance for the preservation of unique and irreplaceable cultural heritage. To gain insight into the current state of affairs regarding long-term archiving in Germany, the SEADDA (Saving European Archaeology from the Digital Dark Age) COST Action (1) and the Commission on Archaeology and Information Systems in the Association of German State Archaeologists (2), with the support of the IANUS Research Data Center of the DAI (3), conducted a survey in spring/summer 2021. This article presents the results of the survey together with recommendations for further and supporting measures targeted at improving the long-term archiving of digital archaeological data in Germany.

MARIJA GIMBUTAS AND HER VISION OF THE STEPPE INDO-EUROPEANIZATION OF EUROPE: RECEPTION, REJECTION AND REVITALIZATION

The theory of Indo-Europeanization of the continent can be seen as a focal point in all Marija Gimbutas’s work and in her role in the history of archaeology. This theory has combined various directions of her interests and revealed the theoretical and methodological foundations of her research. This paper recalls the theory itself and its development, as well as its importance for European archaeology. The vicissitudes of this theory, which can be metaphorically described as the triad: reception – rejection – revitalization, illustrate the transformations of archaeology in the second half of the 20th century and in the first decades of the 21st century. Keywords: Europe, steppe area, language changes, history of archaeology.

Baltic Archaeology, Cultural History, Ancient Lithuanian Symbolism, Old Europe, and the Archaeomythology of Marija Gimbutas

Marija Alseikaitė-Gimbutienė (Gimbutas) (1921–1994) was born and raised in Lithuania within a family of physicians and intellectuals devoted to the preservation of Lithuanian folk culture. She studied archaeology with Professor Jonas Puzinas who was the first scientifically trained archaeologist in independent Lithuania. Marija Gimbutas was thoroughly trained in Eastern European archaeology, Baltic prehistory, Indo-European linguistics, ethnology, history, folklore, mythology, and European languages taught by the most accomplished Lithuanian scholars in their fields. In 1942 she earned a Master՚s degree at Vilnius University for her thesis on “Burial Practices in the Lithuanian Iron Age.” In 1946 she earned her doctorate in archaeology from Tübingen University in Germany before immigrating to the United States in 1949. This paper traces her prodigious production of major publications and scholarly achievements fostered by her multidisciplinary education in Lithuania. It discusses the development of her Kurgan hypothesis, her excavations in Southeastern Europe, her theory of Old Europe, her formulation of archaeomythology, and the ancient veneration of the earth as the source of life.

Entangled Geographies, Contested Narratives: The Canning Marbles and the Ottoman Response to Antiquity

Abstract The history of archaeology in the nineteenth century has conventionally been studied from the point of view of Europeans, who are credited as the inventors of modern archaeology. Although the blatantly Eurocentric perspective of earlier scholarship has been challenged in recent decades by a proliferation of works on the “source countries” where the bulk of archaeological material originated before being displaced to Europe, the trajectory of European archaeology has not been abandoned as the measure by which to assess emerging sensibilities about antiquity in the nineteenth century. In this essay, I trace the origins of a group of “marbles” from the British Museum, the Canning marbles, and propose to rethink a mid-nineteenth-century Ottoman attempt to establish a museum to house such “marbles” in the light of the Ottoman exhibitionary practices in the longue durée. My aim is to challenge both contemporaneous European narratives on nineteenth-century Ottoman attitudes to antiquity and current scholarship on Ottoman museology that attributes its proper emergence to the last two decades of the century, after the well-known Ottoman polymath Osman Hamdi Bey resumed the directorship of the Müze-i Hümāyūn (Ottoman Imperial Museum).

Dots on the Map: Issues in the Archaeological Analysis of Site Locations

The analysis of site locations is an important component of archaeological research. Recent advances in this topic include the use of ecological models such as the ideal free distribution and its variants, which predict site locations under various conditions in relation to criteria that promote the greatest adaptive success. Such models can face problems in determining such criteria and especially their relative importance. Another approach, which can be used in conjunction with these models, uses the concept of decision trees to infer the relative ranking and the hierarchy of the role of different criteria in the actual locational decisions underlying site placement. Examples from ethnography and European archaeology demonstrate this approach and additionally allow the consideration of another issue, the contexts in which site function and location are likely to be strongly correlated.

CLARA Review: Lafli, E. (ed), 2021: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Bronzes from Anatolia and Neighbouring Regions

The international c ongresses Colloquia Anatolica et Aegaea Antiqua (Congressus internationales Smyrnenses) held in recent years in Izmir at the Dokuz Eylül University are an important initiative in the field of Archaeology. The tireless activity of Ergün Lafli and his collaborators has helped to create lasting links between researchers from different countries and to enhance the role of Turkish archaeology in Europe.

Archaeological Researches on the Processes of Ethnogenesis in the Western Balkan’s Prehistory: Possibilities and Limitations

Ethno-genetic studies of prehistoric communities are present from the period of the renaissance antiquarians to the first moments of the modern science formation in the late nineteenth century. During this period in the archaeological research a full range of scientific tools for studying the chronological and typological aspects of material culture developed,and the most important step towards ethno-genetic discourse by forming the concept of archaeological cultures as methodological categories remained present in terms of archaeology is accomplished at the beginning of the XXI century. Archaeological culture is equated with ethnic communities, precisely historical categories. During the second half of the twentieth century in the former Yugoslavia under the influence of German methodological approach, question of the ethno-genetic research has begun its peak from the First Congress of archaeologists Yugoslavia in Niška Banja, and reached the peak of its development within the work of the Centre for Balkan Studies (CBI) of the Academyof Science and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. European archaeology has experienced a similar development and a loss of interest at the end of the twentieth century. By the S. Jones’ work The Archaeology of Ethnicity Constructing identities in the past and present studying ethno-genetic processes in Europe revived again. Within the re-actualization of this issuein the archaeological discourse the question of whether and under what methodological framework or integration with other sciences, opportunities for further development ethno-genetic research in the Western Balkans exists. In that sense, in terms ofmodern archaeology lays one of the most important issues of the relation between traditional archaeology and its interpretations towards problem of the integration with population’s genetics, as well as the traditional unanswered question of whether one archaeological culture at the same time represents a particular ethnic group.

Gabriela Blažková and Kristýna Matějková (eds), Europa Postmediaevalis 2018. Post-Medieval Pottery Between (its) Borders. Gloucester 2019: Archaeopress, pp. 297, colours illustrations

The reviewed publication, published in 2019 by the British publishing house Archaeopress, is a collection of texts based on papers and posters presented at the international conference under the same title held in Prague in April 2018. This meeting brought together archaeologists from many European countries – including Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy, and Hungary – who conduct research on the early-modern period and the pertaining material culture. Both this event and the book in question were a response to the needs of the academic community, due to the ongoing development of historical archaeology in Europe and an increase in research on artefacts and other evidence recovered during fieldwork related to this. The time-frame of the post-medieval period differs slightly across particular European countries, encompassing artefacts from between the 15th and 18th centuries.

Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic

Over the last half century, the dominant view in European archaeology has been that Upper Paleolithic societies were highly mobile egalitarian groups. While this model may be accurate for resource poor areas, it is increasingly evident that in some rich refugia like the Dordogne and Charente, more complex societies existed that exhibited transegalitarian types of characteristics including socioeconomic inequalities. Ethnographically, it is in the context of transegalitarian types of societies that unique features occur such as rich burials, prestige items, feasting, complex astronomical observations, elaborate numbering systems, rituals in deep caves, and other special features of the French Southwest Upper Paleolithic. Indeed, due to the socioeconomic dynamics involved, these features make the most sense as part of transegalitarian societies, whereas both the dynamics and these features are rare or are completely lacking among ethnographic egalitarian foragers. This paper re-assesses the status of Upper Paleolithic hunter/gatherers from the transegalitarian perspective. It focuses particular attention on the role and importance of prestige items making the important distinction between communal ritual prestige items and individual status prestige items. Ten other key features are discussed briefly that indicate the existence of complex hunter/gatherers in the Upper Paleolithic.

Ethnicity, Archaeology and Nationalism: Remarks on the Current State of Research

While in the modern world, ethnicity has become the politicization of culture, the old controversy over the relation between ethnicity and archaeology refuses to die. The first studies of that relation dealt primarily with what made the historical interpretation of the archaeological material dependent upon the political situation. Soon, the emphasis shifted to the link between archaeology and the beginnings of nationalism, especially the influence of Romanticism, the rise of the culture-history paradigm, and of the historical interest in ethnogenesis. Now, the emphasis is more on the role of archaeology in the shaping of social memory as past that may be used politically. This study focuses on the new trends in this research field, particularly those concerned with the social mobilization by means of the ancestors’ myths, with pseudo-archaeology, and the staging of historical authenticity through heritage tourism. The second part of the article highlights differences between approaches to ethnogenesis in the European and American archaeology and illustrates the latter by means of three key studies by Christopher Stojanowski, Scott Ortman, and Laurie Wilkie. To judge from the titles of the publications that came out in Eastern Europe and the United States over the last year, several common trends are apparent, along with significant divergences. Archaeology is increasingly perceived as the most important, if not the only way to understand the ethnicity of immigrants in the (medieval) past. Archaeologists have taken a front seat in all debates about ethnic identities. Instead of state authorities or the ideological pressure of various political regimes, the emphasis in Eastern Europe is now on individual archaeologists, the role of their life experience and of their education in the ethnic interpretation of the archaeological record. Meanwhile, in the Unites States, it is the ethnic identity of the archaeologists themselves that has now come under lens. In other words, agency is restored to archaeologists, who are now regarded as much more capable of original work and decision making than before. Finally, gender perspectives are now applied to the study of the relations between ethnicity, archaeology, and nationalism. In both Eastern Europe and the United States, there is a conspicuous interest in women archaeologists.

Digital Dutch Archaeology: Future perspectives

Digital archaeology in the Netherlands is connected with investments in a new large-scale and innovative Dutch research infrastructure for the next 10 years. Priorities are set to combine forces at a national level in order to contribute to the international position of the Netherlands as a 'knowledge country'. Researchers need to coordinate and collaborate even more to set up a FAIR enabling data infrastructure with limited resources. Regarding the archaeological discipline, the use of formal quality standards and legislation that certifies archaeological organisations to carry out archaeological work improves national collaboration and stimulates the digital workflow. DANS is the dedicated national repository for archaeology in the Netherlands and is launching the Data Station Archaeology, a repository meeting the latest technological standards. Finding and sharing data of high quality facilitates knowledge of archaeological discoveries; a flourishing open access trend in Dutch archaeology stimulates a strong growth in the use of data. To keep up with innovative developments, a growing community of archaeologists and other specialists are working together in international projects to secure the future of European Archaeology.

Ottomans and Iranians at Ctesiphon

Ottomans and Iranians at Ctesiphon Zeinab Azarbadegan (bio) KEYWORDS archaeology, Ottoman Iraq, photography, Qajar Iran On the first page of his 1921 book on the triumphs of the Ottoman army in Iraq during the First World War, Mehmed Emin [Yurdakul], a Turkish nationalist poet and politician who had been stationed in Mosul, connected two points in the history of Ctesiphon, an ancient ruin located in the southern deserts of Baghdad. 1 He made a direct connection between Ottoman history and early Islamic history, centering Ctesiphon as a site where Muslims had triumphed over two powerful "infidel" empires: that is, the Sasanians in 637, and the British in 1915. 2 The cover of his book also emphasized the many histories of this place, depicting Ctesiphon alongside the tomb of Selman-ı Pak (Fig. 1). Selman was the only Persian companion of the Prophet, who is remembered as participating in the conquest by inviting the local population to Islam. 3 His tomb is, in this sense, a constant reminder of the Islamic history of this site, even if one is unaware of how Ctesiphon has been remembered in Perso-Islamic historiography. In this article, I consider the meanings that the history of Ctesiphon evoked during the late nineteenth century, particularly between the Ottomans and Qajar Iran—both of whom had a shared understanding of the history of the place through the shared heritage of Perso-Islamic history. Though immensely important for the engagement of the Ottomans, the Qajars, and the local Iraqi population with the past of the region, Ctesiphon did not garner as much attention [End Page 377] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Cover of Selman-ı Pak Meydan Muharebesi – Ktesifon ve Zeyli by Mehmed Emin, published in Istanbul by Matbaa-yi Askeriye in 1921. [End Page 378] from Europeans. 4 This was because it was not a Biblical site, the main object of nineteenth-century European archaeology in Ottoman Iraq. 5 By moving away from how Europeans told histories of the place, I demonstrate the old and new ways that the Ottomans and Iranians engaged and contested ancient history and sites in service of their own imperial aims. Ctesiphon's initial importance in Islamic history lies in the fact that it was the site of the last battle between the Sasanians and the Muslims, in which the Sasanian Empire fell and the Muslims became triumphant over a vast and powerful state. But Ctesiphon looms much larger in Islamic history because it was deemed as a site of miracle by Muhammad. In Perso-Islamic historiography, the great Arch of Ctesiphon cracked on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet. 6 As described in the fourth Baghdad salname, published in 1883 in Baghdad by the provincial administrative elite of the province, the second miracle was that the building did not collapse and had withstood for the past "thirteen hundred years" despite the crack. 7 The crack, which was supposedly visible even in 1883, was a harbinger of the Muslim triumph achieved eighty years after its appearance. The Sasanians were an ancient Persian or Iranian Empire, but the Ottomans considered themselves as an inheritor of this Perso-Islamic past. This was clearly demonstrated in the Baghdad salnames , which contain tables of important events and dynasties as well as narrative histories putting the Ottomans into a clear and continuous line of kingship encompassing all the ancient Iranian empires, including those before the Sasanians. 8 The Ottomans emulated the empires before them and incorporated Sasanian history and its sites in such a way as to be both considered as inheritors of that heritage but also triumphant over it. 9 The narrative history presented in the fourth Baghdad salname, which included the history of Ctesiphon, was translated into Persian for the Qajar [End Page 379] court in Tehran. 10 This was part of the Iranian court's compilation of knowledge to produce a comprehensive geographical encyclopedia of the "Iranian lands" called Mira't al-Buldan (Mirror of the Lands), which included lands outside of the Qajar domains, such as Baghdad and Ctesiphon, within its scope. 11 The history of Ctesiphon was told in a separate entry on "iwan" or iwan-i kasra, and...

Warrior graves reconsidered: metal, power and identity in Copper Age Italy

ABSTRACT The article proposes a new interpretation of Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age warrior graves grounded in the ‘Rinaldone’ burial tradition of central Italy, 4th and 3rd millennia BC. In European archaeology, warrior graves are frequently thought to signal the rise of sociopolitical inequality rooted in metal wealth. The work questions the empirical and conceptual foundations of this reading, arguing that, in early Europe, copper was not as rare and valuable as it is often presumed to be; that metalworking did not demand uniquely complex skills; and that metal-rich burials cannot be interpreted in light of modernising ideas of identity. It is argued instead that the key to decoding prehistoric warrior graves lies in context-specific notions of gender, age, and the life course. In particular, life and death circumstances including violence (both inflicted and suffered) would determine why certain individuals were laid to rest with lavish weapon assemblages.