Bell Beaker Research Articles

Maritime Hunter-Gatherers Adopt Cultivation at the Farming Extreme of Northern Europe 5000 Years Ago

The dynamics of the origins and spread of farming are globally debated in anthropology and archaeology. Lately, numerous aDNA studies have turned the tide in favour of migrations, leaving only a few cases in Neolithic Europe where hunter-gatherers might have adopted agriculture. It is thus widely accepted that agriculture was expanding to its northern extreme in Sweden c. 4000 BC by migrating Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) farmers. This was followed by intense contacts with local hunter-gatherers, leading to the development of the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC), who nonetheless relied on maritime prey. Here, we present archaeobotanical remains from Sweden and the Åland archipelago (Finland) showing that PWC used free-threshing barley and hulled and free-threshing wheat from c. 3300 BC. We suggest that these hunter-gatherers adopted cultivation from FBC farmers and brought it to islands beyond the 60th parallel north. Based on directly dated grains, land areas suitable for cultivation, and absence of signs of exchange with FBC in Sweden, we argue that PWC cultivated crops in Åland. While we have isotopic and lipid-biomarker proof that their main subsistence was still hunting/fishing/gathering, we argue small-scale cereal use was intended for ritual feasts, when cereal products could have been consumed with pork.

Étude d’un fossé et d’architectures en terre fondés au milieu du 3e millénaire av. J.-C. sur le plateau des Costières (Garons, Gard, France)

The purpose of this paper is the detailed study of one of the excavations that has marked the evolution of Fontbouïsse of MITRA III located in Garons (Gard, France) whilst focussing on the development and the disappearance of enclosures in the south of France. The site located near to a site known as Puech Ferrier, an unpublished enclosure of MITRA III excavated in 2011, was first excavated in 2012 within the framework of preventive archaeology. This exploration of a 5000 m ² surface revealed the southern part and the entrance of an installation delimited by at least two ditches which succeed one another, dating to a period between the 27th and 24th centuries BC that includes the development of the culture of Fontbouïsse, the Campaniforme (Bell Beaker) and the emergence of the early Bronze (BA2). A network of three concentric ditches, the innermost enclosure being the oldest, makes up the first enclosure, where an interruption in the ditches allows access to the site. A later much larger wider and deeper ditch cuts across the first enclosure. The paper focusses on the study of this ditch and its fill, which is the only enclosed site dating to the Late Neolithic in the south of France. Observed over nearly 90 m, this ditch delimits the southern part of the site. It contains fragments of mudbrick over a silty ashy layer the anthracological spectrum of which contains mainly by oak. Based on the results of stratigraphic and soil micromorphology, a phased filling of the ditch can be proposed. Micro-and macroscopic characterization of the earthen elements found in the ditch have specified the nature of the cob and wattle and daub and the demolished structure they came from. The findings reveal that the ditch remained open for a relatively short period of time, after which a cob structure, perhaps a wall, was installed, the base of which is preserved in a portion of the ditch. The ditch was then filled in by the destruction of another earthen and wood structure. This architecture could have been used to strengthen the monumental aspect of the enclosure, the hypothesis being that it copied a layout observed on other Fontbuxien settlements. A violent fire subsequently destroyed this ditch-wall enclosure and a possible adjoining building. Following on from this event, the ditch was re-dug before being filled in after the site is abandoned. The exact dating of the ditch and the destruction of the earthen wall remain imprecise. Some elements found in the lower ditch fill date to the first phase of the Fontbouïsse culture. They stylistically refer productions from the plain of Hérault and Gard. However, the destruction of the earthen architecture is dated by radiocarbon analysis and pottery found in the upper layers and the discovery of a sherd with international style decoration gives a later dating range of between 2450 and 2250 cal. BC. This enclosure and its destruction constitute a milestone in Fontbouïsse and Late Neolithic chronology. Its foundation and destruction occur within a short space of time. The events that occurred during the history of MITRA date the initial foundation and development of the concentric enclosures and the site''s total overhaul, which happened shortly before its abandon. The entrance identified at Mitra III, the new ditch with its earthen architecture that cut across the first enclosure around 2500 cal. BC questions our knowledge of the development and disappearance of enclosures at a pivotal period (Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age) in southern France.

The Funnel Beaker Culture in Western Lesser Poland: Yesterday and Today

The Funnel Beaker Culture in Western Lesser Poland: Yesterday and Today

Les puits de l’âge du Bronze du Parc d’Activités du Pays d’Erstein (Bas-Rhin, Alsace) : des analyses dendroarchéologiques à l’ étude de l’occupation du sol

Les puits de l’âge du Bronze du Parc d’Activités du Pays d’Erstein (Bas-Rhin, Alsace) : des analyses dendroarchéologiques à l’ étude de l’occupation du sol

Chronology of the Funnel Beaker Culture Settlement in Western Ukraine in the Context of Radiocarbon Dating

Chronology of the Funnel Beaker Culture Settlement in Western Ukraine in the Context of Radiocarbon Dating

Hoard of long flint blades from the Wodzisław Hummock, Lesser Poland

The subject of this article is a hoard of Volhynian flint blades discovered in Świątniki. The collection encompasses 12 macrolithic Volhynian flint blades. The blades cannot be refitted together. The morphological and technological features of the blades suggest that they were produced with the use of indirect percussion or the lever pressure technique. The traceological analysis did not reveal any utilization patterns. Only slight polishing traces were recorded, perhaps resulting from keeping/transporting the blades in a wrapping made of light material. The makers of the blades should be associated with the populations of the Trypilian, Lublin-Volhynian, or Funnel Beaker Culture, which does not indicate unequivocally the cultural attribution of the hoard.

Znalezisko siekier krzemiennych z Klementowic (Płaskowyż Nałęczowski) – dylemat z afiliacją kulturową

The subject of the study is a collective find of three axes discovered in 1964 during excavation research at the multicultural site VII in Klementowice, Kurow commune, Pulawy dis-trict, Lublin voivodship, in the north-western part of the Naleczow Plateau. Two artefacts (with quadrilateral section and bifacial) are made of banded flint and one (with quadrilateral section) – of Świeciechow flint. These raw materials come from deposits exploited in the Neolithic period in mines of the Świetokrzyski region of the prehistoric flint mining. Despite the existing doubts, these axes should be combined with the Funnel Beaker culture, its southeastern group. Translator: Andrzej Leligdowicz

Unexpected discovery of the Funnel Beaker culture feature at the Kraków Spadzista (Kraków-Zwierzyniec 4) site

Folia Quaternaria » 2019 » Vol. 87 (2019) » Unexpected discovery of the Funnel Beaker culture feature at the Kraków Spadzista (Kraków-Zwierzyniec 4) site A A A

The Funnel Beaker Culture in the Lublin Region in the Light of the Excavations and Publications of Jan Kowalczyk

The article discusses the contribution of Jan Kowalczyk to the study of the Funnel Beaker culture. The paper presents his achievements in field research on settlements and funerary sites in Central and Eastern Poland (cemeteries and settlements on the Nałęczów Plateau, settlement in Gródek in the Hrubieszów Basin) and thoughts on the methodology of searching and exploration of the Neolithic graves. The most important publications of this author were also recalled. The results of his work are placed in the context of the present state of research.

Sickles of the Funnel Beaker culture in the light of use-wear and residue analysis

The aim of this paper is to present new data on the use of plants and on flint management by Funnel Beaker societies. Studies of usewear and residues on flint tools from the Polwica-Skrzypnik site complex located in SW Poland included microscopic analyses of traces, starch and phytoliths, and adhesives. According to the usewear analysis, most of the tools were used as sickle inserts. The production of sickles was mainly based on good-quality imported flint material, but local groups also supplemented their needs with local flint. The identified phytoliths can be assigned to the grass and sedge families Poaceae and Cyperaceae, respectively, and to the subfamily Panicoideae of Poaceae. Microscopic traces indicate that inserts were re-sharpened during use and recycled by modifying them into other morphological and functional tools, such as hide scrapers. FTIR and GC-MS analyses show that the resinous substance preserved on the surfaces of the flint tools is wood tar, obtained by a process of pyrolysis of the bark of Betulaceae trees.

Is it a long or short-duration phenomenon? Existence of Funnel Beaker Culture Societies in the Rzeszów Foothills in the Context of the Current Set of Radiocarbon Dating Models

In recent years, a considerable number of radiocarbon dates have been obtained from Funnel Beaker culture sites of various functions, located in the eastern part of the Rzeszow Foothills. In a group of a few dozen dates,there are some that suggest, on the basis of the probability distribution, that representatives of communities of this culture might have been present on the area ca. 3900-3800 BC. However, such dating may be disputable. Attempts in recent years to confront such early dates with contextual ceramic materials have not provided satisfactory answers to this question. This paper is focused on an assessment of the potential of absolute chronology determinations and their analytic values. After eliminating all questionable dates, statistic simulations of the chronology of the local Funnel Beaker culture have been made. The results obtained suggest that this phenomenon might have been more short-lived than so far believed.

Reutilization of axes made from Jurassic flint in G variant on the example of the materials from site 1 in Książnice Wielkie, Proszowice district, Małopolska Province

Excavations at the Książnice Wielkie 1 site were carried out in the 1920s by Józef Żurowski. The site is known to Neolithic researchers primarily as a settlement of the Funnel Beaker culture (Burchard, Eker 1964) and as a cemetery of the Corded Ware culture (Machnik 1964). Furthermore, ceramic materials found there became the basis for distinguishing the Wyciąże-Książnice group of the Proto-Baden horizon (Kozłowski 1971; 1989), which refers to the oldest influences from the Baden complex on the local group of the Polgár circle, and the Książnice Wielkie type (Machnik 1966) – the oldest horizon of Corded Ware funerary finds in western Lesser Poland. This article presents the results of analyses of selected flint artefacts – originating from the reutilization of axes – discovered in the context of pottery of the Funnel Beaker culture and the Funnel Beaker-Baden assemblages.

Los emplazamientos topográficos de poblados durante el Tercer Milenio A.C. en la Europa Occidental: Líneas comparadas entre Cataluña y la Provenza

In several European regions, an abrupt change in settlement pattern dynamics was thought for years to be contemporaneous with the spread of the Bell Beaker phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to propose a comparative analysis on topographic locations based on third millennium BCE settlements in two nearby Mediterranean regions: Catalonia (northeast Spain) and Provence (southeast France). These domestic establishments contain a significant amount of Bell Beaker pottery, amongst other artefacts, which balances its classical renown in sepulchral environment. Questioning the presence of these specific remains in these domestic deposits, the Bell Beaker overlapping the various local traditions, still appears as a crucial issue. The study reveals some changing trends in settlement choices for the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age transition in these two North West Mediterranean regions, but underlines at the same time, the lack of reliable classification frameworks to produce any historical discourse about the spread of Bell Beakers.Keywords: Topographic locations, late third millennium BCE, Bell Beaker, Catalonia, Provence

The multiple maternal legacy of the Late Iron Age group of Urville-Nacqueville (France, Normandy) documents a long-standing genetic contact zone in northwestern France

The compilation of archaeological and genetic data for ancient European human groups has provided persuasive evidence for a complex series of migrations, population replacements and admixture until the Bronze Age. If the Bronze-to-Iron Age transition has been well documented archaeologically, ancient DNA (aDNA) remains rare for the latter period and does not precisely reflect the genetic diversity of European Celtic groups. In order to document the evolution of European communities, we analysed 45 individuals from the Late Iron Age (La Tène) Urville-Nacqueville necropolis in northwestern France, a region recognized as a major cultural contact zone between groups from both sides of the Channel. The characterization of 37 HVS-I mitochondrial sequences and 40 haplogroups provided the largest maternal gene pool yet recovered for the European Iron Age. First, descriptive analyses allowed us to demonstrate the presence of substantial amounts of steppe-related mitochondrial ancestry in the community, which is consistent with the expansion of Bell Beaker groups bearing an important steppe legacy in northwestern Europe at approximately 2500 BC. Second, maternal genetic affinities highlighted with Bronze Age groups from Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula regions tends to support the idea that the continuous cultural exchanges documented archaeologically across the Channel and along the Atlantic coast (during and after the Bronze Age period) were accompanied by significant gene flow. Lastly, our results suggest a maternal genetic continuity between Bronze Age and Iron Age groups that would argue in favour of a cultural transition linked to progressive local economic changes rather than to a massive influx of allochthone groups. The palaeogenetic data gathered for the Urville-Nacqueville group constitute an important step in the biological characterization of European Iron age groups. Clearly, more numerous and diachronic aDNA data are needed to fully understand the complex relationship between the cultural and biological evolution of groups from the period.

Los discos de oro del Museo Arqueológico de Asturias: algunas observaciones sobre la orfebrería prehistórica

We present a study of two gold discs of unknown origin that remain deposited since the mid-twentieth century in the Archaeological Museum of Asturias. There is abundant bibliography on these pieces, although, to date, these have not been archaeometric or archeometallurgical studies. The results allow deducing interesting observations on their composition, manufacture and the technological sequence of elaboration, as well as on the possible origin of the gold, confirming, along with the parallels of the decoration of these disc, their Atlantic roots.The disks of the British Isles are associated with the burials of the Bell Beaker culture. For the objects under study, a more modern chronology was considered due to the absence of similar evidence in Asturias. The recent identification of these typical ceramics in spaces for transformation of the copper ores in the Asturian central territory makes it possible a new valuation, reinforced by the most recent gold findings, of similar chronology, in the Iberian Peninsula, which are recognized as burial furnishings of the Bell Beaker culture. All these arguments reinforce the proposal on the existence of exchange networks between the British Islands and the continental mainland throughout this period.

Los objetos de adorno en marfil de proboscídeos del hipogeo de Padru Jossu (Sanluri, Cerdeña, Italia) y el Campaniforme mediterráneo

In the present work, we examine the personal adornment in proboscidean ivory from the Bell Beaker period at the hypogeum of Padru Jossu, Sanluri (Sardinia, Italy) currently preserved in the Museo Civico Archeologico Villa Abbas of Sardara. For the first time, a complete study –morphological, use wear and archaeometric– of this material has been conducted. The typological study established two categories: buttons and pins. Those categories were also subdivided into three groups respectively. Technological and functional analyses were made difficult by the strong degradation of the items and the presence of glue and varnish. The archaeometric study highlighted the diverse provenances of the proboscidean ivories, suggesting a chronological difference in the geographical sources, as well as in the mobility patterns implicit in the movements of the raw material. The ivory from the older Stratum iii is predominantly from the Asian elephant, and in the later Stratum ii the exclusive supplier species is the African Savannah elephant. It is also important to mention that in the ensemble from Stratum iii, one of the items seems related to the Eastern types of ossi a globuli, linking this Asian ivory with an Aegean and Oriental axis of mobility.

A prehistoric cremation burial at Duns Law Farm, near Duns, Scottish Borders

A large prehistoric pit was uncovered during a watching brief on a water main installation. The pit was partially stone-lined and two small scoops were identified at the base. These contained one complete and one partial Beaker vessel. The fills of the pit produced a small quantity of cremated human bone which represented a minimum of four individuals (three adults and a juvenile). Also mixed into the fills were sherds of other Beaker vessels, a few lithics, a stone axehead, and fragments of Neolithic pottery. Radiocarbon determinations produced early Neolithic dates for four samples of human bone and a grain of wheat, and one human bone sample produced a Bronze Age date later than the generally accepted currency of Beaker pottery production in Scotland. Interpretation of this strange collection of material is discussed with reference to Neolithic and Bronze Age burial practices; the evidence for the use of this pit in the Neolithic for cremation burial is a rare find and provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of this period and type of monument.

When and Why? The Chronology and Context of Flint Mining at Grime’s Graves, Norfolk, England

New radiocarbon dating and chronological modelling have refined understanding of the character and circumstances of flint mining at Grime’s Graves through time. The deepest, most complex galleried shafts were worked probably from the third quarter of the 27th century calbcand are amongst the earliest on the site. Their use ended in the decades around 2400 calbc, although the use of simple, shallow pits in the west of the site continued for perhaps another three centuries. The final use of galleried shafts coincides with the first evidence of Beaker pottery and copper metallurgy in Britain. After a gap of around half a millennium, flint mining at Grime’s Graves briefly resumed, probably from the middle of the 16th century calbcto the middle of the 15th. These ‘primitive’ pits, as they were termed in the inter-war period, were worked using bone tools that can be paralleled in Early Bronze Age copper mines. Finally, the scale and intensity of Middle Bronze Age middening on the site is revealed, as it occurred over a period of probably no more than a few decades in the 14th century calbc. The possibility of connections between metalworking at Grime’s Graves at this time and contemporary deposition of bronzes in the nearby Fens is discussed.

Use-wear and ballistic analyses of arrowheads from the burial ground of the Nitra culture in Ludanice - Mýtna Nová Ves

The burial ground in Ludanice - Mýtna Nová Ves (Slovakia) comprises a total of 477 graves of the Nitra Culture, a derivate of the Epi-Corded complex in Central Europe. This archaeological culture is placed chronologically between the Late Eneolithic, represented by Corded Ware Culture and Bell Beaker Culture, and the developed Early Bronze Age, characterised by a rapid spatial expansion of Únětice Culture. This period on the threshold of the Bronze Age was crucial for transition from an unstratified society with a defined warrior status to an early stratified society. The warrior elite had an important role in formative social processes of the Bronze Age. This period is characterized by significant peak of lithic projectile point appearance, which ballistic and functional analysis we present to prove their practical warrior function.

O pochodzeniu pomorskich grobowców bezkomorowych kultury pucharów lejkowatych

The article presents a short overview of discussion on the origin of the Funnel Beaker Culture in particular regions of Pomerania. In particular, an origin of the Pomerania long barrows with a stone construction is debated. The study implies that prototypes o f these monuments are to be found in the Lower Elbe region and influences from Kujavia are only detectable in the latest phase. The article tackles also a theory linking an emergence of long barrows with the late Danubian tradition („long houses”).