Bell Beaker Research Articles

Late Danubian mitochondrial genomes shed light into the Neolithisation of Central Europe in the 5th millennium BC

BackgroundRecent aDNA studies are progressively focusing on various Neolithic and Hunter - Gatherer (HG) populations, providing arguments in favor of major migrations accompanying European Neolithisation. The major focus was so far on the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK), which introduced the Neolithic way of life in Central Europe in the second half of 6th millennium BC. It is widely agreed that people of this culture were genetically different from local HGs and no genetic exchange is seen between the two groups. From the other hand some degree of resurgence of HGs genetic component is seen in late Neolithic groups belonging to the complex of the Funnel Beaker Cultures (TRB). Less attention is brought to various middle Neolithic cultures belonging to Late Danubian sequence which chronologically fall in between those two abovementioned groups. We suspected that genetic influx from HG to farming communities might have happened in Late Danubian cultures since archaeologists see extensive contacts between those two communities.ResultsHere we address this issue by presenting 5 complete mitochondrial genomes of various late Danubian individuals from modern-day Poland and combining it with available published data. Our data show that Late Danubian cultures are maternally closely related to Funnel Beaker groups instead of culturally similar LBK.ConclusionsWe assume that it is an effect of the presence of individuals belonging to U5 haplogroup both in Late Danubians and the TRB. The U5 haplogroup is thought to be a typical for HGs of Europe and therefore we argue that it is an additional evidence of genetic exchange between farming and HG groups taking place at least as far back as in middle Neolithic, in the Late Danubian communities.

Les dégraissants des céramiques des sites d’Avignon (Vaucluse). Nouvelles données, nouvelles visions de l’implantation du Campaniforme dans le Midi de la France

L’analyse en lames minces d’une série de céramiques campaniformes de style pointillé géométrique issues des fouilles réalisées par J. Courtin et G. Sauzade en Avignon dans les années 1960-1970 a permis de déterminer les origines des terres exploitées, le plus souvent locales mais avec des vases étrangers aux contextes géologiques des sites, ainsi que la nature des dégraissants introduits dans ces terres au moment de la préparation des pâtes. Ces analyses complètent celles réalisées il y a 25 ans sur les céramiques de même style d’autres sites provençaux et plus récemment languedociens. Elles ont également été confrontées aux analyses réalisées sur des corpus de vases attribués aux cultures autochtones. Même si macroscopiquement la céramique campaniforme de style pointillé géométrique (style 2 d’O. Lemercier) est nettement différente de celle des groupes culturels locaux (Fontbouisse, Vérazien), elle présente en fait une proximité marquée dans l’emploi des types de dégraissant, lorsqu’ils ont été introduits dans les pâtes, ainsi que des terres exploitées similaires. Ces convergences ne peuvent pas être le fruit du hasard et résultent vraisemblablement de relations étroites, de transferts et d’emprunts entre potiers de différentes traditions. Nous proposons d’expliquer cette situation par la mise en place de relations précoces dans le Sud de la France entre les populations autochtones et des individus étrangers qui fabriquent en majorité localement des gobelets campaniformes. Une adoption probablement rapide (quelques décennies) de cette céramique par une partie des indigènes conduit à la création de nouvelles formes et à la diversification des décors comme cela est illustré sur les sites d’Avignon, mais également d’autres sites provençaux et languedociens.

Inhumations individuelles en contexte domestique au Néolithique final en France méridionale. Une alternative à la sépulture collective ?

Inhumations individuelles en contexte domestique au Néolithique final en France méridionale. Une alternative à la sépulture collective ?

Lanze, Pfriem und Muschelschmuck. Experimentelle Nachbauten von Objekten aus tierischen Rohstoffen nach Originalen aus endneolithischen Gräbern des Unteren Traisentals

In the course of the project The Final Neolithic in the Lower Traisen Valley, 13 reproductions of Final Neolithic artefacts were produced by Wolfgang Lobisser and his team, in order to gain insights into Final Neolithic manufacturing techniques and the usage of the objects. For this, both authors macroscopically examined artefacts made of bone, antler, animal teeth and shell from 37 graves of the Corded Ware Culture and three Bell Beaker graves from the Traisen Valley in regard to manufacturing specifications and traces of usage. Tools, parts of clothes as well as two objects that are interpreted as a doll and a signaling whistle were reproduced. In the Late Neolithic crushing, splitting, grating, scraping, and grinding were the basic techniques for the processing of bone, antler, teeth, and shell material. The manufacturing of the reproductions shows that compared to flint drills, copper awls provide much better results for fine drillings in hard materials such as bone or antler. Some bone artefacts are characterised by notable glossy areas, indicating an intense usage. In some graves of men, bone artifacts such as chisels and pegs are associated with stone axes, fire stone tools, or copper blades. The combination of the equipment suggests that those buried in the graves had been skilled and experienced tradesmen.

Typologia form naczyń kultury pucharów lejkowatych z obszaru Dolnego Śląska

The lack of a unified system of description of vessels types of the Funnel Beaker culture in Lower Silesia means that heterogeneous terminology prevents precise classification of ceramic forms found at sites of the culture. The paper presents a proposition of a classification of vessels types of the Funnel Beaker culture developed on the basis of analyses of artefacts from Lower Silesian sites. It has been constructed in a way that enables its complement in case of new discoveries, not falling within the present scope

O genezie kultury pucharów lejkowatych i badaniach stanowiska w Dąbkach na Pomorzu Środkowym

The paper contains critical comments on the article by Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny, Jacek Kabacinski and Thomas Terberger entitled “The origins of the Funnel Beaker culture in the context of cultural changes in Northern Europe in the fifth millennium BC ”, which appeared in Przegląd Archeologiczny (Archaeological Review), volume 61. The paper stresses the incompatibility between the content and the declaration in the title, as well as ignoring the current archaeologicalknowledge. At the level of source studies and interpretation, the work contains errors and inaccuracies of theses as regards the results of research conducted at the site in Dąbki in Middle Pomerania. Hypotheses about the continuity of the settlement at this site, the evolution of Mesolithic pottery towards funnel beakers and the postulated chronology of events were brought up for special discussion. With reference to that, logical incorrectness of the assumed processes of the origins and spread of the Funnel Beaker culture has been suggested

The power of the dead in Neolithic landscapes: an agricultural-celestial metaphor in the funerary tradition of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Sandomierz Upland

FBC earthen long barrows were roughly oriented along the East-West axis, with deviations not exceeding the frame of the solar arc. Also, the Sandomierz Group monuments display this general pattern. The paper brings together archaeoastronomy, landscape archaeology and symbolic archaeology.

Wyniki badań na osadzie kultury pucharów lejkowatych na stanowisku nr 4 w Mierzynie, gm. Dobra Szczecińska i ich znaczenie dla wiedzy o środkowym neolicie Dolnego Nadodrza

This paper presents the results of analyses of materials recovered during 2004 rescue excavations of a Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) dwelling pit at Mierzyn, site 4. It provides a detailed and multifaceted analysis of the archaeological record and attempts to assess the significance of the find for the studies on the Middle Neolithic in the Lower Oder region. The article contains a detailed description of selected archival finds from the area occupied by the site and discusses their previous interpretations.

New Perspectives on the Chronology and Meaning of Mont Bégo Rock Art (Alpes-Maritimes, France)

In 1994, H. de Lumley's teams of researchers finished the colossal task—initiated more than 20 years earlier—of recording every pecked rock engraving of Mont Bégo's rock art. The following year, in the book Le grandiose et le sacré, Lumley defined the site as a sacred mountain and attributed rock engravings, considered as ex-votos, to the Early Bronze Age and the Bell Beaker period. However, it is hard to recognize what interpretations can be directly drawn from the data: some exceptional rock engravings are considered as representative of the whole corpus of rock engravings and the most numerous ones are considered as a ‘bruit de fond’ [background noise]. Furthermore, recognition of associations—where rock engravings are contemporaneous and significantly grouped—had been criticised, and the hypothesis that all the rock engravings can be considered as a single archaeological event seems also to be contradicted by studies of superimpositions. We developed a GIS and a comprehensive database, with statistics, to identify specific spatial configurations, seriation effects and, finally, the evolution of the rock art. By going further in the periodization, our aim is to propose some provisional hypotheses about the meaning of Mont Bégo's rock engravings.

Shape matters: assessing regional variation of Bell Beaker projectile points in Central Europe using geometric morphometrics

Despite the large-scale expansion of Bell Beaker phenomenon, there is a tension between the normative Bell Beaker material culture categories and their local objectification in the form of real artefacts. Stone projectile points provide an opportunity to evaluate how much was the general category of such a point influenced by regional and local factors. The aim of this paper is to explore shape and size variation of Central European Bell Beaker projectile points from Moravia (Czech Republic) to elucidate factors responsible for this variation. The sample consists of 194 projectile points from 54 Central European Bell Beaker sites (2500–2300/2200 BC) distributed in Morava River catchment. The size and shape of projectile points were studied by landmark-based geometric morphometrics and expressed as shape groups, which have been assessed in terms of their spatial distribution, raw material, and reutilization. Although several shape categories of points were identified, there is a strong degree of uniformity in the research sample. The dominant shape category (75.4 % of points) was pervasive across geographic space and was not significantly affected either by raw material or reutilization. A lower degree of reutilization of points is interpreted as a consequence of a non-utilitarian role of projectile points, which represented a critical component of Bell Beaker mortuary practices.

Statistical analysis of associations between subsequent prehistoric settlement patterns

By means of methods of point pattern analysis we study associations between subsequent prehistoric settlement patterns in the Rhineland around Cologne, between Protohistoric (Iron Age) and Gallo-Roman sites in the Picardie, between Early and Late Merovingian sites in the Thuringian Basin and between Neolithic sites in the south Polish loess zone. For the settlements in the Rhineland, the analysis shows a spatial association between the sites of Linear Pottery Culture and Rössen Culture in the sense that similar locations were used. In contrast to that, the positions of the Rössen Culture and the subsequent Michelsberg Culture are independent. The pattern of sites in the Picardie serves as an example of both obvious discontinuity and random mixture of sites. For the sites in south Poland some short-range attraction between Linear Pottery, Lengyel, and Funnel-necked Beaker Culture is found, which seems to show parallels to the observations for the Rhineland. For the Thuringian Basin, the statistical analysis indicates and quantifies the expansion of the settled areas in the alluvial valleys and the surrounding highlands for the change from the 6th to the 7th century CE.

Herbivore diets and the anthropogenic environment of early farming in southern Scandinavia

Farming practice in the first period of the southern Scandinavian Neolithic (Early Neolithic I, Funnel Beaker Culture, 3950–3500 cal. BC) is not well understood. Despite the presence of the first farmers and their domesticated plants and animals, little evidence of profound changes to the landscape such as widespread deforestation has emerged from this crucial early period. Bone collagen dietary stable isotope ratios of wild herbivores from southern Scandinavia are here analysed in order to determine the expected range of dietary variation across the landscape. Coupled with previously published isotope data, differences in dietary variation between wild and domestic species indicate strong human influence on the choice and creation of feeding environments for cattle. In context with palynological and zooarchaeological data, we demonstrate that a human-built agricultural environment was present from the outset of farming in the region, and such a pattern is consistent with the process by which expansion agriculture moves into previously unfarmed regions.

Manufacture of copper weapons and tools from the chalcolithic settlement of São Pedro (Portugal)

ABSTRACTA collection of 30 copper-based artefacts recovered during archeological excavations at the São Pedro settlement (Redondo, Portugal) was characterized by optical microscopy and Vickers microhardness testing. The radiocarbon dating of bone samples and the existence of Bell Beaker ceramics establish a chronology of c. 2700–2000 BC for tools and weapons made of copper with varying arsenic contents. The manufacture included one or more cycles of forging and annealing, while final work hardening was uncommon. The collection shows a wide range of hardness (52–142 HV0.2) without any correlation with typology or arsenic content, suggesting unawareness of the hardening potential of this alloying element. Technological features of São Pedro artefacts were compared with those of coeval metallurgies from neighboring regions (Portuguese Estremadura and Southern Andalusia) revealing common and distinctive characteristics that help to understand the use of arsenical copper alloys among communities of the third millennium BC.

Bell Beaker and the evolution of resource management strategies in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula

This paper addresses the plain common pottery associated with Beaker contexts in the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The detailed systematic study focuses on the pottery assemblage provided by one of the region’s most important settlements, San Blas (Badajoz, Spain), while comparisons are made with other important sites in the study area. By means of the stratigraphic, typological and statistical analysis of the data, the main patterns of change in this material culture throughout the temporal sequence are identified and the historical explanatory factors are inferred. Specifically, during the second half of the 3rd millennium cal BC, an important change took place in the management of economic risk, which is materialised by a significant reduction in food storage and by the more immediate direct or indirect consumption of resources. We suggest that these patterns reflect a shift towards a short-term projection of the future, in a context with strong evidence of instability.

Horse size and domestication: Early equid bones from the Czech Republic in the European context

ABSTRACT We collected and evaluated, by the ‘logarithmic size index’ (LSI) method, all available postcranial equid bones found in the Czech Republic from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Material from the Upper Paleolithic (Magdalenien) and Bohemian Late Bronze Age (Knoviz culture) was also included. Two different species of equids were documented: Equus hydruntinus Regalia, 1907 and Equus ferus Boddaert, 1785. The variation in the size of true horses was compared with data published for neighbouring countries. In most periods, the horses are found to be larger in the eastern part of Central Europe than in the western part. The Czech lands appear to span the border of two worlds: the Pannonian plains and the western, geomorphologically diverse regions. The status of horses in the Neolithic Lengyel period from Moravia remains disputable. However, a high size variability in Eneolithic Funnel Beaker culture (TRB, 3800-3350 BC) together with a non-homogeneous distribution in Řivnac culture (3100-2800 BC...

Plant macroremains from an early Neolithic site in eastern Kuyavia, central Poland

Abstract The study examined plant remains from the Smólsk 2/10 site, situated on the border of two different landscapes and preserving traces of Neolithic occupation from several cultures: Early Linear Pottery culture (LBK, ca 5300-5200 cal. BC to ca 5000 cal. BC). Stroke Band Pottery culture (SBP, ca 4700-4400 cal. BC), the Brześć Kujawski group of Lengyel culture (BKG, ca 4500-4000/3900 cal. BC), Funnel Beaker culture (TRB, ca 3950-3380 BC), and also some features of the Lusatian culture (Hallstatt C, ca 970-790 cal. BC).Mostly hulled wheat remains (Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum) were found in the LBK, SBP, and BKG cultures; they were completely absent in younger cultures (TRB, Lusatian), where barley remains appeared. Among other plants the most numerous were remains of small-grain grasses (mostly cf. Hierochloë type), feather grass (Stipa sp.), wild buckwheat (Fallopia convolvulus), and goosefoot (Chenopodium album type), but the plant remains are relatively scarce.The archaeobotanical data obtained from the site supplement data from neighbouring Osłonki to the west and Wolica Nowa to the north-west. The differences between those microregions are reflected mostly in the earlier appearance of feather grass (Stipa sp.) in the Smólsk area as well as the higher quantity of crop chaff remains in the Osłonki area, but their random occurrence, along with the fragmentariness of the archaeological data, must be taken into account. However, intentional introduction of feather grass by the first Neolithic settlers in eastern Kuyavia cannot be excluded. The relatively high proportion of small-grain grasses, usually interpreted as traces of fodder, together with the scarcity of crop remains at the Wolica Nowa site, suggests that the site was connected more with animal husbandry than with agriculture. On the other hand, the small-grain grasses at Smólsk are represented mainly by a large number of non-weedy grass (cf. Hierochloë type) grains from the crop sample, which cannot be explained in a simple way.A comparison of the anthracological data from the Osłonki and Smólsk microregions reveals differences in woodland management and differences between the local environments. Pine wood was more accessible at Smólsk than at Osłonki, due to local landscape characteristics.

Beaker people in Britain: migration, mobility and diet

Abstract

Microdenticulates of the Funnel Beaker Culture

In a study published in 1994, HelleJuel Jensen observed that microdenticulates are tools whose function is difficult to assess. She calls the use of the tools “an unresolved functional puzzle”. This study proceeds from that conclusion. Based on attribute and use-wear analyses together with contextual studies the results show that microdenticulates are complex tools, in which other parts of the flake besides the denticulated edge were used. The result also show that other flint objects from the flint asemblage were used for the same operations as the microdenticulates. The work comprised a conceptual action in which the production, use, and deposition of the material were all parts of the same process. The task was given in advance. The work probably consisted of preparing or treating plant fi bres in some way in order to make thread, rope, bast, or the like. The result shows that seemingly simple tools like microdenticulates were a part of the materiality of the south Scandinavian Funnel Beaker complex. The work conducted using the microdenticultates and the tool box associated with them was associated with concepts shared by people over large areas (present day south Sweden and Denmark) over hundreds of years (from Early Neolithic to Middle Neolithic AI).

From corpse to skeleton: dealing with the dead in prehistory

The shortcomings of the archaeological record raise many challenges for the interpretation of prehistoric funerary practices, particularly because the remains of most people in prehistory have left no trace at all. Throughout prehistory, most human remains were treated in ways that are archaeologically invisible. A brief review of the sequence of funerary practices in British prehistory reveals major gaps and deficiencies in the burial record. It may well be that the normative rites for much of British prehistory were those that left little or no archaeological trace, such as excarnation through exposure of corpses or scattering of cremated ashes.One form of mortuary practice only recently demonstrated for British prehistory is that of mummification. Scientific analysis of Late Bronze Age skeletons from Cladh Hallan, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, has revealed that they were not only composites of multiple individuals but were also mummified prior to burial. In particular, histological analysis of bioerosion in the bone microstructure reveals that putrefaction was arrested soon after death. This method of histological analysis has been applied to a large sample of prehistoric and historical human remains, and reveals that patterns of arrested decay are particularly a feature of the British Bronze Age from the Bell Beaker period onwards.

Strontium isotope evidence of early Funnel Beaker Culture movement of cattle

The movement of livestock across and within landscapes is increasingly being recognized as common in northern European prehistoric contexts, and was performed for various purposes. However, almost nothing is known about the movement of livestock in the earliest phase of the southern Scandinavian Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (ENI, TRB, 4000–3500cal BC), or even if such movement is indicated. In this study, domestic cattle (Bos taurus) teeth from the early Neolithic sites Almhov, Sweden (N=6) and Havnelev, Denmark (N=7) were analyzed in order to determine the presence and character of potential livestock movement in this period. Tooth enamel strontium isotope analyses indicated a range of variation in local origin of the animals: some probably local and some non-local. Importantly, both sites yielded an individual exhibiting strontium isotope ratios indicating movement from elsewhere and over a body of water via boat. Although based on a small number of cattle, the movement of livestock is indicated in the earliest Neolithic in the region and provides evidence of social, economic, or other connections over substantial distances.