Lakeside Settlement Research Articles

Analysis of plant macrofossils in goat/sheep faeces from the Neolithic lake shore settlement of Horgen Scheller ? an indication of prehistoric transhumance?

213 goat or sheep faeces from the Neolithic lake shore settlement of Horgen Scheller (Switzerland) were analysed for plant macrofossils. Only 51 (24%) of them contained identifiable remains. The most frequent finds were prickles of Rosaceae, probably blackberry (Rubus fruticosus s.l.). This is interpreted as food that was grazed from hedges, woodland edges or clearings in winter or spring. Faeces from summer or autumn are apparently not present. Explanations for this are discussed, among which trans-humance seems most probable.

Archaeobotanical investigations of late neolithic lakeshore settlements (Lake Biel, Switzerland)

This paper describes the results of the archaeobotanical examination of four Late Neolithic lakeshore settlements on Lake Biel in Switzerland. Due to the excellent preservation conditions in lakeshore settlements, non-carbonized as well as carbonized seeds and fruits were recovered in large numbers. In addition to the diaspore analyses, some samples of charcoal and moss were identified. The spectrum of cultivated plants was markedly different between the sites. In the transition from the 34th to 33rd century B.C. (sites Nidau, Lüscherz and Lattrigen ‘VI’) naked wheat and barley were predominant, while in the 32nd century B.C. (Lattrigen'VII') emmer (a glume wheat) was most abundant. Flax and opium poppy were of great importance during the whole late Neolithic period. In addition to cereals, a large number of cereal weeds were detected. The wild flora included a high percentage of aquatic and lake-shore plants which results from the strong influence of water on the cultural layers. Taxa of flood-plain forest are also common. The proportion of potential grassland plants was low (in total only 13 taxa) which suggests that in addition to the cultivated fields only few pastures and grassland areas existed close to the settlements.

Season and Reason: The Case for a Regional Interpretation of Mesolithic Settlement Patterns

Danish early and late Mesolithic lakeside settlements are examined. Season of occupation is examined through tooth eruption and bone growth of wild boar (Sus scrofa); the early Mesolithic sites were all occupied in summer (including Holmegaard V, previously believed to be a winter settlement), whereas late Mesolithic Ringkloster was occupied in winter and spring. Skeletal element frequency indicates that Ringkloster was a hunting camp and the early Mesolithic sites were not. There were considerable differences between sites of the two periods, despite their very similar locations, because of their different settlement systems. It is therefore argued that Mesolithic settlements cannot be understood by studying individual site location; the settlement system of which each site was a part exerts a crucial influence.

Plant remains from the early medieval lakeshore settlement Fony�d-B�latelep (Lake Balaton, Hungary) with especial emphasis on the history of fruit cultivation in Pannonia

During the excavation of an early medieval lakeside settlement at Fonyod-Belatelep, Balaton (7th-9th century A.D.), remains of cultivated and wild plants were found in the culture layer. The main cereal crops of the Avar culture were Hordeum, Triticum and Secale. Panicum also played an important role. In addition to the cereals, 13 species of fruit trees were present. It appears that fruit cultivation survived from Roman times into the early medieval period.

Human impact as registered in the pollen record: some results from the western Lake Constance region, Southern Germany

Pollen analytical results from a littoral profile taken in Lake Constance compared with pollen profiles from small kettle holes nearby form the basis for conclusions concerning human population density, the economy and environment from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. Early Neolithic human impact is implicated in a lime decline and also the expansion of beech. The late Neolithic lakeshore settlements caused a decline of elm, beech and lime and, by shifting cultivation, considerably changed the forest cover. The settlements were abandoned after less than 100 years. There were long periods without distinct human impact in the middle and towards the end of the late Neolithic period. Since at least the Late Bronze Age there has been permanent habitation in the region. Human impact was greatest in the High Medieval period and later, and was also substantial in the late La Tene and Roman periods. Distinct declines in human impact can be observed between the La Tene and Roman periods and in the Migration and Merovingian periods. In these intervals, open land and grazed oak forest were replaced by birch and later on by beech forests. The decreases in human impact are not of the same intensity in all diagrams.

Archaeology and waterlogged wood

The authors describe several methods of preserving waterlogged wood used by Swiss archaeologists since the 19th century to treat finds from lakeside settlements. Large dugout canoes discovered in the second half of the 19th century were unsuccessfully treated with natural substances such as beeswax, linseed oil, resins or glues. Procedures employed in the first half of the 20th century which also gave unsatisfactory results included slow drying, preservation in a liquid, dehydration, impregnation, protective coatings, and treatment with alum. The principal methods tested in Switzerland over the last two decades described here include alcohol-ether-resin, Arigal C, Lyofix, PEG and freeze-drying (of which a successful experiment is detailed). Specialized laboratories have undertaken in-situ polymerisation treatments and systematic dendrochronological studies (project 16 of the National Fund for Scientific Research) recorded in a computerized data bank.

Social changes and the mass media: The Oxford House Cree, 1909–83

Under a system of treaties introduced after the confederation of Canada in 1867, the natives of the provinces gave up ownership of the land in return for hunting rights, land reserves, yearly payments of ‘treaty money’ and guarantees of medical care and attention. This article examines some of the changes that have affected the people of Oxford House, a Cree village in northern Manitoba, since Treaty Five was negotiated in 1909. Particular reference is made to changes brought about by the cinema, radio and television in the last two decades. Oxford House, a lakeside settlement with current population of 1 300, is described more fully elsewhere (Manitoba 1972).

The Use and Character of Wood in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland

Wood was one of early man's most valuable and important raw materials. It furnished him with shelter, heat and a range of tools and weapons necessary for his survival. It was perhaps the first material to be employed for tools, even before stone was actively worked, yet wood hardly figures in the minds of many archaeologists, and it plays no part in the traditional, outmoded but convenient Three Age system of European Prehistory: Stone-Bronze-Iron. Yet there is hardly a tool or weapon used by Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age man or woman which did not have a wooden part, and it is the purpose of this paper to point out the wealth of information that is available, or could be obtained, from studies of wooden artifacts.The reason for neglect of such studies is obvious. Wood is perishable; it decays if left exposed, it is easily broken, it burns to nothing, it rots in the soil, it loses its surface in moving water. Its survival for long periods of time is exceptional, and requires certain conditions of deliberate or accidental burial. Yet wood as a fact and a feature of prehistoric economy cannot be disputed. Without the survival of wooden remains, our knowledge of the Neolithic and Bronze Age lake-side settlements in Switzerland would be quartered, and our information about the Iron Age villages at Glastonbury and Biskupin would be substantially reduced. Only in circumstances where conditions are exceptionally favourable has wood survived in an identifiable state, and in these situations it can tell us much about economic life. Grahame Clark expressed the view long ago that ‘less attention (should be) paid to amassing residual fossils from sites unfavourable to the survival of the organic materials which play so important a part in the economy of simple societies, and more to exploring sites where these materials are likely to survive’ (Clark 1940, 58).