Linearbandkeramik Sites Research Articles

Cataloguing and mapping the Linear Band Pottery sites in Ukraine

Linearbandkeramik (LBK) is the most well-studied Neolithic culture in Central Europe. However, the easternmost part of its area is less known to European researchers. Addressing this gap, information on 175 reliable and 95 questionable LBK sites and six sub-Neolithic sites with LBK pottery in Ukraine has been collected, verified, and systematized. The precise mapping of these sites provided in this paper allows future analysis of their spatial distribution. Accurate contouring of the eastern boundary of the LBK area has revealed the exploitation and exchange of flint, graphite, and salt as a possible driving force of the first farmers’ mobility in the region.

Lithic Industry of the Kamyane-Zavallia Linearbandkeramik Site in Ukraine (2019 Campaign)

The paper treats a selection of lithic finds from Kamyane-Zavallia (Kam’âne-Zavallâ) – the easternmost Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK) site ever excavated. The lithic assemblage belongs to typical representatives of the early farming lithic industries in the region. It is characterized by prismatic cores for blade production, end-scrapers on fragmented blades and flakes, retouched blades, perforators, and a blade fragment with “sickle gloss”. There is a single projectile point of unidentifiable morphology. The authors argue that there is no trace of “Mesolithic heritage” in the assemblage of Kamyane-Zavallia. The assemblage finds close parallels in the sites of Nicolaevca V, Dănceni I, and other LBK sites from Moldova and Romania.

Dating the emergence of dairying by the first farmers of Central Europe using 14C analysis of fatty acids preserved in pottery vessels

Direct, accurate, and precise dating of archaeological pottery vessels is now achievable using a recently developed approach based on the radiocarbon dating of purified molecular components of food residues preserved in the walls of pottery vessels. The method targets fatty acids from animal fat residues, making it uniquely suited for directly dating the inception of new food commodities in prehistoric populations. Here, we report a large-scale application of the method by directly dating the introduction of dairying into Central Europe by the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) cultural group based on dairy fat residues. The radiocarbon dates (n = 27) from the 54th century BC from the western and eastern expansion of the LBK suggest dairy exploitation arrived with the first settlers in the respective regions and were not gradually adopted later. This is particularly significant, as contemporaneous LBK sites showed an uneven distribution of dairy exploitation. Significantly, our findings demonstrate the power of directly dating the introduction of new food commodities, hence removing taphonomic uncertainties when assessing this indirectly based on associated cultural materials or other remains.

Lithic industry of two Linearbandkeramik sites in Moldova (Nicolaevca V and Ţâra II)

The two Linear Pottery culture lithic complexes presented in this paper came from northern Moldova. The Nicolaevca V assemblage was gathered from excavations of a small LBK dwelling, while the Ţâra II collection came from an eight-shaped pit. There was a “deposit” of objects suitable for knapping found in Nicolaevca V. This complex reflects flake-oriented expedient knapping. The Ţâra II complex represents a complicated sequence for obtaining regular blades. The interpretation of their differences is sought in the social organization of Neolithic flint-knapping, in which the Nicolaevca V lithic assemblage supposedly reflects domestic production in a household context, while Ţâra II products could have been involved in the exchange network.

Stable isotopic insights into crop cultivation, animal husbandry, and land use at the Linearbandkeramik site of Vr\xe1ble-Ve\u013ek\xe9 Lehemby (Slovakia)

The plant and animal components of Linearbandkeramik (LBK) subsistence systems were remarkably uniform with cattle, emmer and einkorn wheat providing the primary source of sustenance for Europe’s earliest agricultural communities. This apparent homogeneity in plant and animal use has been implicitly understood to indicate corresponding similarity in the types of husbandry practices employed by LBK farmers across the entire distribution of the LBK culture. Here, we examine the results from the stable (δ13C/δ15N) isotope analysis of animal bone and cereal grains from the site of Vráble-Veľké Lehemby (Slovakia), providing new information about Linearbandkeramik farming practices in the western Carpathians. Moderately high carbon isotope values from animal bone collagen show that all livestock were pastured in open areas with no evidence of forest pasturing, previously associated with LBK settlements in north-western Europe. High δ15N values measured from domesticated cereal grains suggest manuring took place at the site, while 15N enrichment in bone collagen suggest livestock fed on agricultural by-products and possibly grains. An integrated plant-animal management system was in use at Vráble where livestock grazed on cultivation plots post-harvest. Use of such strategy would have helped fatten animals before the lean winter months while simultaneously fertilising agricultural plots with manure. This study contributes to our growing understanding that although the building blocks of LBK subsistence strategies were remarkably similar, diversity in management strategies existed across central and north-western Europe.

Palaeoenvironment and potential resources for early Holocene subsistence in the Ammer River Valley (Germany) based on palaeoecological and bioarchaeological evidence

The Upper Neckar and Ammer River valleys in southwestern Germany correspond to the southwestern limit of the overall distribution of the oldest Linear Bandkeramik (LBK) culture. More than 200 Neolithic sites are known from this region, with one of the oldest sites located in the vicinity of the village Ammerbuch-Pfäffingen, 10 km west of Tübingen, Germany. The archaeological record suggests that settlement activities occurred here between approximately 6300 and 6030 BP (modelled ca. 5290-4900 calBC). Despite the various on-site activities, little is known about the environment and its resources that were available prior to and after the LBK arrival. We here present the first results of a palynological study of a 2.4 m section from two parallel, overlapping 16 m (in total) sediment cores. The cores were retrieved in 2018 from a palaeo-wetland (Ammer palaeo-mire) only 0.7 km distant from the LBK settlement “Lüsse” and 2.5 km from the LBK settlement “Unteres Feld”. Pollen, spores, charcoal and plant macro-remains indicate three major periods of vegetational development between 10,650 and 7870 calBP. Accordingly, between 10,650 and 10,150 calBP, deciduous oak forests with strong participation of hazel (Corylus avellana) and open vegetation dominated by Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae and diverse species of the Asteraceae family were spread around a shallow palaeo-wetland of ~3 km2. From 10,150 to 8400 calBP, vegetation around the palaeo-wetland turns into a mixed oak forest with an even more prominent presence of hazel. From 8400 to 7870 calBP, a noticeable dominance of mixed oak forests is established in the surroundings and the palaeo-lake turns into a river floodplain. It is highly probable that, at the time of the arrival of the LBK, diverse natural plant resources were available from a mixture of trees, herbs and wetland taxa. The bioarchaeological evidence from the following LBK are based on the analysis of seeds/fruits and wood charcoal from ‘Lüsse’ and ‘Unteres Feld’ and complements the information on land use for the period after the pollen record stops. The results suggest that the alluvial wetland area continued to provide food resources, together with the mixed oak forests which were also targeted by the LBK population. Apart from cultivation, LBK land-use caused an increase in the light-demanding forest component. The current study integrates the usually rarely available palaeo-ecological records from near LBK sites with on-site bioarchaeological evidence and thus delivers valuable insights on the environment at the beginning of farming in Central Europe.

Multi-proxy Archaeobotanical Analysis from Mesolithic and Early Neolithic Sites in South-west Ukraine

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of archaeobotanical studies carried out on the Late Mesolithic layer at Melnychna-Krucha (6460–6100 cal BC) and the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) site of Kamyane-Zavallia (5295–4960 cal BC), close to the Southern Bug River. Despite the relatively modest dataset presented in this paper, these preliminary results provide new data for a region where the environmental setting and the uses of plant resources during the Early Atlantic period are poorly understood. The main taxa used for firewood are quite similar at Melnychna-Krucha and Kamyane-Zavallia, although they were occupied 1000 years apart. Fraxinus (ash) and Quercus (oak) dominate both charcoal assemblages. These taxa, as well as Ulmus (elm), could have grown together in the alluvial deciduous forest, probably on the Southern Bug riverbank, close to both sites. Carpinus (hornbean) was present but probably still not abundant around Kamyane-Zavallia at the end of the 6th millennium. Macroremains and phytoliths demonstrate that the plant production economy (cultivation, cereal processing) was well developed and very similar to other European LBK sites. At Melnychna-Krucha, plant macro- and microremains did not indicate a productive subsistence.

Interactions between earliest Linearbandkeramik farmers and central European hunter gatherers at the dawn of European Neolithization

Archaeogenetic research over the last decade has demonstrated that European Neolithic farmers (ENFs) were descended primarily from Anatolian Neolithic farmers (ANFs). ENFs, including early Neolithic central European Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farming communities, also harbored ancestry from European Mesolithic hunter gatherers (WHGs) to varying extents, reflecting admixture between ENFs and WHGs. However, the timing and other details of this process are still imperfectly understood. In this report, we provide a bioarchaeological analysis of three individuals interred at the Brunn 2 site of the Brunn am Gebirge-Wolfholz archeological complex, one of the oldest LBK sites in central Europe. Two of the individuals had a mixture of WHG-related and ANF-related ancestry, one of them with approximately 50% of each, while the third individual had approximately all ANF-related ancestry. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for all three individuals were within the range of variation reflecting diets of other Neolithic agrarian populations. Strontium isotope analysis revealed that the ~50% WHG-ANF individual was non-local to the Brunn 2 area. Overall, our data indicate interbreeding between incoming farmers, whose ancestors ultimately came from western Anatolia, and local HGs, starting within the first few generations of the arrival of the former in central Europe, as well as highlighting the integrative nature and composition of the early LBK communities.

Temporal dynamics of Linearbandkeramik houses and settlements, and their implications for detecting the environmental impact of early farming

Long-held ideas concerning early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) settlements in central Europe have been thoroughly challenged in recent years, for example, regarding their internal organisation or the use-life of individual houses. These topics have now also been addressed with the help of large radiocarbon (14C) datasets. In the light of this discussion, we present findings of our ongoing research at Vráble in south-western Slovakia. Intensive prospection by fieldwalking, geophysics and sedimentology, complemented by targeted excavations and archaeobotanical investigations, aims to unravel social and temporal relationships between three adjacent LBK settlements. A total of 23 of the c.300 houses revealed by geophysical prospection have been dated. Bayesian chronological modelling of this dataset, comprising 109 14C ages from 104 samples, indicates that the three LBK settlements at Vráble coexisted, and that overall the LBK settlement lasted for c. 200–300 years. Our results imply a ‘short’ use-life for individual houses (median c.20–30 y), suggesting that relatively few houses were inhabited simultaneously. Our data suggest that the overall LBK population at Vráble might have increased over the course of occupation, but probably never exceeded 200–300 individuals, based on the number of houses that could have been occupied contemporaneously. We compare the Vráble evidence with Bayesian chronologies for other LBK sites, and discuss the implications of these findings for models of population agglomeration and recognising the environmental impact of early farming communities.

Cattle, consumption and causewayed enclosures (response to Parmenter, Johnson and Outram)

ABSTRACTThis article takes issue with Parmenter, Johnson and Outram’s (2015) characterization of the faunal assemblages from causewayed enclosures as indistinguishable from those from domestic sites. Their study of bone processing at Etton is helpful and innovative, but they neglect other aspects of assemblage variability, while their account of Neolithic subsistence in Britain underplays differences across space and time. A distinction can be made at causewayed enclosures between bones that have been minimally processed and swiftly buried, and others that have been picked over and stored in surface middens. The latter appear to predominate at the single-circuit enclosure at Etton, but this need not mean that feasting did not take place at the site. Finally, the significance of a comparison of the remains at Etton with the Linearbandkeramik site Ludwinowo 7 is questioned, as it is probable that feasting also took place at the latter site.

A new approach to profiling taphonomic history through bone fracture analysis, with an example application to the Linearbandkeramik site of Ludwinowo 7

This paper presents a new method of assessing and displaying taphonomic history through detailed bone fracture analysis. Bone is a particularly useful indicator of taphonomic processes as it is sensitive to when it is broken based on degradation over time. Our proposed ‘fracture history profiles’ show the sequences of fracture and fragmentation that have affected assemblages of bone specimens from the death of the animal to recovery by archaeologists. The method provides an assessment of the carcass processing traditions of past people, relating specifically to bone marrow and bone grease extraction. In addition, by analysing post-deposition fracture and bone modifications caused by burning, gnawing and other taphonomic agents, it is possible to reconstruct a comprehensive taphonomic history for each archaeological context. This has implications for understanding effects on other artefacts that have no equivalent diagnostic features for determining timing of breakage, and also for establishing the nature of events such as secondary disturbance of deposits. This method will be demonstrated using a case study from the Neolithic Linearbandkeramik culture.

Late Mesolithic Armature Variability in the Southern North Sea Basin: Implications for Forager-LinearbandkeramikContact Models of the Transition to Agriculture in Belgium and the Southern Netherlands

Lithic armatures have been widely noted as key evidence for interpreting the role of indigenous Mesolithic traditions in the spread of the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture, and therefore early agriculture, across temperate Europe. Their role as evidence for the continuity of Mesolithic ‘identities’ has been emphasized without the use of a unified, systematic recording methodology of armatures from both Late–Final Mesolithic (LM–FM) and LBK sites that places armatures in their broader context as part of projectile technologies of late hunter-gatherers and early farmers. In this paper, we present the results of recent research in the southern North Sea basin that utilized a systematic and unified recording methodology to analyse armature assemblages from LM–FM and LBK sites on an inter-regional scale. We report that there is much more inter-regional variability in armature assemblages during the LM than traditionally considered in efforts to interpret similarities and possible cultural transmission processes between Mesolithic and LBK populations. This paper calls for a reassessment of inter-regional LM variability in the construction of Mesolithic-LBK contact models and a focus that places armatures in their broader social and technological contexts.

New insights into the Early Neolithic economy and management of animals in Southern and Central Europe revealed using lipid residue analyses of pottery vessels

Analyses of organic residues preserved in ceramic potsherds enable the identification of foodstuffs processed in archaeological vessels. Differences in the isotopic composition of fatty acids allow differentiation of non-ruminant and ruminant fats, as well as adipose and dairy fats. This paper investigates the trends in milk use in areas where sheep and goats are dominant in the faunal assemblage and in some sites from the Linearbandkeramik culture. Sites include: Colle Santo Stefano, Abruzzo, Italy, and the Oldest to Young Linearbandkeramik sites of Zwenkau, Eythra and Brodau, Saxony, and Wang and Niederhummel, Bavaria, Germany. More than 160 potsherds were investigated including cooking pots, bowls, jars, and ceramic sieves. The lipid residues presented provide direct evidence for the processing of ruminant and non-ruminant commodities at Zwenkau and Eythra, despite the absence of faunal remains at the sites. No dairy residues were detected in potsherds from LBK sites, except in a ceramic sieve at Brodau. Lipids from non-ruminant and ruminant fats, including from dairy fats, were detected at the site of Colle Santo Stefano showing a reliance on dairy products during the first half of the sixth millennium at this site; where sheep and goats were the major domestic animals.

Natural woodland composition and vegetation dynamic during the Linearbandkeramik in north-western Europe (central Belgium, 5200–5000 b.c.)

Charcoal analysis was carried out on seven Linearbandkeramik sites in Hesbaye (central Belgium), where a first and a second stage of settlement were highlighted. This provides opportunity to examine the vegetation dynamic during the LBK culture which lasted around 200 years in this region. The natural forest at the arrival of the Neolithic farming communities may have been quite closed, with low species diversity. A few gaps in the forest canopy probably allowed the local development of heliophilous species like Rosaceae as well as shrubs in the undergrowth. The impact of human activities, like house building, setting up fields or foddering, favoured the availability of light and the development of heliophilous post-pioneer taxa like Maloideae which have been particularly exploited for firewood during the second stage of settlement.

Plant economy of the first farmers of central Belgium (Linearbandkeramik, 5200–5000 b.c.)

Carbonized fruits and seeds from 17 Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in central Belgium are discussed. The number of cultivated plants is rather limited, and two cultivated cereals (maybe three with barley), two pulses and two oil plants have been identified. These results agree with those from other LBK sites. The uniformity of plant assemblages within the western LBK territory shows few variations at the regional and inter-regional levels. Gathering evidence seems to be more important west of central Belgium, but it has to be further investigated. Concerning cultivated plants, emmer is dominant west of the river Rhine whereas einkorn seems to have been preferred east of it. Naked barley could have been introduced to the western part of the LBK territory and indicates Mediterranean influence. Opium poppy seeds discovered in LBK sites confirm these influences, but poppy could have been cultivated for the first time by LBK people.

Early Neolithic diet and animal husbandry: stable isotope evidence from three Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in Central Germany

The first appearance of the Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) in Central Germany occurred during the 6th millennium BC. However, though LBK sites are abundant in the German loess areas, there are only a few studies that reconstruct the diet of these first farmers using biochemical methods. Here we present the largest study undertaken to date on LBK material using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen to reconstruct human diet and animal husbandry strategies. We analyzed the bone collagen of 97 human individuals and 45 associated animals from the sites of Derenburg, Halberstadt and Karsdorf in the Middle Elbe–Saale region of Central Germany. Mean adult human values are −19.9 ± 0.4‰ for δ 13C and 8.7 ± 0.8‰ for δ 15N. The δ 13C values are typical for terrestrial, temperate European regions, whereas the δ 15N values fall within an expected range for farming societies with a mixed diet consisting of products from domestic animals and plants. The consumption of unfermented dairy products is unlikely as there is direct palaeogenetic evidence of lactose intolerance available for one of the sites. There are no clear indications for dietary differences in sex. Young children under three years of age are enriched in δ 15N due to breastfeeding indicating that weaning likely occurred around the age of three years. The fauna exhibit mean δ 13C values of −20.9 ± 0.8‰ and mean δ 15N values of 7.0 ± 0.9‰ respectively. Variation in the δ 13C and δ 15N in the domestic animals is probably caused by different livestock managements.

A tribute to Corrie Bakels on the occasion of her 65th birthday

This is a special issue of Vegetation History and Archaeobotany (VHA) and therefore gets a special introduction: as some of you may realise, Prof. Dr. C. C. Bakels, Corrie to friends and colleagues, will celebrate her 65th birthday this year. We therefore thought it would be appropriate to honour her with this issue of VHA. It is composed of articles written by a selection of her students at Leiden University and from colleagues with whom she has co-operated closely. Of course there are many more students, friends and colleagues who could have contributed, but the number of pages available was limited! Corrie Bakels was born on the 17th of December 1942 in Heerlen, in the south of the Netherlands. She went to High School (Gymnasium B) and wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a mining engineer. During her Biology study at Leiden University, by pure coincidence (she was ‘‘filling in gaps’’ in her program) she became acquainted with archaeology. Shortly after her Cum Laude graduation in 1967, when she was working on water sewerage systems, Corrie was asked by Prof. Dr. P. J. R. Modderman to set up an archaeobotanical laboratory at the Institute for Prehistory at Leiden University. Starting with nothing but a chair, an empty desk and a bare bookshelf, she turned it into a prosperous unit. Her first important find was from Hienheim (Germany), where Prof. Dr. P. J. R. Modderman was excavating a Linear Bandkeramik (LBK) site. In the fills of pit 414 she saw charred peas and demanded that the contents should be sieved. This was the start of many samples to come! Pisum was not her favourite species though; Papaver came first and this was connected with her speciality: LBK. In May 1978, she defended her thesis entitled ‘‘Four Linear Bandkeramik sites and their environment’’. Soon she expanded both in period (Mesolithic up to modern Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00334-007-0117-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.