Neolithic Dwellings Research Articles

Issues of Studying Early Neolithic Dwellings of the Lower and Middle Volga Region

Analysis of problematic issues of studying the Late Stone Age dwellings from the Northern Caspian to the Kama forest region is made in the paper. The dwelling is considered one of the composite components of the archaeological culture. Previously, researchers focused mainly on ceramic and stone tools. The dwelling issue as a cultural indicator in the Late Stone Age remained open. The background is defined by searching for a new cognitive capacity for a comprehensive analysis of the archaeological culture. Dwelling characteristics in various landscape zones are presented. Simultaneous dwelling complexes were compared, which made it possible to identify peculiar features for each territory. A comparison was made on the basis of a broad cultural and territorial background. Characteristic features for different periods of cultural development within the same region were revealed. Dwellings design features in semi-desert, steppe, forest-steppe and forest areas were identified.

ПОСЕЛЕНИЕ ЧИЛИМКА V И ЕГО МЕСТО В НЕОЛИТЕ ТАЕЖНОЙ ЗОНЫ ЗАПАДНОЙ СИБИРИ

Settlements with a similar material culture dominated in the West Siberian taiga zone in the 6th and 5th millennia BC. They are characterized by pottery with rounded bottoms, thin walls and incised ornamentation. In the upper and middle Konda River area and in the basin of the Severnaya Sosva River such pottery is identified as belonging to the Umyt’insky and Chestyjyagsky cultural type, respectively, in the mid-Ob region it relates to the Bystrinsky archaeological culture. The Chilimka V settlement is situated in the lower section of the Konda River basin, on the border of the Bystrinsky and Umyt’insky areas. It was investigated by I. G. Glushkov in 1988. The Chilimka V complex characterized by pottery with rounded bottoms, thin walls and incised ornamentation was defined as a “Chilimkinsky ceramic type”. The genesis of this type, according to I. G. Glushkov and T. N. Sobolnikova, is connected with migrations of Kelterminar population to the taiga zone in the 3rd millennium BC. The fundamental question of the definition of the “Chilimkinsky ceramic type”, which arose during the development of the modern cultural and chronological scheme of the Neolithic, required to re-examine the materials of the excavations. We have established that the site is multi-layered. The Neolithic dwelling was penetrated by several late Neolithic burials. In addition, some shards of the Bronze Age were discovered. The analysis of Neolithic ceramics demonstrates its objective similarity to both Umyt’insky type and Bystrinsky culture. Based on this, it is suggested to combine the settlements of these types into one cultural-chronological horizon of the taiga Neolithic of the north of Western Siberia.

Pezmogty 3B – a small Neolithic dwelling on the Middle Vychegda (Komi Republic)

The paper publishes the results of a study of complex B of Pezmogty 3 site. The author has studied traces and remains of a depressed small dwelling with an excavation area of 81 m. The spatial distribution of artefacts, faunal remains and their association with deposits of different genesis have been analysed. It is defined that the studied structure was rounded in the plan, 3,03,5 m in diameter, 79,5 m in area, and, probably, a cone-shaped roof. The assemblage contains stone objects, fragments of ceramic ware and indeterminable items, fragments of calcified bones. The morphology of the flint arrowheads; the signs of secondary bifacial thinning technology; the ceramic pots, made of clay with an admixture of silt and decorated with a comb-pit ornament, allow us to attribute these materials to the Lyalovo culture in the European North-East and date them to the first half of the V millennium B.C. Until now, the most informative data for the study of this culture in north-eastern Europe were the remains of medium and large dwellings with an area of 26 to 100 m, so the published materials expand our understanding of the way of life and house-building traditions of the Middle Neolithic people of this region.

Communities Beyond Society: Divergence of Local Prehistories on the Bothnian Arc, Northern Europe

Abstract This article presents a comparison of material records of two nearby regions on the coast of the Bothnian Bay. The timeframe is 5300–2000 BCE. The focus is on regional differences, which indicate a schizmogenesis of communal identities. The study calls for a reorientation of research concerning Fennoscandian prehistory. More attention should be paid to localized prehistories. It is argued that when prehistoric society is used as a fundamental group category, especially in the context of forager communities, the modern concept of state society distorts the underlying framework. Focusing on the regional level by constructing local prehistoric narratives limits the anachronistic effect and allows the proliferation of local communal identities. Such local prehistories, when collated and compared, offer a pathway to understanding prehistoric stateless societies, which are misrepresented by simplistic material cultural zones and the inherent homogeny ingrained within the concept of society. In this paper, the analysis is focused on practices representing local traditions. Two divergent themes that arise from the local prehistoric narratives are the Late Mesolithic use of local stone materials and regional changes in Neolithic dwelling forms.

Archaeobotanical Macroscopic Plant Remains from the Early Neolithic Dwelling Structures at the Brzezie 40, Targowisko 16 and 14–15 Sites in Western Małopolska

The aim of this short article is to present the results of archaeobotanical analysis of macroscopic plant remains obtained in 2018–2019, during the test excavations carried out on three selected sites from Targowisko settlement region (Brzezie 40, Targowisko 16 and 14–15). Thanks to the field research strategy adopted, chronologically compact plant remains were obtained from objects included in the house structures, coming from narrow time horizons, equal to the operation time of individual Linienbandkeramik houses from the beginning of the Želiezovce phase (Brzezie 40 and Targowisko 16) and the phase of the classic Malice culture (Targowisko 14–15).

THE SETTLEMENT MOLYUKHIV BUHOR IN THE WORKS OF D. YA. TELEGIN AND ACCORDING TO MODERN DATA

The materials of Molyukhiv Buhor, obtained during excavations in 1955—1956 by V. M. Danylenko, were constantly used by D. Y. Telegin in his scientific works particularly in the monograph «Dnipro-Donetsk Culture. To the History of the Population of the Neolithic Epoch — Early Metal of the South of Eastern Europe» 1968; in the monograph «Seredni Stoh Culture of the Copper Age» in 1973; in the article «Cultural identity and dating of supine Eneolithic burials of the Steppe Dnieper» 1987; in the book «Neolithic Burial Grounds of the Mariupol Type» 1991; in the publication «Settlements of the Dnieper-Donetsk Ethnocultural Community of the Neolithic Era» 1998 (co-authored by O. M. Titova); in the book «Seredni Stoh and Novodanilivka cultures of the Eneolithic of the Azov-Pontic region: an archaeological-anthropological analysis of materials and catalog of sites» 2001 (co-authors A. L. Nechitaylo, I. D. Potekhina, Y. V. Panchenko). The conclusions of the scholar according to the first two monographs became the basis for the recognition of Molyukhiv Buhor as one of the outstanding sites of Ukraine in the Neo-Eneolithic Age.
 Since 1992 the archeological study of Molyukhiv Buhor has been carried out by the author who has discovered on the settlement the system of «moats» and «pillars», the remains of Neolithic dwellings, residential-economic complex of the late Neolithic age, the ancient burial ground with 6 different graveyards, 44 economic pits of different historical periods, etc.
 A diverse collection of archaeological materials, the total number of which is more than 103700 finds, is the ceramic complex, flint tools, stone tools, horn and bone products, copper products, and allows to describe fully and comprehensively the material culture of the inhabitants in the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods.
 Thus, new research allows us to clarify, supplement and expand our understanding of the material culture of the tribes of Dnieper-Donetsk and Seredni Stoh cultures, compare them with the research of D. Ya. Telegin 1960—1970 and note that many conclusions of the scholar of 50 years ago find their confirmation in new studies of Molyukhіv Buhor.
 Archaeological studies of the settlement are being continued. In recent years, they have focused on the excavation of a large residential and commercial complex in the north of the settlement.

Dwellings of the Elshan Early Neolithic culture

Dwelling is the most important source, revealing the details of social structure, economy, technical traditions and is of key importance for understanding society. Only a limited number of dwelling complexes which can be reliably interpreted as early Neolithic and classified as the Elshan culture have been identified. Moreover, the cultural and chronological attribution of some interpreted as early Neolithic dwellings, in our opinion, is not sufficiently reasoned. In this paper data on all Elshan residential buildings is combined and a brief interpretation is given, as well as some of the previously mentioned provisions are disclosed in more detail. To the early Neolithic in the forest-steppe Volga region, with a high degree of probability, only dwellings identified on the sites of Vyunovo ozero I, Imerka VII and Utyuzh I, with certain reservations, the dwelling of the Lugovoe III site, with the same reservations, the residential structure investigated at the Lebyazhinka IV site, can be classified with a high probability. Most likely, it belongs to the developed and late Neolithic of the region. In general, the dwellings of the Elshan culture were light frame structures, slightly deepened into the mainland, such as a hut, without a visible system in the location of pillar holes. Probably, but not doubtfully, the area of residential buildings of the Elshan culture increased from early to late stages of its development. In connection with the specific life support model of the Elshan population, which implied a systematic change of place of residence, they functioned for a short time. Judging by the available data, the use of a limited number of dishes (13 vessels) is associated with a period of Elshan population residence in one place, and, therefore, settlements with relatively large collections of ceramics were most likely visited many times by the Neolithic population.

A Multidisciplinary Study of Finds from Suchu Island (1973 Season, Excavation II, Dwelling 1)

We analyze new finds from a Neolithic dwelling 1 from excavation II at the Suchu Island, on the Amur River. We analyzed an assemblage of 3788 lithics and ceramics, along with field records housed at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of SB RAS. The article continues the series of publications in this journal, outlining the findings at Suchu—one of the key Neolithic sites in Northeast Asia. Dwelling 1 is a 0.8-meter-deep round semi-underground structure dug into the sandy loam. In its center, there was a hearth, and walls lacked ledges. On the floor, numerous pits from posts that had supported the roof were found. The stratigraphic and horizontal position of finds was registered; artifacts were analyzed through morphological typology, petrographic and X-ray analysis, and microscopy. Our analysis reveals hunting, fishing, and butchering tools, those for processing stone, wood, and bone, those for plant processing, and digging tools. Various sedimentary and igneous rocks were used as raw material. In terms of cultural chronology, standard pottery was mostly attributed to the Lower Amur cultures (Malyshevo and Voznesenovskoye), while some was apparently manufactured by immigrants. Principal technological, constructive, morphological, decorative, and functional characteristics of each ceramic type were assessed. Unusual artistic and ritual items clustered in dwelling 1 of the Malyshevo type (late 5th to early 4th millennia BC) are suggestive of a domestic shrine.

Orientation of Neolithic dwellings in Central and Southeast Europe: Common denominator between the Vinča and Linearbandkeramik worlds

This paper explores to what extent orientations of houses can contribute to chronological questions and to the cultural and social contextualisation in the Neolithic of Europe in general and societies with pottery styles labeled as Vinča and LBK in particular. First of all, the question is investigated to what extent systematic errors in the orientation of houses can contribute to the clarification of intra-site chronologies in tells and flat settlements of Southeastern Europe, as just recently proved for Linear Pottery Culture settlements. These systematic, counterclockwise deviations represent a cognitive phenomenon known as ‘Pseudoneglect’, which can be used to reconstruct e.g. relative-chronological sequences of houses in archaeo-magnetic plans. Beyond such fine-scaled variability, at a regional level, basic orientations of houses prove to be surprisingly durable and stable indicating their normative character and high ideological significance. Within Southeast Europe, regional standardisations can be distinguished for example with the ‘basic Balkan orientation’ and the ‘Upper Tisza orientation’. With regard to the relations between the Vinča and ‘the LBK′ we would like to highlight two points: Remarkable is, on the one hand, the high diversity of house orientations in the presumed area of formation of ‘the LBK’. Accordingly, human groups of different origins might have been involved in this formation process. On the other hand, it seems that not only human groups from the Balkan but also those from the upper Tisza region played a significant role in the formation and spread of the LBK.

Early Neolithic structures on the Upper Don

The peculiarity of the flood plain settlements on the river Don watershed and its tributaries is the fact that almost all of them are multi-layered. Early neolithic structures are a very rare find for the Upper Don territory. There are only two of them that are known. The first of them was investigated by V.P. Levenko by Fish Lake 2 in 1964. The second was investigated by the author of this article in 2012. They are light ground structures. Both of them are oval-shaped, about 11 and 18 square meters, slightly recessed in the mainland. Early Neolithic sites were seasonal. The structure from the Fish Lake 2 settlement had a hearth and probably functioned in the cold season. Structure from Vasilevsky Cordon 3 settlement functioned in the warm season, as no traces of the hearth were found in the explored structure. It is interesting to observe, that in each of the buildings only fragments of only one vessel were found. The same situation is observed in two Early Neolithic dwellings from the Vyunova Lake and Ytuz ancient sites in the Middle Volga. Both buildings belong to Karamyshevskaya Neolithic culture. They both are dated to the same period in time. Ceramics from settlement Vasilevsky Cordon 3 settlement are traced to one and the same date 5868 + 120 BP (1 50364458 BC) (SPb 1638).

Light in a Neolithic dwelling: Building 1 at Koutroulou Magoula (Greece)

Abstract

New questions for the old setting

Abstract The site of Vinca is often regarded as a yardstick for the entire Late Neolithic period of southeast Europe. Neolithic farmers, cattle-breeders, fishers, hunters, craftsmen, tradesmen and artists lived here for more than a millennium between 5600 and 4500 B.C. The site contains more than 9 m of cultural deposits, and its exceptional position at the crossroads of natural routes, at the bank of the River Danube, between the vast Pannonian plain and hilly inland made it ideal for scientific research. The site of Vinca-Belo Brdo became known among archaeologists and general public soon after its discovery in 1908. Since then, there three generations of archaeologists have been excavating here. Miloje M. Vasic will be remembered as the first one to bring to light artefacts and dwelling objects of what later became known as the Vinca culture. He had excavated the entire cultural deposit in ten campaigns between 1908 and 1934 at the central part of the site and discovered at least ten dwelling horizons, all yielding rich and abundant archaeological material. The excavations of 1978–1987, led by N. Tasic, D. Srejovic and G. Marjanovic-Vujovic, have ascertained the existence of post Neolithic dwelling horizons dated in the Copper Age, late Bronze Age and Medieval periods. Archaeological material from the site that has been excavated in the course of 105 years has been thoroughly studied, analysed, and published. It seems that it has given all the answers regarding internal division, style and function of pottery, procurement of raw materials, and relationship with other contemporaneous populations, but there are questions which cannot be answered by traditional archaeological means. The ongoing research at Belo Brdo in Vinca which started in 1998 and directed by the author of this text focuses not only on archaeological research but also on attracting and involving experts from different scientific disciplines. Archaeo-botany, archaeo-zoology, geology, geophysics, chemistry, IT, soil sciences, and geography will be used in our attempt to reconstruct some aspects of the palaeoenvironment of the site of Vinca. These new results of applied sciences, combined with archaeological knowledge, will help us answer much more complex questions concerning the relationship of human populations and their environment; explain some of the choices these people made; and perhaps give us an answer as to why they had left the site by the end of the Neolithic.

The Restoration and Meaning of Neolithic Dwellings

The Restoration and Meaning of Neolithic Dwellings

Fuel and vegetation at Asa Koma (Republic of Djibouti) during the second millennium BC

Charcoal analyses were performed on hearths and ash layers from a seasonally occupied Neolithic dwelling site in the eastern lowlands of the Horn of Africa, dated to the first half of the second millennium BC. It was suggested by an earlier study that the predominance of two taxa, Suaeda (seablite)/Chenopodiaceae and Salvadora persica (saltbush), could be an over-representation due to the selection of wood for specialized use, i.e. fish processing. In this study, we show that this can be ruled out, and that the characteristics of the charcoal spectra can be explained in terms of past vegetation composition. We suggest that arid steppe plant formations prevailed, from which most of the fauna was hunted, and that the nearby water channel was not active all year round.

Complexity of the processes of Neolithization: Tradition and modernity of the Aegean world at the dawn of the Holocene period (11–9 kyr)

This paper explores the complexity and the plurality of the Neolithization process in the Aegean area (including the Balkans). In view of recent multidisciplinary research, the Neolithization of that area can no longer be viewed as a simple colonization originating from the Near East and Anatolia. It has become increasingly apparent that the Childean Ex oriente lux concept is based on insufficient evidence. The autochthonous model of a localized Aegean or rather Balkan-focused process, and implying that the Neolithic has its roots in a diversified Mesolithic substratum, is increasingly gaining ground. The transition to the Neolithic in Southeast Europe is first and foremost a shift from the primeval Paleolithic and Mesolithic traditions (scavenging and hunting) to modernity (stock rearing and farming).The rise of the Aegean Sea level at the beginning of the Holocene considerably complicated any survey of Mesolithic and earliest Neolithic sites. Despite the views held by the diffusionists, the Aegean area was densely populated by the end of the Paleolithic and during the Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic period (10000–9000BP). This is the result of the richness of the resources for hunter gathering and incipient agriculture. The apparent paucity of Mesolithic and early Neolithic sites (9000–8000BP) in Greece is largely due to the insufficient exploration. The difficulty of prospecting for small-size microlithic industries necessitates great experience and expertise.Numerous Mesolithic and initial Neolithic dwelling sites (both sedentary settlements and short or seasonal encampments) existed: along the coasts, in the interior and also in the highlands. One may reasonably suggest that various manifestations of environmental changes were at the base of the complex mosaic character of the Neolithization process in the Aegean World, and in the Balkans.

Une pratique funéraire originale du Néolithique moyen bourguignon : des vestiges de crémation à Lyon (Rhône)

Un secteur du quartier de Vaise (Lyon, Rhone) a fait l'objet d'une fouille preventive au 51-53 quai Paul Sedallian. En rive droite de la Saone, a environ six kilometres au nord de la confluence actuelle de cette riviere avec le fleuve Rhone, l'occupation attribuee au Neolithique moyen bourguignon (NMB) se caracterise par un sol anthropique SL303, une fosse FS229 et l'ensemble E246. SL303, observe sur une faible extension (43 m2), pourrait faire partie de l'installation caracterisee par la fosse FS229 et l'ensemble E246, qui livrent des residus de cremation. Un os humain brule provient de SL303. Les os ont ete brules a l'etat frais et sont en majorite ceux d'un adulte, seuls quelques elements appartiennent a un enfant. L'occupation NMB est difficile a caracteriser, cependant FS229 et E246 se rapportent a une activite funeraire et peu d'elements plaident en faveur d'un habitat. Parmi le corpus ceramique, coupes et ecuelles representent l'essentiel des recipients identifies (dix sur onze), une seule jarre a ete reconnue. L'echantillon semble incomplet ou biaise. Soit l'apparente selection de ce mobilier est a mettre en relation avec l'etat de conservation du site (fort impact destructeur des amenagements industriels), soit elle depend de la nature de l'installation; les recipients traduiraient dans ce cas un choix en relation avec les gestes funeraires. En outre, la repartition des types par ensemble archeologique permet d'opposer la serie des recipients issus du sol SL303 a celle des excavations (E246 et FS229). La difference entre les formes representees dans chaque contexte est sans doute fonctionnelle et conduit a interpreter le sol SL303 comme un niveau de circulation, alors que E246 et FS229 se rapportent a des depots de vestiges de cremation. D'un point de vue archeologique, les faits E246, FS229 et SL303 sont lies. La typologie de la ceramique, ainsi que leur contenu (os humains brules), assurent la synchronie de E246 et de FS229. Le sol SL303, proche, mais sans relation stratigraphique, appartient a la meme phase chronoculturelle. Pour affirmer le lien archeologique entre les vestiges, un datage par le Centre de datation radiocarbone de Lyon sur os humains brules a ete realise. Le resultat (Lyon-2164 (Oxa) : 5080 +/- 30 BP), en adequation avec la typologie ceramique NMB, assure l'attribution chronoculturelle et l'association des recipients avec les os humains brules. Les vestiges de Sedallian illustrent la seule cremation certifiee pour le NMB. Le corpus ceramique et la date sont en concordance pour attribuer cette occupation a une phase ancienne de ce groupe culturel, en position meridionale par rapport a la zone eponyme de la Franche-Comte et de la Bourgogne.

Les pirogues néolithiques de Paris-Bercy

The excavation, between 1991-1992, ofa branch ofthe Seine in Paris revealed three neolithic dwellings on the south bank: two front the middle neolithic period and one front the end of the neolithic or chalcolithic period. Ten oak dugouts were discovered at the foot of these sites, together with neolitic objects in secondary position, six examples have already been dated using C14 analysis. The weight of the sediment covering these vestiges (which were substantially deformed) and their rather fragmented state, does not allow for a study of their forms. This can only be done at a later stage, after completion of the conservation and restoration process. However, it is essential to proceed with the analysis of the marks left by the tools (or workmanship traces) before this work due to their being barely visible and their superfìcial aspect. The interest ο f these skiffs is not so much in their form (they are all incomplete) as in the building process. Three of them have carbonised traces protruding from the bottom which is, sometimes, exceptionally thin. This proves that the prehistoric people mastered the practice of hollowing out by fire from the beginning of the middle neolithic period (n° 1). The use οf different techniques and tools for making the bottom and sides has also been noted. The first one has a szries of parallel lines with the longitudinal axis, made up of a succession of cupulas produced by hitting with an adze. The sides, however, bear oblique traces (n° 3, 7 and 8) sometimes in the form of a group of offset marks, the layout ο f which indicates the uses ο f axes (also confirmed by the space available for thè handle). Finally, occasionai cubie tenons (n° 4), long tenons (n° 3), cross reinforcement (n° 2) and in the case of the dugout 3, a cross groove have been observed. The latter could well correspond to an original means for controlling the thickness of the bottom during the last stage of hollowing out. Thanks to the analysis of the workmanship traces, sometimes very unclear, the Paris-Bercy dugouts, although incomplete, open new perspectives with regards to their function and building techniques. This analysis would have been impossible, seeing the decomposed and fragmented state of the wood, without an excellent collaboration with the team responsible for the restoration work.

THE EXCAVATION OF A NEOLITHIC DWELLING, and a Bronze Age Cairn at Mount Pleasant Farm, Nottage, Glam. By H. N. Savory. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 1955. pp. 19 + 4 figs. + 2 plates. Price not given.

THE EXCAVATION OF A NEOLITHIC DWELLING, and a Bronze Age Cairn at Mount Pleasant Farm, Nottage, Glam. <i>By</i> H. N. Savory. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 1955. pp. 19 + 4 <i>figs.</i> + 2 <i>plates.</i> Price not given.

Neolithic Dwellings in the Forest Zone of the European Part of the U.S.S.R.

The hypothesis that in Neolithic times men lived for the most part in pit-dwellings is fairly widely distributed in archaeological literature. Thus, for example, W. Radig from 188 neolithic sites examined in Germany up to 1930 listed 109 as having pit-dwellings (Grubenwohnungen), an additional sixteen having pit-dwellings with a cone-shaped covering (Grubenwohnungen mit schrägen Pfostenlöchern), eight with vertical walls (Grubenwohnungen mit senkrechten Pfostenlöchern) and two of mixed type. This hypothesis was also widely held among Soviet archaeologists who often described their discoveries of pit-dwellings in their accounts of excavations of neolithic sites. A completely contrary opinion has been put forward by G. Childe in relation to neolithic dwellings in the temperate zone of Europe.