Neolithic Occupation Research Articles

Revisión radiocarbónica y cronocultural del Neolítico antiguo de la Balma Margineda (Aixovall, Andorra)

This work discusses the radiocarbon evidence from the Neolithic layers of the Balma Margineda (Andorra). Since the last excavation campaigns during the ‘90s, a total of ten 14C dates has been obtained. We discuss their stratigraphic provenance and suggest that only three of the ten 14C dates should be considered reliable. The new dates assign the Neolithic occupations to a more recent chronology. Moreover, we also present a brief revision of the ceramic and lithic materials from the in situ Neolithic layers, in order reinterpret the site using the most recent data on the Early Neolithic of Pyrenean region.

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.

Lake Level Changes, Lake Edge Basins and the Paleoenvironment of the Fayum North Shore, Egypt, during the Early to Mid-Holocene

Fluctuations in the levels of Lake Qarun, Fayum, Egypt have long been recognized and are associated with Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic occupations dating to the early to mid-Holocene, some of which contain early evidence for the presence of southwest Asian domestic plants and animals. Here evidence for the extent and timing of these lake level changes is reassessed based on the analysis of a satellite derived digital surface model of the north shore of Lake Qarun. A more accurate topography for the region casts doubts on previously published lake level changes. The topography of a series of lake edge basins is assessed and used to make inferences about the nature of the early to mid-Holocene palaeoenvironment. This assessment in turn allows discussion of the significance of environmental change for shifts in the mid-Holocene palaeoeconomy documented in the Fayum.

Exploring Integrated Geophysics and Geotechnics as a Paleolandscape Reconstruction Tool: Archaeological Prospection of (Prehistoric) Sites Buried Deeply below the Scheldt Polders (NW Belgium)

AbstractDuring extensive construction works in Antwerp harbour, well preserved Late Glacial dune formations were discovered buried deeply below the Scheldt polders and covered by peat, organic matter (OM) rich clays and marine clayey to sandy sediments. First, coring based archaeological prospection strategies for evaluating prehistoric occupation levels in wetland landscapes are reviewed. Next, a more effective approach including near surface geophysical and geotechnical techniques is proposed and tested in Doelpolder Noord. The results indicate that high resolution electromagnetic induction survey at multiple coil spacing provides a suitable approximation of the prehistoric landscape variability but is challenged by variations in groundwater brackishness. Gridded cone penetration tests provide a solution in such cases and serve as an excellent interpretation tool for the conductivity data in general. Due to the required effort, electrical resistance imaging and shear wave land seismics were judged inefficient. Finally, a small dune with indications of paleosol conservation and estimated suitability for Final Palaeolithic to Early Neolithic occupation is sampled by Dutch hand augering and Sonic Drill Aqualock coring. Archaeological indicators for prehistoric occupation such as burnt bone and flint fragments were retrieved from these samples after sieving. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Early Neolithic Pits and Artefact Scatters at North Fen, Sutton Gault, Cambridgeshire

This paper presents the results of an excavation at North Fen, Sutton Gault, Cambridgeshire, which revealed evidence of Early Neolithic occupation comprising some 48 pits together with twoin situartefact scatters preserved within buried soil horizons. Largely as a result of the spatial separation between scatters and pit sites/clusters, it has been possible to identify a series of ‘sites’, which appear to represent temporally discrete episodes of activity ranging from task-specific ‘visits’ to relatively long-lived occupation. Through analysis of pottery and flint assemblages an attempt is made to characterise each individual site in terms of the types of activities undertaken there and to consider their scale and duration. Set within a landscape that has seen extensive archaeological investigation over the past 30 years the excavation also provides an excellent opportunity to explore how these sites relate to activity in the wider locale and to what extent it is possible to characterise Early Neolithic occupation at a landscape scale.

Hunter-herders in the limestone massif of Estremadura: Middle Neolithic fauna from the Pena d’Água rock-shelter (Torres Novas, Portugal)

The Pena d’Água Rock-shelter (Torres Novas, Portugal) was excavated in 1992–2000, revealing a long stratigraphic and cultural sequence including Middle Neolithic occupations. A preliminary study on its fauna was published by Valente (1998) based on the 1992–1994 material, but the 1997–2000 campaigns remained unstudied. The aim of this study is to present the full fauna analysis of the layer Db, dated from the earlier phases of that period.
 Like other assemblages from the same time frame in the area, the fauna collection understudy is small. Its bones showed several surface and chemical alterations due to sediment pressure, exposure to fire and water percolation. Regarding the taxonomical abundances, most remains were classified as rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and sheep and/or goat (Ovis aries/Capra hircus). A few specimens of cervid, fox (Vulpes vulpes) and bird were also identified.
 The other fauna assemblages from the region show either the prevalence of the caprine component (as in Pena d’Água) or a higher abundance of cervids. This trend may reflect a specialized animal exploitation and we propose that the Middle Neolithic human communities in the Limestone Massif had a subsistence strategy based on caprine exploration, supplemented by some cervid (red deer) hunting. These hunter-herders groups were probably highly mobile and may have practiced some kind of transhumance (or itinerant pastoralism), for which the details are still unknown.

The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume 1: The Excavation of Ban Lum Khao. Edited by C F W Higham and R Thosarat. 300mm. Pp xvi + 343, 301 col and b&w ills, 85 tables. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand, Bangkok, 2004. isbn9744176881. Price not given (hbk). - The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume 2: The

The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume 1: The Excavation of Ban Lum Khao. Edited by C F W Higham and R Thosarat. 300mm. Pp xvi + 343, 301 col and b&amp;w ills, 85 tables. The Fine Arts Department of Thailand, Bangkok, 2004. <scp>isbn</scp>9744176881. Price not given (hbk). - The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor. Volume 2: The

Zooarchaeological Evidence for Early Neolithic Colonization at Franchthi Cave (Peloponnese, Greece)

Franchthi Cave is a cornerstone for research on the mechanisms of the forager-producer transition in the southern Balkans region. Publications on this site have documented the geological, artifactual, and macrobotanical records, but detailed information on the faunas is lacking. This zooarchaeological study focuses on the Final Mesolithic and Initial Neolithic periods and the question of whether livestock were adopted as isolated components by late Mesolithic foragers or the site was colonized by people who possessed a fully agricultural lifestyle. Because minor stratigraphic mixing may underlie earlier perceptions of a gradual inclusion of domestic animals into the diet during the Initial Neolithic occupation, we examine this question with the help of zooarchaeological and taphonomic data. Changes in taxonomic abundance, contrasting patterns of burning damage, and caprine (sheep and goat) demographic and body-size data together reveal an abrupt shift from a broad spectrum diet during the Final Mesolithic...

Another brick in the wall: fifth millennium BC earthen-walled architecture on the Channel shores

Abstract

Human–landscape interactions in the Conquezuela–Ambrona Valley (Soria, continental Iberia): From the early Neolithic land use to the origin of the current oak woodland

Abstract The sedimentological, geochemical and palynological analyses performed in the Conquezuela palaeolake (41°11′N; 2°33′W; 1124 m a.s.l.) provide a detailed, multiproxy palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in one of the key areas of inner Iberian Neolithic colonization. Combined with archaeobotanical and archaeological data from well-dated settlements along the Conquezuela–Ambrona Valley we investigate how environmental conditions may affect both socio-economic adaptations and livelihood strategies of prehistoric communities. The first evidences of early Neolithic occupation in the valley ca. 7250–6450 cal yr BP (5300–4500 BC) coincided with the onset of a period (7540–6200 cal yr BP, 5590–4250 BC) with higher water availability and warmer climate as alluvial environments were substituted by carbonate-wetland environments in the basin. The Conquezuela record supports an early Neolithic colonization of the inner regions of Iberia favored by warmer and humid climate features and with preferential settlement patterns associated to lakes. The maximum human occupation of the valley occurred during the mid–late Neolithic and Chalcolithic (6200–3200 cal yr BP, 4250–1250 BC) as evidenced by the high number of archaeological sites. Although a number of hydrological oscillations have been detected during this period, the intense landscape transformation at basin-scale, leading to a deforested landscape, was largely a consequence of widespread farming and pastoral practices. Socio-economic activities during Bronze, Iron and Roman times modified this inherited landscape, but the second largest ecosystem transformation only occurred during Mediaeval times when a new agrarian landscape developed with the expansion of stockbreeding transhumance. The current vegetation cover characterized by patches of holm and marcescent oaks and fields reflects an intense human management combining both extensive herding with agrarian activities in order to transform the previous forested landscape into a dehesa-like system.

Using isotopic evidence to assess the impact of migration and the two-layer hypothesis in prehistoric Northeast Thailand.

The nature of the agricultural transition in Southeast Asia has been a topic of some debate for archaeologists over the past decades. A prominent model, known as the two-layer hypothesis, states that indigenous hunter-gatherers were subsumed by the expansion of exotic Neolithic farmers into the area around 2000 BC. These farmers had ultimate origins in East Asia and brought rice and millet agriculture. Ban Non Wat is one of the few archaeological sites in Southeast Asia where this model can potentially be tested. The site is located in the Mun River valley of Northeast Thailand, and divided into 12 phases that span over 2,000 years, from about 1750 BC to the end of the Iron Age (ca. 500 AD). These phases exhibit successive cultural changes, and current interpretation of the site is of an early hunter-gatherer population, with agriculturalists immigrating into the later phases. We analyzed strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotopes in tooth enamel from over 150 individuals, dating from the Neolithic to Iron Age, to assess extrinsic origins and differences in diet between early and later phases. We find evidence of dietary and cultural differences between groups at Ban Non Wat during its early occupation, but little evidence for immigration from distinct environments beyond the Khorat Plateau of Northeast Thailand. The lack of consistent isotopic differences between early and later Neolithic occupants at Ban Non Wat means that the site does not conclusively support the two-layer hypothesis.

Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq and the beginning of the Neolithic in north-east Iran

Abstract

Geoarchaeological research at Barcın Höyük: Implications for the initial Neolithic occupation of northwest Anatolia

Landscape archaeological research has been undertaken on the mound of Barcın Höyük in northwest Anatolia, Turkey. It is the oldest Neolithic site in the region, making it of particular interest in regard to the spread of farming from the regions of origin (southeast and central Anatolia) to northwest Anatolia. This study shows that the site was founded approximately 8550 a cal BP on a natural elevation in a generally wet environment, at the edge of a retreating lake. The site was subject to environmental shifts in younger periods, with a phase of arid conditions and erosion at least prior to the Bronze Age, succeeded by a phase of more humid conditions and rising lake levels mostly in the last two millennia, and finally a return to arid conditions and declining lake levels. Considering the Neolithic environmental conditions, the local environment of Barcın Höyük resembled the local environment of Çatalhöyük, a central Anatolian site. This suggests that despite the general differences between the regions, the earliest sedentary population of northwest Anatolia favoured local conditions similar to those of central Anatolia, while younger sites in the aforementioned region diverge to slightly different localities.

Fragmenting times: interpreting a Bayesian chronology for the Late Neolithic occupation of Çatalhöyük East, Turkey

Abstract

Chrono- and archaeostratigraphy and development of the River Amstel: results of the North/South underground line excavations, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

AbstractSince 2003 extensive archaeological research has been conducted in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, connected with the initial phase of the new underground system (Noord/Zuidlijn). Research has mainly focused on two locations, Damrak and Rokin, in the centre of Medieval Amsterdam. Both sites are situated around the (former) River Amstel, which is of vital importance for the origin and development of the city of Amsterdam. Information on the Holocene evolution of the river, however, is relatively sparse. This project has provided new evidence combining archaeological and geological data, and allowed the reconstruction of six consecutive landscape phases associated with the development of the River Amstel. The course of the present-day Amstel is the result of a complex interaction of processes that started with an early prehistoric tidal gully within the Wormer Member of the Naaldwijk Formation, including Late Neolithic (2400–2000 BC) occupation debris in its fill that was subsequently eroded. Next, this system developed into a later prehistoric Amstel river course that was part of the Angstel–Vecht–Oer-IJ system (1020–350 BC), meandering through a peat-dominated landscape. Later on the processes included intensive reclamation of land, drainage and canalisation, although the Amstel was also strongly influenced by natural storm tides. After intense land reclamation, starting around 1200 AD, the meandering Amstel from Nes to Kalverstraat, which was originally 150 m wide, became the rather straight 20–50 m wide tamed, canalised river of today.

A petroglyph of a religious ceremony at Humayma

Over the past three decades Humayma (S Jordan) has been the subject of much research, focusing on the structures and artefacts left behind by its Neolithic, Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic occupants, but the petroglyphs carved into the sandstone hills and ridges on the W side of the site have been mentioned only in passing. In 2012 and 2014 it was decided to carry out a survey of them. Of the more than 150 petroglyphs documented, most are simple depictions typical of those throughout the region: individual or grouped representations of bovids (ibex, gazelle, oryx), footprints or shoeprints, abstract symbols, and humans in the orant (half-arm raised) pose or holding weapons. Simple narrative scenes, again typical of the region, show carnivores or mounted humans chasing prey, or groups of archers hunting.

THE CHRONOLOGY AND STATUS OF NON NOK THA, NORTHEAST THAILAND

Excavations at Non Nok Tha, in Northeast Thailand in 1965-1968 revealed for the first time in Southeast Asia, a stratigraphic transition from the Neolithic into the Bronze Age. Based on conventional charcoal radiocarbon determinations, early reports identified fourth millennium bronze casting. The proposed length of the prehistoric sequence, and the division of the Neolithic to Bronze age mortuary sequence into at least 11 phases, has stimulated a series of social interpretations all of which have in common, a social order based on ascriptive ranking into at least two groups which saw increased hierarchical divisions emerge with the initial Bronze Age. This paper presents the results of a new dating initiative, based on the ultrafiltration of human bones. The results indicate that the initial Neolithic occupation took place during the 14th century BC. The earliest Bronze Age has been placed in the 10th centuries BC. These dates are virtually identical with those obtained for the sites of Ban Chiang and Ban Non Wat. Compared with the elite early Bronze Age graves of Ban Non Wat, Non Nok Tha burials display little evidence for significant divisions in society.

Archaeological evidence for 9th and 8th millennia BC at Girmeler Cave near Tlos in SW Turkey

A mound settlement in front of the Girmeler Cave near the major Lycian city of Tlos in SW Turkey revealed evidence for occupation during the late 9th and 8th millennia BC. The ccupation is characterized by a structure with at least two layers of lime-plastered floor, hearths and bins and a wattle-and-daub superstructure, all pointing to a sedentary community engaged in intensive hunting and gathering. The trial trenches at Girmeler Cave also yielded evidence of an Early Pottery Neolithic period at the end of the 8th millennium BC. The remains of several buildings with terrazzo floors and wattle-and-daub superstructures were found. It is likely that the cave served as a sacred site in the Early Pottery Neolithic period. There was a hiatus between the late 9th/early 8th millennium BC and the Early Pottery Neolithic occupations at the site.

Geoarchaeological research at Barcın Höyük: Implications for the initial Neolithic occupation of northwest Anatolia

Landscape archaeological research has been undertaken on the mound of Barcın Höyük in northwest Anatolia, Turkey. It is the oldest Neolithic site in the region, making it of particular interest in regard to the spread of farming from the regions of origin (southeast and central Anatolia) to northwest Anatolia. This study shows that the site was founded approximately 8550 a calBP on a natural elevation in a generally wet environment, at the edge of a retreating lake. The site was subject to environmental shifts in younger periods, with a phase of arid conditions and erosion at least prior to the Bronze Age, succeeded by a phase of more humid conditions and rising lake levels mostly in the last two millennia, and finally a return to arid conditions and declining lake levels. Considering the Neolithic environmental conditions, the local environment of Barcın Höyük resembled the local environment of Çatalhöyük, a central Anatolian site. This suggests that despite the general differences between the regions, the earliest sedentary population of northwest Anatolia favoured local conditions similar to those of central Anatolia, while younger sites in the aforementioned region diverge to slightly different localities.

Radiometric dates and micromorphological evidence for synchronous domestic activity and sheep penning in a Neolithic cave: Cueva de El Toro (Málaga, Antequera, Spain)

We present radiocarbon dates and preliminary micromorphological information from the Neolithic cave site of Cueva del Toro (Antequera, Malaga, Spain). This site has yielded a rich early and late Neolithic archaeological record. The late Neolithic assemblage reflects specialized handcraft activity including in situ ceramic manufacture, textile production, and food processing along with sheep and goat penning, suggesting that the cave occupants and their domestic animals shared the same living space. Until now, dating of the stratigraphic sequence was incomplete, and the function of the combustion activities carried out at the cave remained unclear. New absolute dates from the main late Neolithic domestic activity area, corresponding to the most intense Neolithic occupation of the cave, allow us to place the entire sequence between 5320 and 5170 BP (or 4250–3950 to 2σ Cal BC). Micromorphological results show that many combustion features from this site represent recurrently burnt episodes on sheep/goat stabling deposits all along the sequence, corroborating human-goat/sheep cohabitation. This practice had not been previously documented in southern Spain for such early dates. Our results exemplify the importance of characterizing archaeological deposits at a microstratigraphic scale of observation.