Neolithic Societies Research Articles

Craig Rhos-y-felin: a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge

Abstract

Towards a new world: Paths towards a Neolithic society in southern Scandinavia

Sammanfattning saknas

Toward an alternative perspective on the foraging and low-level food production on the coast of China

The coast of China's early Neolithic economy has been interpreted in different ways and terminologies. Most early Neolithic societies in coastal China were involved in some kinds of food production activities, but they were mostly subsidiary to foraging, and in some island communities, foraging marine resources was the primary subsistence pattern. This kind of economic pattern had a great impact on the prehistoric process in this region, affecting its population density, the pace of social complexity process, and other cultural dynamics.

Chronological Contexts of the Earliest Pottery Neolithic in the South Caucasus: Radiocarbon Dates for Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe, Azerbaijan

Research on the earliest Neolithic in the South Caucasus is still in its early stages. Establishing a solid chronological framework will help determine the timing of the emergence and subsequent development of regional Neolithic societies. This article reports on 46 radiocarbon dates obtained from the two recently excavated Early Pottery Neolithic sites of Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe, the oldest farming villages known to date in West Azerbaijan. Comparing the dates from other related sites demonstrates that several settlements representing the earliest Pottery Neolithic emerged almost simultaneously at the beginning of the sixth millennium B.C.E. in the northern and southern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. The lack of evidence for plant cultivation or animal husbandry at earlier sites suggests a foreign origin for agricultural economies in the South Caucasus. However, cultural items characterizing the initial agropastoral communities were not brought to the region as a package. Instead, we suggest that these early farming communities—that is, the Shomutepe-Shulaveri—underwent gradual but significant autochthonous developments likely deriving from the aceramic stage. The chronological framework provided by Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe serves as a reference point for identifying details of early farmers’ cultural developments in the South Caucasus. A free, downloadable appendix can be found under this article’s abstract on AJA Online.

Investigating palaeodietary and social differences between two differentiated sectors of a Neolithic community, La Bòbila Madurell-Can Gambús (north-east Iberian Peninsula)

This palaeodietary study presents new carbon and nitrogen isotope data for human and animal skeletal remains from the Middle Neolithic necropolis of Bòbila Madurell–Can Gambús (Vallès Occidental, Spain). The necropolis is divided into two sectors, Bòbila Madurell and Can Gambús, which differ in terms of their demography and the wealth of their tombs. This study examines each sector separately in order to assess how far these demographic and grave good differences also correspond to diversity in the community. The results show that a diet based on C3 terrestrial resources is found homogeneously in both sectors of the community. The protein component of the diet consisted mainly of meat, milk and other dairy products from livestock as well as C3 plant protein from the typical cereals and legumes grown in this period. The results also show the existence of slight intra-population sex and age differences in the Can Gambús sector, while these are not perceptible in the Bòbila Madurell sector. This allows inferences not only about the diet of the Neolithic communities that lived in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula but also about their customs, which would be reflected in social differentiation as regards the consumption of certain kinds of food. These are important data that can be added in future studies of socio-economic patterns in Neolithic societies in the rest of Europe.

The Consumption of Bone Powder in the Early Neolithic Societies of Southeastern Europe: Evidence of a Diet Stress?

Research performed on Early Neolithic ceramic assemblages from southwestern Bulgaria has revealed that several categories of pottery were used for the preparation of foodstuffs. One particular type of beige residue has been identified on the inner surface of ceramic vessels from several sites. Chemical analyses of mineral residues, combined with the stylistic characteristics of ceramic vessels, have shown the consumption of bone powder. This consumption, far from being anecdotal, raises several questions regarding the diet behaviour of the earliest Neolithic communities in the Balkans, which have obviously sought a complementary source of calcium. Would the dietary transition at the beginning of the Neolithic period correspond to a diet stress?

Violence in Neolithic Iberia: new readings of Levantine rock art

Abstract

Religion at Work in a Neolithic Society: Vital Matters by Ian Hodder, ed.

American AnthropologistVolume 117, Issue 1 p. 189-190 BOOK REVIEWS Religion at Work in a Neolithic Society: Vital Matters by Ian Hodder, ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. 399 pp. Katina Lillios, Katina Lillios University of IowaSearch for more papers by this author Katina Lillios, Katina Lillios University of IowaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 22 February 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12206Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Volume117, Issue1March 2015Pages 189-190 RelatedInformation

Social inequalities in the Neolithic of southern Europe: The grave goods of the Campo de Hockey necropolis (San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain)

The archaeological excavations carried out between August 2007 and July 2008 in the necropolis of Campo de Hockey (transit Vth–IVth millennium BC) documented levels and structures of interest. We report the first data on the grave goods study, with a special focus on the “funerary” as social work investment. The correlations between the “grave goods” (such as social prestige values) and funerary structures can be established. The individual, double or triple characters of these burials imply social effort and sometimes involve an investment of community work. In the study of the necropolis, it has been observed that very few tombs have grave goods elements; this finding is of great interest because it confirms that incipient hierarchisation processes occurred in these Neolithic societies of South Iberia. We emphasise the analysis of so-called exotic products (amber, turquoise, variscite, sillimanite, etc.) as indicators of inequality, focusing on the correspondence between them and the most monumental or complex structures. We also note the importance of the exploitation of marine resources, which is obvious given the insular nature of the settlement, not only for food but also for ornamental purposes.

New insights on the first Neolithic societies in the Horn of Africa: The site of Wakrita, Djibouti

The site of Wakrita is a small Neolithic establishment located on a wadi in the tectonic depression of Gobaad in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The 2005 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of Asa Koma. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to Lake Abbé, but also the importance of bovine husbandry and, for the first time in this area, evidence for caprine herding practices. Radiocarbon dating places this occupation at the beginning of the 2nd millennium b.c., similar in range to Asa Koma. These two sites represent the oldest evidence of herding in the region, and they provide a better understanding of the development of Neolithic societies in this region.

Macroscopic, petrographic and XRD analysis of Middle Neolithic figulina pottery from central Dalmatia

This article focuses on macroscopic, petrographic and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analyses of figulina pottery from Middle Neolithic (c. 5500–4900 cal BC) villages on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Samples were collected from four sites: Smilčić (Zadar), Krivače and Danilo Bitinj (Šibenik) and Pokrovnik (Drniš) to characterize the degree of variation in figulina production between sites and assess if figulina was produced locally or at a single locale in the region. Figulina is of particular interest because it represents a departure from other Neolithic ceramic technologies in pastes, firing, and decoration. This ware is found in small numbers at Middle Neolithic villages, but has parallels in the northern and western Adriatic. Our analyses suggest that this ware was produced within villages with little exchange between sites. Similarities to other regions (Istria, Italy) may indicate a special function or role of this pottery style within Middle Neolithic societies.

BABASIZ GEBELİK MİTLERİ BAĞLAMINDA TÜRK MİTOLOJİSİNDE GÖK-YER DİKOTOMİSİ VE ANA TANRIÇA KÜLTÜNÜN İZLERİ

It is known that one very important step humankind took is the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a productire neolithic society. This step from a primitive society to a civilizied society left an important impact on beliefs and thoughts. Through the end of the Paleolithic era, probably due to not knowing the function of men in the process of conception, women gave birth on their own and therefore are seen as the creator. Within the gender based division of labor women take charge of growing plants in the primitive garden agriculture, which both raised their societal state and made grounds for a mythic thought process based on a goddess which relates to reproduction, birth, soil, abundance and fertility. Worshipping this mother goddess existed until the time of a dominantly patriarchal society based on slavery, which is strengthened by the invention of cultivation and by professional agriculture, arose. The mother goddess cult did not disappear suddenly in the society structured on patriarchy but rather it lived on in the back ground, entrenched in various beliefs, stories and rituals for a long time. In ancient societies, lover-lover or mother-son relationships were established between father gods and mother goddesses and therefore, a holy pregnancy and then a birth occurred. Therefore, anthropomorphized types of earlier gods’ births are seen in savior/hero myths. Traces of a mother goddess can be seen in ‘’the earth impregnated by sky’’ themed narrations, which are the products of the sky and earth dichotomy. In the fatherless birth motifs in origin myths, it can be seen that in cosmogony and anthropogony myths, which are connected to elements like tree, water, and soil, the impregnation by the light comes from sky motifs in which wolf zoomorphism is dominant within Turkish mythology. In this study, the impressions of a mother goddess cult prevalent in Turkish mythological thoughts are discussed in various ways within the context of the socio-economic structures effects on beliefs

Understanding the impact of socio-economic activities on archaeological charcoal assemblages in temperate areas: A comparative analysis of firewood management in two Neolithic societies in Western Europe (Belgium, France)

This paper presents archaeological charcoal assemblages from two clusters of Neolithic sites in temperate Europe, which reveal differences in the choice of firewood acquisition areas. We advance and test the hypothesis that there is a link between firewood gathering areas and daily travelled itineraries, using two comparable, but temporally and spatially distinct, case studies. The first of these is the Hesbaye in central Belgium where the Early Neolithic occupation is made up of two settlement phases from between 5200 and 5000 BC (Linearbankeramik culture). The second is the Late Neolithic occupation of the French Jura pile-dwellings in eastern France. In Hesbaye, the firewood supply area is restricted, favouring the rapid development of light-demanding species, while this area appears to be more extensive in the Jura where there is no clear development of light-demanding taxa. We postulate that there is a close spatial convergence between firewood gathering areas and potential cultivated land in Hesbaye and the French Jura. This case study therefore addresses the potential links between firewood management and the socio-economic context and demonstrates that the concept of daily itineraries enhances our understanding of charcoal assemblages and their palaeoecological interpretations.

A graphical simulation of the 2,000-year lag in Neolithic occupation between Central Anatolia and the Aegean basin

The current distribution of radiocarbon dates for the Neolithic in the Anatolian peninsula indicates a significant time lag, of up to 2,000 calibrated years at two standard deviations, between the start of Neolithic occupation on the central Anatolian plateau and in the Aegean basin. This chronological discrepancy appears to match that existing between later aceramic societies in Central Anatolia and Early Neolithic societies in Greece—suggesting that the region now referred to as Western Anatolia, including the Pisidian Lake District, the Eastern Marmara and the Aegean coast, was part of a much broader horizon of Neolithic expansion, extending across the whole of the Aegean basin up to Thrace. This article provides a graphical simulation of the chronological imbalance in the radiometric dates, based on a sample of 848 uniformly recalibrated 14C dates from 59 sites. The evidence supports a model in which the westward spread of farming was punctuated by major ‘halts’, one of which occurred in the highlands of Anatolia.

Reconstructing North Sea palaeolandscapes from 3D and high-density 2D seismic data: An overview

AbstractThe North Sea subsurface shows the marks of long-term tectonic subsidence. Much of it contains a thick record of glacial and interglacial deposits and landscapes, formed during multiple glacial cycles and the associated regressions and transgressions during the past two million years. At times of lower sea level than today, areas that are presently submerged were fertile lowlands more favourable for hunting and gathering than the surrounding upland. These drowned lowlands are not captured by traditional 1:250,000 geological maps of the North Sea subsurface because the underlying seismic and core data are commonly too widely spaced to achieve this. Palaeolandscape mapping requires identification of building blocks with spatial scales in the order of 1 km or less. As high-density 2D and high-quality 3D seismics are becoming available for an increasing part of the North Sea, glacial and interglacial palaeolandscapes can be reconstructed for more and more areas. An overview of published palaeolandscape reconstructions shows that shallow time slices through 3D data provide map views that are very suitable for the identification of landscape elements. For optimal results, each time slice needs to be validated and ground-truthed with 2D seismics and with descriptions and analyses of cores and borehole samples. Interpretations should be made by teams of geoscientists with a sufficiently broad range of expertise to recognise and classify even subtle or unfamiliar patterns and features. The resulting reconstructions will provide a context and an environmental setting for Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic societies and finds.

Radiocarbon Dating of the Neolithic Lakeside Settlement of Dispilio, Kastoria, Northern Greece

Dispilio is the only excavated Neolithic lakeside settlement in Greece. Archaeological research provided evidence that the site was continuously used from the Early Neolithic (∼6000 BC) to the Late Chalcolithic period (∼1200 BC, Mycenaean period). During several archaeological campaigns, a portion of the settlement has been excavated that enabled a sufficient understanding of the architectural layout of homes, the building materials, and the organization of space, while the finds (fragments of pottery, stone and bone tools, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines, miniature representations of objects also on clay, animal and fish bones, charred cereal grains, and other fruits) provided information on the everyday lives of the Neolithic inhabitants. A series of charcoal and wood samples, originating mostly from the Middle and Late Neolithic layers of the site, were radiocarbon dated and their dates range from ∼5470 to 4850 BC. The most unexpected of the finds, a wooden tablet from the lake bearing engraved symbols, was14C dated to 5260 ± 40 BC. In addition, clay tablets and pottery vessels engraved with similar symbols were also unearthed from layers dated to the same period. If this proves to be a primary source of written communication, the history of writing should be reconsidered and Neolithic societies should not be considered “societies without writing.”

Radiocarbon Dating of the Neolithic Lakeside Settlement of Dispilio, Kastoria, Northern Greece

Dispilio is the only excavated Neolithic lakeside settlement in Greece. Archaeological research provided evidence that the site was continuously used from the Early Neolithic (∼6000 BC) to the Late Chalcolithic period (∼1200 BC, Mycenaean period). During several archaeological campaigns, a portion of the settlement has been excavated that enabled a sufficient understanding of the architectural layout of homes, the building materials, and the organization of space, while the finds (fragments of pottery, stone and bone tools, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines, miniature representations of objects also on clay, animal and fish bones, charred cereal grains, and other fruits) provided information on the everyday lives of the Neolithic inhabitants. A series of charcoal and wood samples, originating mostly from the Middle and Late Neolithic layers of the site, were radiocarbon dated and their dates range from ∼5470 to 4850 BC. The most unexpected of the finds, a wooden tablet from the lake bearing engraved symbols, was 14C dated to 5260 ± 40 BC. In addition, clay tablets and pottery vessels engraved with similar symbols were also unearthed from layers dated to the same period. If this proves to be a primary source of written communication, the history of writing should be reconsidered and Neolithic societies should not be considered “societies without writing.”

Neolithic Priorities: Ritual and Visual Preferences within Burials and Corporeality in the Balkans

Neolithic bodies are not only manifestations of subjective principles. Social and symbolic norms are also incorporated within the bodies of both actual and represented individuals. These norms often relate to economic and religious notions of society, as well as to effigies. Owing to high population densities in Neolithic villages, only a select group of the inhabitants were buried within settlements or represented in images. This generated a category of privileged individuals and body features, which were related to symbolic principles rather than social hierarchy. Such practices among Neolithic societies in the Balkans are evident within burials and human representations. Individuals buried inside settlements, anthropomorphic house models, and figurines from several sites in Ovče Pole, Pelagonia, and the Skopje Valley are used as case studies in this paper. Placing these sites into a wider geographical context, it is argued that gender, age and body parts were significant criteria in funerary practices and features of corporeality.

‘SmartFauna’: a microscale GIS-based multi-dimensional approach to faunal deposition at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney

Recent technological advances in survey and computing are opening up new opportunities for the accurate spatial recovery and recording of archaeological materials during excavation. These have the potential to revolutionise understanding of depositional practices and (other such) taphonomic processes which create the deposits and sites that archaeologists explore. This article summarises a new methodological approach to the recovery and analysis of faunal remains which enables a highly accurate 3D spatial analysis of any patterning in bone deposited within archaeological layers using a combination of high resolution survey techniques for the recovery of animal bones, ‘bridging’ software and a high end GIS package. Application of this methodology to archaeological deposits from the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney has provided evidence for deliberate placement of selected cattle and red deer remains, suggesting that these species were of central importance in Late Neolithic society.

The Western Altmark versus Flintbek – palaeoecological research on two megalithic regions

This investigation focuses on the human-induced transformation of landscapes by comparing two small-scale megalithic regions on the North German Plain. For this study two test areas were defined, each measuring 36 km2. Archaeological information and palaeoecological proxies were implemented to investigate changes of the environment related to human activities of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) during the period from ca. 3800–2800 cal BC. The chronological framework was constructed with the help of Bayesian and aoristic modelling of AMS-dates, combining archaeological and radiometric information. Charcoal from the megalithic tombs provided on-site data that show human impact induced by the construction and further use of the graves. Off-site data originated from two pollen profiles of nearby bogs. They supply additional information on local and regional landscape development. The ratio of light-demanding to shade-tolerant woody species represents the degree of woodland openness. It is a value which can be determined for both anthracological as well as palynological data. A comparison of both proxies led to divergent results for the two chosen areas. The proxies can be associated quite well for the Haidberg area with regard to openness, whereas missing accordance of both palaeoecological data sets in the Flintbek region provides a strong argument for human impact on local levels. A settlement phase indicated by various non-arboreal pollen taxa was not confirmed for the Altmark Haidberg area before 3050 cal BC, but in the nearby area of Beetzendorf (7 km distance) at least since ca. 3200 cal BC. In the Flintbek region, two settlement phases of the FBC are visible, separated by a phase of forest regeneration, which was attributed to changes of settlement behaviour within the local Neolithic societies.