Neolithic Way Research Articles

ARROWHEADS OF THE SOŚNIA TYPE – A TECHNOLOGICAL AND TYPOLOGICAL PHENOMENON IN PARA-NEOLITHIC FLINTWORKING

The Sośnia-type arrowheads are an extremely interesting example of combining distinct chronological and technological elements in a single item. These arrowheads integrate technology drawing from the Mesolithic traditions and the Neolithic way of shaping the surface, which suggests that these blades should be placed between the Mesolithic trapezoids and the Neolithic arrowheads. The function of these tools remains unknown, so the name “arrowheads” is based on a functional image derived from the Neolithic traditions. Until recently, the Sośnia-type arrowheads were considered to have been related exclusively to para-Neolithic flintworking known from sites in Podlachia, Lithuania, and Belarus. This view was verified in result of archaeological research conducted in the first decade of the 21st century on Eneolithic sites from southeastern Poland, for example at the cemetery of the Lublin-Volhynian Culture in Książnice. The presence of para-Neolithic elements in the Lublin-Volhynian environment is not limited to the Sośnia-type arrowheads but represented also by other categories of insets with Mesolithic features. In addition, traces of mutual influences have also been observed in ceramic vessels.

Different manifestations of Neolithization in Northwest Anatolia?

The Neolithic way of life was first established in Northwest Anatolia before the middle of the 7th millennium BC. The recently excavated sites of Barcın Hoyuk and Bahcelievler have yielded archaeological evidence for the earliest Neolithic levels in the region and provide new archaeobotanical datasets. To compare different adaptations to the changes brought on by the Neolithization processes, we studied 348 archaeobotanical samples from Phases VIe and VId1 at Barcın and 63 samples from the contemporaneous levels, Phase 6 and Phase 5, at Bahcelievler. The economic plants include hulled and naked six-row barley, einkorn, emmer, bread/hard wheat, small-sized naked wheat, lentil, bitter vetch, pea, chickpea, flax, hazelnut, bramble, and pistacia. Our analyses show small but significant differences between the sites in the selected economic plant ranges, among the cereals, pulses as well as gathered plants.

Reconsidering the Early Neolithic of Anatolia. Recent recoveries, some excerpts and generalities

In the course of last decades Neolithic research has taken a new pace in Turkey, while projects in the western and the central parts of the of the country have been working mainly on the later stages of the Neolithic era, those in south-eastern Turkey had their focus on the incipient stages of neolithization. Work in the south-eastern parts, highlighted by the results attained at Göbeklitepe has been carrying out large scale excavations at several Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites, most of them having their earliest layers by the very beginning of PPNA, evidence of antecedent stages being highly debatable. Recent recoveries have been greatly elaborating our understanding on the entire span of Neolithic way of living, also displaying the differences among distinct core areas of neolithization. However, more significant is the outcome of new research taking place in the Upper Euphrates-Upper Tigris basins of south-eastern Anatolia, revealing ground breaking results so different from our conventional perceptions that redefining what is implied by the term Neolithic is now stands as an absolute necessity; inevitably some more time is necessary for the newly emerging picture on Neolithic process to sink in. However, some of the recent findings being unexpectedly different is apt to lead to speculative misconceptions, particularly when coupled with deeply rooted biases of research history. In this respect, the paper will present a conspectus on the progressive stages of Neolithic research in Anatolia, touching upon some biases in retrospect. Accordingly, the paper neither intends to cover an exclusive narrative of research history nor to bring the highlights of present research; it is targeted to surface the modalities that patterned past research so as a provide a subtle bases to future prospects.

FRAGMENTOVANI ŽRTVENICI SA LOKALITETA KUĆIŠTE U SELU ČEKMIN

National museum of Leskovac received as a present a certain ammount of archaeological material, which is of great value. The material was found and given as a present to the museum by the museum’s cooperative Vladimir Aranđelović, and the archaeological site where he has found the cult tables is Kućište, in the village of Čekmin, 15 km away from Leskovac. Fragmented cult tables were presented in the paper, characteristic for the Early Neolithic period, and this type of cult items follows the Neolithic way of life. There are seven different fragments of cult tables that include recipients, legs and basis, as well as their ornaments. Beside the new ones, there is one more published fragmented cult table from the same site kept in the Prehistoric exhibition of the National museum of Leskovac, dated to the Late Neolithic period, too. The cult tables presented here from Čekmin, Kućište are dated to Vinča cultural group, Late Neolithic period, 5700/5500-4700/4500 BC.

Älgens roll i ett neolitiskt tänkande. Om fångstgropar, skärvstensvallar och hällbilder i mellersta Norrland

The moose and its place in the Neolithic thinking The study argues that the concept of Neolithisation can be applied to the Stone Age hunter-gatherer communities of Middle Norrland. The point of departure is that Neolithisation can be regarded as a form of production, a cognitive structure, rather than being reduced to a term signifying the presence of farming or animal husbandry. Since phenomena such as collective practices and organisational endeavours comprised the prerequisites for the stationary archaeological remains in Middle Norrland, the notion that this society has been permeated by what I refer to as a ”Neolithic way of thinking” is well supported.
 The introduction of this Neolithic way of thinking should not, however, be regarded as a consequence of climatologic or demographic changes. Such factors would have resulted in a rapid and intentional initiation of this cognitive structure, aimed at maximising returns as quickly as possible. The stationary archaeological remains in Middle Norrland provide no support for such a process, since they are not the result of a limited, intense construction phase. Pit falls and rock art have accumulated, and been elaborated and added to over hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years.
 Instead of regarding the Neolithic way of thinking as the consequence of environmental or demographic stress, I suggest that it can be perceived as the fruit of ”material interaction”. Phenomena such as collective practices, organisational endeavours or regulations of the landscape sprung from the activities and attitudes required in order to make use of the pit falls, walls of fire-cracked stones and rock art. In other words, the Neolithic way of thinking evolved as a reaction to the presence of these remains in the landscape.

Funerary Practices as a Testimony of Ideology in Western Linearbandkeramik Culture

Abstract The Linearbandkeramik (LBK) is behind the spread of the Neolithic way of life in a large part of Western Europe. This period is often regarded as the beginning of social inequalities whose ideological frameworks deserve to be highlighted. According to social anthropologists, funerary practices are relevant for this debate as they reflect the symbolic thought in relation to death. In addition, as they are perpetuated by the living, funerary practices are pertinent in addressing the ideological values, symbolic systems, and thoughts that support social organisation. Whilst examining how grave goods are allocated amongst the LBK population, we have identified a small group of dominant men characterised by a specific burial kit (adzes, arrows, lighter set, and red deer antlers), a richer protein intake in diet, and their local origin. Comparing them to other social categories characterised by minor marking of identity in grave goods, poorer protein intake in diet, and of diverse origin, we aim to explore the ideological frameworks and values sustaining the social LBK system. LBK dominant ideology appears to revolve around hunting and exploits in warfare, manhood, and virility, in short around violent behaviours perhaps linked to a territorial competition.

İç Batı Anadolu Neolitik-Kalkolitiğine Dair Yeni Bulgular: Düzkışla Höyük, Uşak

Understanding the distribution and expansion of the Neolithic way of life was one of the important research topics of the last century. Studies demonstrated that Anatolia, which was originally excluded from the 'core' region, played a key role in the transition from hunter-gatherers to settled life and food production. This article focuses on Düzkışla Höyük, which was discovered during the Uşak Protohistoric Period Survey Project (UPDAP) in 2019 and which provides various information about the Neolithic Age of Western Anatolia. A rich collection of small finds from the site allows for cross-regional comparisons and conclusions about the region's relationship with its surrounding cultures during prehistoric times. Being on the crossroads of the Aegean coast, the Lakes Region, and Central and Northwest Anatolia, Uşak must have played an important role in the formation and development of communication and interaction networks in the Neolithic Period. The finds of the Late Neolithic-Early Chalcolithic Age from Düzkışla Höyük, which have been evaluated extensively, point to the local character of the way of life of early farmers on the one hand and the extent of cultural relations between regions on the other.

A Revolution in Food Preparation? Grinding and Pounding Plants in the First Farming Communities of Western Europe and the Mediterranean Region

The spread of the Neolithic way of life to Western Europe is characterized by two parallel strands of colonization that spread through the continental (LBK) and Mediterranean (Impressa- Cardial) regions during the sixth millennium BC. Together with the introduction of novel agricultural systems, new food preparation practices were developed. Combined interdisciplinary (technology, anthropology, archeobotany) and archaeometrical approaches (usewear and residue analyses) have made it possible to characterize the way in which plants, especially cereals and legumes, were processed for daily consumption. By looking at examples from both strands of European Neolithization, it has also been possible to highlight the economic, cultural and social significance of the various grinding systems.

The Beginning of the Neolithic in Southeast Anatolia

New research in southeastern Anatolia at Early Neolithic sites has brought a fresh perspective on the emergence of the Neolithic way of life in southwest Asia. In addition to providing more details on the transition to settled life, food production, and technological innovations, this more recent work has increased our understanding of both the time span and geography of the last hunter-gatherers and the earliest farmers in the wider region. Now the picture of the beginning of the Neolithic is more complex and fragmented. This complexity necessitates a multifaceted approach to the questions of the emergence of the Neolithic. In this regard, the data coming from Pre-Pottery Neolithic A sites in southeastern Anatolia, particularly in the Upper Tigris Basin, is remarkable. In this paper the transitional stage to the Neolithic in the region and new data from Gusir Höyük is discussed according to the architectural data.

External auditory exostoses and early Neolithic aquatic resource procurement in Cyprus: Results from Cypro-PPNB Kissonerga-Mylouthkia in regional context

ObjectiveThis research is designed to evaluate the occurrence of external auditory exostoses (EAEs) in skeletal remains from the oldest known water wells in the world (Kissonerga-Mylouthkia, Cyprus, 8,200-7,200 BCE). MaterialsSix individuals (MNI = 6), five fragmentary temporalia, two preserved auditory canals. MethodsMacroscopic and microscopic (up to x30) observation, with illumination; presence, type, side, severity, occlusion, number, and position of bony growths recorded. ResultsBony growths within two auditory canals were discovered. Differential diagnosis includes osteomata and external auditory exostoses, with the latter consistent with the bony growths (Grade 1 EAEs, two adult males, one with single, another with two EAEs). ConclusionsThe emergence of the Neolithic in Southwest Asia is thought to involve increases in dietary breadth among foraging societies (Broad-Spectrum Revolution). EAEs likely indicate maritime activity in this context, given the lack of freshwater bodies, and zooarchaeological evidence points to dietary and other uses of maritime organisms. SignificanceThis EAE evidence is the oldest known in maritime contexts in Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, and first in Cyprus. It contributes towards understanding the initial colonization events by Neolithic farming communities in the 9th millennium BC, and the emergence of broad-spectrum economies at the dawn of the Neolithic in Southwest Asia, crucial for re-considerations of paradigms on the transition to the Neolithic way of life in the Near East. LimitationsOnly a few skeletal remains from these prehistoric contexts were available for observation. Suggestions for further researchFurther intensive review of Cypriot skeletal collections for EAEs is advised.

Quantifying prehistoric physiological stress using the TCA method:

The Neolithic way of life was accompanied by an increase in various forms of physiological stress (e.g. disease, malnutrition). Here we use the method of tooth cementum annulation (TCA) analysis in order to detect physiological stress that is probably related to calcium metabolism. The TCA method is applied to a sample of teeth from three Mesolithic and five Neolithic individuals from the Central Balkans. The average number of physiological stress episodes is higher in the Neolithic group – but the statistical significance of this result cannot be evaluated due to the small sample size, therefore these results should be taken as preliminary.

Quantifying prehistoric physiological stress using the TCA method:

The Neolithic way of life was accompanied by an increase in various forms of physiological stress (e.g. disease, malnutrition). Here we use the method of tooth cementum annulation (TCA) analysis in order to detect physiological stress that is probably related to calcium metabolism. The TCA method is applied to a sample of teeth from three Mesolithic and five Neolithic individuals from the Central Balkans. The average number of physiological stress episodes is higher in the Neolithic group – but the statistical significance of this result cannot be evaluated due to the small sample size, therefore these results should be taken as preliminary.

The evolution of dual meat and milk cattle husbandry in Linearbandkeramik societies.

Cattle dominate archaeozoological assemblages from the north-central Europe between the sixth and fifth millennium BC and are frequently considered as exclusively used for their meat. Dairy products may have played a greater role than previously believed. Selective pressure on the lactase persistence mutation has been modelled to have begun between 6000 and 4000 years ago in central Europe. The discovery of milk lipids in late sixth millennium ceramic sieves in Poland may reflect an isolated regional peculiarity for cheese making or may signify more generalized milk exploitation in north-central Europe during the Early Neolithic. To investigate these issues, we analysed the mortality profiles based on age-at-death analysis of cattle tooth eruption, wear and replacement from 19 archaeological sites of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture (sixth to fifth millennium BC). The results indicate that cattle husbandry was similar across time and space in the LBK culture with a degree of specialization for meat exploitation in some areas. Statistical comparison with reference age-at-death profiles indicate that mixed husbandry (milk and meat) was practised, with mature animals being kept. The analysis provides a unique insight into LBK cattle husbandry and how it evolved in later cultures in central and western Europe. It also opens a new perspective on how and why the Neolithic way of life developed through continental Europe and how dairy products became a part of the human diet.

Late Danubian mitochondrial genomes shed light into the Neolithisation of Central Europe in the 5th millennium BC

BackgroundRecent aDNA studies are progressively focusing on various Neolithic and Hunter - Gatherer (HG) populations, providing arguments in favor of major migrations accompanying European Neolithisation. The major focus was so far on the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK), which introduced the Neolithic way of life in Central Europe in the second half of 6th millennium BC. It is widely agreed that people of this culture were genetically different from local HGs and no genetic exchange is seen between the two groups. From the other hand some degree of resurgence of HGs genetic component is seen in late Neolithic groups belonging to the complex of the Funnel Beaker Cultures (TRB). Less attention is brought to various middle Neolithic cultures belonging to Late Danubian sequence which chronologically fall in between those two abovementioned groups. We suspected that genetic influx from HG to farming communities might have happened in Late Danubian cultures since archaeologists see extensive contacts between those two communities.ResultsHere we address this issue by presenting 5 complete mitochondrial genomes of various late Danubian individuals from modern-day Poland and combining it with available published data. Our data show that Late Danubian cultures are maternally closely related to Funnel Beaker groups instead of culturally similar LBK.ConclusionsWe assume that it is an effect of the presence of individuals belonging to U5 haplogroup both in Late Danubians and the TRB. The U5 haplogroup is thought to be a typical for HGs of Europe and therefore we argue that it is an additional evidence of genetic exchange between farming and HG groups taking place at least as far back as in middle Neolithic, in the Late Danubian communities.

Diversity and homogeneity among the early farming communities of Western Anatolia

Our knowledge of the Neolithisation of Western Anatolia has increased considerably in recent years. Being located beyond, but on the border of the formative zone of Neolithisation, the region has acted as a buffer in the dispersal of the Neolithic way of life farther to the west. Recent research in Western Anatolia has shown that Neolithic sites appeared in the second quarter of the 7th millennium BC and had become widespread by the second half of the same millennium. There is now adequate data available on both the distribution of sites and the material culture in some subregions. In this context, this article will focus not on the Neolithisation process, but on the characteristic features of the sub-regions and the interaction between them.

Procurement strategies of Neolithic colouring materials: Territoriality and networks from 6th to 5th millennia BCE in North-Western Mediterranean

In the N.-W. Mediterranean area, the development of the Neolithic way of life during the 6th millennium cal. BCE is related to the spread of sailing pioneer groups. In the course of the 5th millennium cal. BCE, more stable agro-pastoral settlements expand their hold on the hinterland and exchange networks increase in complexity (obsidian, flints, clastic rocks). Although previous research showed high variability in the N.W. Mediterranean Neolithic diffusion modalities, the place of colouring materials, naturally abundant in this area, has received scant attention despite their technical and symbolic value. With the aim of assessing the place of these materials in the initial Neolithic package and within the development of the neolithisation process, we investigated series of more than 2000 blocks of colouring materials from two key-sites (Pendimoun and Giribaldi) recently excavated by one of us (DB), with dates ranging from 5750 to 3650 cal. BCE. This study was implemented by geological surveys that allowed the establishment of cartography of putative sources of raw colouring materials and the determination of their nature and composition. Combining petrographic examination and physico-chemical-characterisation (SEM-EDS, XRD), we determined a wide range of raw materials: psammitic sandstone, allochthonous and parallochthonous bauxite, oolithic ironstone, oxidised marcasite and ferruginous rocks derived from weathered glauconitic limestones. Comparing archaeological series to this frame of reference highlights two contrasting economic systems: one based on exploitation of local sources from the Early to the Middle Neolithic, the other one founded on a dual use of both close geomaterials and exogenous rocks during Middle Neolithic.

A comparative perspective on the ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ Neolithics of Eurasia: Ceramics; agriculture and sedentism

The Neolithic is a key topic in the study of Old World prehistory but how the Neolithic is defined varies between regions. In East Asia the invention of pottery is often seen as marking the start of the Neolithic. In contrast to this ‘eastern’ perspective, in western parts of Eurasia it is the presence of agriculture that usually defines the onset of a Neolithic way of life. This paper adopts a comparative perspective, examining the origins and development of pottery, agriculture and sedentary life in East Asia and Southwest Asia. We suggest that a comparative perspective indicates that some of the most enduring themes of Neolithic studies need to be reconsidered, namely: (1) the idea of a Neolithic package consisting of a number of associated traits (including, among other things, agriculture, sedentary sites, and pottery) that developed and spread together, (2) the notion of the Neolithic as a revolutionary event marking a sharp break from the preceding Palaeolithic period, and (3) the enduring impact of the Neolithic on later periods.

Re-evaluating the Neolithic: The Impact and the Consolidation of Farming Practices in the Cantabrian Region (Northern Spain)

Research projects undertaken in the Cantabrian region since 1980 have produced new, high-quality information about the neolithisation process(es) in this area. It is now necessary to review this archaeological information and test the main hypotheses put forward to explain it. This paper presents an update on the archaeological evidence (sites, chronological dates, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and technological information) for the early Neolithic in the Cantabrian region. It summarizes recent research on neolithisation in the region, and assesses the impact of this process during the early Neolithic, and its later consolidation. Although the available information is still incomplete, it is now possible to identify the focal point of the introduction of elements characteristic of the Neolithic way of life in the region. Current evidence suggests that it is in the eastern sector, where the earliest arrival of domesticates and new technologies such as pottery has been attested. The existence of continuities—such as sustained reliance on hunting and gathering and the coexistence of old and new funerary rites—suggests the persistence of native populations, which gradually participated in the neolithisation process after an ‘availability phase’.

UNPACKING THE EARLY NEOLITHIC?

The preliminary analysis of Early Neolithic pottery from North Central Bulgaria, and the site of Dzhulyunitsa specifically, yielded surprising results which affect a number of aspects related to the study of the Neolithisation processes. Not all characteristic features traditionally considered as key signal of the Neolithisation processes were confirmed by our mineralogical and chemical analysis. A number of specifics related to the presence of engobe for instance, indicate a considerably more complex picture. In some cases the observations show no additional slip, just a simple burnish of the brownish ware, whereas in others a true slip covers both the inner and the outer surface of the vessels (white or cream-slip ware). With regard to the red engobe specifically, the majority of studied fragments actually have just red-colour surface that results from the oxidation or the rubbing of ochre, and not from the addition of a true slip. These observations raise the following question: do we actually compare same technological approaches, traditionally seen as signal for the spread of the Neolithic way of life? Furthermore, as regards the provenance of the vessels, materials expected to have local origin proved to be imported whereas others, seen as more specific and coming from distant territories were actually made on the spot by local row-materials. Even at this stage the preliminary results do not confirm some of the traditional views on this early material, raise a series of new questions and represent a ground for further interpretations and discussions regarding an eventual fragility of some models suggested for the Neolithisation processes in this part of South-East Europe.

Current Research and New Evidence for the Neolithization Process in Western Turkey

Increasing research in western Anatolia since the 1990s onwards shows that the Neolithic way of life in this region emerged in the first half of the seventh millennium BC and evolved rapidly in the same millennium. Current data indicate western Anatolia, which is located alongside the primary zone of Neolithization in the Near East, has a complex constitution rather than being a bridge or barrier between east and west. In this article, data from past and current excavations in western Anatolia are discussed over time and space. In this context, eastern Thrace, where there are strong connections with west Anatolia, is also included.