Testing technological practices: neutron activation analysis of neolithic ceramics from Valencia,Spain

Using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of prehistoric pottery, daub, and modern clay samples from Valencia, Spain, we tested expectations on changes in raw material use with socio-economic shifts during the Neolithic (ca. 5600–2800 BC). Elemental analysis identified three distinctive clay source groups used by Neolithic potters. Contrary to expectations, a shift in raw material use was identified between the Early and Middle Neolithic despite general similarities in technological practices. In the Late Neolithic, pottery production became more specialized, but potters used the same range of clay sources documented earlier. This study illustrates the utility of INAA for testing hypotheses of prehistoric craft production.     

The prediction of physique from the skeleton

This paper attempts to define the relation between (1) human skeletal measurements and (2) height, weight and physique indices. Admitted to the study were 686 men and women from five ethnic groups (White, Inuit, Gurkha, Bantu and San). In addition to height and weight, subjects had defined cranial and postcranial measurements taken using methods derived from clinical examination techniques. Measurements were checked for reliability. Skinfold callipers were used to allow for the thickness of soft‐tissues overlying bone widths. Adjustment factors were derived from radiological gold standards. Radiological measurements, adjusted for magnification, of the lumbar vertebrae from 42 subjects were also done. A correlation matrix was constructed for the complete study population and all variables to allow a preliminary assessment of useful predictive independent variables. Discriminant scores for classification by gender were calculated. Regression computations, using least square regression, were calculated for six defined reference populations. The regression residuals were examined to confirm fulfilment of assumptions. The results indicated that skull and dental arcade variables yield little information about the size and physique of an individual but have some relevance for group comparisons. Long bone widths are moderately and equally correlated with height and weight. Lower limb bone widths are better correlated with body weight than those of the upper limb. The best predictive variables for body weight are the minimal ‘area’ of the lumbar vertebrae (L1–L4) and regressions involving various bone widths. It is confirmed that height correlates well with the lengths of long bones, but the prediction is improved by the addition of a width from the same bone as a second independent variable. Lower limb long bones are not better predictors of height than upper limb ones. The body mass index is best predicted from the available measurements by a regression with the minimal ‘area’ of L1 and the tibial length as independent variables. A lumbar vertebra, particularly L1, yields important information about height, weight and the body mass index. The patella width is, in part, a marker for mesomorphy. Reconstruction of the ankle to enable the width across the malleoli to be measured would yield useful estimates of weight and height. The findings have been applied to the Paviland femur. A provisional male attribution has been made. The derived height is similar to that of tall modern White men. The physique was probably mesomorphic and ectopenic, the physique of strength rather than mobility, but the confidence intervals are very wide. To enable this sort of assessment to be made more confidently, the study requires replication substituting the precision of magnetic resonance imaging for the relative imprecision of skeletal measurements taken directly from the intact body. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some chronological implications of a fossil molluscan assemblage from a neolithic site at Brook,Kent, England

The later post-glacial history of a valley in the chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent, is described, based on molluscan stratigraphy, archaeological evidence and radio-carbon dating. Differences in size and colour banding, respectively, of fossil and living representatives of two species of land snails, Pomatias elegans (Müller) and Cepaea nemoralis (L.), are correlated with climatic change during the post-glacial period. The problems of the use of fossil shells of these species as samples for radiocarbon dating are discussed.     

A red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) skeleton from seamer carrs, Cleveland, England: Provenance of the skeleton and palaeoecology of the site

A Red deer, Cervus elaphus L., skeleton from Seamer Carrs was excavated and the collagen fraction of one of the bones dated to 4330 ± 100 bp (Birm. 977). The bones were embedded in a limnic sediment that was dated to 7360 ± 120bp(Birm.882). This date was confirmed by the pollen assemblage, which indicated a Flandrian I/II chronozone age. The date of the Cervus bone is explained by its movement vertically downwards in the limnic sediment. Attention is drawn to the number of large mammalian skeletons that have been recovered from Seamer Carrs during drainage operations and subsequently, and to the mesolithic and neolithic artifacts recovered from the slopes around the Carrs.     

A further consideration of neolithic dogs with special reference to a skeleton from Grime's Graves (Norfolk), England

The complete skull and skeleton of a dog were recently excavated from the neolithic flint mines at Grime's Graves in Norfolk. As very few complete skeletons of dogs have been found from neolithic contexts in Britain a detailed metrical comparison was made between the Grime's Graves specimen and dog skeletons of comparable antiquity and completeness from Easton Down and Windmill Hill in Wiltshire.Implicit in the study of the dog from Grime's Graves was the need to date it precisely. As the skeleton could not be sacrificed for radiocarbon dating, closely associated antlers of Red deer (Cervus elaphus) were used for this purpose. The date of the Grime's Graves dog is compared with the dates for other dog remains from recently excavated neolithic sites in the British Isles.     

Shepherds and plants in the Alps: multi-proxy archaeobotanical analysis of neolithic dung from “La Grande Rivoire” (Isère,France)

The analysis of phytoliths, pollen, charcoal and other macroremains was carried out in the neolithic shelter of “La Grande Rivoire”, Vercors massif (French Alps). The results show the predominance of tree species, in the form of phytoliths, clustered pollen, stomata, small branches charcoal, needles, bark, buds… The practice of leaf fodder is already known in the alpine and circum-alpine area from archaeological and historical sources. The analyses of the neolithic dung levels of “La Grande Rivoire” illustrate the use of leafy and flowering tree branches as fodder. The results also suggest that some species were used for special purpose in relation with the tending of livestock (litter, dietary supplement, veterinary practices).     

The neolithic and early bronze age of the Lake Baikal Region: A review of recent research

Rich settlement and burial evidence from the Baikal/Angara region in Central Siberia provides one of the most promising opportunities in the global boreal forest for studying Holocene foragers. The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age prehistory of the region is known to western scholars only through a few English translations of the works of A. P. Okladnikov. Since the publication of Okladnikov's model, the region has witnessed large-scale archaeological fieldwork that has produced abundant quantities of new evidence. Moreover, the model has been partly invalidated by extensive radiocarbon dating. Research advances over the last couple of decades have augmented the area's previous reputation but have also revealed the need for new theoretical perspectives and modern analytical techniques.     

The application of histomorphometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to the analysis of early Anglo-Saxon burned bone

Macroscopic examination, histomorphometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) are applied to the analysis of burned bones from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Elsham in Lincolnshire, UK. These methods were undertaken to gain a greater understanding of pyre conditions from an archaeological context and the effects of burning on bone microstructure. Sixteen samples were employed for thin-section analysis while eight samples were used with FTIR. The results suggest that these methods correspond well with macroscopic examination, though anomalies did occur. The techniques employed in this paper have demonstrated that the temperatures reached on the funerary pyres at Elsham ranged from 600 °C to over 900 °C under oxidizing conditions.     

The early neolithic pottery of the volga-ural region (based on the materials of the elshanka culture)

This article deals with the technologies of pottery-making used by the population of the Volga-Ural region during the Early Neolithic. The analyzed assemblage includes 344 specimens of ceramics (conventionally regarded as separate vessels) from 12 sites of the Elshanka culture (end of the 7th–6th millennium BC). The research method elaborated by A.A. Bobrinsky is based on binocular microscopy, use-wear analysis, and physical modeling. The origins and evolution of the Early Neolithic ceramic traditions in the Volga-Ural region and the role of their admixture are discussed.     

Integrated GIS,remote sensing and geomorphologic approaches for the reconstruction of the landscape habitation of Thessaly during the neolithic period

The aim of this study is to manifest the contribution of integrated approaches such as GIS, geomorphology, remote sensing and DEM analysis for the detection of neolithic settlements, the modeling of habitation and the reconstruction of neolithic landscape in the area of Thessaly.     

New light on early caprine herding strategies from isotope analysis: a case study from Neolithic Anatolia

The measurement of stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopes of caprine bone collagen from the Neolithic sites of Çatalhöyük and Aşıklı Höyük in south-central Anatolia have allowed examination of exploitation and herding practices of sheep and goats. The isotope values from protodomestic caprines at Aşıklı Höyük suggests that these animals were consuming very similar foods to each other and were all confined to the same or similar environments with no access to C₄ plants. At Çatalhöyük, the results show how the caprine management strategy develops from the strategy seen at Aşıklı Höyük into a more varied practice at an early stage as the site grows with an increasing dietary contribution obtained from C₄ plants. No change in diet is isotopically discernible at Aşıklı Höyük. Interestingly, no distinction could be made between the diets of sheep and goats at either site. Therefore, such studies are a useful method of examining the development of early herding or management strategies of caprines in the Near East.     

Evidence of pedogenesis from a neolithic site at Rackham,Sussex

A rich assemblage of Neolithic flints and associated charcoal lies at a depth of 15–20 cm in what is now a strongly-leached podzol. The site was probably associated with butchery and the preparation of animal materials using flint implements manufactured on the site. The pollen profile suggests that the contemporary vegetation was mixed deciduous forest and that the artifacts were buried by earthworm action. Subsequent deforestation and the development of Calluna heath would have led to the extinction of the earthworms and the development of the present podzol.     

Some aspects of change in flaked stone industries of the mesolithic and neolithic in Southern Britain

In a recent article, one of the writers suggested that the traditional bipartite division of the British Mesolithic, based on consideration of microlith types, was reflected in the shape of waste flakes (Pitts, 1978a). Four early assemblages were dominated by narrow flakes, in contrast to three later ones with a higher representation of broader flakes. In this paper, the originally tentative conclusions are explored in greater detail, and the next major boundary, the start of the Neolithic, is investigated. Related changes in the tool components are also examined and the outlines of an explanatory framework are proposed.     

Recovery and analysis of human genetic material from mummified tissue and bone

Using sensitive techniques of molecular biology, we have been able to demonstrate the presence of genomic material of human origin in samples of mummified human tissue and bone from selected archaeological sites in Greenland. This result has far-reaching consequences for both evolutionary and archaeological studies of past human populations.     

The spread of Neolithic plant economies from the Near East to northwest Europe: a phylogenetic analysis

Phylogenetic techniques are used to analyse the spread of Neolithic plant economies from the Near East to northwest Europe as a branching process from a founding ancestor. The analyses are based on a database of c. 7500 records of plant taxa from 250 sites dated to the early Neolithic of the region in which they occur, aggregated into a number of regional groups. The analysis demonstrates that a phylogenetic signal exists in the data but it is complicated by the fact that in comparison with the changes that occurred when the crop agriculture complex expanded out of the Near East, once it arrived in Europe it underwent only limited further changes. On the basis of the analysis it has been possible to identify the species losses and gains that occurred as the complex of crops and associated weeds spread and to show the influence of geographical location and cultural affinity on the pattern of losses and gains. This has led to consideration of the processes producing that history, including some reasons why the dispersal process did not produce a perfect tree phylogeny, as well as to the identification of some specific anomalies, such as the unusual nature of the Bulgarian pattern, which raise further questions for the future.     

Microstructural,chemical and isotopic evidence for the origin of late neolithic leather recovered from an ice field in the Swiss Alps

Archaeological leather samples recovered from the ice field at the Schnidejoch Pass (altitude 2756 m amsl) in the western Swiss Alps were studied using optical, chemical molecular and isotopic (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N of the bulk leather, and compound-specific δ¹³C analyses of the organic-solvent extracted fatty acids) methods to obtain insight into the origin of the leather and ancient tanning procedures. For comparison, leathers from modern native animals in alpine environment (red deer, goat, sheep, chamois, and calf/cow) were analyzed using the same approach. Optical and electron microscopically comparisons of Schnidejoch and modern leathers showed that the gross structure (pattern of collagen fibrils and intra-fibrils material) of archaeological leather had survived essentially intact for five millennia. The SEM studies of the hairs from the most important archaeological find, a Neolithic leather legging, show a wave structure of the hair cuticle, which is a diagnostic feature for goatskins. The variations of the bulk δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values, and δ¹³C values of the main fatty acids are within the range expected for pre-industrial temperate C₃ environment. The archaeological leather samples contain a mixture of indigenous (from the animal) and exogenous plant/animal lipids. An important amount of waxy n-alkanes, n-alkan-1-ols and phytosterols (β-sitosterol, sitostanol) in all samples, and abundant biomarker of conifers (nonacosan-10-ol) in the legging leathers clearly indicate that the Neolithic people were active in a subalpine coniferous forest, and that they used an aqueous extract of diverse plant material for tanning leather.     

Use of space in a Neolithic village in Greece (Makri): phytolith analysis and comparison of phytolith assemblages from an ethnographic setting in the same area

Phytolith analyses were conducted in a Pottery Neolithic village (Makri) of Northern Greece in order to reconstruct aspects of past human activities as a function of both space and time. The analyses of phytolith assemblages were based on a reference collection of modern plant phytoliths (Tsartsidou et al., 2007), as well as an ethnographic study in an agropastoral community (Sarakini) in the same area that showed that many phytolith assemblages are characteristic of the activities carried out in different locations within and around the village (Tsartsidou et al., 2008). The same approach was used for studying the phytolith assemblages in the Neolithic village of Makri, namely measuring phytolith concentrations, diversities of phytolith assemblages relative to control samples collected from samples outside the village and detailed analysis of various phytolith morphotypes. At Makri samples from floors and various constructions (i.e. pit, platforms) were analysed, as well as sediments from an open area inside the village. The results show that Neolithic Makri was a society with a mixed agricultural and pastoral economy. Wheat and barley were cultivated for food and fodder and free-range animals were raised in a village inhabited year round. Indoor areas were not clearly differentiated from outdoor areas inside the village. The phytolith assemblages in only one series of floors produced at a specific location over an extended period of time reflected the use of that space for cereal storage or food processing. The phytolith assemblages from all the other floors examined did not reflect the local activities, but rather the constructional materials used for producing the floors.     

Strontium isotope analysis and human mobility during the Neolithic and Copper Age: a case study from the Great Hungarian Plain

From the Late Neolithic to the Early Copper Age on the Great Hungarian Plain (4500 BC, calibrated) a transformation in many aspects of life has been inferred from the archaeological record. This transition is characterized by changes in settlements, subsistence, cultural assemblages, mortuary customs, and trade networks. Some researchers suggest that changes in material culture, particularly the replacement of long-occupied tells with smaller, more dispersed hamlets, indicates a shift from sedentary farming villages to a more mobile, agropastoral society that emphasized animal husbandry and perhaps secondary products of domestication. In a previous study (Giblin, 2009), preliminary radiogenic strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) isotope data from human dental enamel showed that Copper Age individuals expressed more variable isotope values than their Neolithic predecessors. These data provided support for the idea that Copper Age inhabitants of the Plain were acquiring resources from a greater geographic area, findings that seemed consistent with a more mobile lifestyle. In this article a larger sample from human and animal skeletal material is used to re-evaluate earlier work and shed new light on the transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age in eastern Hungary. The expanded sample of strontium isotopes from human dental enamel shows that ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values are more variable during the Copper Age, but the change is more pronounced in the Middle Copper Age than in the Early Copper Age. These results, along with recently published complementary research, indicate that the transition from the Late Neolithic tell cultures of the Plain to the more dispersed Copper Age hamlets was more gradual than previously thought, and that the emergence of an agropastoral economy does not explain changes in settlement and material culture.