The Earthworks of Brinklow,Lilbourne, and Earl’s Barton

Fyfield Hall, a timber-framed aisled hall in Essex, has been tree-ring dated to 1167–85. It was built with passing braces, notched lap joints and curved arcade braces, and underwent major repairs between 1391 and 1416, when the central arcade posts, arcade plates and braces were replaced, but, curiously, in a late twelfth-century style with passing braces. To repair the building in the archaic style might seem surprising, but tree-ring dating shows that such developments were not unusual. This study examines the building in detail and looks at later developments on the site.     

Late Upper Palaeolithic fishing in the Fucino Basin,central Italy,a detailed analysis of the remains from Grotta di Pozzo

Abstract

Fish remains have been recovered from seven Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Fucino Basin, central Italy. Analyses of fish remains from one of these sites, Grotta di Pozzo, are presented here and discussed in relation to previous research on fish remains from other Fucino Basin sites. It is recognised that in previous studies little consideration has been given to identifying, or confirming accumulation agent(s) for fish remains. Three potential non-human accumulation agents are identified and considered in detail, but these do not explain the element representation patterns for fish remains recovered at Grotta di Pozzo. As such, it is likely that the fish bones from this site do represent the remains of human activity. Given this interpretation, the assemblage characteristics suggest that Grotta di Pozzo represents a site used for exploitation and processing of fish for transportation for later consumption, most likely on a seasonal basis. Further work on the fish from other Fucino Basin sites is needed to reliably rule out non-human deposition and increase understanding of fishing strategies in the Fucino Basin during the late Glacial period.     

灵宝西坡遗址家猪的年龄结构及相关问题

本文根据河南灵宝市西坡遗址仰韶文化中期家猪的年龄结构,探讨中原早期复杂社会中心聚落的家畜饲养策略。猪的年龄结构表明,西坡聚落很可能为自给自足的家猪饲养与消费模式。专业化的动物生产、分配和消费可能在西坡这样的早期复杂社会中还没有出现。从自给自足到专业化的家畜饲养策略的变化,很可能发生在后来的与日益发展的政治、经济和社会复杂化密切相关的社会历史阶段。     

Early Woodland Upland Encampments of Central Ohio

Abstract

Most published studies of the Early Woodland period (1000 B.C.–200 B.C.) in Ohio have traditionally focused on the mortuary/ceremonial aspects (e.g. mounds) of the latter half of this time period. Less energy, however, has been devoted to nonmortuary sites, such as those that appear in the uplands as surface lithic scatters. In the past decade archaeological studies in central Ohio have yielded a rapidly growing amount of information concerning upland Early Woodland sites. In this article we compare and contrast variability in site structure, flint acquisition and stone tool production, diet, ceramic attributes, and radiocarbon dates from three central Ohio upland sites: President’s Club, 33LI183, and McCauley. Together, these data reveal an emerging pattern of upland site use during the Early Woodland period in central Ohio.     

Material Movement in the Near Eastern Epipalaeolithic: Implications of the Shell and Stone Beads of Direkli Cave,Turkey

Direkli Cave is an Epipalaeolithic site in the central Taurus mountain range in southeastern Turkey that was used by mobile hunter-gatherer communities. The assemblage of beads from the cave, made primarily from shell (marine and freshwater) and stone, shows new evidence both that bead materials were brought to the site from the shores of the Mediterranean and that the material culture of the site has relationships to the Levant, northern Mesopotamia, and inner Anatolia. This article questions how such a bead assemblage should be interpreted in the light of existing evidence for the Near Eastern and Anatolian Epipalaeolithic and what it adds to our understanding of the better known contemporary Natufian culture of the Levant. It considers the long-distance movement of materials, interregional material cultural influences, and the way the Epipalaeolithic period is conceptualized more broadly.     

Interpreting Rock-Cut Grave Cemeteries: The Early Medieval Necropolis and Enclosure of São Gens,Portugal

EXCAVATION AT SÃO GENS (Guarda district) in central Portugal has revealed an early medieval rock-cut grave cemetery and settlement, along with Roman and prehistoric evidence. The site presents an exceptionally rich palimpsest of archaeological monuments. This paper reviews the findings and seeks to address the problem of interpreting rock-cut grave cemeteries, by describing a spatial analytical methodology that draws on comparisons with early medieval cemeteries in England, as a means of enhancing the information deficit of such necropolises. In the light of these analyses, an interpretation of the São Gens site is offered in conclusion.     

山东章丘市小荆山后李文化环壕聚落勘探报告

小荆山遗址是山东后李文化时期重要的环壕聚落遗址。本文着重介绍了小荆山遗址环壕的形状与结构、环壕内地层堆积。通过分析发现 ,小荆山后李文化时期环壕的西半部利用了自然冲沟 ,东部为人工开挖而成。文章对环壕聚落内居址、墓葬的布局进行了探讨 ,进而认为 ,在山东地区 ,早在七八千年以前就存在着环壕聚落 ,其后的大汶口、龙山文化时代的一些遗址中也有环壕存在的迹象。小荆山后李文化的环壕是山东境内目前发现最早、结构最清楚的环壕 ,它的发现 ,将带动山东地区史前聚落形态及环壕聚落的研究。     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEOLITHIC AND COPPER AGE SETTLEMENT IN THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN PART II: SITE SURVEY AND SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS

Summary. Within the region of the Great Hungarian Plain (discussed in the first part of this article) the processes of settlement change can be followed in greater detail from site survey in the Szeghalom area. This central part of the Plain, drained by the Körös and Berettyó rivers, was a major focus of settlement in Neolithic times (6000-4000 BC), and its rising importance can be followed in the emergence of a series of wealthy 'supersites'. During the succeeding Copper Age, the character of sites altered as the role of the area in relation to the rest of the region began to change. Around 3500 BC a dramatic shift in settlement patterns coincided with the appearance of large tumuli of steppe type, which mark a new phase of land use in this region.     

The archaeological remains of Ratu Boko: From Sri Lankan Buddhism to Hinduism

From the 8th to the early 10th century the region around mounts Merapi and Sumbing in central Java was the centre of powerful Indianised kingdoms. One such site, Ratu Boko, was transformed into a Javanese replica of the Abhayagiri-vihāra, a well-known Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka. Shortly afterwards, the Sinhalese influence showed elements of Hindu and Vajrayāna traditions revealing from the archaeological remains that it was not merely a copy of a Sri Lankan model but a testimony of Javanese civilisation and history.     

Beached Shipwrecks from Channel Islands National Park,California

Abstract

Three shipwreck sites of the 19th century in Channel Islands National Park, California form case studies in evaluating the contribution of beached shipwrecks to maritime and historical archaeology. Two of the sites are consistent with the historically-documented Pacific coast lumber schooners J. M. Colman and Dora Bluhm, but the archaeological record is sparse. Material remains are compared to primary documents, such as original 19th-century construction contracts and insurance classifications, to make a case for the beached shipwreck scatters belonging to these ships. A third site, Comet, presents the other end of the spectrum; its remains have been conclusively identified by historical photographs and the site is a partially-intact hull embedded in the beach sand. This site was also recorded in detail and the formation processes of all three sites were examined to aid in archaeological interpretation.     

Between the Vinča and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Linearbandkeramik</Emphasis> Worlds: The Diversity of Practices and Identities in the 54th–53rd Centuries cal BC in Southwest Hungary and Beyond

Perhaps nowhere in European prehistory does the idea of clearly-defined cultural boundaries remain more current than in the initial Neolithic, where the southeast–northwest trend of the spread of farming crosses what is perceived as a sharp divide between the Balkans and central Europe. This corresponds to a distinction between the Vin?a culture package, named for a classic site in Serbia, with its characteristic pottery assemblage and absence of longhouses, and the Linearbandkeramik (LBK), with equally diagnostic but different pottery, and its apparently culturally-diagnostic longhouses, extending in a more northerly belt through central Europe westward to the Dutch coast. In this paper we question the concept of such a clear division through a presentation of new data from the site of Szederkény-Kukorica-d?l?. A large settlement in southeast Transdanubia, Hungary, excavated in advance of road construction, Szederkény is notable for its combination of pottery styles, variously including Vin?a A, Ra?i?te and LBK, and longhouses of a kind otherwise familiar from the LBK world. Formal modelling of its date establishes that the site probably began in the later 54th century cal BC, lasting until the first decades of the 52nd century cal BC. Occupation, featuring longhouses, pits and graves, probably began at the same time in the eastern and western parts of the settlement, starting a decade or two later in the central part; the western part was probably the last to be abandoned. Vin?a pottery is predominantly associated with the eastern and central parts of the site, and Ra?i?te pottery with the west. Formal modelling of the early history of longhouses in the LBK world suggests their emergence in the Formative LBK of Transdanubia c. 5500 cal BC followed by rapid dispersal in the middle of the 54th century cal BC, associated with the ‘earliest’ (älteste) LBK. The adoption of longhouses at Szederkény thus appears to come a few generations after the start of this ‘diaspora’. Rather than explaining the mixture of things, practices and perhaps people at Szederkény with reference to problematic notions such as hybridity, we propose instead a more fluid and varied vocabulary, encompassing combination and amalgamation, relationships and performance in the flow of social life, and networks; this makes greater allowance for diversity and interleaving in a context of rapid change.     

Measuring the relative topographic position of archaeological sites in the landscape,a case study on the Bronze Age barrows in northwest Belgium

Local topography is an important parameter determining the erection of a certain type of site on a certain location in the landscape. Despite the importance of topography in archaeological landscape research, the role of local topography has remained rather unexplored compared to other specific topographic parameters such as slope, aspect, curvature or visibility. Therefore, three methods to assess the relative topographic position of sites are applied and discussed here. The Bronze Age barrow dataset of northwest Belgium acts as the subject for this methodological case study. First, elevation percentile calculates the area that is lower than the central point within a predetermined neighborhood. Secondly, difference from mean elevation measures the relative topographic position of the central point as the difference between the elevation of this central point and the mean elevation within a predetermined neighborhood. And finally, deviation from mean elevation calculates the relative topographic position of the central point as the difference from mean elevation divided by the standard deviation of elevation, within a predetermined neighborhood. These three methods, each with their advantages and disadvantages, prove to be an added value for archaeological landscape research.     

The Classical Tradition Strikes Back. Reply to Comments on The Rise of Bronze Age Society from Gullög Nordquist and Helène Whittaker.

This paper discusses the recent excavation of a 10th century shieling in the highlands of eastern Iceland and places it in the context of other sites and research into Viking age shielings in the North Atlantic. Although the basic economic role of shielings in relation to livestock and summer transhumance is not contested, it is argued that a more complex interpretation needs to be developed around such sites, to consider their ideological and political status. The presence of ‘subsidiary activities’ is often a prominent element in the archaeological record of such sites; the site of Pálstóftir provides indications of small scale craftwork, hunting and magico‐religious practices which need to be made a more central part of interpretation.     

20世纪90年代江苏省中心城市的增长模式和集聚扩散特征研究

本文计算评价了江苏省地区级中心城市的中心性,并利用重力模型划分主要中心城市腹地范围,通过分析人口密度函数的变化探讨了20世纪90年代江苏省中心城市的增长模式和集聚扩散特征。江苏省中心城市增长模式和集聚扩散特征存在南北差异。     

Population,Households, and Ceramic Consumption in a Prehistoric Cypriot Village

Abstract

Evidence from excavations at the Early and Middle Bronze Age site of Marki-Alonia (ca. 2400–1900 B.C.) in central Cyprus provides the base for estimates of evolving population size, community structure, and the scale of ceramic consumption in a prehistoric village. We explore factors such as the region's carrying capacity, tombs associated with the site, average household size, and domestic and funerary ceramic discard. Despite the unavoidable crudeness of any such measures, acceptable order-of magnitude figures can be developed with significant implications for understanding the size and structure of households, kinship relationships, and social reproduction, as well as the degree of craft specialization and the context of skills acquisition and learning.     

Husbandry practices and livestock dung at the Numidian site of Althiburos (el Médéina,Kef Governorate,northern Tunisia): the phytolith and spherulite evidence

Recent excavations at Althiburos, northern Tunisia, have shown the existence of permanent pre-roman occupations in the central area of the urban settlement. Significantly, the site has been found to contain one of the most complete Numidian sequences, spanning from the Early Numidian (at least from the 10th–9th century BC) to its final stage. Research at the site addresses questions related to the identification of settlement patterns at this time.The combined study of phytoliths and spherulites recovered from well defined archeological contexts at the site have provided new data for identifying husbandry activities carried out by the ancient Numidian populations. The results show that there is abundant evidence for both cooking and processing cereals, primarily from common or bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). Also significantly, was the abundance of faecal spherulites in certain areas of the site, indicative of dung accumulation. The correlation between large amounts of spherulites and rich phytolith sediments in specific contexts, suggested that grasses were brought to the site or consumed offsite and deposited onsite as livestock dung or dung-products. The identification of dung accumulations in the site raises questions about the diversity of economic practices developed by Protohistoric communities in northern Africa. Future research questions regarding such dung rich layers will also be examined.     

Organization of ceramic production at a fortified Early Bronze Age settlement in Moravia (Czech Republic) inferred from minimally destructive archaeometry

This paper explores how pottery production was organized at fortified sites of central Europe at the end of the Early Bronze Age. The organization of pottery production in terms of ethnography-based models was inferred jointly by non-destructive multi-elemental analysis, micropetrography and powder X-ray diffraction. This minimally destructive approach was used to explore the mode of pottery production at the fortified central site Blu?ina (Moravia, Czech Republic). Archaeometry-based indirect evidence indicates that tableware of a specific shape was produced using a specific technology at the site or in its close vicinity and that coarse ware was brought to the site from elsewhere. The results obtained were complexly evaluated and compared with ethnography-based categorizations to reveal the features of production organization of the Early Bronze Age pottery. Multidimensional analysis classified the production as intensified household labour and work of individual retainers, or nucleated corvée, depending on its scale and intensity.     

Reply to comments on relative chronology

The court sites in south‐west Norway are a key material for discussing aspects of Roman period archaeology. So far, the Stand der Forschung is not satisfactory, mainly because the excavations that took place in the middle of the 20th century have not so far led to more systematic and synthesising studies being undertaken. It is argued in the article that the court sites can be considered indicative of central settlements in the Roman period, and that the sites were multifunctional. They probably served as gathering places for social activities like games, things and ritual, as production sites, and maybe as temporary accommodation for chieftains' retinues playing a role in intra‐Norwegian or perhaps Scandinavian military confrontations. The latter aspect is considered in some detail in the article, and it is suggested that the court site organisation is indicative of a Roman period (petty) south‐west Norwegian kingdom, and that the bog offering in Illerup place A might have originated from a south‐west Norwegian army defeated by ‘Danish’ forces. On an international level the court sites are an unparalleled type of archaeological monument reflecting social and functional aspects of general interest for European archaeology.     

Makaynûn and its territory: the formation of an urban centre during the South Arabian period in the Hadramawt

Work at the site of Makaynûn in eastern Hadramawt (Yemen) and surrounding territory has yielded information on ancient settlement patterns in southern Arabia. This small regional centre lay within an area marked out by a network of seasonal flood‐water cultivation systems that irrigated agricultural areas. Each system was associated with one or more villages that were contemporary with the central site. As well as providing a communal refuge, the central site contained religious buildings, dwellings and doubtless the residence of the local elite, within the shelter of a defensive enclosure. This territory was overlain by a symbolic geography defined by the location of the sanctuaries and cemeteries of the Makaynûn community. This model of settlement was repeated all along the valley, where comparable systems were found at the mouths of the main tributary valleys.