THE DATE AND SEQUENCE OF USE OF NEOLITHIC FUNERARY MONUMENTS: NEW AMS DATING EVIDENCE FROM THE COTSWOLD-SEVERN REGION

Summary.   In this paper we discuss 26 new Neolithic AMS dates obtained from human and animal bone from four previously undated funerary monuments in the Cotswold-Severn region. By strategically targeting particular portions of these skeletal assemblages, a number of valuable inferences are made concerning the extent of variation in apparently co-existing burial practices both within and between monuments. Of particular interest is the observation that variations in the extent to which interments have become disarticulated cannot necessarily be equated with chronological relationships regarding their deposition. This project has also obtained dates from cremated bone, which establish that the range of funerary treatments in practice during the earlier Neolithic also included cremation. Additionally it is observed that whilst some, apparently primary, deposits may in fact be later insertions, other material in apparently secondary contexts may actually return earlier Neolithic dates.     

APPROACHING MONUMENTS IN THE PREHISTORIC BUILT ENVIRONMENT: NEW LIGHT ON THE MINOAN PALACES

Summary.   The palaces are the most distinctive feature of the Minoan civilization, although their functions and meanings remain enigmatic. This paper explores these inhabited monuments with the application of a phenomenological approach. By constructing a series of categories based on data collected from all the entrances, not just the main ones, we can highlight the myriad everyday experiences encountered upon approaching and entering them. Categories based on function, yet also sensitive to experiential qualities of the use of space, are utilized in order to draw out the varied ways in which people perceived four different Minoan palaces (Knossos, Malia, Phaistos and Zakros).     

PUTTING LITHICS TO THE TEST: NON-SITE ANALYSIS AND THE NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND

Summary. The earliest farming communities in Southern England were for a long time represented solely by the structural remains left behind in the form of burial monuments, henges and causewayed enclosures; only recently, through problem-oriented surface collection, has any attempt been made to locate their settlements. This paper suggests that such attempts have been limited by the very desire to locate 'sites' which made the technique attractive in the first place. Instead it is suggested that we should be attempting to 'think Mesolithic', and by using our knowledge of Neolithic settlement and land-use strategies, attempt to locate zones of continuity which undoubtedly occurred in certain 'favourable locations'within the landscape. Case studies from East and West Hampshire are discussed and two types of adaptive behaviour are identified.     

TIMBER MONUMENTS,LANDSCAPE ANDTHE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NITH VALLEY,DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY

This paper considers the impact of landscape and environment upon monuments built during the Neolithic period. Taking a group of timber monuments of Neolithic date in the Nith Valley region, Dumfries and Galloway, it examines their relationship to the topography and environment and seeks to explain their uniquely linear nature, a feature of timber monuments built in this region. It discusses the importance of incorporating plough‐levelled sites into landscape approaches to monuments, the potential impact of vegetation upon visibility patterns, and the value of considering the immediate locations of monuments, arguing that monuments built upon a heightened awareness of landscape topography, arising out of a long‐term relationship with place.     

NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT ON THE BURIED FLOODPLAINS OF RUNNYMEDE

In reviewing the evidence from excavations at Runnymede Bridge this paper illustrates the potential of floodplains as archaeological resourceS. The topographic development of the local floodplain is outlined in relation to Flandrian sea level changes in the Thames estuary. Consideration is given to the role of the Middle Neolithic and Late Bronze Age occupations and the influence of physiographical and hydrological factors.     

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.     

HUMAN MOBILITY AT THE EARLY NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF VAIHINGEN,GERMANY: EVIDENCE FROM STRONTIUM ISOTOPE ANALYSIS*

As evidence concerning human mobility during the transition to agriculture in central Europe, we present the results of strontium isotope analysis of human skeletons from the Neolithic village of Vaihingen, Germany. We find significantly more ‘non‐local’⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values from humans buried in a Neolithic ditch surrounding Vaihingen than from those buried within the settlement. These results fit with previous studies showing a correlation between burial circumstances and strontium isotope signatures from LBK cemeteries of southwestern Germany ( Price et al. 2001 ; Bentley et al. 2002 ). A pilot study of Neolithic animal teeth from Vaihingen suggests that either ‘local’⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures were more variable than the analysed human bones suggest, or that these domestic animals themselves were mobile, perhaps ranged by mobile pastoralists.     

THE DEVELOPMENT of NEOLITHIC and COPPER AGE SETTLEMENT IN the GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN PART I: the REGIONAL SETTING

Summary: This paper describes the development of settlement over the period 6000-4000 BC in part of central Europe. It contrasts the patterns of initial agrarian occupation with the subsequent expansion of population in the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin. This area is of particular interest, both as a major focus of prehistoric settlement, and because it is possible to compare the results of recent local surveys with a well documented series of regional distributions.     

NEW ASPECTS OF THE MESOLITHIC‐NEOLITHIC CEMETERIES AND SETTLEMENT AT ZVEJNIEKI,NORTHERN LATVIA

The paper reflects upon recent international research at Zvejnieki in northern Latvia, a renowned complex of a burial ground and two settlement sites used in the Mesolithic and Neolithic. Since its discovery and first excavations in the 1960s, Zvejnieki continues to produce evidence that provides new grounds for understanding mortuary practises and ancient lifeways. This information is relevant for other contemporary sites in Europe revealing new and hitherto unexpected elements of burial traditions. It is suggested that the Zvejnieki population was partly mobile, and the site was one of the places to bury the dead. The ancestral link was established through transportation and use of occupational debris from more ancient sites and through the incorporation of earlier burial space or even burials into the new graves. The depth of a burial also appears to be a significant variable in ancient mortuary practices.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METALWORK, COPPER SOURCES AND THE EVIDENCE FOR SETTLEMENT IN THE GREEK LATE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE

Summary. This paper discusses the evidence for copper- and bronze-working in later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Greece and seeks to define the relationship between these industries and the copper ore sources which were potentially available. It compares the distribution of metalwork with that of contemporary settlement, and lists the occurrence of copper sources in each region. A contrast is also drawn between the later Neolithic industries, which resemble those of the Balkans, and those of EB II and III, which have essentially a Near Eastern Background. Although the same ore sources may have been used in both periods, the scope and organisation of the industries was markedly different. It is concluded that even though there were enough local and widespread copper sources to meet demand, there is no evidence that any one copper source was systematically exploited in EBA. The extent to which the Laurion copper source influenced the organisation of copper acquisition in MBA is discussed.     

试论城镇人居环境中的生产环境

本文通过对人居环境概念的分析,指出生产环境是人居环境中不可分割的组成部分,认为城镇人居环境中的生产环境应是城镇中居民从事各种生产活动的直接环境和各种生产活动所营造的对居民有直接或间接影响的城镇环境。根据这一认识,作者对城镇人居环境中的生产环境所涉及的要素分内部和外部环境(包括生产性设施环境、生产性人口环境、生产性文化和制度环境、生产性污染和灾害环境、择业环境等)两个层面进行了多维度的分析,并指出城镇人居环境的持续发展必须加强对生产环境的研究。     

HEROIC TIME: MONUMENTS AND THE PAST IN MESSENIA, SOUTHWEST GREECE

The archaeological structure of a landscape in terms of the history of settlement and burial in a particular locale through time, together with the construction, development and importance of the monuments placed within it, has become a feature of recent landscape archaeology in the study of Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. The present paper introduces some of these themes into the study of the Messenia, southwest Greece, approaching two main problems. First, how the location chosen for the Late Bronze Age Palace of Nestor related to earlier patterns of habitation of the Middle Helladic period (an issue hitherto ignored by previous 'period-specific'studies) and, secondly, the later relevance of the Bronze Age landscape in the Iron Age when issues such as the 'Past'and 'History'came to be of great significance in Messenia.     

WATER, ANIMALS AND AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY: A STUDY OF SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN NEOLITHIC SOUTHERN GREECE

Summary. This study, based on evidence from archaeological surveys and excavations in southern Greece, demonstrates two major shifts in the subsistence economy during the Neolithic. In the EN and MN periods the presence of large villages in locations near reliable water-sources and permanently moist or seasonally flooded soils of high and sustained productivity illustrates a village farming economy concentrating on arable agriculture. The first economic shift occurred in the late MN-LN with occupation of highland caves and islands, indicating increased sheep/goat pastoralism, fishing, and perhaps hunting, with a reduced number of farming villages present in the plains. The second shift took place in the FN-EBA, when a dispersal of agricultural settlements into dry upland regions indicates expanding plough agriculture and pastoralism, important factors contributing to the development of the flourishing EBA economy. The expansion of settlement was most marked in southeastern Greece, and it is suggested here that the extensive grazing areas provided by the open vegetation and mountainous terrain of this dry region, and its relative scarcity of well-watered fertile lowlands, may have stimulated the LN-FN expansion of pastoralism.     

THE TALAYOTIC MONUMENTS OF MALLORCA: FORMATION PROCESSES AND FUNCTION

Summary. Talayots are stone monuments which were constructed singly, or as part of fortified settlements, in the Balearic islands during the late second and first millennia bc. Along with comparable monuments in Sardinia ('nuraghi') and Corsica ('torri'), there has been debate over their function(s) within Bronze and Iron Age societies. In recent intra-site analyses, the material and faunal remains within such monuments have been contrasted with those found in surrounding, domestic structures. Interpretations of talayots as elite residences, or locations for ceremonial feasting, butchery and storage have been evaluated. Using data from talayot 4 at Son Ferrandell Oleza, the authors argue that an understanding of formation processes is an essential basis for any attempt to make such inferences about functional differentiation within Bronze and Iron Age settlements on West Mediterranean islands.     

DEMOGRAPHIC PROXIES FOR THE NEOLITHIC: WITH EMPHASIS ON THE LANGELAND REGION,DENMARK

The article discusses the use of summed probability distribution as a demographic proxy, and highlights several issues with this method, especially during periods of change in the exploitation of the landscape or during social transformation. With a case study from the Langeland region in Denmark an alternative and corrective approach is applied, were number of settlements and size of settlement is included. With this approach a very different development can be described.     

THE BAM: LABOR,MIGRATION AND PROSPECTS FOR SETTLEMENT

The construction of the showcase Baikal-Amur Mainline (the BAM), which spans over 2,000 miles of unsettled, desolate territory, provides an excellent opportunity to study labor management and organization in a centrally planned economy, and illustrates the interplay of central planning with the relatively unhindered migration of workers. Significantly, in the face of a shrinking labor force, the USSR attracted thousands of young people to Siberia to work on the BAM. Now that the rail line is in place, the more difficult task will be to entice workers to settle in the BAM zone. Until the Soviet Government makes a firm commitment to improving the quality of life in Siberia, prospects for settling the BAM region remain uncertain. (The author wishes to thank Holland Hunter, Gilbert Rozman and Theodore Shabad for their generous help and encouragement.)     

THE USE OF OXYGEN ISOTOPES IN SHEEP MOLARS TO INVESTIGATE PAST HERDING PRACTICES AT THE NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF ÇATALHÖYÜK,CENTRAL ANATOLIA

This paper presents a pilot study designed to test the use of oxygen isotopes for investigating aspects of early herding practices in the Neolithic of western Asia, using the site of Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia as a case study. Time‐sequenced δ¹⁸O values in dental enamel of archaeological sheep are assessed for post‐depositional diagenetic effects and compared with seasonal δ¹⁸O meteoric water values in the region today. The evidence is used to indicate the environmental conditions in which individual sheep spent their first year, enabling management of breeding and birthing seasons, and movement to seasonal pastures, to be investigated.