FROM SEPARATION TO INTERACTION: CORDED WARE IN THE EASTERN GULF OF FINLAND

Up until recent years, Corded Ware has remained poorly studied in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, located in north‐eastern Europe. Traditionally, this region has been considered marginal in terms of Corded Ware, but new research has started to change this view. This paper presents the Corded Ware material known up to the current date (2016) from the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, i.e. the Karelian Isthmus and Ingria (western Leningrad oblast, Russia); currently ca. 30 sites and ca. 60 stray finds are known in the research area. Based on this and previously published data from the adjoining regions, features related to the material culture, the contact networks, and the chronology of Corded Ware are discussed. Even though focusing the research may skew the picture, there are good grounds to propose, that there was a distinctive Corded Ware sphere of interaction in the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, also including areas in north‐eastern Estonia and south‐eastern Finland. Due to its particular cultural background, local preferences, and consequently, development trajectories, the area had a clear regional character. Further, populations inhabiting it also maintained active contacts with other Corded Ware groups in the sphere of Baltic Sea and further to the east, as well as with non‐Corded Ware settlers of north‐eastern Europe.     

Mobility in Central European Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age: tibial cross-sectional geometry

An absence of settlement features during the Central European Corded Ware period (Late Eneolithic, 2900–2300 BC) has been interpreted as a reflection of mobile pastoral subsistence. Recent analyses of the Late Eneolithic archeological context reveal that the Late Eneolithic exhibit evidence of sedentary agricultural activities similar to the Early Bronze Age. Since the archeological analyses are not clear cut, we tested mobility pattern differences between the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age using biomechanical analysis of the tibial midshaft cross-sections. The total sample of the 130 tibiae representing five archaeological cultures was used. The results of the tibial midshaft geometry do not support the hypothesis about different mobility in the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. This conclusion is supported by nonsignificant differences between the Corded Ware females and the Early Bronze Age females. Higher absolute values for the Corded Ware males should be explained either by stochastic variation or by differing amounts of physical demands despite a generally similar pattern of subsistence of the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. One of the Early Bronze Age samples, the Wieselburger group, is an exception because the individuals show both reduced overall size and bending resistance of the tibial parameters not only in comparison with the Late Eneolithic but also to the rest of the Early Bronze Age. The results suggest that the behavioral processes which affected the tibial midshaft biology operated during the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age as a mosaic across time and between/within cultures.     

The Eulau eulogy: Bioarchaeological interpretation of lethal violence in Corded Ware multiple burials from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

The Corded Ware is one of the major archaeological traditions of Late Neolithic Europe. Its burial customs are characterized by single graves but multiple burials also occur. We present a detailed study of antemortem and perimortem trauma in a group of Corded Ware skeletons from four multiple graves and give the most probable interpretation of the site, based upon all available bioarchaeological evidence. The pattern of observed injuries in male, female, and subadult skeletons, including cranial trauma, arrow wounds, and fractures of the forearm and hands points towards a violent event that resulted in the death of all individuals, most probably a raid. In contrast to comparable Neolithic raid sites, there was no complete extermination of the local population and no use of mass graves. The burials have been arranged with care and detailed knowledge about biological kinship ties [Haak, W., Brandt, G., de Jong, H.N., Meyer, C., Ganslmeier, R., Heyd, V., Hawkesworth, C., Pike, A.W.G., Meller, H., Alt, K.W., 2008. Ancient DNA, strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, 18226–18231]. The combination of clear causes of death and the proven biological relationships among some of the individuals, including a nuclear family, provides new and important insights into Corded Ware mortuary customs and the reasons why and how multiple graves have been utilised.     

An Absolute Chronological Framework for the Central‐Eastern European Eneolithic

Bayesian analysis of a large corpus of radiocarbon measurements from central and eastern Europe has been performed in order to revisit and modify archaeological models of the spatio‐temporal development of three Eneolithic cultures (the Funnel Beaker, the Globular Amphora and the Corded Ware cultures). While the results place the origins of the Funnel Beaker and the Corded Ware cultures in central‐eastern Poland, it was impossible to specify the place of origin of the Globular Amphora complex.     

THE STEPPE HYPOTHESIS OF INDO‐EUROPEAN ORIGINS REMAINS TO BE PROVEN

Recent genetic studies have claimed to reveal a massive migration of the bearers of the Yamnaya culture (Pit‐grave culture) to the Central and Northern Europe. This migration has supposedly lead to the formation of the Corded Ware cultures and thereby to the dispersal of Indo‐European languages in Europe. The article is a summary presentation of available archaeological, linguistic, genetic and cultural data that demonstrates many discrepancies in the suggested scenario for the transformations caused by the Yamnaya “invasion” some 5000 years ago.     

How was Bell Beaker economy related to Corded Ware and Early Bronze Age lifestyles? Archaeological,botanical and palynological evidence from the Hegau,Western Lake Constance region

Abstract

The Europe wide spread of what has been called the Bell Beaker phenomenon remains an enigma of European prehistory. While most of the recent research stresses the ideological aspects of using Bell Beaker material culture, here we take a regional and economical perspective. We look for the chronological relationships and the economic choices of the Bell Beaker phase and of its closest neighbours in time and space: the Late Neolithic Corded Ware and the Early Bronze Age. We focus on the regional archaeological settlement history and present the hitherto richest European Bell Beaker-associated collection of palaeobotanical macro-remains, together with our high-resolution palynological work on annually laminated lake sediments. These different lines of evidence are tied together by an absolute chronology derived from new radiocarbon accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) dates (now more than 200) and from the dendrodates from the World Heritage wet preserved pile dwellings. We show the preceding Late Neolithic, the actual Bell Beaker, and the following Early Bronze age economies each relying on different agricultural strategies that focus on distinct parts of the landscape. There is no link obvious between Late Neolithic and Bell Beaker, but there is between Bell Beaker and Early Bronze Age. Related to different modes of production, differences in ideology become visible in food preferences as well as in other parts of the material culture. We conclude that the Bell Beaker economy represents a re-orientation of the mode of production focusing on single, rather small farmsteads which often do not leave a distinct signal in the archaeological record.     

The woman of Pritschoena: an example of the German neolithic neurosurgery in Saxony-Anhalt

We present an outstanding example of successful prehistoric double trephination dating between 2700 and 2200 BC, most likely to the Corded Ware culture, at the end of the Neolithic Age. The particularity of this case is the presence of a double trephination, one frontal over the sinus sagittal superior and one parietal right. There is evidence that the patient survived months to years after the operations. The purpose of the procedure is not known. The case confirms the astonishing degree of technical skills reached in Saxony-Anhalt over 4500 years ago without anesthetic, antiseptic, or technologic aids.     

The woman behind the syndrome: Frey's syndrome — the untold story*

We present an outstanding example of successful prehistoric double trephination dating between 2700 and 2200 BC, most likely to the Corded Ware culture, at the end of the Neolithic Age. The particularity of this case is the presence of a double trephination, one frontal over the sinus sagittal superior and one parietal right. There is evidence that the patient survived months to years after the operations. The purpose of the procedure is not known. The case confirms the astonishing degree of technical skills reached in Saxony-Anhalt over 4500 years ago without anesthetic, antiseptic, or technologic aids.     

MEMORY,LANDSCAPE & MORTUARY PRACTICE

Stone Age people handled their dead in various ways. From the Late Mesolithic period onwards, the deceased were also buried in formal cemeteries, and according to radiocarbon dates, the cemeteries were used for long periods and occasionally reused after a hiatus of several hundred years. The tradition of continuous burials indicates that the cemeteries were not only static containers of the dead but also important places for Stone Age communities, which were often established in potent places and marked by landscape features that might have had a strong association with death. The paper explores the tradition of burials in cemeteries exemplified through Jönsas Stone Age cemetery in southern Finland. Here the natural topography, along with memories of practices conducted at the site in the past, played a significant role in the Stone Age mortuary practices, also resulting in the ritual reuse of the cemetery by the Neolithic Corded Ware Culture.     

Selenium in skeletal remains

Contents of selenium (Se) were determined in human skeletal remains of prehistoric populations by in situ trapping of Se hydride by ET AAS (atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomisation). Dr Korunová worked out a method of determination of Se in preparation. The method of determination of Se was verified by means of radioactive indicator ⁷⁵Se incorporated in the tissues of laboratory animals. Detection limit of the method was 23 pg Se. Se is another element suitable for dietary reconstruction in past populations as it relates to the consumption of meat in a similar way to zinc. Through the analysis of Se, we were able to distinguish between Eneolithic archaeological cultures (Corded Ware ceramic, Bell Beaker culture) and Bronze Age cultures (Protounětice, Starounětice, Unětice cultures). Significant differences were found in the levels of Se in the bones of individuals derived from the Bell Beaker and Uneětice Cultures, to the 95% confidence interval. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wild at heart: Approaching Pitted Ware identity,economy and cosmology through stable isotopes in skeletal material from the Neolithic site Korsnäs in Eastern Central Sweden

The Middle Neolithic Pitted Ware Culture on the Baltic Sea islands comprised a common identity distinguished, in part, by an almost exclusively marine diet. Based on evidence from the first stable isotope analysis on Pitted Ware skeletal material from the Eastern Central Swedish mainland, we suggest that this identity was shared by PWC groups in the archipelago of the west side of the Baltic. Fifty-six faunal and 26 human bone and dentine samples originating from the Pitted Ware site Korsnäs in Södermanland, Sweden were analysed, and the data clearly shows that the diet of the Korsnäs people was marine, predominantly based on seal. The isotope data further indicate that the pig bones found in large quantities on the site emanate from wild boar rather than domestic pigs. The large representation of pig on several Pitted Ware sites, which cannot be explained in terms of economy, is interpreted as the results of occasional hunting of and ritual feasting on wild boar, indicating that the animal held a prominent position, alongside seal, in the hunting identity and cosmology of the Pitted Ware people. Further, eleven new radiocarbon dates are presented, placing the Korsnäs site, with a large probability, within Middle Neolithic A.     

FISHERS OF THE CORDED WARE CULTURE IN THE EASTERN BALTIC

Between 2800 and 2400 cal BC pastoralists from Central Europe migrated into the eastern Baltic paving the way for the Corded Ware Culture (CWC), and a new type of economy, animal husbandry. Traditionally the CWC people were viewed as highly mobile due to the lack of substantial traces of dwellings and material culture at settlement sites; they were reliant on an economy based on animal husbandry as demonstrated by zooarchaeological and stable isotopic evidence. However, this paradigm is beginning to shift. Here, we present new AMS radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements, pollen and macrobotanical data from sediment samples and a portable fish screen, as well as technological, molecular and isotopic data obtained from ceramic vessels from three CWC sites in the eastern Baltic. Overall, our results indicate a de-Neolithisation process undergone by some CWC groups, particularly in lacustrine and coastal ecotones, and a shift to hunting, gathering and fishing.     

Neolithic Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) from the Island of Gotland show early contacts with the Swedish mainland

Previous research probing early migrations and contacts in the Baltic Sea area is characterized by the analysis of different chronologies and subsistent strategies on all sides of the Sea. Several studies performed on artifact typology, ceramics, grave rituals and physical anthropology ended with varying results. Although the question of human origins remains inconclusive, in this study, we rely on the phylogeography of an animal associated with humans to elucidate findings regarding prehistoric human migration and contacts.Hedgehogs, along with other fauna on Gotland, were brought over to the island by humans. We examined hedgehog mitochondrial DNA from the Pitted Ware Culture (Middle Neolithic). The genetic signatures of the animals on the island were investigated to determine the animal’s origin.From the 23 bones originally examined, twelve bones from all five locations studied yielded reliable results and resembled published extant Erinaceus europaeus sequences from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We postulate that a western heritage for the Neolithic hedgehogs on Gotland indicates early human contact with the Swedish mainland.     

KAUP 2014: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS & RESEARCH HISTORY

The article is a report on field activities of 2014 at a renowned location of Kaup forest near Wiskiauten/Viskiautai, nowadays Kaliningrad oblast of Russia, and a sentimental journey through the research history in a region at the crossroads of ancient communication webs, and more recently – of diverse political agendas. Field activities focused on the so‐called Barrow 1, the only known mound at Kaup dated to the Neolithic, otherwise dotted with burials of the Viking Age. It was an attempt to reconstruct barrow architecture, which has resulted in a deconstruction of previous views based on rather scarce excavation reports of the 19^th – early 20^th century. The Neolithic barrow of Kaup remains a unique testimony of the social complexity and spatial awareness of the early 3rd millennium BC when Europe was under the spell of the Corded Ware and other related cultural phenomena.     

Ecological constraints on the first prehistoric farmers in Europe

The Neolithic Revolution, which witnessed the transformation of hunter–gatherer groups into farming communities, is traditionally viewed as the event that allowed human groups to create systems of production that, in the long run, led to present-day societies. Despite the large corpus of research focused on the mechanisms and outcomes of the Neolithic transition, relatively little effort has been devoted to evaluating whether particular production-oriented adaptations could be integrated into a broad range of ecological conditions, and if specific cultural traditions differed ecologically. In order to investigate whether the differences between the adaptations and geographic distributions of three major Early Neolithic archaeological cultures are related to the exploitation of different suites of environmental conditions, we apply genetic algorithm and maximum entropy ecological niche modeling techniques to reconstruct and compare the ecological niches within which three principal Neolithic cultures (Impressed Ware, Cardial Ware, and Linearbandkeramik) spread across Europe between ca. 8000 and 7000 cal yr BP. Results show that these cultures occupied mutually exclusive suites of environmental conditions and, thus, were adapted to distinct and essentially non-overlapping ecological niches. We argue that the historical processes behind the Neolithization of Europe were influenced by environmental factors predisposing occupation of regions most suited to specific cultural adaptations.     

An Engraved Chalk Plaque from Hanging Cliff, Kilham

An engraved chalk plaque found in the fill of a Roman ditch at Kilham, North Yorkshire bore decoration akin to that on some Grooved Ware pottery. A case is made for its inclusion within a small series of similar plaques of likely Late Neolithic date.     

PIT-DIGGING, OCCUPATION AND STRUCTURED DEPOSITION ON RUDSTON WOLD, EASTERN YORKSHIRE

Summary.   Excavated Neolithic pit clusters, like those found on Rudston Wold in eastern Yorkshire, have often been seen as the remains of occupation sites. The features are interpreted as possessing practical roles, including their use for storing grain, and the incorporated material culture regarded as casually discarded waste. More recent interpretations, however, have emphasized these features' functional unsuitability, rather seeing pit-digging, and the deposition of ideologically-charged objects, as a deliberate attempt to inscribe meaning across a landscape. These two different approaches are considered by a detailed examination of the Peterborough Ware and Grooved Ware associated pits, dug-out swallow-holes and hollows of Rudston Wold. It is argued that their lithic assemblage demonstrates a conventionality best understood as representing occupation at and around the features, themselves once part of small-scale dwellings, but that this material nonetheless resulted from deliberate and purposeful acts which changed during the later Neolithic.     

GROOVED WARE FEASTING IN YORKSHIRE: LATE NEOLITHIC ANIMAL CONSUMPTION AT RUDSTON WOLD

We consider (a) feasting, and (b) the formal deposition of feasting detritus, with regard to the Late Neolithic pits on Rudston Wold. Pigs are common, as in most Grooved Ware assemblages, but we suggest that cattle may have played a proportionately greater role in eastern and northern England. Claimed ‘aurochs’ from the site are in fact misidentified domestic cattle; hardly any wild animals are present. Some aspects of the assemblage support the suggestion that the animals were consumed during feasts, although these were on a much smaller scale than those seen at major Grooved Ware monuments. There is no support for the suggestion that the pits saw formal or ‘structured’ deposition.     

Variation in human bone bioerosion during the Late Eneolithic/Bronze Age in Moravia (Czech Republic): A novel approach to BSE-SEM image quality and quantity assessment

Human bones from Late Eneolithic graves and Bronze Age settlement pits in Moravia (Czech Republic) were studied to reconstruct their post-mortem histories based on the distribution of their microbial destruction. Backscattered electrons in a scanning electron microscope (BSE-SEM) were used for visual assessment of bioerosion. Visual data from the histological analysis were transformed into quantitative data using the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) toolkit. The results show that the presence of bioerosion is different between the two groups of samples. The bones from settlement pits display extensive bioerosion whereas the bones from graves display no or arrested bioerosion. The absence of bioerosion in graves is most probably linked with tomb burials of Corded Ware Culture. Given the tombs are frequently not preserved archaeologically, the state of bone bioerosion may serve as an indicator of their existence.