THE NEOLITHIC of the AVEBURY AREA: SEQUENCE, ENVIRONMENT, SETTLEMENT and MONUMENTS

Summary: The implications are discussed of the first five seasons of a regional project to investigate the Neolithic sequence and environment, and the context in which monuments great and small were built, in the area around Avebury, north Wiltshire, England. A five-phase local sequence is proposed. There was a varying mosaic of clearances, and settlement density may have been low. the episodic character of monument building stands out. With the exception of Silbury Hill, none of the monuments need indicate significant social ranking, and more attention can be given to their sacred character and to the tradition which produced them.     

What if none of the Building Stones at Stonehenge Came from Wiltshire?

The sarsen and bluestone stones at Stonehenge (Wiltshire, UK) have played a significant role in the development of twentieth‐century ideas about Neolithic and early Bronze Age social structure. Sarsen and bluestone are not, however, the only rock types used at Stonehenge. The varied stones present at the monument include previously under‐studied material, such as the normally unseen, and largely forgotten, packing stones for Stonehenge's famous settings. By reflecting on more recently developed theoretical frameworks to interpret this variety, this paper exposes the possibility that an alternative to the dominant discourse, in which Stonehenge represents the culmination of Neolithic social evolution, is possible.     

MONUMENTS AND SOCIAL COMPLEXITY: A NEW LINE OF ENQUIRY?

Summary. Studies of prehistoric monuments have suggested that there may be a relationship between the amount of labour needed to build them and the complexity of contemporary society. To some extent such work has been influenced by the rich ethno-historical record of the Polynesian chiefdoms. This article compares the role of large monuments in Polynesia with ethnographic evidence describing monument building in an Indian tribe. It concludes that an important contrast between the two examples is that in simpler societies monument building may be essentially an 'event', whilst in more complex societies monuments can be maintained for a substantial period after their erection.
Similar contrasts can be found in the archaeological record in Britain and suggest that whilst Neolithic earthworks may have made greater demands on human labour, it was only in the Iron Age that society possessed the capacity to undertake regular maintenance of large monuments.     

Kyordyughen Site,Ymyiakhtakh Culture,Yakutia: An Interpretation of Burial Rite

A series of radiocarbon dates for the Late Neolithic burial at Kyordyughen, Yakutia, support its association with the Ymyiakhtakh culture. The article proposes a new interpretation of the burial rite in the context of the site. Possible reasons for the disruption of the burial are presented. The presence of the dismembered remains of another body may indicate the practice of human sacrifice. The emergence of warriors as a social group is discussed, and the question is raised as to whether such a group might have been present in the Late Neolithic societies of northeast Asia on the basis of evidence favoring social differentiation with regard to military status.     

Notices of New publications

This paper records the excavation of a ploughed-out round barrow (ring-ditch) at Ravenstone, Buckinghamshire (SP 8535 4895). The circular ditch (12.0 m diameter) was broken by four narrow causeways. Two graves were located at the centre of the monument. The primary grave was apparently a cenotaph, for although a coffin, an antler spatula and a flint fabricator were discovered, no skeletal material was found. The secondary grave contained the crouched inhumation of a woman, accompanied by grave goods. Finds from both graves suggest leather-working. A four-post structure (3.60 m square) may have existed on the site prior to the barrow's construction. A substantial quantity of worked flint came from the excavated area, and small pits contained flints of late Neolithic and pottery of Iron Age date. The excavation records are housed at the Buckinghamshire County Museum, as CAS 2555 in the Sites and Monuments Record, and the finds as L.301.     

SEA CHANGE: NEW EVIDENCE FOR MESOLITHIC AND EARLY NEOLITHIC PRESENCE IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO GUERNSEY AND THE RISING HOLOCENE SEA

This paper summarizes the results of recent research on the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in the Channel Islands and focuses on the integration of new information into the long‐ running efforts to explain the processes by which the Neolithic became established in Guernsey and the other Channel Islands. This research builds on Kinnes's work on the complex monument at Les Fouaillages, Guernsey in the early 1980s and the review by Patton of Neolithic communities in the Channel Islands in 1995. Many rescue and research excavations in Guernsey have provided new evidence which informs the complex relationships between Guernsey, the other Channel Islands and the north‐west of France at the time of the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. Analysis of the data takes into account recent French research (and in particular Cassen et al. 2000 and Guyodo and Hamon 2005 ). Also, at the time of writing, Kinnes's work on Les Fouaillages is being prepared for publication ( Kinnes et al. forthcoming , see below). The developments are discussed against new and existing data for rising sea levels and the consequent isolation of Guernsey as an island.     

The Pastoral Neolithic of East Africa

In East Africa, as in many other regions, the initial shift from hunting and gathering to food production was a secondary process involving the introduction of species domesticated elsewhere. Specifically, the East African Neolithic, or Pastoral Neolithic, centered on herding livestock, some of which may have been domesticated in the Sahara and all of which were almost certainly imported from areas to the north. The development of the Pastoral Neolithic was lengthy and complex, having begun before 4000 B.P. and lasted until about 1300 B.P. Although detailed information on this segment of African prehistory is not abundant, data so far available reveal a succession of cultural transformations within the Pastoral Neolithic, such that it can be divided into early, evolved, and late stages, each exhibiting distinctive combinations of ceramic wares, lithic industries, and subsistence regimes. The transformations seem to have been fostered by both environmental change and population movements.     

Contexts of Monumentalism: regional diversity at the Neolithic transition in north-west France

The origins of funerary monumentalism in north-west France remain inextricably linked to questions surrounding the Neolithic transition in that region. Debate continues over the relative importance of influences from earlier Neolithic communities in north-east or southern France on the Mesolithic communities of western France. An alternative interpretation places these influences within the context of broad processes of change affecting indigenous communities throughout northern and western France during the fifth millennium BC. The evidence from several regions of northern and western France is reviewed in this perspective, with emphasis on the regional character of monument traditions. Though at one level these regional narratives must have been interrelated, the regional diversity of the process must also be underlined. The argument moves us away from simplistic notions of extraneous influences to a more nuanced understanding of change within the context of individual communities at the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition.     

Experiencing Texture and Transformation in the British Neolithic

The Neolithic period saw the introduction of new material culture into Britain, including monuments, pottery and polished stone axes. Over recent years, the uses and meanings of these objects and places have been considered in depth, with emphasis now firmly placed upon their social role and symbolic value. However, a growing interest in a multi–sensual archaeology has highlighted the paucity of information concerning the role of texture in the experience of Neolithic material culture. This paper will examine the evidence for the use of texture in the archaeological record. I will suggest that texture may have been a fundamental part of the experience of objects and monuments, and may have imparted meanings and messages to those who came into contact with them. In particular, the transformation of differing textures may have been a crucial metaphor in the Neolithic.     

The Greek Neolithic: A new review

The Greek Neolithic, here divided into five phases, is the oldest in Europe. Geographically, it is the closest to the Near East and has thus long been seen as an impoverished derivative of the latter. However, recent research has tended to emphasize the autochthonous nature of Neolithic development in Europe, including Greece. The Greek Neolithic economy, which was based almost entirely on domesticates, and its densely packed, long-lived villages strongly recall the Near East, as do also the early emphasis on fine, decorated, nonculinary pottery and the wealth of figurines. On the other hand, the evolution of stylistic patterns is specifically Greek, although generally related to trends in the Balkans. Originality in the development of the Greek Neolithic is also seen in its latest phase, with apparent decreases, rather than increases, in site density, social differentiation, and, to some extent, long-distance trade. At the same time, however, the dichotomy became much sharper between the rich agricultural plains of northern Greece and the more pastoral(?) regions of the Peloponnese and Cycladic Islands; this presages similar contrasts during the Bronze Age.     

The Age of Clay: The Social Dynamics of House Destruction

This study provides some fresh insight into Neolithic domestic architecture through the analysis of architectural technology and the control over the practice of house construction and destruction. Examined on a regional or local level, architecture of the Neolithic is often presented as a fairly homogenous social practice over the large area of Southeast Europe. In viewing the Neolithic houses as homogenous and uncontroversial material culture, archaeologists have overlooked not only the possible variation and multimeaning of the Neolithic houses but also their striking and extensive means of destruction. The role of house conflagration, a practice that lasted during the entire Neolithic of Southeast Europe, has not been addressed in archaeological investigations. Indeed the phenomenon of burned houses has been treated as a series of lucky accidents during the Neolithic, which are primarily responsible for the preservation of Neolithic sites. Contrary this view, I argue that it is unlikely that the houses were burned as a result of a series of accidents or for any structural and technological reasons but rather that they were destroyed by deliberate burning and most likely for reasons of a symbolic nature. The causes for the practice of house firing and house abandonment as observed through the architectural evidence at the site of Opovo are believed to have been related to the need for house replacement and securing its postutilitarian visibility in order to show social and material continuity of the Neolithic society. In my view, a struggle for social and material continuity might have been a leading mobilizing force in creating and maintaining social practices and beliefs in the Neolithic society.     

al‐Khafaji reinterpreted: New insights on Umm an‐Nar monuments and settlement from Bat,Oman

Al‐Khafaji is a central and well‐known point on the early third millennium BC map of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat, in the Sultanate of Oman. For years, Kasr al‐Khafaji (“Tower 1146”) has been understood as an Umm an‐Nar (ca. 2800–2000 BCE) monument standing amid a contemporary village. However, recent excavations by the Bat Archaeological Project (BAP) reveal that the entirety of the known site—monument(s) and settlement—is situated on an anthropogenic clay mound that elevated it meters above the surrounding landscape. This paper presents the results of BAP's recent excavations, emphasising the social spaces created by architecture of various functions and scales. It also considers the implications that this new interpretation of al‐Khafaji may have for how the relationship between Umm an‐Nar towers and settlement should be understood. The paper closes with a discussion of Umm an‐Nar tower function and social meaning, concluding that the Khafaji monument(s) likely served a symbolic and possibly performative role in Umm an‐Nar society that was perceived as separate from Umm an‐Nar settlement.     

Early farming in hordaland,western Norway. Problems and approaches in archaeology and pollen analysis

This article discusses the evidence of farming settlements in Neolithic times in the county of Hordaland, in western Norway, and possible ways for future research to establish the introduction of a farming economy, with its cultural and ecological implications.

Using distribution maps, Bakka demonstrates how the people of the mainly hunting and fishing sub‐Neolithic dwelling‐place culture of the Middle Neolithic period preferred a coastal area of habitation, while the find groups of Neolithic artifacts are generally to be found in those areas more suitable for farming. This change of habitat is interpreted as evidence of a general change in economic structure, with a greatly increased emphasis on agriculture.

Kaland discusses the Sub‐Boreal history of vegetation in Hordaland as revealed by pollen analysis. The earliest phase of agriculture in the pollen diagrams is dated in relation to the pollenanalytical leading horizons, the shore‐line displacement, radiocarbon measurements and the archaeological chronology. He puts forward the working hypothesis that in the sub‐Neolithic culture of the Middle Neolithic period some animal husbandry may have been practised in zone VIII b as a supplementary means of livelihood, and that this was followed by a phase of cereal growing in zone VIII c. The Late Neolithic culture appears to be responsible for this more intensive mixed farming, and this corresponds to the archaeological evidence of the introduction of cereal cultivation, which demands the better‐soils of the later farming land.     

Betylmania? – Small Standing Stones and the Megaliths of South‐West Britain

This paper calls attention to a previously neglected element of the broad repertoire of monumental megalithic structures that characterize the later third and second millennia BC across the British Isles – extremely small standing stones. Despite their frequency and the complex arrangements and associations they embody, these miniliths are rarely recorded in detail and frequently marginalized to a generic background. As a result, they are largely absent from interpretative accounts. Drawing upon recent debates regarding materiality and monument form, alongside the results of excavations explicitly targeting tiny stone settings, the discussion argues that the phenomenon of raising and fixing small uprights was not only widespread and persistent, but sheds important light upon the beliefs and ideas driving monument construction during the later Neolithic and Bronze Ages.     

Negotiating Equality through Ritual: A Consideration of Late Natufian and Prepottery Neolithic A Period Mortuary Practices

Mortuary rituals, specifically secondary mortuary practices with the socially sanctioned removal of all or some parts of the deceased, are a powerful means of social integration during periods of social, economic, or environmental change. Integrating ethnographic data on the social impact of secondary mortuary ceremonies with archaeological evidence from the Late Natufian and Prepottery Neolithic A periods of the south-central Levant, this study explores how the development and maintenance of intentional secondary mortuary rituals, such as with the removal and reburial of skulls, served as powerful communal acts that symbolically and physically linked communities and limited the perception or reality of social differentiation. Continuity within, and meanings behind, secondary mortuary practices during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene prompts the researcher to reevaluate previous interpretations of the relationship(s) among the appearance of formalized social inequality, food production, and the definition of personal relations within Levantine Neolithic communities.     

Prehistoric animal use on the Great Hungarian Plain: A synthesis of isotope and residue analyses from the Neolithic and Copper Age

The archaeological record of Eastern Hungary indicates that settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, ceramic style, trade patterns and mortuary customs changed from the Late Neolithic to the Copper Age (5000–2700 cal BC). Despite a rich archaeological tradition, questions remain regarding the management and use of domesticated animals and the role animal husbandry played in social change during this transition. Some researchers have hypothesized that these changes reflect a shift towards an economy that intensified its focus on primary and perhaps secondary animal products. Here we synthesize isotope data from human and animal remains and residue analysis from pottery sherds from Neolithic and Copper Age assemblages. Results indicate that the consumption and use of animal protein and fat was relatively high for both periods, with an increase in animal fats in ceramic vessels during the Middle Copper Age; however, milk products do not appear to have played an important dietary role. We conclude that livestock management remained small-scale during the Neolithic and Copper Age and that dairy use was minimal. It is proposed that the cultural changes that occurred at this time were associated with the emergence of smaller, independent farmsteads and perhaps the innovative use of secondary products like manure.     

Measuring the Complexity of Past Social Systems: a Task Analysis Approach to the Study of Late Prehistoric Monumentality in Iberia

In this paper, we explore the heuristic potential of a set of ideas about the structural and functional complexity of systems, proposed in the 1990s by theoretical biologist Daniel McShea. In particular, we focus on the structural aspects of the complexity exhibited by social systems organized into low- and intermediate-level functional units (i.e., groups and teams). To address this subject, we describe a methodology suited for measuring the complexity in the organization of work in such systems, which is primarily based on hierarchical task analysis. With this methodology, we approach a concrete case study: the construction of megalithic monuments in late prehistoric Iberia (ca. 3800–1800 BC). On the basis of the analysis of the three best documented, most structurally, and functionally complex monuments built within each of the three periods under study (Late Neolithic, Copper Age, and Early Bronze Age), we found that there was a trend towards less complexity in work organization related to monument building from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. We discuss the importance of these results in light of the existing models of social complexity in European Later Prehistory, concluding that a more balanced view of social processes would be obtained if we look at complexity as a property of every different social system integrated into the whole society, and not as an exclusive property of the latter.

     

Bronze Age landscape dynamics: spatially detailed pollen analysis from a ceremonial complex

The late Neolithic and early Bronze Age are periods marked by the construction of conspicuous concentrations of ‘ritual’ complexes, used for funerary rituals, seasonal gatherings and communal activities. Understanding the environmental context of monuments may provide detailed insights into relationships between the physical environment and the activities undertaken at individual monuments. Raised burial mounds (barrows) are generally assumed to have been constructed in open landscapes (the so-called ‘landscape openness’ hypothesis) thus rendering them highly visible in the surrounding landscape. This paper seeks to test to what extent vegetation (and in particular openness) around a dense concentration of barrows was actively managed, using three pollen sequences in close spatial juxtaposition to the archaeology. The local vegetation histories, supported by radiocarbon dating, demonstrate spatial differences in vegetation pattern both during the time of monument construction and use (c. 2000–1500 cal BC) and during subsequent periods. They do not support the ‘landscape openness’ hypothesis. This suggests that there is no single ‘blueprint’ for vegetation structure on and around these types of monument complexes. There is no evidence for major restructuring of the landscape during the early Bronze Age. The data describe a major transformation of the vegetation around 1500 cal BC (the Middle Bronze Age) in an area not known for archaeology of this date. This serves to emphasize the role of palaeoecology in augmenting the archaeological record of landscape re-organisation and transformation in prehistory.     

The Origins of the Neolithic Along the Atlantic Coast of Continental Europe: A Survey

The main aim of this work is to compare the processes of transition to the Neolithic along the Atlantic coasts of continental Europe. Archaeological data on the late Mesolithic and the early Neolithic in the best known regions (central and southern Portugal, Cantabrian Spain, Atlantic France, the shores of the North Sea, and southern Scandinavia) are discussed. The transition to the Neolithic in Atlantic Europe can be viewed as a relatively late phenomenon, with several interesting particularities. Among those, we point out the fundamentally indigenous character of the processes; the existence of a long availability phase, in which hunter-gatherer groups maintained contact with neighboring agriculturalists and probably were familiar with farming and animal husbandry without applying them in a systematic way; and the later development of megalithic monumental funerary architecture. Finally, the main hypotheses so far proposed to explain the change are contrasted with the available evidence: those that argue that the change derives from economic disequilibrium, and those that opt for the development of social inequality as the fundamental cause.     

THE COLLECTION and DISTRIBUTION of LITHIC MATERIALS DURING the MESOLITHIC and NEOLITHIC PERIODS IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND

Summary: This paper explores the changing use of lithic raw materials between the late Mesolithic and the late Neolithic periods in three areas of England: the Weald, the south western peninsula and southern Wessex. In the Weald changes in Mesolithic technology may be related to contemporary changes in the settlement-pattern brought about by ecological factors. In the south-west and in Wessex there is some continuity in the use of particular stone sources in the Mesolithic and Neolithic, but in the latter period there may be evidence for greater social control over the use of certain quarry sites and their products. One reason for the growth of regional exchange was the difficulty of long distance movement in a sedentary agricultural economy.