Evidence for Varying Patterns of Exploitation of Animal Products in Different Prehistoric Pottery Traditions Based on Lipids Preserved in Surface and Absorbed Residues

The excavation of a barrow at Upper Ninepence, Walton in the Welsh Borderlands, U.K., revealed two phases of occupation associated with two different ceramic traditions, namely Grooved Ware (2500bc) and Peterborough Ware (3000bc). The Grooved Ware and Peterborough Ware pits seem to have a mutually exclusive distribution on the site. Screening of the sherds for lipid residues has revealed the presence of remnant fats in a remarkably well-preserved state considering the age of the finds. Investigations of various chemical characteristics of the remnant fats from absorbed and carbonized residues have enabled distinctions to be drawn between fats from non-ruminant (e.g. porcine) and ruminant (e.g. ovine or bovine) origins. Significantly, both ruminant and non-ruminant fats are found associated with the Grooved Ware whereas only ruminant fats are found associated with the Peterborough Ware. The assignments are based upon the distributions of solvent-extractable lipid components and the compound-specific stable carbon isotope values of the major n -alkanoic acids. The results reveal differences in vessel use and indicate possible changes in patterns of animal exploitation or dietary preferences between the two phases of occupation. The results illustrate the importance of residue analysis in archaeological investigations, particularly at prehistoric sites where evidence from faunal remains is limited or absent.     

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.     

THE OCCURRENCE OF DRILLED HOLES IN LATER NEOLITHIC POTTERY

Summary. Holes drilled after firing are an occasional occurrence in earlier prehistoric pottery, and are generally accepted as intended to enable repair of cracks or breaks by binding. It would seem reasonable to expect that rates of repair would be fairly consistent, but this is not the case with later Neolithic ceramics in southern Britain. There, drilled holes are more common in the Grooved Ware tradition than in the Beaker or Peterborough traditions, and it is suggested that this may be owing to the high symbolic content of Grooved Ware rendering the repair of such vessels particularly worthwhile to their users. Other factors likely to influence the decision to repair rather than discard vessels are considered, and in this connection the fabrics of repaired vessels in the earlier Neolithic assemblage at Maiden Castle are also briefly discussed. A short list of sites with repaired vessels is appended.     

The Palestinian Museum,Ramallah

Abstract

Whereas recent studies have correctly identified a clan-based social structure presumed in the place names of the Samaria Ostraca, an analysis of the power relations within these structures has not been sufficiently developed. Approaching the evidence from a consumption perspective of the commodities for yn y?n (‘aged wine’) and ?mn r?? (‘washed oil’) suggests that the economic significance of these items is tied to complex social interactions. Specifically, both archaeological and ethnographic studies associate such prestige commodities with elite feasting and ceremonial displays. By gifting these items, the central power engaged in a form of ‘competitive feasting’ to secure political capital for future use from clan leaders of the periphery of Samaria. Accordingly, the Samaria Ostraca hint at the use of redistributive mechanisms to secure power relations at elite gatherings.     

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.     

Trends in pig product processing at British Neolithic Grooved Ware sites traced through organic residues in potsherds

Gas chromatography (GC), GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-combustion-isotope ratio MS (GC-C-IRMS) analyses of absorbed and surface lipid residues preserved in potsherds were used to explore the extent of pig product processing exploitation in the later British Neolithic Grooved Ware tradition. Assessments were made regarding whether porcine lipids were associated with specific Grooved Ware traits, i.e. decoration, substyle, geographical area and type of site. Two hundred and twenty-two Grooved Ware potsherds were analysed, 70% of which contained lipid concentrations considered significant (>5 μg g⁻¹). All the lipid residues were dominated by animal fats, although plant and beeswax were also detected in a small number of extracts. δ¹³C values of the major fatty acid components of degraded animal fats (C_16:0 and C_18:0) were determined for 126 extracts and used to assign ruminant or porcine origins to the residues; 16% of these were found to have a predominantly porcine isotope signature. Statistical associations with pig exploitation were shown to exist with substyle, geographical area and site type, whereas, no relationship was seen between decoration and the type of commodity processed. Intact triacylglycerols were preserved in 19% of the sherds; half of these had distributions consistent with the identifications based on δ¹³C values, the remainder differed either due to the presence of mixed commodities or because lower molecular weight homologues had been lost due to degradation. In addition to the detection of pig exploitation, results from lipid residue analysis showed a good correlation with faunal assemblages, suggesting that stable isotope analysis may be used as a proxy for animal exploitation at sites where bones have not survived.     

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.     

The use of Animals at Roman Roadside Settlements in Britain: Contextualizing some new Results from Ware,Hertfordshire

Recent analysis of a large faunal assemblage from a Roman roadside settlement at Ware, Hertfordshire has indicated potentially strong links between the nature of animal exploitation on site and its location on Ermine Street. Animal husbandry was focused on the production of cattle and sheep, both of which had experienced stock ‘improvement’ by the late Roman period. Relatively high proportions of horse, and the presence of young horses, suggest the importance of this animal and the potential for its local breeding; the site could have acted as a station for changing or selling horses. The presence of marine fish and black rat also indicate clear links to the wider trade network. This was not an isolated settlement, outside the sphere of Roman influence, as rural Roman sites are often considered to be, but well‐connected to wider economic networks. This paper places these new results in context, by providing a review of faunal assemblages from Roman roadside settlements across Britain. The review indicates that most of the characteristics of animal exploitation at Ware are shared with other roadside settlement sites, though interesting differences also emerge.     

Transformations in an early agricultural society: Feasting in the southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic

Feasting is a powerful and transformative phenomenon. Societies are both integrated and differentiated through feasting; identities are both enacted and altered; and ideologies are inculcated. This paper uses ethnographic data to establish criteria for the archaeological recognition of prehistoric feasting. These criteria are then used to assess the changing evidence for feasting across the southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic (ca. 10,200–7500 BP/9700–6250 cal BC), with the aim of shedding light on changes in social organization across the transition to agriculture.During most of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, the extent and scale of feasting expanded as sociopolitical complexity increased. Towards the end of the period, however, populations dispersed and feasting probably declined. Feasts were simultaneously integrative and competitive, ameliorating scalar stress even as they offered opportunities for individual or household competition. Feasts may also have played a key role in conferring ideological prominence on Neolithic cattle, and perhaps even contributed to their adoption as domesticates.     

POSITION and POSSESSION: ASSEMBLAGE VARIATION IN the BRITISH NEOLITHI

Summary: This paper considers the variations among artefact assemblages which developed between about 3000 and 2000 be and argues that they result from the existence of different spheres of exchange separated along hierarchical lines. the main discussion concerns the role of the Grooved Ware assemblage and its relationship with other late Neolithic traditions.     

A Study Of The Firing Technique Of Pottery From Kaman‐Kalehöyük,Turkey, by Synchrotron Radiation‐Induced Fluorescence X‐Ray Absorption Near‐Edge Structure (Xanes) Analysis*

Fe K‐XANES spectra of a series of pottery sherds excavated from the archaeological site of Kaman‐Kalehöyük, Turkey, were measured to reveal the firing technique of the pottery. The analysis disclosed relationships among the chemical form of the iron, the firing conditions and the colour of the pottery. The pottery referred to as ‘Grey Ware’ found at this site was classified into two groups according to the chemical form of the iron. Also, it was revealed that the Iron Age pottery referred to as ‘Cream Ware’ was produced first under reducing conditions, and then fired under oxidizing conditions.     

Feasting at Marj Rabba,An Early Chalcolithic Site in the Galilee

Feasting is a common part of human culture in the present and past that can serve a variety of roles such as creating and maintaining social identities within and between social groups. In zooarchaeology, feasting evidence, rather than the accumulated and mixed refuse from long‐term consumption, often gives us some of the only data from individual events at a site. A cattle bone refuse pit at the site of Marj Rabba, Israel, provides evidence for feasting from the early Chalcolithic (c.4500–3600 BC) in the southern Levant. The presence of cattle feasts at Marj Rabba provides a glimpse of cultural practices in this critical transitional period that may mirror practices from earlier periods.     

POTS AND PITS: DRINKING AND DEPOSITION IN LATE IRON AGE SOUTH-EAST BRITAIN

Summary. This paper considers the role of pottery in the Late Iron Age to Roman transition in south-east Britain. Traditional concern with the significance of Continental imports is rejected in favour of a more holistic and bottom-up approach giving equal emphasis to locally made forms and imports in complete assemblages. Several stages of inter-site correspondence analysis are conducted on a range of sites and assemblages in the region. Patterning pertaining to the use and deposition of both imported and local pottery vessels can be seen to contradict simplistic models for 'Romanization before conquest'. The main conclusions include evidence for the selective disposal of drinking vessels and table wares in pits, the likely widespread consumption of beer as opposed to wine, and the implied importance of indigenous social practices such as feasting and communal drinking.     

Original DocumentsCharter of Hugh of Bayeux to the Church and Canons of St. Mary of Torrington,temp. Henry II

The ‘Northern British Cooking-Pot’ stems from Saxo-Norman antecedents, and is found in two basic light-coloured fabrics, the ‘Gritty Northern’ and the ‘Staxton Ware Type’. From Yorkshire the type spread in the early thirteenth century west over the Pennines to Carlisle and thence to south-west Scotland. Present evidence suggests that while ‘Gritty Northern’ ware traditions may have spread to eastern Scotland by an overland route, there is reason to suppose there was close contact between the potteries of Fife and Angus and those of the Scarborough district in the late thirteenth century. While in Scotland there is a considerable hybridization of forms and fabrics, ‘Gritty Northern’ ware appears predominant north of the Forth, ‘Staxton Type’ ware to the south. In the fourteenth century distinctively Scottish local variants occur. French and Low Countries influences on early Scottish pottery are discussed, a tentative Scottish cooking-pot type-series put forward, and a gazetteer of sites producing rim-sherds given.     

Sexing cattle horn‐cores: problems and progress

It has long been recognised that cattle horn‐cores are sexually dimorphic, and many methods have been developed using archaeological material for differentiating between specimens belonging to cows, bulls and oxen. Whilst these techniques have been adopted widely by zooarchaeologists, in particular those studying medieval and post‐medieval tannery and horn‐working assemblages, they are highly subjective and their reliability has never been tested using material from cattle of known sex. This paper seeks to redress the balance. It presents the results of a study of 19th and 20th century cattle horn‐cores, from animals of known age, sex and breed, which were examined and measured in order to test the validity of traditional horn‐core sexing techniques. Previously claimed traits of sexual variation are here refuted, and a new metrical threshold for separating the males and females of ‘medium‐horned’ and ‘long‐horned’ types are presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feasting at Poverty Point with Poverty Point Objects

ABSTRACT

Attempts to account for the impressive and unusual archaeological record of the World Heritage site of Poverty Point have often faltered. The vast and diverse set of artifacts, the spectacular and well-designed earthworks, and the millions of baked-clay objects known as Poverty Point Objects are all distinctive and anomalous features of the site. This paper argues that the archaeological record of Poverty Point can best be explained as the product of periodic, ritualized feasting events. Drawing on diverse archaeological and anthropological studies of feasting I demonstrate that it is a useful research framework for understanding the site’s content because many of the archaeological signatures of feasting are present at Poverty Point. I argue furthermore that Poverty Point Objects were an integral component of this culture of feasting and offer hypotheses on their role in the feasts.     

PRE‐CHRISTIAN OFFERINGS FROM GULDHULLET NEAR SMØRENGE ON BORNHOLM,DENMARK

As a result of metal detector surveys over several years, a unique find of gold figurines and gold foil figures from the 6^th century AD has come to light at a locality known as Guldhullet (‘the gold hole’). Geomagnetic surveys and a subsequent excavation in 2017 revealed a large number of ‘cooking pits’ close to the present‐day damp area where the finds were made. The pits are roughly contemporary with the gold finds, which suggests that the location was both a sacrificial site and an important communal meeting place.     

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.     

THE TECHNOLOGY OF ‘GLAZED’ RESERVED SLIP WARE—A FINE CERAMIC OF THE HARAPPAN PERIOD*

‘Glazed’ Reserved Slip Ware (RSW) is a high‐quality glossy bichrome pottery of the Indus Valley civilization, and dates to the mature Harappan period (c. 2600–1900 bc ). Scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive X‐ray analysis indicates that the surface coat on RSW is composed of a pale grey vitrified clay slip, which overlies a black slip with significantly higher iron oxide. Hence the term ‘sintered’ Reserved Slip Ware is to be preferred. X‐ray diffraction analysis indicates that both the pale and black slips contain hercynite, mullite and quartz, but observation by scanning electron microscopy shows that the black slips contain higher amounts of coarser‐grained hercynite. The elemental data suggest that different clays were used to make the bodies and the slips. However, key element ratios are very close in associated black and pale slips. The grey slip may have been produced by elutriation of the fine, iron oxide‐rich clay that was used to prepare the black slip. The pale grey slip was laid over the black and removed by combing to produce a bichrome effect, which evoked semi‐precious materials such as agate. RSW was a specialist product that required significantly higher input skill and resources than the majority of Harappan clay‐based ceramics. It is a further example of the range of sophisticated Harappan ceramic wares, which included faience, fired steatite and stoneware.     

‘By the charitie of good people’: poverty and neighbourly support in seventeenth century Lancashire

Historians of early-modern poverty have emphasized the ways in which the poor ‘made shift’, reducing or even preventing their dependence on formal poor relief. This article looks at one aspect of that ‘economy of makeshifts’: the casual support of the poor by their neighbours. It uses evidence from a uniquely extensive archive of pauper petitions from Lancashire (1626–1710), many of which contain incidental information about strategies of making shift. The petitions suggest that neighbourly support for the needy was common in Lancashire, both through localized begging and in more stable supportive relationships. Nonetheless, the charity of neighbours could easily be exhausted, leaving those in poverty forced to call upon the more formalized support of the Poor Law.