Unusual burial from an early Neolithic site of the lengyel culture in central Poland: Punishment,violence or mortuary behaviour?

During excavations at the Early Neolithic site of the Brześć Kujawski Group of the Lengyel Culture in Osłonki (central Poland), an atypical burial of an adult male was discovered. The individual's skeleton revealed traces of several perimortem injuries: both broken shins (the right shin with two fractures), a large fracture to the frontal bone and about 25 cut marks made with a flint blade in the parietal‐occipital region of the cranium on the left side. The arrangement of the fractured parts of the lower limbs might suggest that the injuries were intentionally exposed. Due to the relatively rich grave goods, it seems unlikely that the buried person was rejected by the community and thus killed or stigmatized by mutilation of the cadaver. The way the cuts were made is different from the cases of scalping or severing muscles in cannibalistic or mortuary practices known from the literature. This burial probably reflects some special funerary rite, which is now difficult to reconstruct or interpret. It is both possible that the observed injuries resulted from wounds that led to the individual's death (perhaps in circumstances that motivated the other special features of the burial) or that they were inflicted on the dead body. Taking into account the probable practices of dismembering of the dead body or human sacrifice found in the later Neolithic period in Poland, all of these possibilities may be considered with respect to this burial. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sharks in the lagoon? Fishing exploitation at the Neolithic site of Suwayh 1 (Ash Sharqiyah region,Arabian Sea,Sultanate of Oman)

The study of the fish bones from the Neolithic shell midden of Suwayh 1, excavated in the 2000s, identified a total of 1060 identifiable fish bones, from 23 families, 33 genera and 28 different species. Radiocarbon dating demonstrates that the sites date to the early 6th to mid 5th millennium BC. The results follow an eight-phase chronology highlighted by an earlier malacological study. The most important taxa were the Carcharhinidae (requiem shark), Rhinopteridae (cownose rays), Sparoidea (Sparidae and Lethrinidae: sea breams and emperors) and Ariidae (sea catfishes). The results of the fish study show that the Suwayh lagoon must have gradually opened up to the sea and been populated with mangroves. The unique presence of so many sharks at this site seems to indicate that the inhabitants had a special interest in shark fishing and that their location was ideal for this specialised activity. Two types of fishing nets and hooks have been discovered, which require the use of different fishing techniques.     

Preliminary archaeometric study of the Neolithic pottery from the “Le Grottelline” site (Spinazzola, Italy)

The archaeological site of “Le Grottelline”, in the territory of Spinazzola, province of Bari (southern Italy), which dates back to the Early Neolithic Age, is located in the Bradanic Trough. Abundant ceramic material was recovered, which mainly belongs to the Culture of “Archaic-Impressed Pottery” and appears similar to that found in other Neolithic sites of the Murge area. The archaeologists recognized four ceramic classes: coarse, semi-depurated, depurated, and figulina. Fine ceramics can be red paint decorated. Aim of this work was a preliminary archaeometric characterization of the ceramic material from “Le Grottelline” in order to have information about the use of local raw materials and to address subsequent studies aimed to verify the relationships among the Neolithic cultures of the Murge area. The present study evidenced two typologies of ceramic body, characterized by calcium-rich and calcium-poor pastes, respectively, and two single samples. For the two groups of ceramics, a manufacture with local raw materials is assumed by using two types of clay: carbonate clays from “Subapennine Clays” formation and residual carbonate-free clays such as the well-known “red earths”. These two ceramic typologies are very similar to those reported for the near Neolithic site of Ciccotto, and it also located in the Bradanic Trough. For the two single samples, on the contrary, a manufacturing with “Alluvial Clays” and a provenance from the site of Pulo di Molfetta are supposed. The red painted decorations are aluminum- and iron-rich, while the content of calcium can be very different.     

Multi-method (FTIR,XRD, PXRF) analysis of Ertebølle pottery ceramics from Scania,southern Sweden

A combination of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (PXRF) was used on the clay fraction of Ertebølle ceramics from several Late Mesolithic sites in Scania, southern Sweden. The aim was to provide up-to-date information about clay types used during that period within the Scanian Ertebølle cultural unit, and to elucidate social aspects relevant to the organization of pottery production and the role of ceramics in the local societies. The results suggest similar clay preferences across the sites, site-based pottery production using local clays and zero mobility of ceramics between the sites. The chemical separation of the ceramics from the site of Soldattorpet into two compositional groups suggests possible multigroup occupation. The origins of aromatic hydrocarbons, extracted previously from the ceramic matrix of the vessels during a lipid residue study, were also investigated, and a discussion is provided.     

Can the Raman spectrum of anatase in artwork and archaeology be used for dating purposes? Identification by Raman microscopy of anatase in decorative coatings on Neolithic (Yangshao) pottery from Henan,China

Scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray analysis has earlier shown that the white background layer (slip) on painted pottery sherds (Yangshao culture, Henan, China, 4200 BC) is composed of kaolinitic clay containing titanium in the assumed form of TiO₂ at just 1 wt%. The same samples of white slip have now been studied by Raman microscopy, revealing bands characteristic of anatase, but none from the majority species, the matrix of kaolinitic clay. These results highlight the extraordinarily intense Raman scattering from even trace amounts of anatase and thus the need to recognise that, although the colours of archaeological artefacts are almost always determined by the nature of the matrix, the Raman spectrum may be determined by a highly scattering trace component such as anatase. The significance of anatase as a potential date-marker pigment on works of art and archaeological artefacts is discussed.     

Farming and/or foraging? New environmental data to the life and economic transformation of Late Neolithic tell communities (Tisza Culture) in SE Hungary

The turn of the 6th and 5th millennia BC witnessed probably the largest economic and cultural transformation of SE Europe giving rise to a new techno-complex occupying the alluvial plains of the Tisza River and its tributaries in the southern parts of the Carpathian Basin. Representatives of the Tisza Culture were engaged in intensive farming complemented with foraging creating a complex system of hierarchical multi-layered settlements (tells). The favorable endowments of the sites with a large variety of multiple ecotones ideal for multifocal subsistence, as well as the introduction of new farming techniques ensured the establishment of long-term sedentary lifeways. However, according to the archeology, a major shift in subsistence happened toward the end of the Late Neolithic marking the terminal part of the evolution of the culture. Traditional crop cultivation was increasingly complemented with hunting, animal husbandry gaining importance. Other second-line resources like fish and shellfish followed the same pattern. Finally, tells were disintegrated and a new cultural group of the Copper Age emerged. The exact background of these transformations is still unknown. In order to see whether or not potential transformations in the local riparian environment had some role in shaping human behavior, a multiproxy paleoecological analysis was implemented on mollusk material of one of the largest tell sites of SE Hungary. Freshwater mollusks collected by humans in themselves characterize the quality of the water body from which they derive. They are also an excellent marker of socioeconomic response to environmental stress. According to our findings the emergence of new settlement phases and the intensified foraging could have been correlated with alteration of stream properties yielding successively higher floods. This was initially beneficial creating lush pasturelands for large bodied prey infiltrating the area during the referred period like aurochs, red-deer. But ultimately it might have reduced areas suitable for agriculture and living most likely leading to social disruption besides other cultural, social processes.     

Anachronisms or failures? Family strategies in the sixteenth century, as drawn from collective biographies of solicitors in Aix-en-Provence

This article highlights the patterns that can be observed in the matrimonial alliances of solicitors in sixteenth-century Aix-en-Provence and family strategies understood as a corpus of rational decisions bearing on the long term. Defined this way, family strategies applied to sixteenth-century solicitors are an anachronism. The new and unstable context in which the sixteenth-century solicitor found himself prevented families from having a clear view of the objectives to achieve and from devising a rational strategy. The article presents the model that most of the solicitors' alliances followed and suggests the obstacles that appeared before the main actor in family planning, the one who wielded paternal authority, in the creation of these alliances. The example of the Maria family shows women who decided, against the will of their family, whom they would marry. This article highlights the historian's reconstruction of typical family behavior and the limited possibilities that families had to plan over the long term.     

Aroche (Huelva,Andalucía): a new Neolithic axehead of Alpine jade in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula

The discovery of a Neolithic Alpine jade axehead in Aroche, in the southwest of Spain, revives the question of long-distance exchange between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. This polished blade belongs to a typological model quite characteristic of Alpine production during the second half of the 5th millennium B.C. Different mineralogical approaches (macroscopic features examination, specific gravity, direct XRD, non-destructive μXRF spectroscopy, optical stereomicroscopy, magnetic susceptibility determination and microprobe analysis) have identified the rock as an omphacitic jadeitite (mixed jade) with some tiny garnets and a weak retromorphosis. This analysis and the comparison of the rock structure with the referential JADE of Alpine natural jade samples, as well as the extraction modalities and shaping of the axe, provide strong arguments to assign the Aroche axe to a production of Mont Viso: the origin of thousands of axes that circulated in Europe between Ireland and Sicily. The Aroche axe, discovered not far from the variscite mines of Encinasola, could be considered as part of a possible exchange system between the Iberian Peninsula and the Gulf of Morbihan, in Brittany.     

Burning wood or burning bone? A reconsideration of flotation evidence from Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian) sites in the Moravian Corridor

This paper compares archaeobotanical and other data from new excavations at two Upper Palaeolithic sites — Dolní V?stonice II and P?edmostí I — in the Moravian Corridor, Czech Republic. Both contain the traces of broadly contemporary ‘Gravettian’ occupations during the warmer episodes of the Pleistocene which preceded the last glacial maximum. Yet their archaeobotanical remains show striking differences — those from Dolní V?stonice II being dominated by large quantities of conifer wood charcoal, while those from P?edmostí I are much more scanty and dominated by vitrified plant remains, in association with large quantities of burnt bone. We argue that these differences between these two datasets arise from different uses of fuel at either site: bone at P?edmostí I and wood at Dolní V?stonice II. Subsequently, we explore the possible reasons for this difference and argue that once likely taphonomic distinctions are accounted for, these data on fuel use offer fresh insights into the functions and durations of these Upper Palaeolithic occupations of the Moravian corridor and some possible implications for how archaeobotanical data from such sites should be interpreted.     

Cultural Changes in Funeral Rites During the Neolithic in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula? The Cave of Pantà de Foix (Barcelona)

During the third millennia bc , there is a change in the funerary patterns of the populations in Catalonia. This novelty usually has been usually related to a change in the economical source of the human groups that become less sedentary as the stockbreeding becomes more important. In the present study, we analyse this change, reflected in the mortuary practices, by the study of diet and health markers such as caries, dental calculus or enamel hypoplasias and of biological affinities based on dental non‐metric traits. It has been included a total amount of 317 permanent teeth from Cova del Pantà de Foix sites, a sepulchral cave found at the south‐west of the city of Barcelona and dates from the third millennia bc . The 74.2% of them present dental calculus deposits, which are usually related to a high protein intake. Nevertheless, the high prevalence of carious lesions (15.3% of the teeth) suggests that the main dietary contribution comes from carbohydrates. Furthermore, when this group is compared with one from the Middle Neolithic Age, which presents a lower calculus prevalence, no biological differences are observed. This lack of differences among these groups denote that the origin of the high amount of calculus deposit is environmental, which is consistent with the elevated observation of hypoplasias of the crown enamel. The absence of dietary, biological and economical differences indicates that the population substrate during the Neolithic in Catalonia is the same and that the transition in the funerary rite is related to a substantial change only regarding to mortuary practices. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi-scale tribological analysis of the technique of manufacture of an obsidian bracelet from Aşıklı Höyük (Aceramic Neolithic,Central Anatolia)

Tribological analysis is employed in a pilot study of the technological steps involved in the manufacture of a polished obsidian bracelet from A??kl? Höyük, an Aceramic Neolithic site in Central Anatolia (8300–7500 cal. B.C.). The study includes morphological analysis of the bracelet, based on profile measurements, and identifications of wear variations indicated by surface topographic features and parameters. The manufacturing skill that is revealed suggests early appearance of a regional tradition of obsidian working, which reached its full development in the 6th millennium cal. B.C. with the production of various ornamental objects, including mirrors and vessels. The cultural record and location of A??kl? Höyük make the site important for our understanding of the technological developments during the early Neolithic in Anatolia.     

Chemical durability of lead-bearing glazes in sulphuric acid solutions — Laboratory experiments performed on Zsolnay architectural ceramics from Budapest (Hungary)

This study aims to simulate the long-term deterioration of architectural glazes exposed to open air in a highly polluted urban environment. A laboratory experiment—a 14-day long accelerated weathering test—on glazed roof tiles has been performed to reveal the damaging influence of contacting acid solutions originating from dissolved gaseous pollutants, mainly SO₂. The studied tiles are made by the Hungarian Zsolnay factory and applied on two buildings in Budapest in the 19th and 20th century. The ceramics were covered mainly by lead glazes in the construction and lead-bearing alkali glazes in the renovation periods.

The solution of pH2 induced a greater dissolution, especially of alkali and alkaline earth metals (up to 2886 ppm), but less lead (up to 21 ppm) from the lead glazes of the construction periods. Newly formed lead sulphate (anglesite) on the corroded glaze parts precipitated on some lead-bearing alkali glazes, with moderate dissolution of alkali and alkaline earth metals (up to 396 ppm) accompanied by higher amount of lead (28–39 ppm). Based on the results, the main determining factor in the durability of glazes is mostly their chemical composition and less their preliminary degradation state.     

In sickness or in health? Assessment of Early Iron Age human skeletons from Toutswe sites,east central Botswana

The general health of Early Iron Age (AD 700 to 1300) mixed farmers in east central Botswana has not been studied before. In this study the bones and teeth of 84 individuals from ten Toutswe sites were analysed for osteological manifestations of disease, with the aim of assessing the general health of the Toutswe communities. These individuals were aged between newborn and 75 years old, and include both sexes. Results indicate the presence of diseases commonly found in archaeological populations such as osteoarthritis, spina bifida occulta, cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis and enamel hypoplasias. One possible case of DISH was found. The frequency of lesions was comparable with or even lower than at other similar sites, such as K2 and Mapungubwe and other parts of southern Africa. The samples represent communities with relatively low levels of stress and infections. This seems to support the results of the palaeodemographic analysis, which indicated that the Toutswe people were better off than those of neighbouring K2 and Mapungubwe. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neolithic cod (Gadus morhua) and herring (Clupea harengus) fisheries in the Baltic Sea,in the light of fine-mesh sieving: a comparative study of subfossil fishbone from the late Stone Age sites at Ajvide,Gotland, Sweden and Jettböle, Åland,Finland

Abstract

During the Late Stone Age, the sites of Ajvide and Jettböle were located on the seashore but in quite different marine environments. Ajvide on Gotland had direct access to the open sea of the central Baltic, while Jettböle in the Åland archipelago was surrounded by islands and skerries in the northern part of the Baltic Sea. Continuous excavations at Ajvide revealed large amounts of Cod (Gadus morhua) while herring (Clupea harengus) was found in small numbers. At Jettböle, as well, cod bones have been observed in large numbers while the skeletal remains of herring were few. In this study, soil samples of fishbone materials from Ajvide and Jettböle were sieved through screens of different mesh-sizes and then osteologically analysed. The finer screens aided the recovery of small herring bones that usually are lost when sieving through a common standard mesh-size of 4 mm. The results of the study confirmed the importance of fine-mesh sieving for the retrieval of the fishbone materials. Additionally, the achieved osteometric data indicated a difference in cod and herring size between the sites. Other factors that form our base for the understanding of Neolithic fishing strategies are: a general knowledge of the behaviour of the retrieved fish species, a reconstruction of the ancient marine environment and the abundance of fish species at each site.     

Remodeled human skulls in Köşk Höyük (Neolithic age,Anatolia): a new appraisal in view of recent discoveries

Between 1985 and 2007 overall nineteen human skulls dating to the Late Neolithic period were recovered at Kö?k Höyük, which lies within the borders of Bor, a district of the Ni?de Province in Central Anatolia. One of these skulls belongs to a child and the remainder to adult males and females. The plastered skulls may have been laid on or wrapped in mats and exposed either singly or in groups on a plaster surface inside the house. Among thirteen of these skulls the mouths, noses, eyes and ears were depicted with clay and painted with red ochre, while the remaining six were untreated. Two headless skeletons were also found in situ underneath the floor inside the house. One of these skeletons belongs to a child aged approximately 15–16 years old and the other belongs to an adult female. The modeled human skulls were encountered in the second and third cultural levels of the Late Neolithic period indicating that this characteristic mortuary practice lasted for quite a long time and likely disappeared by the Chalcolithic at Kö?k Höyük.     

Local mining or lead importation in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis? Lead isotope analysis of curse tablets from Roman Carthage,Tunisia

This study attempts to determine if there was Roman lead mining in Africa Proconsularis, approximately the area of modern day Tunisia, using lead isotope analysis. Another important aspect of the study is the innovative use of electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) as a screening tool to greatly reduce the number of expensive lead isotope analyses needed for the study. The EMPA X-ray mapping for arsenic, antimony, copper, and silver narrowed the sample of curse tablets to those most likely produced from Tunisian ores; these tablets were then tested using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) analysis. A total of 96 Roman lead curse tablets from Carthage, Tunisia were screened with EMPA and twenty selected for TIMS to determine the ore sources of the lead used to manufacture the tablets. Comparing the lead isotope ratios of twelve of the sixteen tablets most likely to be made of Tunisian lead to samples of Tunisian ores suggests that the Romans were mining lead in Africa Proconsularis and were not relying solely on imports.     

Were Olduvai Hominins making butchering tools or battering tools? Analysis of a recently excavated lithic assemblage from BK (Bed II,Olduvai Gorge,Tanzania)

A new interpretation of early stone-tool use by hominins at Olduvai depicts them as involved in battering activities (using pounding tools) rather than making cutting butchering tools as is commonly inferred in most other Plio-Pleistocene sites where lithics appear associated to faunal remains. The bulk of this interpretation is based on the recognition of the stigma of percussion activities in anvils and detached by-products. Renewed excavations at BK after more than half a century of the beginning of the digging at the site by M. Leakey have produced a new and unbiased lithic assemblage. The taphonomic study of the faunal assemblage has shown that BK is an anthropogenic site where carcass butchery practices were repeatedly performed over a vast amount of time. The present analysis of the lithic artefacts supports this interpretation by showing that the obtainment of flakes was the principal aim in stone knapping. We argue that a number of technical traits observed in the lithic collection of BK can be best interpreted as the result of bipolar loading rather than the by-products of battering activities. Since BK has provided the second largest collection of hominid-modified bones from Olduvai, it is concluded that detached pieces produced in the course of bipolar reduction might have played an active role in bone modification and that active rather than passive percussion behaviors might have been responsible for the formation of the lithic assemblage. The functionality of the Oldowan stone tools are discussed under the light of the new study.     

The Role of Functional Efficiency in the Decline of North America’s Copper Culture (8000–3000 BP): an Experimental,Ecological, and Evolutionary Approach

The copper-using cultures of North America’s Archaic Period (10,000–3000 BP) have long been an archaeological enigma. For millennia, Middle and Late Archaic hunter-gatherers (8000–3000 BP) around the Upper Great Lakes region made utilitarian implements out of copper, only for these items to decline in prominence and frequency as populations grew and social complexity increased during the Archaic to Woodland Transition. From a cultural evolutionary perspective, the trajectory of North America’s copper usage presents a conundrum, as it is generally assumed that “superior” tools, i.e., metals, will replace inferior ones, i.e., stone. For well over a century, scholars have pondered the reason for the demise of copper technology that was once a wide-spread phenomenon. To address this question, an extensive archaeological experimental program was conducted which compared replica copper tools (spear points, knife blades, and awls) to analogous ones made of stone or bone to assess whether relative functional efficiency contributed to the decline of utilitarian copper implements. Here, the results of this three-part research program are presented in concert with population dynamics and ecological change to paint a broader picture of the complex interrelationships between the social, ecological, and technological spheres of past human behaviors. The synthesis of these approaches reveals that functional explanations—derived from experimental archaeology placed in an evolutionary framework—can shed much light on the trajectory of metal use in the North American Great Lakes.

     

Slums,Squats, or Hutments? Constructing and Deconstructing an In-Between Space in Modern Shanghai (1926-65)

Hutments—a term used to designate “beggars’ villages,” “straw- house villages” or more bluntly “slums”—became a standard feature of Shanghai’s urban landscape in the early 1920s. Located in peripheral areas, they became a central object of concern by the authorities that governed the foreign settlements in the city. Over time, due to economic crisis and above all war, “hutments” slowly colonized the whole urban space and became a massive housing issue and a problematic historical legacy after 1949. This paper argues that hutments arose mostly from the turmoil of the Civil War period. Their nature changed little from the time of their appearance in the 1920s to the early 1950s. Yet, perceptions and policies over three major periods under study here varied significantly. They were strongly influenced by the discursive constructions and distorting lenses the local administrations formulated around issues of nuisance, public health, and city beautification. Each era carried over the concerns and prejudices of the previous period. Yet, each municipal institution also brought in new cultural and political postures that changed the overall discourse and treatment of hutment dwellers.