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

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

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

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

ADENA MORTUARY PATTERNS IN CENTRAL OHIO

Abstract

This study examines how the Adena mortuary program was practiced in the upper Scioto Valley in central Ohio. In the Alum Lake area of the valley, Adena mortuary rituals consisted of a relatively homogeneous and stable program of secondary cremation burials. By contrast, mortuary rituals in the Columbus area were highly variable in their treatment and placement of the bodies and artifacts. To interpret this pattern, I suggest that groups may have more heterogeneous ritual patterns when their ritual leaders have frequent contact with other people and ideas. Conversely, smaller and more isolated groups may more closely approach an ideal of ritual stability since the interpretations of their ritual leaders will not be challenged and influenced by outside groups. Finally, I consider some of the broad implications of the study for Adena sites throughout the Ohio Valley.     

THERMOLUMINESCENT DATING OF NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC POTTERY FROM SITES IN CENTRAL PORTUGAL

Samples of Neolithic and Chalcolithic pottery from nine sites in the Upper Alentejo and Estremadura regions of Portugal have been dated by the thermoluminescence method (quartz inclusion technique). The project was designed to help establish an absolute chronology for the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in this area, and to try to elucidate the chronological relationships between settlement sites and burial sites (‘dolmens’) in the same area. Portugal was confirmed, together with Brittany, as being one of the earliest foci of megalith builders.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEOLITHIC AND COPPER AGE SETTLEMENT IN THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN PART II: SITE SURVEY AND SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS

Summary. Within the region of the Great Hungarian Plain (discussed in the first part of this article) the processes of settlement change can be followed in greater detail from site survey in the Szeghalom area. This central part of the Plain, drained by the Körös and Berettyó rivers, was a major focus of settlement in Neolithic times (6000-4000 BC), and its rising importance can be followed in the emergence of a series of wealthy 'supersites'. During the succeeding Copper Age, the character of sites altered as the role of the area in relation to the rest of the region began to change. Around 3500 BC a dramatic shift in settlement patterns coincided with the appearance of large tumuli of steppe type, which mark a new phase of land use in this region.     

20世纪90年代江苏省中心城市的增长模式和集聚扩散特征研究

本文计算评价了江苏省地区级中心城市的中心性,并利用重力模型划分主要中心城市腹地范围,通过分析人口密度函数的变化探讨了20世纪90年代江苏省中心城市的增长模式和集聚扩散特征。江苏省中心城市增长模式和集聚扩散特征存在南北差异。     

NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT ON THE BURIED FLOODPLAINS OF RUNNYMEDE

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

GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SEDIMENTS IN AND AROUND AN EARLY NEOLITHIC WELL NEAR BRODAU,GERMANY*

The discovery of wells of the linear pottery culture since 1990 has led to new insights on the ability and needs of humans at this time. The still small number of about 20 wells in Europe, compared to the much greater number of known settlements of this period, led to the assumption that they were built for special purposes, other than the water supply for the whole village. Investigations on the origin of archaeosediments of a more than 7000‐year‐old and 4.2 m deep well from the linear pottery culture in north‐west Saxony, Germany were carried out by geochemical analysis to improve our knowledge of the building, the usage and the decay of this wooden construction. Special emphasis was put on the material around two 10‐week‐old piglets that were intentionally deposited in the construction pit. Three major units—the sediment in the well, the infilling of the construction pit and the surrounding gravels—influenced by lateral transport of fine clay could be identified and described.     

GEOGRAPHICAL PATTERNS IN BIOLOGICALLY AVAILABLE STRONTIUM,CARBON AND OXYGEN ISOTOPE SIGNATURES IN PREHISTORIC SW GERMANY*

In order to interpret strontium and oxygen isotope values in Neolithic human skeletons analysed previously, we begin to map the biologically available strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopic signatures of prehistoric southern Germany by analysing tooth enamel of pigs from archaeological sites distributed around the region. The mapping shows a marked upland–lowland difference in biologically available ⁸⁷ Sr/ ⁸⁶ Sr values, ranging between 0.7086 and 0.7103 in the sedimentary lowlands, and from 0.710 to as high as 0.722 in the crystalline uplands of the Odenwald, the Black Forest and the Bavarian Forest. In addition, carbon isotopes in the carbonate fraction of pig enamel were generally about 1–2 more enriched in ¹³ C in the uplands. Despite the expected depletion of ¹⁸ O with altitude, oxygen isotopes in pig enamel showed little correlation with site altitude, although for pig samples not older than the Iron Age there was some geographical correlation withδ¹⁸O patterns in modern precipitation.     

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

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

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

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

THE GROBIN DAVIS SITE: ARCHAEOGEOPHYSICS AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AT CADDO MOUND CENTERS IN SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA

The Grobin Davis site (34MC253) is the best-preserved known prehistoric Caddo mound site in southeastern Oklahoma. The site, located along the Little River, consists of seven mounds arranged in a horseshoe configuration. Archaeological excavations at the site have been limited to a series of posthole tests and three 1-x-1-m units. Between November 2011 and February 2012, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey conducted geophysical survey of the bulk of the site, covering approximately 32,000 m² with a fluxgate gradiometer. This study provides important information about Caddo mound construction, settlement, and ceremonialism in southeastern Oklahoma and add to a growing body of literature on prehistoric Caddo community patterns.