Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last ...historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but exactly when this capacity developed in domestic cattle is still unknown and the extent to which early farming communities controlled the seasonality of reproduction is debated. Seasonal or aseasonal calving would have shaped the socio-economic practices of ancient farming societies differently, structuring the agropastoral calendar and determining milk availability where dairying is attested. In this study, we reconstruct the calving pattern through the analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios of cattle tooth enamel from 18 sites across Europe, dating from the 6th mill. cal BC (Early Neolithic) in the Balkans to the 4th mill. cal BC (Middle Neolithic) in Western Europe. Seasonal calving prevailed in Europe between the 6th and 4th millennia cal BC. These results suggest that cattle agropastoral systems in Neolithic Europe were strongly constrained by environmental factors, in particular forage resources. The ensuing fluctuations in milk availability would account for cheese-making, transforming a seasonal milk supply into a storable product.
This paper aims to define the first chrono-cultural framework on the domestication and early diffusion of the opium poppy using small-sized botanical remains from archaeological sites, opening the ...way to directly date minute short-lived botanical samples. We produced the initial set of radiocarbon dates directly from the opium poppy remains of eleven Neolithic sites (5900-3500 cal BCE) in the central and western Mediterranean, northwestern temperate Europe, and the western Alps. When possible, we also dated the macrobotanical remains originating from the same sediment sample. In total, 22 samples were taken into account, including 12 dates directly obtained from opium poppy remains. The radiocarbon chronology ranges from 5622 to 4050 cal BCE. The results show that opium poppy is present from at least the middle of the sixth millennium in the Mediterranean, where it possibly grew naturally and was cultivated by pioneer Neolithic communities. Its dispersal outside of its native area was early, being found west of the Rhine in 5300-5200 cal BCE. It was introduced to the western Alps around 5000-4800 cal BCE, becoming widespread from the second half of the fifth millennium. This research evidences different rhythms in the introduction of opium poppy in western Europe.
Cattle dominate archaeozoological assemblages from the north-central Europe between the sixth and fifth millennium BC and are frequently considered as exclusively used for their meat. Dairy products ...may have played a greater role than previously believed. Selective pressure on the lactase persistence mutation has been modelled to have begun between 6000 and 4000 years ago in central Europe. The discovery of milk lipids in late sixth millennium ceramic sieves in Poland may reflect an isolated regional peculiarity for cheese making or may signify more generalized milk exploitation in north-central Europe during the Early Neolithic. To investigate these issues, we analysed the mortality profiles based on age-at-death analysis of cattle tooth eruption, wear and replacement from 19 archaeological sites of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture (sixth to fifth millennium BC). The results indicate that cattle husbandry was similar across time and space in the LBK culture with a degree of specialization for meat exploitation in some areas. Statistical comparison with reference age-at-death profiles indicate that mixed husbandry (milk and meat) was practised, with mature animals being kept. The analysis provides a unique insight into LBK cattle husbandry and how it evolved in later cultures in central and western Europe. It also opens a new perspective on how and why the Neolithic way of life developed through continental Europe and how dairy products became a part of the human diet.
Významnou část přepravních a skladovacích nádob tvořily v neolitu nádoby z organických materiálů. Používaly se k vytahování vody z jam nebo studní, zatímco keramické nádoby byly používány k přepravě, ...skladování a pití vody. Cílem tohoto článku je analýza a vyhodnocení unikátních dřevěných věder ze studny LBK v lokalitě Mohelnice – U Cukrovaru. Konstrukce věder se skládala z podélně dělených prutů se zářezy. Vrstva lýka tvořila stěnu vědra a konce rozštípnutých prutů se pak k sobě svázaly provázky. Textilně-technologický rozbor určil jako použitou surovinu s největší pravděpodobností lýko. Xylotomická analýza určila jako zdroj dřevo několika listnatých stromů. Obdobné nádoby byly nalezeny v několika studnách v Evropě, zejména v Sasku. Lze předpokládat, že organické nádoby tvořily standardní součást výbavy neolitické domácnosti.
Water wells are the most unique finds from the Early Neolithic period in Central Europe. These features provide unusual insight into societies and their settlements, as well as into the water ...management process. This article presents the updated results of material analyses and excavations of Early Neolithic wells at Mohelnice, Brno-Bohunice and Uničov in Moravia, Czech Republic. We studied the possibilities of the spatial and temporal distribution of wells on the example of these settlements. The social relation between the large longhouses and the wells in their immediate neighbourhood has not been proven. On the contrary, they could have been communal wells, serving the inhabitants of the entire settlement. Moreover, it turned out that in the Moravian region, geomorphological conditions were a key factor for choosing the location to build a well. By comparing radiocarbon dates, we estimated the time span of the existence of wells with respect to each other and to the settlements. Sealing and repairs of the well constructions prove that the first farmers maintained the wells over a long period of time. Studies of the well’s vertical sections shed light on its usage and decline; intentional backfilling of the well seems to have been common. Water management covered an entire cycle of activities, including the making of wooden buckets, which were mainly used for the pulling of water from wells.
The article aims at identifying the origin of voids left by burnt-out organic material within the ceramic paste of Neolithic pottery from the Czech Republic territory. In methodological terms, an ...experimental reference collection was created and compared with the original early Neolithic pottery from the sites of Bylany by Kutná Hora and Těšetice-Kyjovice. The key analytical procedure consisted in non-destructive 3D microtomography (uCT) analysis, which is especially well suited for the study of the internal spatial organization of voids and temper. It allows to determine whether it is possible to define different manufacturing techniques employed for vessel construction on the basis of internal distribution of voids. The research identified cow dung as the probable organic temper within the original LBK ceramic paste. The ‘S’-forming technique, consisting in pressing the coil to the vessel wall, most closely corresponded to features observed at the Neolithic vessels.
The establishment of trade associations in 1860 was necessary in terms of economic situation of guilds. Associations successfully followed to guild organization of craftsmen. Firstly, joiners in ...Hradec Králové were incorporated into II. Trade Association, its division created the independent Association of Construction and Assigned Industry and finally, the Association of Joiners, Wood Carvers and Turners has been established. Members of association’s committees as well as ordinary members participated in town’s administration. They occupied themselves with regional politics and were candidates for the town council. Tradesmen competed with each other not only in the economic sphere but also in the social one. One of the possibilities, how to increase and emphasize their role in the town, was to join a society. Partially, a character of enterprise and a social life of Pecků joiner’s family has been outlined. It is possible to follow a generation succession in the profession but also a social mobility, of which largest change might be observable in the first generation represented by the founder of the trade Antonín. His son has been already born into family which may be perceived in terms of the middle class. During the second generation, represented by Jan, the enterprise was developed into the medium level. The third generation, which was represented by Jan’s daughters – Helena and Vladimíra as well as Helena’s husband, restored the trade in early 1990s. The final phase of family business is represented by Helena’s son Milan, who as a representative of the fourth generation, voluntarily closed the activities of their trade at the beginning of the 21st century.
This paper presents a reconstruction of environmental conditions and subsistence strategies in the Early Neolithic (6th Millenium BC) settlement area at Těšetice-Kyjovice (Czech Republic). Our ...detailed reconstruction of the environment contributes to the unravelling of the genesis and spread of steppes and the formation of secondary anthropogenic forest-free areas in the Holocene in eastern-Central Europe. Mollusc shells, charcoals and plant macroremains were used as on-site evidence of a settlement environment. A relatively warm and dry anthropogenic forest-free area is reconstructed for the immediate vicinity of the Early Neolithic settlement. Communities of mixed deciduous forests are recorded in the surroundings of the settlement. Plant macroremains reflect the characteristic Neolithic range of cultivated plants (e.g. Triticum monococcum, Triticum dicoccon, Lens culinaris and Pisum sativum). Papaver somniferum seeds were also found, possibly constituting the oldest evidence of its presence and cultivation in the territory of the Czech Republic.
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