Recent studies relate the introduction of Early Neolithic flint mining practices to the migration and rapid expansion of agricultural groups from north-western continental Europe into present-day ...Britain and southern Scandinavia. Here, the authors critically analyse this hypothesis, using a case study from south-western Sweden to demonstrate how transregional processes played out locally with their own dynamics, c. 4000 BC. They conclude that migration and population change only partly can explain what happened during the centuries immediately before and after 4000 BC. Local variation in human-material relationships also needs to be considered.
In 2015-2017, East Jutland Museum excavated a series of well-preserved prehistoric and early historic trackways at Kastbjerg Å in the Kastbjerg Å river valley (eastern Jutland, Denmark). In this ...article, we will present the earliest of the in situ preserved structures, the Middle Neolithic trackway A20, and the high-precision dating of this structure. Dendrochronological dating of wood sequences provides very precise ages for archaeological timbers from buildings or structures, such as bridges or ships. This is not possible, however, when the dendrochronological samples lack sapwood, if the wood sequence has too few rings to provide definite placement on the dendrochronological master curve, if the wood sequence falls outside the range of the master curves or if the species of wood is not suitable for dendrochronological analysis. Here, we date a wood sequence of an alder tree from trackway A20 using the radiocarbon wiggle-match method to 2911 ±5 BC. The function of the trackway and the significance of the Neolithic river crossing at the Kastbjerg Å site are discussed in the light of European parallels and the regional cultural context.
In 2015-2017, East Jutland Museum excavated a series of well-preserved prehistoric and early historic trackways at Kastbjerg Å in the Kastbjerg Å river valley (eastern Jutland, Denmark). In this ...article, we will present the earliest of the in situ preserved structures, the Middle Neolithic trackway A20, and the high-precision dating of this structure. Dendrochronological dating of wood sequences provides very precise ages for archaeological timbers from buildings or structures, such as bridges or ships. This is not possible, however, when the dendrochronological samples lack sapwood, if the wood sequence has too few rings to provide definite placement on the dendrochronological master curve, if the wood sequence falls outside the range of the master curves or if the species of wood is not suitable for dendrochronological analysis. Here, we date a wood sequence of an alder tree from trackway A20 using the radiocarbon wiggle-match method to 2911 ±5 BC. The function of the trackway and the significance of the Neolithic river crossing at the Kastbjerg Å site are discussed in the light of European parallels and the regional cultural context.
This paper debates claims that plant domestication occurred rapidly in a single restricted sub-section of the Near Eastern Fertile Crescent. Instead we argue for numerous parallel processes of ...domestication across the region in the Early Holocene. While a previous generation of genetic results seemed to support a single 'core area', the accumulation of genetic evidence and refinements in methods undermine this, pointing increasingly towards multiple geographical origins. We stress that it is important to recognize that modern germplasm collections are an imperfect sample of the diversity of wild and cultivated populations of the past, which included some extinct lineages. We briefly synthesize the accumulated data from archaeobotany, defending the reliability of archaeological science to inform us about the past plant populations used by people. These data indicate an extended period of pre-domestication cultivation of at least a millennium and the slow evolution of morphological domestication adaptations in crop plants. The appearance of early cultivars and domesticates was spread piecemeal around the Near East, and a whole crop package is not evident. The 'core area' claimed by some authors has no better claim for primacy or completeness in comparison to other parts of the Near East. Evidence from zooarchaeology similarly points towards a diffuse appearance of various domesticated animals. The 'non-centric' appearance of domesticates from the Near East is therefore similar to the emerging evidence from many other regions of the world where plants were domesticated. We develop a hypothesis of why this should be expected given that anatomically modern human ancestors shared practices of vegetation management and planting, the necessary background knowledge for cultivation. Cultivation then was not a rare discovery but was a strategic and systematic shift in economies. The question then becomes why it was developed in the particular regions and periods where it appeared.
This research embarks on an archaeological investigation of the sixty-eight fresh documented unexcavated Neolithic and Megalithic sites scattered throughout Kashmir Valley, India. Focused on three ...key aspects - landscape, settlement patterns, and material culture, the study aims to unveil the hidden historical treasures of this region. By employing advanced archaeological techniques and methodologies, the research seeks to shed light on the enigmatic past of Neolithic and Megalithic cultures that once thrived in this diverse geographical area. Through the analysis of artifacts, and geographical data, the study endeavours to reconstruct the ancient lifestyle, social and technological dynamics, and cultural exchanges that shaped the valley as a significant cultural crossroads between South and Central Asia. The findings of this investigation have the potential to deepen our understanding of the historical interconnections from prehistoric times of the region and contribute to the broader knowledge of human history and cultural evolution in the Indian subcontinent. In essence, this study analyses the archaeological material culture related to the designation of locations as human habitations during Neolithic and Megalithic cultures, their distribution over the Kashmir Valley topography, and the contextualisation of this knowledge within Kashmir and neighbouring archaeology. The main goal of the current study is to offer first-hand information of the sites reported during the new survey to get a general understanding of site types and to document their physical characteristics based on the comparison of material culture. This study has tried to use the knowledge to gain a deeper understanding of how people settled in the Valley throughout history, with particular reference to the Neolithic and Megalithic Periods. Only three out of sixty-eight Neolithic sites are excavated, and this study is a comparative analysis of the material culture, Landscape and Settlement pattern documented from these unexplored and unexcavated Neolithic sites across the Valley of Kashmir.
Sheep and goats (caprines) were domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but how and in how many places remain open questions. This study investigates the initial conditions and ...trajectory of caprine domestication at Aşıklı Höyük, which preserves an unusually high-resolution record of the first 1,000 y of Neolithic existence in Central Anatolia. Our comparative analysis of caprine age and sex structures and related evidence reveals a local domestication process that began around 8400 cal BC. Caprine management at Aşıklı segued through three viable systems. The earliest mode was embedded within a broad-spectrum foraging economy and directed to live meat storage on a small scale. This was essentially a "catch-and-grow" strategy that involved seasonal capture of wild lambs and kids from the surrounding highlands and raising them several months prior to slaughter within the settlement. The second mode paired modest levels of caprine reproduction on site with continued recruitment of wild infants. The third mode shows the hallmarks of a large-scale herding economy based on a large, reproductively viable captive population but oddly directed to harvesting adult animals, contra to most later Neolithic practices. Wild infant capture likely continued at a low level. The transitions were gradual but, with time, gave rise to early domesticated forms and monumental differences in human labor organization, settlement layout, and waste accumulation. Aşıklı was an independent center of caprine domestication and thus supports the multiple origins evolutionary model.
S nalazištem srednjeg i kasnog neolitika Graduša – Lokve u Islamu Grčkom (sjeverna Dalmacija) povezano je mnogo otvorenih pitanja. Veličina i granice nalazišta, međusobni prostorni, stratigrafski i ...kulturni odnosi između naselja srednjeg i kasnog neolitika, te korelacija distribucije površinskih nalaza s objektima iz neolitičkog naselja koji se mogu prepoznati na površini, samo su neka od njih. Kako bi se dali odgovori na neka od navedenih pitanja, proveden je sustavan terenski pregled tijekom veljače 2023. godine. Rezultati istraživanja pridonose boljem poznavanju nalazišta, te će služiti kao podloga u planiranju budućih istraživanja na nalazištu.
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