New Archeology Papers (Titles and Abstracts Only, Please)

[Radko]

Funeral rites in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages in south-western  Poland in regard to social changes

The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age cemetery in Domasław in present-day Silesia became a source for studies on funeral rites and various aspects of cultural practices and culture change. The observed changes are the reference point for correlating the features distinguished at this necropolis with other sites in the vicinity and more distant areas. The accumulation of ele-ments of burial practices of Hallstatt origin indicate the important role of the community in the region. Similarities between the Hallstatt culture area and Silesia suggest that geographi-cally separated groups were incorporated into a specific elite burial practice. They lead to the concept of treating south-western Poland as a regional, north-eastern province of the Hallstatt culture.



https://www.researchgate.net/publication...ial_change

[Orentil]

Sun stones and the darkened sun: Neolithic miniature art from the island of Bornholm, Denmark
Rune Iversen et. al.

The discovery of more than 600 whole and fragmentary engraved stone plaques in the early third millennium BC infill from the ditches of a causewayed enclosure at Vasagård, on the Danish island of Bornholm, represents a unique find in Neolithic miniature art. Termed ‘sun stones’ in reference to the rayed images that characterise many of the plaques, the stones were deposited en masse over a short period. This article offers a fundamental classification of the rich imagery captured in the engravings and examines its potential function at a time of possible climatic crisis that impacted not just Bornholm but the wider northern hemisphere.

Connection to two volcano eruptions in 2931 BC and 2910 BC.

Sun stones and the darkened sun: Neolithic miniature art from the island of Bornholm, Denmark | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

[JonikW]

All the way from the Baltic: amber beads from an Iron Age grave at Hama, western Syria

Cambridge University Press

Abstract 

Widening and diversifying trade networks are often cited among the boom and bust of Bronze and Iron Age worlds. The great distances that goods could travel during these periods are exemplified here as the authors describe the spectroscopic identification of Baltic amber beads in an Iron Age cremation grave at Hama in Syria. Yet these beads are not unique in the Near Eastern record; as the authors show, comparable finds and references to amber or amber hues in contemporaneous texts illustrate the high social and economic value of resinous substances—a value based on perceptions of their distant origin.

[Radko]

The impact of Lusatian Urnfield and subsequent prehistoric cultures on lake and woodland ecosystems: insights from multi-proxy palaeoecological investigations at Bruszczewo, western Poland

Abstract
The Lusatian Urnfield culture (LUc, Lausitzer Kultur, kultura łużycka) was one of the most important cultural developments during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age of central-eastern Europe, 1500–500 BC. In this article, we focus on the impact of the LUc and later cultures on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at Bruszczewo on a microregional scale and within the broad context of analogous processes in central-eastern Europe. We did high resolution multi-proxy analyses of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), diatoms and plant macrofossils, supplemented with a lithological and geochemical study of lake and peat deposits from near the archaeological site. The results revealed that between ca. 1020 and 920 BC, woodland clearance took place, possibly connected with farming. This probably contributed to the spread of the weeds Xanthium cf. strumarium and Convolvulus arvensis in the newly created disturbed habitats. Woodland clearance and other human activities contributed to better preservation of diatoms in the lake sediments, probably as a result of increased acidity in this environment. Diatoms, especially taxa preferring eutrophic waters and tolerant of large amounts of dissolved organic matter, were the most frequent at that time. Climate deterioration associated with the 2.8 ka event probably lessened human impact around the lake shore. The diatom records suggest prolonged ice cover on the lake and/or colder springs at that time. Another intensification of human impact occurred at ca. 530 BC and was probably related to activity by people of Pomeranian culture (kultura pomorska, Pommerellische Gesichtsurnenkultur). Later, from ca. 330 BC, arable farming activity declined and grazing was suggested by an abundance of coprophilous fungi spores which, however, should not be regarded as definitive indicators of pasture.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.100...24-01022-7

[AimSmall]

Rapid change in red cell blood group systems after the main Out of Africa of Homo sapiens
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-83023-0

Despite the advances in paleogenomics, red cell blood group systems in ancient human populations remain scarcely known. Pioneer attempts showed that Neandertal and Denisova, two archaic hominid populations inhabiting Eurasia, expressed blood groups currently found in sub-Saharans and a rare “rhesus”, part of which is found in Oceanians. Herein we fully pictured the blood group genetic diversity of 22 Homo sapiens and 14 Neandertals from Eurasia living between 120,000 and 20,000 years before present (yBP). From the ABO, Rh, Kell, Duffy, Kidd, MNS, Diego, H, secretor and Indian systems, we noted that the blood group allele diversity in the Neandertals remained unchanged since 120,000 yBP, while H. sapiens conquered Eurasia with blood group alleles presently exclusive to non-African populations, suggesting they may have differentiated right after the Out of Africa, between 70,000 and 45,000 yBP. Notably, Ust’Ishim possessed unknown alleles that may illustrate the lost genetic heritage of the early Eurasians. Lastly, Neandertals shared a unique Rh haplotype from which we updated the current RHD phylogeny. The contribution of this study is twofold. It enlightens the expansion patterns of H sapiens and recalls the anthropological effectiveness of genetic polymorphisms currently being surveyed for transfusion safety and pregnancy monitoring.

Evidence suggests Neanderthal blood protein may be part of reason for their demise.

[Radko]

Inscribed sandstone fragments of Hole, Norway: radiocarbon dates provide insight into rune-stone traditions

Abstract
The development of runic writing (the early Germanic alphabetic script) and the practice of inscribing runes on stone are difficult to trace, particularly as rune-stone inscriptions are rarely found in original and/or datable contexts. The discovery of several inscribed sandstone fragments at the grave field at Svingerud, Norway, with associated radiocarbon dates of 50 BC–AD 275, now provide the earliest known context for a runestone. An unusual mixture of runes and other markings are revealed as the fragments are reconstructed into a single standing stone, suggesting multiple episodes of inscription and providing insight into early runic writing practices in Iron Age Scandinavia.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/...465EC5DE22

[JMcB]

While revisiting a subject, I found these and thought I’d post them here for anyone who’s interested.




The Late Neolithic Expansion in Denmark
Ancient and new traditions 2350-1700 BC

Jens Winther Johannsen


ABSTRACT

Although the Scandinavian Late Neolithic today is mainly defined by the introduction of bifa-
cial flint work, particularly daggers, agricultural intensification must also be seen as a part of
the Late Neolithic package, which developed under Bell Beaker-influence in Jutland around
2350 BCE. It is argued that the changes in subsistence led to a population increase, which
was the background for the spread of the new Late Neolithic culture in Scandinavia. A delay
in the introduction of the Late Neolithic in East Denmark is, among other things, reflected in
the scarcity of Bell Beaker-related artefacts in the region. It is suggested that this must be
understood on the background of old cultural differences between West and East Denmark.

https://tidsskrift.dk/dja/article/downlo...390/296326



New Perspectives on the Late Neolithic of
South-Western Sweden. An Interdisciplinary
Investigation of the Gallery Grave Falköping Stad 5

Malou Blank, Anna Tornberg, and Corina Knipper


Abstract:

This article presents the results of an interdisciplinary study combining archaeology, osteology,
and stable isotope analyses. The geological conditions and richness of megalithic graves in Falbygden is
suitable for studies of Neolithic human remains. Nevertheless, the Late Neolithic period (2350–1700 BC)
is poorly investigated. This paper explores new knowledge of the Late Neolithic megalithic population in
Falbygden. In-depth osteological and archaeological studies focusing on a single gallery grave (Falköping
stad 5) were conducted. Radiocarbon dating and carbon, nitrogen, and strontium isotope analyses of
teeth from twenty-one individuals revealed the time of the grave’s use, as well as the subsistence and
mobility practices of the buried individuals. The grave was already in use during the first part of the Late
Neolithic and used into the second part of the period by individuals of different origin. Furthermore, the
results indicated changing population dynamics in the Late Neolithic Falbygden, with increased human
mobility, variability in subsistence strategies, and growing population density.


https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/1...pen-access




and courtesy of Strider99


Knowledge, Know-how and Raw Material - The Production of Late Neolithic
Flint Daggers in Scandinavia

Jan Apel
Stockholm University


Abstract:

In this paper, the craftsmanship of the Late Neolithic flint daggers in Scandianvia is investigated. The purpose of the investigation is to map the degree of skill invested in each production stage of the daggers and then relate the degree of craftsmanship to social factors. This is achieved by applying an operational-chain approach to the dagger production system, and by comparison with anthropologically and historically documented crafts in traditional societies. It is concluded that the daggers required knowledge of complicated recipes of action as well as a well-developed muscle memory that can only be acquired through practice. Thus, the craft is interpreted as demanding some form of an institutionalised apprenticeship system that could guarantee that it could be reproduced for at least 24 generations. It is further suggested that the flint dagger technology was consciously organised to keep the recipes of action of the technology exclusive to certain segments of the society.


https://www.researchgate.net/publication...candinavia

[Orentil]

New study finds meteoric iron in early Iron Age artifacts in Poland

The Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów cemeteries in S Poland (Hallstatt C period) yielded several dozen iron objects, very few of which have been analyzed so far. The p-XRF analysis of 26 specimens and SEM/EDS analyses of 3, reveal that three bracelets, an ankle ring and a pin contain meteoritic iron, all the other objects being made of smelted iron. This modest number of specimens nevertheless forms one of the biggest collection of meteoritic iron products at one archaeological site worldwide. The presence in the same context of both meteoritic and smelted irons enables us to discuss the role of slag incorporation vs. contamination.
The composition of the specimens containing meteoritic iron is quite variable even for a single specimen, which can be explained by an association with smelted iron. Extensive examinations suggest that a single meteorite was used, possibly a contemporary fall which would not be an import. This confirms that the inhabitants knew the working of iron and that meteoritic iron no longer had the considerable symbolic value it had in the Bronze Age before the discovery of iron smelting. It was simply used as an iron ore. We suggest that meteoritic iron was deliberately used to produce a specific pattern on iron jewelry a millennium before the supposed invention of wootz and Damascus steel.


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...via%3Dihub

[Radko]

Goths’ idigenous weapon? Wielbark Culture Axes from the Roman Period

Abstract
The author studies the axe heads which may be attributed to the Wielbark Culture. They are grouped according to their finding contexts (possible grave finds, watery finds, possible Wielbark-culture objects from beyond its territory, stray finds). Majority of the Wielbark-culture axe heads dates to the Younger and Late Roman Period as well as the Early Migration Period. Early Roman Period items are almost lacking, which makes the hypothetical influence of the Late Pre-Roman military model (the Oksywie Culture) improbable. Axes were a popular weapon among the Balts, thus it seems probable that Wielbark-culture axes had been borrowed from the West Balt Circle. Popularity of the symmetrical forms of Group II after B. Kontny seems to confirm this supposition, although also other patterns i.a. Types Żarnowiec, Oder-Elbe and Leśnica are documented in the Wielbark Culture. Among them, the Żarnowiec Type has so far been associated generally with the territory of Poland, Type Leśnica – with the south of the Przeworsk Culture territory and the Oder-Elbe – with Luboszyce Culture, Elbe Germanic Circle and southern Scandinavia. Such an image requires verification: Types Leśnica and Żarnowiec are known from the Wielbark, Černâhov and the Sântana de Mureş Cultures and Oder-Elbe in Pomerania. The introduction of the axe took place simultaneously in some other cultural units: the Luboszyce Culture and Elbe Germanic Circle, probably in western Pomerania (the Dębczyno Group), and soon after in the Černâhov and the Sântana de Mureş Cultures. It seems that we deal with the real transformation of the Barbarian model of armament just before and during the crisis of the third century.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/1...-2003/html

[Alain]

Trypillia mega-sites: a social levelling concept?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2024


Abstract



Explanations for the emergence and abandonment of the Chalcolithic Trypillia mega-sites have long been debated. Here, the authors use Gini coefficients based on the sizes of approximately 7000 houses at 38 Trypillia sites to assess inequality between households as a factor in the rise and/or demise of these settlements. The results indicate temporarily reduced social inequality at mega-sites. It was only after several generations that increased social differentiation re-emerged and this may explain the subsequent abandonment of the mega-sites. The results indicate that increases in social complexity need not be associated with greater social stratification and that large aggregations of population can, for a time at least, find mechanisms to reduce inequality.



https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/...FD7C24A679

[Alain]

New study finds meteoric iron in early Iron Age artifacts in Poland

The Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów cemeteries in S Poland (Hallstatt C period) yielded several dozen iron objects, very few of which have been analyzed so far. The p-XRF analysis of 26 specimens and SEM/EDS analyses of 3, reveal that three bracelets, an ankle ring and a pin contain meteoritic iron, all the other objects being made of smelted iron. This modest number of specimens nevertheless forms one of the biggest collection of meteoritic iron products at one archaeological site worldwide. The presence in the same context of both meteoritic and smelted irons enables us to discuss the role of slag incorporation vs. contamination.
The composition of the specimens containing meteoritic iron is quite variable even for a single specimen, which can be explained by an association with smelted iron. Extensive examinations suggest that a single meteorite was used, possibly a contemporary fall which would not be an import. This confirms that the inhabitants knew the working of iron and that meteoritic iron no longer had the considerable symbolic value it had in the Bronze Age before the discovery of iron smelting. It was simply used as an iron ore. We suggest that meteoritic iron was deliberately used to produce a specific pattern on iron jewelry a millennium before the supposed invention of wootz and Damascus steel.


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...via%3Dihub

This is a very interesting report. For example, in the Chiemgau region the Celts used meteoric rock to make very good iron swords, although some geologists argue that this event happened 2500 years ago.

[Andour]

Evidence that men were dragging travois in New Mexico 22,000 years ago.

"These linear features, including those interpreted as the product of travois occur on several different ichno-surfaces. Some of these surfaces, although not all, have been securely dated. The surfaces containing linear features on Track Horizons TH2 and TH3 (Fig. 2) in the vicinity of WHSA Locality 2 can be traced into the site stratigraphy described and dated by Bennett et al. (2021), with geochronological confirmation provided by Pigati et al. (2023). These surfaces date from ∼22,000 years ago at the height of the Last Glacial Maximum, as such the linear features on these surfaces would therefore provide the oldest known evidence of vehicle transport. "

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...3425000103

[Radko]

Unbalanced social–ecological acceleration led to state formation failure in early medieval Poland

Significance
To understand the planet’s current crisis, we need in-depth understanding of how social–ecological change accelerated in the past and how it failed or stabilized. Our study contributes to this field by offering detailed evidence of the ecological, economic, social, and political change in a key region of medieval Central Europe, which underwent unprecedented intensification in all of these domains in the 10th c. CE. We show how social and ecological processes accompanied the consolidation of a new political formation, in turn triggered by earlier economic developments. Further, we analyze the new state’s collapse. The success (stabilization) of the acceleration necessitated simultaneous creation or integration of several networks (political, cultural, economic, etc.), which the polity’s elite failed to achieve.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2409056122

[Alain]

Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands

Abstract
The Maltese archipelago is a small island chain that is among the most remote in the Mediterranean. Humans were not thought to have reached and inhabited such small and isolated islands until the regional shift to Neolithic lifeways, around 7.5 thousand years ago (ka)1. In the standard view, the limited resources and ecological vulnerabilities of small islands, coupled with the technological challenges of long-distance seafaring, meant that hunter-gatherers were either unable or unwilling to make these journeys2,3,4. Here we describe chronological, archaeological, faunal and botanical data that support the presence of Holocene hunter-gatherers on the Maltese islands. At this time, Malta’s geographical configuration and sea levels approximated those of the present day, necessitating seafaring distances of around 100 km from Sicily, the closest landmass. Occupations began at around 8.5 ka and are likely to have lasted until around 7.5 ka. These hunter-gatherers exploited land animals, but were also able to take advantage of marine resources and avifauna, helping to sustain these groups on a small island. Our discoveries document the longest yet-known hunter-gatherer sea crossings in the Mediterranean, raising the possibility of unknown, precocious connections across the wider region.


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08780-y

[Radko]

Tracing the Environmental Footprint of a Lusatian Urnfield Culture Stronghold in Northern Poland

Abstract
During the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (ca. 1100-380 BCE) the lands of central-eastern Europe were inhabited by the people of Lusatian Urnfield culture (LUc). They started functioning in the 14th century BCE and erected special types of strongholds (defensive settlements). In this article, we aimed to examine if such a relatively short-term process of building a stronghold might have been recorded in palaeoenvironmental archive of the Linje mire situated near Gzin – a case study stronghold in central-north Poland. It is a pronounced structure in the landscape, but its chronology is estimated only on ceramics. Our multi-proxy palaeoecological research, confronted with the archaeological data, revealed that LUc people were present in Gzin area at least from ca. 1040 cal. BCE. We estimated that minimum 20-35 ha of oak-dominated woodland should have been felled for timber consumed only for the stronghold rampart. Indeed, erecting of the stronghold was marked by a synchronous decline in Quercus, Corylus avellana and Carpinus betulus pollen values at ca. 870 cal. BCE, and coincident with increased climate instability of 2.8 ka event. Our study suggests that humans were a significant factor enhancing the impact of 2.8 ka event on the woodland ecosystem as societal reaction required increased consumption of timber. Moreover, strongholds in prehistory, no matter time and location, might have significantly influenced woodland ecosystems leaving the footprint even in remote palaeoecological archives.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...id=5245977