Volume 95, Issue 2

The aim of this paper is to develop a systematic approach to understanding daily life at Late Palaeolithic camps and identifying its impact on broader site formation processes. Late Palaeolithic contexts are often poorly preserved, especially those found in the sandy sediments of the North European Plain. However, taphonomic obstacles may be overcome through the introduction of spatial statistics into research procedures. We illustrate our approach using a case study of Federmesser and Swiderian campsites at the site of Lubrza 10, Western Poland. The locational analysis of hearths, features that constitute the most important integrative social foci of Palaeolithic camps, provides information on activity areas, seasonality and occupational duration. Additionally, we examine the function of spatially distinct artefact concentrations and their methods of aggregation. The presented research procedure enables us to trace the contribution of individuals to group behaviour, as well as specific individual activities at both camps.

The article describes the results of the interdisciplinary studies of a unique bone slotted point from Tłokowo, north-eastern Poland. The artefact was discovered in 1989, and indirect dating suggested an Early Mesolithic date. In this article we present the results of direct radiocarbon dating of the point, which shows that it is almost 2000 years younger than previously suggested. In addition, physical-chemical studies of the adhesive used to mount the flint inserts inside the point were conducted. The results of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) analysis indicate that the adhesive is birch tar. Finally, the article presents the results of detailed traceological studies that allow interpretation of the technology of production and possible function of the point. For the analysis, as well as various types of microscopes, optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used. In the discussion the results of all the analyses are considered alongside our current knowledge of this type of Mesolithic points in Europe.

In various prehistoric periods, the territory of Vojvodina became the target of the migration of steppe communities with eastern origins. The oldest of these movements are dated to the late Eneolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. There are at least two stages among them: I – dated to the end of the fourth millennium BC / beginning of the third millennium BC and II – dated from 3000 to 2600 BC and combined with the communities of the classical phase of the Yamnaya culture. The data documenting these processes have been relatively poor so far – in comparison with the neighboring regions of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. A big drawback was the small number of systematically excavated mounds, providing comprehensive data on the funeral ritual of steppe communities. This poor database has been slightly enriched as a result of the design of the National Science Centre (Cracow, Poland) entitled “Danubian route of the Yamnaya culture”. Its effect was to examine the first two barrows located on the territory of Bačka – the western region of Vojvodina. Currently, these burial mounds are the westernmost points on the map of the cemeteries of the Yamnaya culture complex. Radiocarbon dates obtained for new finds, as well as for archival materials, allow specifying two stages of use of cemeteries of Yamnaya culture: I – around 3000–2900 BC and II – around 2800–2600 BC. Among the finds from Banat, there were also few materials coming probably from the older period, corresponding to the classical phase of Baden – Coţofeni I–II. The enigmatic nature of these discoveries, however, does not allow to specify their dating as well as cultural dependencies.

Zusammenfassung In diesem Beitrag wird der Fundplatz Generalka 2 auf der Insel Chortica bei der Stadt Zaporižžja in der Ukraine vorgestellt. Seit dem Jahr 2000 finden hier regelmäßig Ausgrabungen statt, bei denen mehrere Grabensegmente freigelegt wurden. Die Funde, insbesondere die Keramik, sind typisch für die Jamnaja-Kultur (Grubengrabkultur) und auch die 14 C-Datierungen weisen in die erste Hälfte des 3. Jts. v. Chr. Zunächst wurde vermutet, dass hier eine Siedlung vorliegt, wie mehrere im Bereich der ehemaligen Dneprstromschnellen nördlich der südukrainischen Stadt Zaporižžja entdeckt worden sind. Neueste Feldforschungen weisen allerdings auf eine andere Kategorie von Denkmal hin. Grabenwerke sind aus verschiedenen Großräumen bekannt und als ‚causewayed enclosures‘ in der englischsprachigen Literatur beschrieben worden. Hier werden nun die Ergebnisse mehrerer naturwissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen am Fundstoff aus Generalka 2 vorgelegt. Für einen Fundplatz der Jamnaja-Kultur, der keine Begräbnisstätte darstellt, wurde eine umfassende Analyse von über 10.000 Tierknochen vorgenommen. Die 3.071 Knochen, die archäozoologisch einer Tierart zugeordnet werden können, lassen Rückschlüsse auf die Herdenzusammensetzung zu und belegen, dass Wildfauna nur eine untergeordnete Rolle in der Subsistenzbasis der Menschen zukam, die am unteren Dnepr im frühen 3. Jt. v. Chr. gelebt haben. Da auch zahlreiche Zähne von Wiederkäuern erhalten waren, wurden Isotopenanalysen durchgeführt, um Hinweise auf das Herdenmanagement zu erhalten. In einer weiteren Pilotstudie wurden Gefäßfragmente auf organische Rückstandsanalysen untersucht und die Ergebnisse mit den archäozoologischen Resultaten verglichen. Die hier erstmals vorgelegten und diskutierten Daten belegen eindrücklich das Potential für die Untersuchung eines solchen Steppenfundplatzes.

Through a multi-scalar approach using archaeological and statistical methods this paper investigates identity through a comparative study of 270 female gendered burials from Jutland, Funen, Bornholm and Northern Germany. The understanding of the societal structure in the Bronze Age is based on a binary gender system and the variation within these gender categories is emphasised as highly significant for our understanding of gendered social roles in the Early Nordic Bronze Age (NBA). This paper demonstrates that elite women in Early NBA (c.1600–1100 BCE) held high social standing as well as holding multi-facetted social roles, reflecting both status and identity but with a change in status observed from NBA period II to III (c. 1300 BCE onwards). Network investigations of the female graves revealed that one armring in particular was dominant in the material and is seen a key identity marker for Early Nordic Bronze Age women. Further, it is concluded that analyses of object-type combinations can point towards potential dual identities of some of these women.

The article considers cremation graves from the site of Podsmreka near Višnja Gora (Slovenia). Based on the analysis of their pottery, it could be shown that the graves can be dated to the Middle Bronze Age period (Br B2/C1) and thus represent one of the oldest cremation burials of the Bronze Age in Slovenia. First, the ceramic finds from the radiocarbon dated settlement contexts are discussed in order to reach a more exact chronological framework for the vessel forms from graves. A synthesis of all Middle Bronze Age graves, both inhumations and cremations, from central and eastern Slovenia allows us to get a better understanding of when the change in burial practices occurred. Surprisingly, the best analogies for the vessels from graves at Podsmreka near Višnja Gora can be found in the northern Carpathian Basin, where we observe a long-standing tradition of cremation burials. The analysis of radiocarbon samples from two graves from Šafárikovo in Slovakia allowed us to verify the absolute chronology of urn amphorae vessels with particular form and decoration, which we can date between the second half of the 16 th and the first half of the 15 th century BC. Such astonishing correspondences in the pottery between the northern Carpathian Basin and the south-eastern Alpine region seem to indicate that the very area of the Upper Tisza river, and the territory of the Piliny Culture, played a crucial role in the transmission of new burial practices, not only to Slovenia, but also across wider areas along the Sava and Drava rivers on the distribution area of the Virovitica group.

This paper synthesises and analyses archaeological data on the Nitrianska Blatnica II hoard of metal artefacts (Ha C1a; 800–725 BC) from the hilltop settlement of Marhát. Currently, this is the largest metal deposit from the Final Bronze Age in Slovakia, providing a fundamental chronological synchronization of the Ha C1a sub-phase with Northern Italy and Central and Southeastern Europe. A spectral analysis of the serial circular jewellery shows a uniform origin from a unique metallurgical workshop and contributes to the scientific discussion with important data on economic operations in the Carpathian Basin. The closest analogies to the bronze vessels and gold cylindrical earrings come from the most important contemporary sites of the Hallstatt and Mezöcsát cultures and stimulate the notion of a large intercultural trade in prestigious goods and the practices of the aristocratic population of the Final Bronze Age in Central Europe.

Zusammenfassung Das Oppidum von Manching ist für die Spätlatènezeit seit langem als einer der wenigen Fundplätze bekannt, aus dem menschliche Skelette und Skelettreste, noch dazu in großer Anzahl, vorliegen. Schon G. Lange hat bei seiner Bearbeitung der Funde aus den Jahren 1955–1973 auf der Basis der Anthropologie gewisse Regeln erkannt. Der vorliegende Beitrag geht von den „Gruben“ mit Menschenknochen von der Manchinger „Südumgehung“ aus, die von H. Lorenz detailliert vorgelegt wurden, und diskutiert, inwieweit sich für diese Befunde und konkret ihre Inventare Regelhaftigkeiten oder zumindest Tendenzen rekonstruiert lassen. Berücksichtigt werden auch die Themen der „Abfallentsorgung“ und des Erscheinungsbildes der Siedlung in der Spätlatènezeit.

The aim of this paper is to explore and define the boundary of the zone of inland, mainly agricultural settlement in southern and western Bohemia, Czech Republic in the later prehistory, and to try to determine why such settlement appears not to have spread further into the Šumava foothills and mountains. With the help of predictive MaxEnt modelling – used in ecology to determine the degree of uncertainty in the geographic distribution of species – and using a comparison with data on soil productivity, we explore whether in later prehistory the agricultural settlement was limited by unsuitable natural conditions or by other factors. The boundaries of the territory suitable for agropastoral farming most probably moved in time with technological advances, increases in population density, and the changing preferences of inhabitants of the Bronze and Iron Ages. The margin of agricultural settlement in the foothills describes a line beyond which agriculture had become unprofitable; a similar boundary existed throughout the Early Middle Ages. At the same time, there was a good deal of contact across the mountains with Bavaria and Upper Austria, as is shown by archaeology both in the form of similarities between the prehistoric typo-chronological complexes and by finds of bronze and iron items along presumed routes of access. There were also montane sites (whose function is still unknown) situated beyond the margin of the agricultural zone, such as the recently discovered settlements on the Křemelná river. Apart from prospection, a wide range of other activities could have taken place, including those connected with communication and routes of access to Bavaria and Upper Austria, with which Šumava formed a common typo-chronological group.

In the early medieval urban centers on the south and east coast of the Baltic, objects decorated in Scandinavian style were used, however with the local character of ornamentation. The authors analyze large collections of this type of artifacts from Wolin and Novgorod against the wide North European background. They indicate the spread of this phenomenon in the Baltic area, naming it Viking Periphery Art and offer an explanation of its origin instead of previous attempts of defining this phenomenon as a Pomeranian School of Scandinavian-Insular Art. They argue that the local art is a testimony to social changes: the fusion of different cultural elements could be proof of the development of the new identity of town elites taking part in long-distance trade in the 10 th century.

In 2014, the unexpected discovery of some mass graves shed light on the earliest days of the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg. The graves could be dated to the beginning of the 18 th century, and analyses of the 255 excavated skeletons indicate that the individuals buried there were some of the workers who were forced to the construction sites and contributed tobuilding early Saint Petersburg. In this article, we aim to examine the possible origins of the workers and their general living conditions, including pathologies, diet and nutrition. For this, we will use various methods from archaeology, anthropology and isotopic analyses, and we will give some insights into the lives of those people.

Zusammenfassung Klassifikationen und Typologien sind im Kontext archäologischen Handelns Techniken der Systematisierung von Objekten. Als solche haben sie einerseits eine große heuristische Bedeutung als Grundlage für im weitesten Sinne sozialhistorische Interpretationen, sie können aber auch andererseits diese Interpretationen in einer Weise vorstrukturieren, die im Deutungsprozess nicht mehr reflektiert wird. Konnotationen, die mit der klassifikatorischen und typologischen Ansprache verbunden sind, verfestigen sich so zu Gewissheiten, welche einer Revision weitgehend entzogen sind. Erläutert wird dies am Beispiel bronzezeitlicher Waffen, und daran anschließend sollen zwei Verfahren aufgezeigt werden, mit denen sich derartige Gewissheiten aufbrechen lassen: durch eine Bestimmung der Affordanz der Objekte und eine Rekonstruktion ihrer Funktionalität.

Zusammenfassung In der Archäologie wird Migration hauptsächlich mit menschlicher Mobilität in Verbindung gebracht. Die Mobilität von Ideen und Objekten wird hingegen als Diffusion oder Transfer beschrieben. Diese kategoriale Trennung wird in Frage gestellt und stattdessen ein alternatives Modell zu Migrationen angeboten, das sich auf die gegenseitige Abhängigkeit von Menschen, Ideen und Objekten konzentriert und nach ihren ‚Wanderungen‘ gefragt. Am Beispiel des spätkaiserzeitlich-frühvölkerwanderungszeitlichen Fenstergefäßes von Coswig (Sachsen-Anhalt) werden die Komplexität der aufgetretenen Verflechtungen, aber auch die Vorteile der Perspektive integrativer ‚Mensch-Objekt-Wanderungen‘ diskutiert. Ausgehend vom Verständnis von ‚Mensch-Objekt-Wanderungen‘ als Assemblagen wird demonstriert, welche Perspektiven ein solcher Ansatz des Neuen Materialismus für die archäologische Betrachtung von Migrationen bieten kann.