Kababurun:investigations of an eastern Aegean village in the Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age transition

The Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (EBA) 1 are dynamic prehistoric eras, encapsulating crucial political, social and economic developments in western Anatolia and the adjacent regions. Although recent fieldwork and synthesis on this transition in western Turkey provide a general framework for this important transitional period, we still lack a holistic understanding of settlement types, subsistence patterns and socio-economic interaction zones. Discovery of the coastal site of Kababurun during surveys on the Karaburun Peninsula enhances understanding of the Late Chalcolithic–EBA 1 transition by providing data on settlement characteristics, material technologies and subsistence strategies. Kababurun is currently the only absolutely dated prehistoric site in the Karaburun Peninsula, offering a reliable chronological basis for comparisons in the region and beyond. In this article, we first introduce and then contextualise the Kababurun data within the eastern Aegean and western Anatolian research problems, then discuss how that data might contribute to a more refined understanding of Late Chalcolithic to EBA 1 communities. In particular, we argue that the site of Kababurun represents a form of community that is vitally important but poorly understood for this period: a small-scale rural settlement, connected to local networks but without a specialised function

Traction in Neolithic Çatalhoyük?:Palaeopathological analysis of cattle and aurochs remains from the East and West Mounds

Cattle traction was a technological innovation that made a significant impact on production, individual and household wealth, and social organisation. Despite ongoing debates regarding the origins and extent of the harnessing of cattle power among early agropastoral societies, only a few studies have attempted at addressing this matter systematically. In Neolithic Çatalhoyük, several studies have explored the symbolism and domestication of aurochs and cattle, while the systematic investigation of Bos skeletal remains regarding the presence of cattle traction has been missing. This study focuses on Neolithic Çatalhoyük in Central Anatolia, renowned for its cattle symbolism, to explore the possibility of cattle traction in the 7th and 6th millennium BCE. We studied the palaeopathological traces on the lower limbs of Bos from Çatalhoyük East (Early, Middle, and Late) and West Mounds. Our results suggest that arthropathies are present on the Bos lower limbs (particularly anterior elements) in all phases of Neolithic Çatalhoyük. ̈ Pathological and sub-pathological changes are on average more severe among the small cattle of Çatalhoyük ̈ West than in the preceding periods at Çatalhoyük East, a result affected by a few rather deformed specimens in Çatalhoyük West. We did not observe any clear correlation between cattle survivorship, size, and pathology severity. Although an unequivocal association between pathologies and traction in prehistoric cattle remains challenging, we discuss plausible explanations for the changing nature and intensity of cattle pathologies at Çatalhoyük ̈ throughout time. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of possible draught use of cattle for the socioeconomic shifts Çatalhoyük experienced in the 6th millennium BC

AMAMANTANDO AL BAIFO [Material gráfico]

Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Subdirección General de Coordinación Bibliotecaria, 201

Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans

Farming and sedentism first appeared in southwestern Asia during the early Holocene and later spread to neighboring regions, including Europe, along multiple dispersal routes. Conspicuous uncertainties remain about the relative roles of migration, cultural diffusion, and admixture with local foragers in the early Neolithization of Europe. Here we present paleogenomic data for five Neolithic individuals from northern Greece and northwestern Turkey spanning the time and region of the earliest spread of farming into Europe. We use a novel approach to recalibrate raw reads and call genotypes from ancient DNA and observe striking genetic similarity both among Aegean early farmers and with those from across Europe. Our study demonstrates a direct genetic link between Mediterranean and Central European early farmers and those of Greece and Anatolia, extending the European Neolithic migratory chain all the way back to southwestern Asia

The concept of “Neolithic package”: considering its meaning and applicability

In this paper, one of the most frequently used terms in Neolithic studies, e.g. the so-called “Neolithic package”, will be discussed. Apart from providing a brief historical background of the term and how it was used since the 80’s, the text will concentrate on a plausible definition and the possible contents of the package which can be observed as a common set of objects in Southwest Asia, Anatolia and Southeast Europe. It will be argued that the use of this concept has both advantages and disadvantages. Although the term provides a macro level look to the large geography mentioned above, that was obviously closely interconnected in the course of 7th and 6th millennia BC, the term should be implemented cautiously at regions where the elements of the package do not seem to be fully integrated into the life of the groups.V članku razpravljamo o enem izmed najbolj pogostih terminov v neolitskih študijah, tako imenovanem “neolitskem paketu”. Opisali bomo kratko zgodovinsko ozadje in uporabo izraza do 80-ih, skoncentrirali se bomo tudi na verjetno definicijo in možne vsebine »paketa«, ki jih lahko opazujemo kot običajen zbir predmetov v Jugozahodni Aziji, Anatoliji in Jugovzhodni Evropi. Dokazali bomo, da ima uporaba tega koncepta tako prednosti, kot pomanjkljivosti. Čeprav termin na medregionalnem nivoju omogoča pregled na širokem geografskem območju, ki je bilo tesno medsebojno povezano v času sedmega in šestega tisočletja pr.n.št., ga je potrebno previdno dopolniti na območjih, kjer elementi »paketa« niso bili popolnoma vključeni v življenje prebivalcev