Analysis of Chipped Stone Tools from the Tisza Culture Site of Hodmezovasarhely-Gorzsa, Hungary: 2011, 2012

The site of Hodmezovasarhely-Gorzsa is a Tisza culture tell site (Late Neolithic, ca 4000 BC).This report describes the preliminary results of lithic analysis of artifacts from the site conducted by the author in Szeged in 2011 and 201

Lithics Analysis at Grotta Dell 'Edera, Italy

During the summer of 2011, a Stahl Endowment Fund grant assisted my completing the analysis of stone tools from the excavated cave site, Grotta dell ’Edera (Aurisina, Italy). The site is located in the karst region north of Trieste, a region that boasts over 100 cave

Analysis of Chipped Stone Tools from the Tisza Culture Site of Hodmezovasarhely-Gorzsa, Hungary: 2011, 2012

The site of Hodmezovasarhely-Gorzsa is a Tisza culture tell site (Late Neolithic, ca 4000 BC).This report describes the preliminary results of lithic analysis of artifacts from the site conducted by the author in Szeged in 2011 and 201

Lithics Analysis at Grotta Dell 'Edera, Italy

During the summer of 2011, a Stahl Endowment Fund grant assisted my completing the analysis of stone tools from the excavated cave site, Grotta dell ’Edera (Aurisina, Italy). The site is located in the karst region north of Trieste, a region that boasts over 100 cave

Starnini E., Voytek B. -“Post” Transformation: Ongoing Developments in the Organization of Technology during the Neolithic

Using lithic data from the Neolithic tell-site of Hungary, the authors discuss social and cultural developments that characterize the Late Neolithic after the Neolithic transformation. The premise is that the inhabitants of the site of Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa, had a good knowledge of, and access to, the raw materials that they chose. By the time of the Tisza archaeological culture represented at the site, the landscape had been enculturated. The agro-pastoral subsistence base had been established. Connections with neighbouring territories, through exchange and/or trade, had been developed. Transformation continued, however, within the society particularly in terms of the development of social relations and the growth of socio-economic complexity

Du Sud de la montagne de Lure aux sépultures de Grimaldi : le silex zoné stampien dit "du Largue". Un matériau de prestige du Paléolithique supérieur liguro-provençal.

International audienceFrom the South of the mountain of Lure to the graves of Grimaldi caves : the Stampian banded flint so called "du Largue" A stampian zoned flint, very appreciated during Gravettian period, was found in offering, as large blades or tools, in several graves of the Grimaldi caves (Barma Grande, Baousso da Torre and Fanciulli Cave). This exotic raw material of xyloid aspect proceeds from the Southern foot of the mountain of Lure in the High Provence. The area of exploitation sometimes covers the famous extraction's workshops of the Late Neolithic in the Largue valley, a sector where the Upper Palaeolithic up to here was supposed absent, and where our investigations proved a sure and important exploitation of this raw material during this period. The Upper Paleolithic sites of Eastern Provence confirm the use and the diffusion of the zoned flint since Protoauriognacian, but it is in the Early Gravettian that this allochtonous flint takes all its symbolic value and acquires the status of prestigious material in a funeral context.Un silex stampien zoné, très apprécié au Gravettien, se retrouve en offrande, sous forme de grandes lames ou d'outils, dans plusieurs sépultures des grottes de Grimaldi (Barma Grande, Baousso da Torre, et Grotte des Enfants). Ce matériau exotique d'aspect xyloïde provient du pied méridional de la montagne de Lure dans les Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. La zone d'exploitation recouvre parfois les célèbres ateliers d'extraction du Néolithique final de la vallée du Largue, dans un secteur où le Paléolithique supérieur jusqu'ici était supposé absent, et où nos investigations ont prouvé une exploitation certaine et importante de ce matériau à cette période. Les sites du Paléolithique supérieur de Provence orientale confirment l'utilisation et la diffusion du silex zoné depuis le Protoaurignacien, mais c'est au Gravettien ancien que ce silex allochtone prend toute sa valeur symbolique et acquiert le statut de matériau de prestige dans un contexte funéraire

Du sud de la montagne de Lure aux s\ue9pultures de Grimaldi: le silex zon\ue9 stampien dit \uab du Largue\ubb - Un mat\ue9riau de prestige du Pal\ue9olithique sup\ue9rieur liguro-proven\ue7al.

A stampian zoned flint

Mitochondrial DNA analysis shows a Near Eastern Neolithic origin for domestic cattle and no indication of domestication of European aurochs

The extinct aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) was a large type of cattle that ranged over almost the whole Eurasian continent. The aurochs is the wild progenitor of modem cattle, but it is unclear whether European aurochs contributed to this process. To provide new insights into the demographic history of aurochs and domestic cattle, we have generated high-confidence mitochondrial DNA sequences from 59 archaeological skeletal finds, which were attributed to wild European cattle populations based on their chronological date and/or morphology. All pre-Neolithic aurochs belonged to the previously designated P haplogroup, indicating that this represents the Late Glacial Central European signature. We also report one new and highly divergent haplotype in a Neolithic aurochs sample from Germany, which points to greater variability during the Pleistocene. Furthermore, the Neolithic and Bronze Age samples that were classified with confidence as European aurochs using morphological criteria all carry P haplotype mitochondrial DNA, suggesting continuity of I-ate Glacial and Early Holocene aurochs populations in Europe. Bayesian analysis indicates that recent population growth gives a significantly better fit to our data than a constant-sized population, an observation consistent with a postglacial expansion scenario, possibly from a single European refugial population. Previous work has shown that most ancient and modern European domestic cattle carry haplotypes previously designated T. This, in combination with our new finding of a T haplotype in a very Early Neolithic site in Syria, lends persuasive support to a scenario whereby gracile Near Eastern domestic populations, carrying predominantly T haplotypes, replaced P haplotype-carrying robust autochthonous aurochs populations in Europe, from the Early Neolithic onward. During the period of coexistence, it appears that domestic cattle were kept separate from wild aurochs and introgression was extremely rare