Radiocarbon dates from the Highland Jar and Coffin burial site of Phnom Khnang Peung, Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

The Cardamom Mountain Jar and Coffin burial site of Phnom Khnang Peung is the most extensive example of the distinctive burial ritual first reported by Beavan et al. (2012a). The 40 intact Mae Nam Noi and late Angkorian-era ceramic jars used as burial vessels held a total of up to 152 individuals, representing the largest corpus of skeletal remains of any of the 10 known Jar and Coffin burial sites that have been discovered in the eastern ranges of the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia. We report here on the radiocarbon dating of this site and notable burial phenomena, using a Bayesian approach to model the start and end date of activity as well as its overall span. The results of the dating and Bayesian analyses indicate that the Phnom Khnang Peung site’s earliest burials began cal AD 1420–1440 (95% probability). Interestingly, the concen- tration of burial activity spans only 15–45 years (95% probability), despite the large number of inhumations at the site. The 14C chronology presented for the site places the Highland burial ritual coincident with a period of economic, political, and societal transformations in the lowland Angkorian polity, but the unique burial practice and trade relationships evidenced by the burial goods and maritime trade ware ceramics employed in the burial ritual suggest these Highland people were a culture apart from Angkorian cultural influences

THE EXCAVATION OF PHUM SOPHY 2009-2010: AN IRON AGE SITE IN NORTH-WEST CAMBODIA

Excavations were undertaken at the village (phum) of Sophy in Banteay Meanchey Province, north-west Cambodia over two field seasons in two separate areas in 2009 and 2010. The remains of twenty individuals were found in 14 mortuary contexts with individuals interred with a range of burial goods including ceramic vessels, stone and glass beads, iron and bronze artefacts and faunal remains. The site dates to the Iron Age (dates spanning the period c. 87-526 AD) and is surrounded by the ruins of later, Pre-Angkorian temples and their associated ponds. Excavation and research has revealed Sophy to be a prehistoric agricultural village in which the inhabitants exploited a wide-range of habitats and engaged in inter-regional exchange.  The results of these investigations are presented here incorporating a description of the excavation, preliminary discussion of the material assemblage and demographic data obtained from the mortuary contexts

Zusammenfassung: Die Toten vereinen: Temporalität und Organisation des neolithi-schen Hypogäums von Les Mournouards II (Marne, France)

Why were large collectivities of the dead a widespread feature of the later fourth millennium cal BC in western Europe? The hypogée or artificial cave of Les Mournouards II in the Marne region, northern France, where remains of 79 people were deposited in two chambers, is used to address this and related questions. Bayesian modelling of 29 newly obtained radiocarbon dates places the construction of the tomb in the 34th or 33rd centuries cal BC, with a use-life which could be as little as 100 years. The results indicate that the two chambers were used concurrently, distinctions between them being attributable to their use by different social groupings, as hypothesised by the excavator, André Leroi-Gourhan. The probably short life of this tomb suggests that clusters of hypogées in general could reflect the use of successive tombs by the same groups. The character of the tomb is discussed in general terms of anxieties about territory and numbers of people, threats of dispersal and the maintenance of community. Diversity within collective burial practices in the Paris basin is examined, and a series of specific differences between hypogées and allées sépulcrales are explored

Some Balaton-Lasinja Graves from Veszprém-Jutasi Út and an Outline Chronology for the Earlier Copper Age in Western Hungary

A handful of new radiocarbon dates from three Balaton-Lasinja culture graves at the site of Veszprém-Jutasi út in western Hungary form the starting point for formal models for late Lengyel and post-Lengyel chronology in that region. The graves date to the later fifth millennium cal BC. They provide the opportunity to put the earlier Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja culture of Transdanubia into its regional and wider context, and to highlight both gradually improving understanding of its character and remaining problems of chronology and classification. The Balaton-Lasinja culture was part of a whole series of regional shifts in settlement and society connected to the end of the Neolithic and the demise of major settlement aggregations which had dominated lifestyles in previous centuries. This study indicates how much further detailed research continues to be needed to get fully to grips with this set of important changes, which run on into the Copper Age. Contrasts are drawn between western and eastern Hungary, and the uncertainties surrounding the chronology of the fourth millennium cal BC, including for the Furchenstich pottery style, are emphasised

Die Zeit der großen Gräben: Modelle zur Chronologie des Michelsberger Fundplatzes von Heilbronn-Klingenberg „Schlossberg“, Stadtkreis Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg

This paper presents an attempt to establish more precise dating of the Michelsberg enclosure of Klingenberg-Schlossberg in the Neckar valley. The approach used is advocated as the basis on which to explore the timing and duration of other Michelsberg enclosures of the later fifth–earlier fourth millennium cal BC. Excavated extensively in 1986–1987, the Klingenberg enclosure has two ditches across a loess promontory, traces of a palisade inside the inner ditch, remains of burnt superstructure in both ditches, numerous pits both inside and outside, and numerous dog remains. There are some signs of pre-enclosure occupation in the MK II and III/IV phases, but the bulk of activity belongs to the MK V/Munzingen phase. A formal chronological approach combines the detailed archaeological information from the excavation with radiocarbon dates on carefully selected samples, here mainly charred cereals or articulated or articulating animal bones, in a Bayesian statistical framework.  No samples were found to date MK II activity. Samples for two MK III/IV pits suggest a date in the 40th–39thcenturies cal BC. MK V/Mz activity began at the very end of the 39thand the start of the 38thcentury cal BC. Unlike in the previously published interpretation of the sequence, this activity probably began with the construction of the enclosure, both ditches being dug either together or in very quick succession. This was followed by pits inside the enclosure, from the earlier 38thcentury cal BC. Probably after a few decades, pits began to be dug outside the enclosure, in the middle part of the 38thcentury cal BC. Both ditches probably went out of use in the mid-37thcentury cal BC, probably simultaneously, after the burning of the rampart between them, and the ending of the external pits could be of the same date; the internal pits might have continued a little longer. A duration of 120–150 years for MK V/Mz activity is estimated. Alternative models are considered.  The local and wider implications of these formal date estimates are discussed, topics covered including the circumstances in which the enclosure may have been constructed and those in which it ended, the chronology of MK pottery, and the wider development of MK and other enclosures

Peopling the past: creating a site biography in the Hungarian Neolithic

First paragraph: For most regions and for most sequences around the world, prehistorians until now have only been able to assign the past people whom they study to rather imprecise times. Such imperfect chronology is the result of our reliance on radiocarbon dating and a conventional approach to the interpretation of radiocarbon results which relies, basically, on the visual inspection of calibrated dates. Thus, typically, a radiocarbon sample from a few thousand years ago will calibrate to a date spanning 100–200 years (at 2σ). A group of such samples will not produce identical calibrated dates, even when they derive from the same event, and archaeologists visually inspecting a graph of such dates tend to include the extremes of the timespan indicated, and thus considerably exaggerate the duration of a given phenomenon as well as accepting the relative imprecision of its dating (BAYLISS ET AL. 2007).In the European Neolithic there has been a longstanding tradition of inferring chronology by summing, first uncalibrated (OTTAWAY 1973; GEYH / MARET 1982; BREUNIG 1987), and then calibrated (AITCHISON ET AL. 1991) radiocarbon dates. This method similarly tends to produce inaccurate chronologies of exaggerated duration (BAYLISS ET AL. 2007, 9–11). For the fortunate few, in regions with favourable conditions in which timbers are preserved, dendrochronology can provide dates precise to a calendar year and even to a season within a given year, for example among the Pueblo settlements of the American Southwest or the Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements on the fringes of the Alps in west and central Europe (e.g. HERR 2001; MENOTTI 2004). In most regions, however, such preservation and such chronologies are exceptional

The emergence of extramural cemeteries in Neolithic southeast Europe: a formally modeled chronology for Cernica, Romania

The emergence of separate cemeteries for disposal of the dead represents a profound shift in mortuary practice in the Late Neolithic of southeast Europe, with a new emphasis on the repeated use of a specific space distinct from, though still often close to, settlements. To help to time this shift more precisely, this paper presents 25 dates from 21 burials in the large cemetery at Cernica, in the Lower Danube valley in southern Romania, which are used to formally model the start, duration of use and end of the cemetery. A further six dates were obtained from four contexts for the nearby settlement. Careful consideration is given to the possibility of environmental and dietary offsets. The preferred model, without freshwater reservoir offsets, suggests that use of the Cernica cemetery probably began in 5355–5220 cal BC (95% probability) and ended in 5190–5080 cal BC (28% probability) or 5070–4940 (67% probability). The implications of this result are discussed, including with reference to other cemeteries of similar age in the region, the nature of social relations being projected through mortuary ritual, and the incorporation of older, Mesolithic, ways of doing things into Late Neolithic mortuary practice

Narratives for Lengyel funerary practice

This paper, dedicated to the memory of István Zalai-Gaál, presents formally modelled date estimates for the sequence of Lengyel funerary pottery in western Hungary, eastern Austria and south-west Slovakia. It is an extension of the dating and modelling already carried out by the project, The Times of Their Lives (ToTL), on the major Lengyel aggregation, including burials, at Alsónyék-Bátaszék in south-east Transdanubia. Key aspects of the Lengyel culture and its research history are discussed, including the challenges of establishing its sequence with greater precision and of affirming its significance in wider Neolithic narratives. The many contributions of István Zalai-Gaál are noted. Results from Alsónyék are summarised. The present study concentrates on furnished Lengyel graves, using the analysis of Lengyel funerary pottery from western Hungary, eastern Austria and south-west Slovakia. A full catalogue of the 121 pot types identified by István Zalai-Gaál is presented, and correspondence analysis of the occurrence of 113 of these types in 247 graves suggests a seriation for these grave-assemblages. The new radiocarbon dating programme for the sequence of Lengyel funerary pottery was designed within the framework of Bayesian chronological modelling. We aimed to provide formal date estimates for the use of different pot types and for their combinations in different phases of the seriation. We also aimed to estimate the period during which furnished Lengyel burial occurred, the pace of its introduction and demise, the date and duration of use of individual cemeteries, and the intensity of Lengyel funerary practice through time. In addition to the 159 radiocarbon measurements from 141 graves at Alsónyék (29 of which appear in the correspondence analyses presented here), 91 radiocarbon measurements are reported from 57 graves across the Lengyel distribution under discussion, all but 16 achieved by the ToTL project. These provide three chronological models for the sequence of Lengyel furnished burials: one based on the chronology of individual cemeteries and other contexts; another combining the seriation based on István Zalai-Gaál’s typology with the radiocarbon dates; and the third combining the seriation previously suggested by Diaconescu (2014a) with the radiocarbon dates. Details of the models, and of dietary analysis to investigate the possibility of offsets, are described. Lengyel furnished burial appears to have emerged rapidly, probably during the course of the 49th century cal BC, across the whole area in question (although the bulk of the earliest burials may have been in the north). Furnished burial increased in popularity in south-east Transdanubia during the 48th century cal BC, although there was a decline in the practice further north at this time. Furnished Lengyel burial appears to have become less frequent after c. 4600 cal BC, although the practice finally ended in the second half of the 46th century cal BC. Implications for the character of Lengyel communities and wider narratives of Lengyel development as a whole are discussed

Dating the megalithic culture of Laos: Radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence and U/Pb zircon results

The megalithic jar sites of Laos (often referred to as the Plain of Jars) remain one of Southeast Asia’s most mysterious and least understood archaeological cultures. The sites, recently inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage, host hollowed stone jars, up to three metres in height, which appear scattered across the landscape, alone or clustered in groups of up to more than 400. Until now, it has not been possible to estimate when the jars were first placed on the landscape or from where the stone was sourced. Geochronological analysis using the age of detrital zircons demonstrates a likely quarry source for one of the largest megalithic jar sites. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating suggests the jars were positioned at the sites potentially as early as the late second millennium BC. Radiocarbon dating of skeletal remains and charcoal samples places mortuary activity around the jars from the 9-13th century AD, suggesting the sites have maintained ritual significance from the period of their initial placement until historic times

The Cultural Project : Formal Chronological Modelling of the Early and Middle Neolithic Sequence in Lower Alsace

Starting from questions about the nature of cultural diversity, this paper examines the pace and tempo of change and the relative importance of continuity and discontinuity. To unravel the cultural project of the past, we apply chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates within a Bayesian statistical framework, to interrogate the Neolithic cultural sequence in Lower Alsace, in the upper Rhine valley, in broad terms from the later sixth to the end of the fifth millennium cal BC. Detailed formal estimates are provided for the long succession of cultural groups, from the early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture (LBK) to the Bischheim Occidental du Rhin Supérieur (BORS) groups at the end of the Middle Neolithic, using seriation and typology of pottery as the starting point in modelling. The rate of ceramic change, as well as frequent shifts in the nature, location and density of settlements, are documented in detail, down to lifetime and generational timescales. This reveals a Neolithic world in Lower Alsace busy with comings and goings, tinkerings and adjustments, and relocations and realignments. A significant hiatus is identified between the end of the LBK and the start of the Hinkelstein group, in the early part of the fifth millennium cal BC. On the basis of modelling of existing dates for other parts of the Rhineland, this appears to be a wider phenomenon, and possible explanations are discussed; full reoccupation of the landscape is only seen in the Grossgartach phase. Radical shifts are also proposed at the end of the Middle Neolithic