Tiarp Backgården. An Early Neolithic Dolmen in Falbygden, Sweden and Early Megalithic Tombs in South Scandinavia and Northern Central Europe

The excavation of the simple dolmen at Tiarp, Falbygden, dating to around 3500 BCE, has provided important information for the understanding of the megalithic and early TRB in southern Scandinavia and northern Central Europe. The absolute chronological dating shows that dolmens were erected at about the same time between Falbygden and Altmark, before the main passage grave architectural phase. Although fragmented and affected by taphonomic processes, the bone assemblage provides insights into the burial practices. At least twelve individuals, from neonates to elderly, had been buried within the chamber. The predominance of hand and foot bones suggests that they were primary inhumations. Their isotope values indicate an already agrarian society, which, however, was based only to a certain extent on agriculture. Insofar, the dolmen at Tiarp signals transformations – not only in respect to the introduction of agriculture but also regarding ritual practices – within the Early and Middle Neolithic

Deciphering archeological contexts from the magnetic map: Determination of daub distribution and mass of Chalcolithic house remains

The unique size and development of prehistoric megasites of the north Pontic Cucuteni-Tripolye Chalcolithic groups (4100–3600 BCE) challenge modern archeology and paleoecology. The extremely large number of houses (approximately 3000, mostly burned) necessitates the development of multidisciplinary technologies to gain a holistic understanding of such sites. In this contribution, we introduce a novel geophysical methodology and a detailed analysis of magnetic data – including evolved modeling techniques – to provide critical information about the setup of findings, enabling a thorough understanding of the settlement dynamics, apart from invasive excavation techniques. The case study is based on data from magnetic field maps and distribution maps of the daub and pottery find categories. This information is used to infer magnetic models for each find category to numerically calculate their magnetic fields for comparison with the archeological data. The comparison quantifies the sensitivity of the magnetic measurements with respect to the distribution of the different find categories. Next, via inversion computation, the characteristic depth functions of soil magnetization are used to generate maps of magnetization from the measured magnetic field maps. To validate the inverted soil magnetization maps, the magnetic excavation models are used, providing an interpretational frame for the application to magnetic anomalies outside excavated areas. This joint magnetic and archeological methodology allows estimating the find density and testing hypotheses about the burning processes of the houses. In this paper, we show internal patterns of burned houses, comparable to archeological house models, and their calculated masses as examples of the methodology. An application of the new approach to complete megasites has the potential to enable a better understanding of the settlement structure and its evolution, improve the quality of population estimations, and thus calculate the human impact on the forest steppe environment and address questions of resilience and carrying capacity

Трипілля – стратегія та результати поточного українсько-європейського проекту

The aim of the article is to identify the main tasks, strategies and some results of an ongoing UkrainianEuropean Project that is dealing with the Tripolye culture phenomenon. In order to investigate emergence and decline of giant-settlements with thousands of houses and very specific spatial layouts, the challenge need to be mastered to perform representative archaeological and scientific sampling with reasonable efforts. This is only possible through the combination of non-destructive survey techniques, targeted archaeological excavations and the application of modern scientific methods. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the social, ecological, demographic and economic dimensions of such settlements and underlying transformations of human societies also in their regional variability, the consideration of different spatial investigation levels is required. In the first phases of the project, high-resolution magnetic surveys were applied to different large Tripolye settlements and exemplary investigations were carried out at the local scale of the Maidanetske settlement. At the current stage of the project, the studies focus more on the meso-and macro-regional level

Communal buildings in Cucuteni-Tripolye settlements

In recent years, high-resolution geomagnetic surveys in Cucuteni-Tripolye settlements led to the discovery of large, so far unknown building structures which are located at prominent positions within settlements. Due to their extraordinary size, positioning and special architectural characteristics this structures are interpreted as some kind of public or communal buildings such as temples or assemblage houses. Within large settlements two classes of such buildings can be distinguished: high-level ‘mega-structures’ for the whole settlement and low level ring- or pathway buildings for parts of the commune. The second category of buildings, normally show regular distributions within settlements which likely reflect some kind of communal organisation

First results from stratigraphic investigation of Chiselet tell (Romania) using seismic full waveform inversion

In this paper we analyze the applicability of seismic full-waveform inversion (FWI) for investigation of tells, which are often characterized by heterogeneous and small-scale stratigraphy. Major aim is to identify location and shape of settlement layers and house remains. Furthermore, a paleochannel, which is important to understand the interaction between tell and the surrounding landscape, was found at the tell flank

Holocene soil erosion in Eastern Europe-land use and/or climate controlled? The example of a catchment at the Giant Chalcolithic settlement at Maidanetske, central Ukraine

The Younger Quaternary erosion history was reconstructed in a catchment close to the Chalcolithic giant settlement Maidanetske, central Ukraine based on dated sediment sequences. Four trenches and a long percussion drill-core were analyzed in a valley grading from a Loess covered plateau towards the Talianky River. The sediments were dated by a combination of radiocarbon dating, optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and embedded artifacts. Although there is some weakness of numerical dating so far, a non-coincidence between phases of soil erosion and the local and regional settlement history over long periods of the Holocene is indicated. This, viewed in the light of the geographical setting of the site in the climate sensitive forest-steppe borderland, suggests climatically driven erosion processes. The detected phases of erosion coincide with global (cal 27.6 ± 1.3 kyrs BP, 12.0 ± 0.4 kyrs BP), northern hemispheric (cal 8.5 ± 0.3 kyrs BP), Mediterranean (cal 3.93 ± 0.1 kyrs BP) as well as western to central European (2700 to 2000 cal BP) climate anomalies. Increased occurrences of heavy precipitation events, probably during phases of a weakened vegetation cover, could explain the observed record. Investigations at additional sites in Eastern Europe are needed to verify the representativeness of the presented record from central Ukraine at a regional level.The composition of the sediments indicates changes of the slope-channel connectivity during the deposition history. Whereas the glacial to early Holocene and modern times sediments were derived from the whole catchment area, during the mid- to late-Holocene a tendency to lower slope storage of colluvial material and valley incision is indicated

Adaptations and transformations of hunter-gatherers in forest environments: New archaeological and anthropological insights

Like any other living being, humans constantly influence their environment, be it intentionally or unintentionally. By extracting natural resources, they shape their environment and also that of plants and other animals. A great difference setting people apart from all other living beings is the ability to construct and develop their own niche intentionally, and the unique tool for this is cultural behaviour. Here, we discuss anthropogenic environmental changes of hunter-gatherers and present new palaeoecological and palynological data. The studies are framed with ethnoarchaeological data from Western Siberia to gain a better understanding of how different triggers lead to coping mechanisms. For archaeological implication, we use two Mesolithic case studies from Germany: One of them focuses on hazelnut economy around ancient Lake Duvensee, and the other broaches the issue of selective roe deer hunt and its consequences at the site of Friesack. We address the archaeological evidence from the perspective of active alteration and its consequences, starting our argumentation from a perspective of niche construction theory. This approach has rarely been applied to early Holocene hunter-gatherers in Northern Europe even though the available data render possible to discuss human–environment interaction from such a perspective. It is demonstrated that archaeological research has tools at hand that enables to detect anthropogenic niche construction. However, the ethnoarchaeological example shows limitations and archaeologically invisible triggers and consequent results of human adaptations. The critical revision of such perspectives based on empirical data provides a better understanding of social and environmental transformations in the early- and mid-Holocene

Modelling landscape transformation at the Chalcolithic Tripolye mega-site of Maidanetske (Ukraine): Wood demand and availability

Wood was a crucial resource for prehistoric societies, for instance, as timber for house construction and as fuel. In the case of the exceptionally large Chalcolithic Tripolye ‘mega-sites’ in central Ukraine, thousands of burnt buildings, indicating huge population agglomerations, hint at such a massive use of wood that it raises questions about the carrying capacity of the sensitive forest-steppe environment. In this contribution, we investigate the wood demand for the mega-site of Maidanetske (3990–3640 BCE), as reconstructed based on wood charcoal data, wood imprints on daub and the archaeomagnetometry-based settlement plan. We developed a regional-scale model with a fuzzy approach and applied it in order to simulate the potential distribution and extent of woodlands before and after Chalcolithic occupation. The model is based upon the reconstructed ancient land surface, soil information derived from cores and the potential natural woodland cover reconstructed based on the requirements of the prevailing ancient tree species. Landscape scenarios derived from the model are contrasted and cross-checked with the archaeological empirical data. We aim to understand whether the demand for wood triggered the site development. Did deforestation and consequent soil degradation and lack of resources initiate the site’s abandonment? Or, alternatively, did the inhabitants develop sustainable woodland management strategies? Starting from the case study of Maidanetske, this study provides estimates of the extent of human impact on both carrying capacity and landscape transformations in the sensitive transitional foreststeppe environment. Overall, the results indicate that the inhabitants of the Chalcolithic site did not suffer from a significant shortage in the wood resource at any time of inhabitation in the contexts of the different scenarios provided by the model. An exception is given by the phase of maximum house construction and population within a scenario of dry climatic conditions

A high-quality annually laminated sequence from Lake Belau, Northern Germany: Revised chronology and its implications for palynological and tephrochronological studies

The annually laminated record of Lake Belau offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate with high temporal resolution Holocene environmental change, aspects of climate history and human impact on the landscape. A new chronology based on varve counts, 14C-datings and heavy metal history has been established, covering the last 9400 years. Based on multiple varve counting on two core sequences, the easily countable laminated section spans about 7850 varve years (modelled age range c. 9430 to 1630 cal. BP). Not all of the record is of the same quality but approximately 69% of the varves sequence is classified to be of high quality and only c. 5% of low quality. The new chronology suggests dates generally c. 260 years older than previously assumed for the laminated section of the record. The implications for the vegetation and land-use history of the region as well as revised datings for pollen stratigraphical events are discussed. Tephra analysis allowed the identification of several cryptotephra layers. New dates for volcanic eruptions are presented for the Lairg B event (c. 6848 cal. BP, 2s range 6930–6713 cal. BP), the Hekla 4 event (c. 4396 cal. BP, 2s range 4417–4266 cal. BP), and Hekla 3 eruption (c. 3095 cal. BP, 2s range 3120–3068 cal. BP)