New perspective on Neolithic rectangular features using artefact analysis, soil micromorphology and ethnohistorical analogies: A case study from Střelice u Brna, South Moravia, Czech Republic (advance online)

Neue Perspektiven auf rechteckigeneolithische Befunde durch Artefaktanalyse, Bodenmikromorphologie und ethnohistorische Analogien. EineFallstudie aus Střelice u Brna, Südmähren, Tschechien.Die Funktion eingetiefter rechteckiger Strukturen währenddes Spätneolithikums ist in Mitteleuropa seit vielenJahren Gegenstand von Untersuchungen. Gruben dieserArt werden selten gefunden. Eines der jüngsten Beispieleist ein quadratischer Lengyel-Befund aus der Gemeinde: The function of sunken rectangular features inthe Late Neolithic has been a subject of interest in CentralEurope for many years. This type of pit is not found veryoften. One of the latest examples is a square Lengyelfeature in the village of Střelice near Brno. A study of themicrostratigraphy of the fill has made it possible to qualitatively move the debate to a new level. The qualitativeassessment of bone micro-fragments is also innovativefor the method of micromorphology in the archaeologicalcontext. The study also includes an analysis of artefactsin the actual fill of feature 562, especially the deposits offragments of “other lithic industry”, pottery and parts of an animal’s body. The discovered situation is theninterpreted in the context of other known contemporaryfeatures of this type. The presence of excrement withdigested bone micro-fragments in the lower layer and theabsence of a floor treatment, tread horizon or bedding canbe interpreted in the context of ethnohistorical analogies,e.  g., as the short-term use of a faecal pit for an omnivorous or carnivorous species (bear) with a subsequentritual ending

První přímý důkaz prosa setého (Panicum miliaceum) ve střední Evropě

Chemická analýza archeologických objektů je důležitou součástí současných výzkumů. V předkládané studii byla analyzována půda z archeologických nádob ze záchranného výzkumu poblíž obce Držovice (střední Morava, Česká republika; nálezy datované do eneolitického období) pomocí plynové chromatografie / hmotnostní spektrometrie, poprvé v archeologii byla použita pro analýzu pevných látek analytická sonda s chemickou ionizační hmotnostní spektrometrií za atmosférického tlaku. Miliacin, chemický marker prosa setého, byl jednoznačně potvrzen oběma technikami. Získané výsledky mohou pomoci pochopit stravovací návyky populace kultury šňůrové keramiky a spojení mezi střední Evropou a Asií, kde byla proso domestikováno. Identifikace miliacinu jako „chemické stopy“ prosa z konce eneolitického období Moravy je proto mimořádně důležitá.Standard short circuit tests of HV SF6 circuit breakers need high power sources and special synthetic facilities. Tests consist of many standard disciplines. Each of short fault disciplines requires high parameters from high power sources. They also require exact measurement and accurately control consequence of switching high current and high voltage circuit of synthetic method. Developing tests are therefore very expensive. The aim of this article is to introduce new point of view on testing by coupled terminal fault and short line fault while reducing high cost of developing tests

New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 bc. In Europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 bc, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium bc, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in Europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century bc, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/fourteenth centuries bc. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium bc Europe

Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of the Oxus Civilization in Southern Central Asia

International audienc