Examination of Late Palaeolithic archaeological sites in northern Europe for the preservation of cryptotephra layers

We report the first major study of cryptotephra (non-visible volcanic ash layers) on Late Palaeolithic archaeological sites in northern Europe. Examination of 34 sites dating from the Last Termination reveals seven with identifiable cryptotephra layers. Preservation is observed in minerogenic and organic deposits, although tephra is more common in organic sediments. Cryptotephra layers normally occur stratigraphically above or below the archaeology. Nearby off-site palaeoclimate archives (peat bogs and lakes <0.3 km distant) were better locations for detecting tephra. However in most cases the archaeology can only be correlated indirectly with such cryptotephras. Patterns affecting the presence/absence of cryptotephra include geographic position of sites relative to the emitting volcanic centre; the influence of past atmospherics on the quantity, direction and patterns of cryptotephra transport; the nature and timing of local site sedimentation; sampling considerations and subsequent taphonomic processes. Overall, while tephrostratigraphy has the potential to improve significantly the chronology of such sites many limiting factors currently impacts the successful application

The impact of farming on prehistoric culinary practices throughout Northern Europe

To investigate changes in culinary practices associated with the arrival of farming, we analysed the organic residues of over 1,000 pottery vessels from hunter-gatherer-fisher and early agricultural sites across Northern Europe from the Lower Rhine Basin to the Northeastern Baltic. Here, pottery was widely used by hunter-gatherer-fishers prior to the introduction of domesticated animals and plants. Overall, there was surprising continuity in the way that hunter-gatherer-fishers and farmers used pottery. Both aquatic products and wild plants remained prevalent, a pattern repeated consistently across the study area. We argue that the rapid adaptation of farming communities to exploit coastal and lagoonal resources facilitated their northerly expansion, and in some cases, hunting, gathering, and fishing became the most dominant subsistence strategy. Nevertheless, dairy products frequently appear in pottery associated with the earliest farming groups often mixed with wild plants and fish. Interestingly, we also find compelling evidence of dairy products in hunter-gatherer-fisher Ertebølle pottery, which predates the arrival of domesticated animals. We propose that Ertebølle hunter-gatherer-fishers frequently acquired dairy products through exchange with adjacent farming communities prior to the transition. The continuity observed in pottery use across the transition to farming contrasts with the analysis of human remains which shows substantial demographic change through ancient DNA and, in some cases, a reduction in marine consumption through stable isotope analysis. We postulate that farmers acquired the knowledge and skills they needed to succeed from local hunter-gatherer-fishers but without substantial admixture

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

: Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants.Peer reviewe

The transmission of pottery technology among prehistoric European hunter-gatherers

Human history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of what enabled these processes is limited. Here, we explore the behavioural mechanisms that led to the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer communities in Europe during the mid-Holocene. Through radiocarbon dating, we propose this dispersal occurred at a far faster rate than previously thought. Chemical characterization of organic residues shows that European hunter-gatherer pottery had a function structured around regional culinary practices rather than environmental factors. Analysis of the forms, decoration and technological choices suggests that knowledge of pottery spread through a process of cultural transmission. We demonstrate a correlation between the physical properties of pots and how they were used, reflecting social traditions inherited by successive generations of hunter-gatherers. Taken together the evidence supports kinship-driven, super-regional communication networks that existed long before other major innovations such as agriculture, writing, urbanism or metallurgy

Contribution to Understanding the Distribution of ‘Chocolate’ Flint on the Polish Lowlands in the Early Neolithic: Kruszyn, Site 13

Abstakt “Chocolate’”flint was the main raw material used by the Early Neolithic Linear Band Cul¬ture (LBK) groups in the Polish Lowlands. Since the second (note) phase of the development of this culture, the early farmers developed a complex system of distribution of ‘chocolate’ flint within the great-valleys zone of the Lowlands. Concretions of raw flint were transported by the Vistula river from the outcrops located on the southeastern slopes of the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains to Kuyavia. They were worked into cores and processed in settlements close to the Vistula valley. Cores and blades/flakes were also exported to distant locations to the west as far as the Lower Oder basin area. One would expect the existence of specialised workshops providing materials for such a mass distribution. Kruszyn site 13, Włocławek distr., is the first LBK ‘chocolate’ flint workshop discovered close to the Vistula river concentrated on production of blades. This site fits well into the LBK flint distribution system developed on the Lowland

A Newly Discovered Source of ‘Banded Flint’ in the Polish Lowlands

Rescue excavations at an artefact manufacturing site at Pęgów, Poddębice district, dated to the modern period, have produced several dozens of lumps of flint. The flint exhibits greyish and brownish bands and is macroscopically similar to the well-known banded flint occurring in the area of Krzemionki Opatowskie, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski district. Artefacts made from this tentatively named ‘Pęgów flint’ have been identified in archaeological assemblages of different chronological age in the Koło Basin. To verify whether macroscopically similar nodules and artefacts come from the same outcrop and if the artefacts made of banded flint are made of the Krzemionki Opatowskie flint, instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was conducted on samples of Pęgów flint and banded raw material from Krzemionki Opatowskie. Although most of the obtained results fall below INAA detection limits the compostion of chromium content in each sample may reflect common origin of all the analysed pieces from Pęgów. INAA data suggest that the artifacts made of banded flint were mot made from Krzemionki Opatowskie material

Pierwsze spotkania? Późny mezolit i kultura ceramiki wstęgowej rytej w Niemczech Północno-Wschodnich

The article focuses on the early Atlantic period (c. 7,000–5,000 cal BC), when late foragers potentially met with early farming communities in Northeast Germany. It is likely that only a sparse Mesolithic population lived in the lowlands when Linear Pottery (LBK) farmers established at 5,300–5,200 cal BC. The LBK site Lietzow 10 provides rare evidence of direct contacts between the different populations. Early contacts can also be proven by isolated LBK pottery fragments on coastal sites.Artykuł dotyczy wczesnego okresu atlantyckiego (ok. 7000–5000 cal BC), kiedy łowcy-zbieracze potencjalnie mogli mieć kontakt z wczesnymi społecznościami rolniczymi występującymi w północno-wschodnich Niemczech. Możliwe, że gdy Niż Północnoeuropejski był kolonizowany przez ludność kultury ceramiki wstęgowej rytej (ok. 5300–5200 cal BC), jedynie nieliczna populacja mezolityczna zasiedlała ten teren. Stanowisko KCWR Lietzow 10 dostarczyło niezwykle rzadkich dowodów na bezpośrednią styczność pomiędzy różnymi społecznościami. Dowodami na wczesne kontakty mogą być również pojedyncze fragmenty ceramiki KCWR znajdowane na stanowiskach brzegowych

Institutional investors and real earnings management: A meta-analysis

The aim of the article is to examine the inuflence of institutional investor ownership on real earnings' management (REM) practices through a meta-regression analysis (MRA) based on a sample of 225 estimations from 19 articles. Some of the available research suggests a mitigating role for institutional investors who can serve as external monitors and thus reduce earnings' management activities which could have a negative impact on the company's value. eTh results obtained from the basic model conrfimed neither the hypothesis about the inuflence of institutional ownership on REM, nor the hypothesis about the existence of a signicfiant publication bias. Using an augmented MRA model conclusions in diefrent areas associated with structural and methodological heterogeneity were drawn. Diefrences in the impact of institu tional ownership on real earnings' management in diefrent regions of the world, a de pendence of the results on diefrent data characteristics and diefrences in the results depending on whether the article was published in a top journal or not were found