Defining function in Neolithic ceramics: the example of Makriyalos, Greece

Recent development in chemical analyses of organic remains in archaeological ceramics gives new possibilities to the study of pottery use. They could be of crucial importance in assessing vessel’s use, especially when combined with contextual, technomorphological and use-alteration analysis data. Using the example of the late Neolithic pottery from Makriyalos, Northern Greece, we discuss some of the problems in determining the use of the vessels from archaeological context, and show the benefits of integrating chemical analysis of organic remains in approaching this issue.Sodobni razvoj kemičnih analiz organskih ostankov v arheološki keramiki odpira nove možnosti raziskav njene uporabe. Te analize bi lahko bile ključnega pomena pri ocenjevanju uporabe posodja, še posebej v kombinaciji z drugimi kontekstualnimi ter tehnološko-morfološkimi podatki in podatki o spremembi namembnosti. Za primer smo vzeli poznoneolitsko keramiko z najdišča Makriyalos v severni Grčiji. Razpravljamo o nekaterih težavah pri določevanju uporabe posod na podlagi arheološkega konteksta in pokažemo prednosti, če upoštevamo kemične analize organskih ostankov

Chemical analysis of tarry materials found on pottery from Neolithic settlements in Serbia

In the current study, samples from three Neolithic settlements located in different geographical areas in Serbia; Star~evo–Grad, Drenovac and Pavlovac–Gumni{te, were selected in order to determine whether the materials used to seal and repair ceramic pots from this specific region were of the same botanical source as in other regions of Neolithic Greece and the Balkans; and whether they were produced using the same technology as the other similar resinous materials. The ancient organic residues were analysed using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique, while the determination of their composition was made by identifying diagnostic components (biomarkers). The study revealed that the resinous material was tar produced by the pyrolysis of birch bark.The Neolithic in the middle Morava valley, ISSN 1820-4724 ; no.

Regional diversity in subsistence among early farmers in Southeast Europe revealed by archaeological organic residues

The spread of early farming across Europe from its origins in Southwest Asia was a culturally transformative process which took place over millennia. Within regions, the pace of the transition was probably related to the particular climatic and environmental conditions encountered, as well as the nature of localized hunter-gatherer and farmer interactions. The establishment of farming in the interior of the Balkans represents the first movement of Southwest Asian livestock beyond their natural climatic range, and widespread evidence now exists for early pottery being used extensively for dairying. However, pottery lipid residues from sites in the Iron Gates region of the Danube in the northern Balkans show that here, Neolithic pottery was being used predominantly for processing aquatic resources. This stands out not only within the surrounding region but also contrasts markedly with Neolithic pottery use across wider Europe. These findings provide evidence for the strategic diversity within the wider cultural and economic practices during the Neolithic, with this exceptional environmental and cultural setting offering alternative opportunities despite the dominance of farming in the wider region

Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans

Farming and sedentism first appeared in southwestern Asia during the early Holocene and later spread to neighboring regions, including Europe, along multiple dispersal routes. Conspicuous uncertainties remain about the relative roles of migration, cultural diffusion, and admixture with local foragers in the early Neolithization of Europe. Here we present paleogenomic data for five Neolithic individuals from northern Greece and northwestern Turkey spanning the time and region of the earliest spread of farming into Europe. We use a novel approach to recalibrate raw reads and call genotypes from ancient DNA and observe striking genetic similarity both among Aegean early farmers and with those from across Europe. Our study demonstrates a direct genetic link between Mediterranean and Central European early farmers and those of Greece and Anatolia, extending the European Neolithic migratory chain all the way back to southwestern Asia

Household Scales: What Cooking Pots Can Tell Us About Households in the Late Neolithic Stavroupoli (Northern Greece)

Remains of the houses in the Late Neolithic of Northern Greece are as a rule less well preserved than in some other regions of Greece such as Thessaly. The site of Stavroupoli-Thessaloniki is a settlement with a dense habitation pattern, but poorly preserved architecture. Several habitation phases have been distinguished, dating to the Middle and Late Neolithic. Radiocarbon dates place the earlier phase to 5890 B.C. or slightly later. As the domestic unit in Stavroupoli can barely be approached through their architecture, the ceramic wares and particularly the cooking vessels will be used as a proxy to identify households and clarify aspects of their organization. The size of domestic units is approached through capacity of cooking pots, assuming that sharing cooked food on everyday level is a vital element of these units. Also, variability in cooking techniques between houses and possible changes through time will be examined through both the shape and the size of cooking vessels. Finally, Stavroupoli’s cooking pots will be compared with cooking vessels from other contemporaneous sites in order to approach the issue of household on a regional level

Cooking plant foods in the northern Aegean: Microbotanical evidence from Neolithic Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece)

Intensive archaeobotanical research in northern Greece and other circum-Mediterranean regions over the last two decades has demonstrated an extensive spectrum of domestic and wild plants consumed by Neolithic communities. However, macrobotanical remains are seldom associated with the artefact in which they were cooked, and therefore we know the list of ingredients but not what ingredients were cooked together or how were they cooked. By focusing on remains recovered from cooking vessels, this paper explores the culinary practices of the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement at Stavroupoli (Thessaloniki, Greece) through combined starch grain and phytolith analyses from charred food crusts adhering to the inner walls of 17 late Middle and early Late Neolithic vessels (ca. 5600-5000 cal. BC). The results show that the food represented by burnt remains included domestic wheat(s) and lentils, as well as weedy Setaria sp. and other wild plants. The presence of Setaria weeds suggests high soil fertility and disturbed growing conditions. These results further indicate that the inhabitants of different areas of the settlement had differential access to food resources (more vs. less valued food), which might be related to a) different types of meals being prepared in separated areas of the site, or b) different preferences or economic status of its inhabitants expressed through culinary practices. Further research at Stavroupoli and other contemporary sites will help to unravel the role of food in shaping social identity and human-environment interactions in the Neolithic northern Aegean.We are grateful to Marianna Lymperaki (Democritus University) for help in selecting the pottery and Evgenia Tsafou (Aristotle University) for her assistance while sampling the charred food crusts. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments on a previous version of this manuscript. JJGG was funded by the SimulPast project (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, CSD2010-00034) and the CUISINE project (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships 2015, 704867), and is part of CaSEs, a Grup de Recerca Emergent de la Generalitat de Catalunya (SGRe 1417).Peer reviewe