Swiss and Albanian archaelogists discover 8,500 year old pre-historic settlement

University of Bern professor Albert Hafner confirms that a collaboration under the regional project EXPLO has resulted in ground-breaking findings from the village of Lin, near Pogradec on the Lake Ohrid shoreline

Lattrigen VI-Riedstation. Siedlungsplan und Baugeschichte eines neolithischen Dorfes

In der Publikation werden Befund und Baugeschichte der mit einer Tauchgrabung vollständig dokumentierten Seeufersiedlung Lattrigen Riedstation VI vorgestellt. Die Baugeschichte dieser Siedlung lässt sich dank der Dendrochronologie lückenlos verfolgen

Joint research in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. International archaeological-palaeoecological collaboration within the Beyond Lakes Villages project 2015-2018

The prehistoric lakeside settlements in the area of present-day Switzerland, Germany and Austria have been known for more than 150 years. Neolithic and Bronze Ages sites North of the Alps cover a time-span between 4300 and 800 BC. More than one hundred of them were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2011. Up to now, research has focused almost exclusively on the classical sites on the larger pre-alpine lakes (Lake Constance, Lake Zurich, Three-Lakes-region, Lake Geneva). The focus of the project „Beyond lake villages: Studying Neolithic environmental changes and human impact at small lakes in Switzerland, Germany and Austria „, on the other hand, is located on small lakes (Lakes Burgäschisee and Moossee in the Swiss Plateau, lakes Degersee/Schleinsee in the German Allgäu and Mondsee lake in the Austrian Salzkammergut) and its immediate surroundings in order to gain new insights into the human influence on the landscape and the interaction between prehistoric societies and their environment

Zwischen Ägäis und Adria. Forschungen zu den Seeufersiedlungen des südlichen Balkans.

Das Grenzgebiet von Albanien, Griechenland und Nordmazedonien bildet eine montane Landschaft mit zahlreichen eingestreuten grossen und kleinen Seen. Schon seit längerem ist bekannt, dass hier mit Seeufersiedlungen wie im Alpenraum zu rechnen ist. Moderne Untersuchungen finden aber erst seit 2019 statt (Projekt EXPLO: Exploring the dynamics and causes of prehistoric land use change in the cradle of European farming). Ziel dieses interdisziplinären Verbundprojekts der Universitäten Bern, Oxford und Thessaloniki ist die Klärung von Fragen zur Verbreitung und Chronologie der Fundstellen zwischen dem 6. und dem 1. Jahrtausend v.Chr., zur Landnutzung früher agrarischer Gemeinschaften und zur holozänen Vegetationsgeschichte. Die archäologischen Untersuchungen fokussieren auf Unterwasserausgrabungen im Ohridsee, den Aufbau einer Dendrochronologie für die Region und die finale Auswertung der äusserst reichen Fundstelle von Dispilio am griechischen Kastoriasee. Die paläoökologischen Arbeiten basieren auf zahlreichen neuen on-site und off-site Bohrkernen. Die reichen organischen Schichten der Unterwasser- und Feuchtbodensiedlungen enthalten grosse Mengen an archäo-biologischem Material, das Einblicke in Wirtschaft und Umwelt der frühen agrarischen Gemeinschaften der Region erlaubt. Die Forschungen und Feldarbeiten erfolgen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut für Archäologie der Akademie für Albanologische Studien in Tirana (Albanien), dem Archäologischen Museum von Mazedonien in Skopje (Nordmazedonien) und dem Ephorat von Kastoria, Griechenland. Das EXPLO Projekt wird durch einen Synergy Grant des Europäischen Forschungsrats ERC in den Jahren 2019-2025 gefördert

Towards a description of the degradation of archaeological birch bark

Archaeological birch-bark artefacts from ice patches are rare and little knowledge about their conservation exists. The degradation mechanisms are unknown and it is uncertain how they affect the mechanical properties and the cell structure. Due to this lack of knowledge, the treatments for archaeological birch-bark artefacts usually mimic those for waterlogged wood, which are tuned to the preservation condition of the object. This is assessed by measuring the maximum water content and, in some cases, the basic density and by microscopic examination of microscopic examination. In this paper, it is explored whether these parameters and techniques can be used to characterise the degradation of archaeological birch bark. Light microscopy examinations showed that cell wall deformations and fractures were present in both unaged reference material and archaeological birch bark and are not a distinct attribute of degradation. Cell collapse was not detected in ice-logged samples, while loss of birefringence is a potential tool to characterise degradation. Birch bark cells cannot be saturated with water, not even in the case of waterlogged archaeological samples. The authors conclude that maximum water content is not a diagnostic tool to quantify degradation

Mobility as resilience capacity in northern Alpine Neolithic settlement communities

Resilience has recently become an insightful conceptual framework that helps scholars explore how communities respond to external shocks, such as environmental changes. In prehistoric archaeology, this notion has primarily been investigated using the Resilience Theory (RT) and the Adaptive Cycle model (AC), developed by Gunderson and Holling, which are applied to adaptive systems in order to understand the source and role of change. However, such systems-theoretical approaches, which derive from ecology and psychology, bear the danger of leading to a top-down application of deductive models when appropriated to the fragmented archaeological sources. In other words, the risk is to assume the RT and AC model first and then to fit archaeological data within those assumptions. In this paper, we propose an alternative, inductive bottom-up approach in which we define resilience as a set of adaptive capacities grounded in social practices that enabled communities to cope with and respond to challenges. We use the Neolithic wetland sites from the Three-Lakes Region in the northern Alpine foreland of western Switzerland as a case study. These sites provide an abundance of archaeological and palaeoecological information, which can be used to examine the resilience of settlement communities to climate fluctuations. We will evaluate whether a causal relationship might have existed between climate changes in the period between 3600 and 3200 BCE and an observable decline of settlement activities on the shores of the large lakes. In addition to year-accurate reconstructions of settlement histories, we will apply statistical significance tests on archaeological and palaeoclimatic time series to question the correlation and causality between settlement activities and climate fluctuations. Besides the settlement frequency curve, we will use the radioactive beryllium-10 isotope (Be10) content in the GISP2 ice core from the Greenland Ice Sheet and the δ18O values of well-dated speleothems as proxies for temperature and precipitation, respectively. The inferred hypothesis, i.e. that periodically rising lake levels led to the flooding of former inhabitable spaces on the lakes’ shore zones and forced communities to relocate their settlements to the hinterland, will further be tested. Therefore, we apply multivariate statistics to pollen data to evaluate human influence on vegetation (land clearing) taken as settlement activity beyond the shores of large lakes. In addition, we examine the relevance of transformations in pottery styles as further indicators for spatial mobility

Assessing the Development of Apprentice Principals in Traditional and Residency Programs

AbstractProblem Statement and Purpose: Assessing the development of apprentice principals’ knowledge and skills is challenging. The purpose of the study is to compare the outcomes of apprentice principals in a traditional training program and in an alternative residency program.Research Methods: Researchers conducted a survey of current administrative students and a survey of graduates of both the traditional educational administration program and of the alternative residency principal program. They collected self-report data and job status data.Findings: Findings showed that students in the residency program were significantly more likely to be satisfied with their program and were significantly more likely to report being knowledgeable in their field, compared with students in the traditional program. Graduates of residency programs were more likely than traditional graduates to report that their primary job status was “teacher leader”, assistant principal or principal, compared with traditional graduates.Conclusions: Findings will inform the ongoing development of the educational leadership program at the university. It can also inform faculty from other educational leadership programs who seek to develop transformational leaders

Das Neolithikum in der Schweiz

Neolithic research in Switzerland is inseparably bound with its numerous lake side settlements. They were already discovered in the middle of the 19th century and became famous as „Pfahlbauten“. The concept of Neolithic Cultures that was developed in the 1930’s by Emil Vogt was undoubtedly influenced by contemporaneous ethnological thinking („Kulturkreislehre“). In his publications Vogt expresses the conviction that „Neolithic Cultures“ are identical with population groups, tribes or peoples. As modern methods of absolute datings did not exist at that time his observations were dependant on typological comparisons. Most importantly, he could not differentiate chronological gaps of several hundred years. Without natural scientific dating methods and relying solely on topography he developed the view that the evolution of ceramics in a region can only be explained by the immigration of foreign people. His proposed chronological chart, which was updated in the 1960/70’s, is still in use today. However, in our opinion it is antiquated.During the last two decades dendrochronology and C14 has offered a large number of absolute datings for the Neolithic period. This encourages us to follow new approaches of interpretation. Our concept is based on the well dated material of lake side settlements from Switzerland and Southern Germany. We propose a new time/space regionally defined chronological system that is primarily based on absolute dating taking also into consideration that different geographic regions show different evolutions. The idea of Neolithic „Cultures“ and associate folk behind them is abandoned and replaced by the neutral notion of „specific groupings of material finds („Fundkomplexgruppen“). Our proposed overview of the Neolithic in Switzerland elucidates more the gradual evolution of the archaeological material («Kulturwandel») in the 4th millennium BC on theSwiss Plateau. Influences reach this zone variably from Western or Eastern directions depending on the historic period of time we are looking at. The appearance of the Europe-wide discernible beaker phenomena (corded ware/bell beakers) in the 3rd millennium BC also calls for new models of explanation

Central European Early Bronze Age chronology revisited: A Bayesian examination of large-scale radiocarbon dating

In archaeological research, changes in material culture and the evolution of styles are taken as major indicators for socio-cultural transformation. They form the basis for typo-chronological classification and the establishment of phases and periods. Central European Bronze Age material culture from burials reveals changes during the Bronze Age and represents a perfect case study for analyzing phenomena of cultural change and the adoption of innovation in the societies of prehistoric Europe. Our study focuses on the large-scale change in material culture which took place in the second millennium BC and the emergence at the same period of new burial rites: the shift from inhumation burials in flat graves to complex mounds and simple cremation burials. Paul Reinecke was the first to divide the European Bronze Age (EBA) into two phases, Bz A1 and A2. The shift from the first to the second phase has so far been ascribed to technical advances. Our study adopted an innovative approach to quantifying this phenomenon. Through regressive reciprocal averaging and Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon-dated grave contexts located in Switzerland and southern Germany, we modelled chronological changes in the material culture and changes in burial rites in these regions in a probabilistic way. We used kernel density models to summarize radiocarbon dates, with the aim of visualizing cultural changes in the third and second millennium BC. In 2015, Stockhammer et al. cast doubt on the chronological sequence of the Reinecke phases of the EBA on the basis of newly collected radiocarbon dates from southern Germany. Our intervention is a direct response to the results of that study. We fully agree with Stockhammer’s et al. dating of the start of EBA, but propose a markedly different dating of the EBA/MBA transition. Our modelling of radiocarbon data demonstrates a statistically significant typological sequence of phases Bz A1, Bz A2 and Bz B and disproves their postulated chronological overlap. The linking of the archaeological relative-chronological system with absolute dates is of major importance to understanding the temporal dimension of the EBA phases

Recent Decisions

Comments on recent decisions by Louis Albert Hafner, Patrick F. Coughlin, George J. Murphy, Benedict R. Danko, John E. Lindberg, William J. O\u27Connor, Mark Harry Berens, Joseph M. Gaydos, William G. Greif, Lawrence S. May, Jr., Charles James Perrin, Arthur L. Beaudette, F. Richard Kramer, Kenneth N. Obrecht, William T. Huston, and Maurice J. Moriarty