Persistent traditions: a long-term perspective on communities in the process of Neolithisation in the Lower Rhine Area (5500-2500 cal BC)

The adoption of agriculture is one of the major developments in human history. Archaeological studies have demonstrated that the trajectories of Neolithisation in Northwest Europe were diverse. This book presents a study into the archaeology of the indigenous communities involved in the process of Neolithisation in the Lower Rhine Area (5500-2500 cal BC). It elucidates the role played by these in relation to their environmental context. This work brings together a comprehensive array of excavated archaeological sites in the Lower Rhine Area and indicates that the successive Late Mesolithic, Swifterbant culture, Hazendonk group and Vlaardingen culture societies represent a continuous long-term tradition of inhabitation of the wetlands and their margins. After demonstrating the existence of a diverse Mesolithic background to Neolithisation, the subsequent developments are studied by foregrounding the relationship between local communities and the dynamic wetland landscape. This points to long-term flexible behaviour and pragmatic choices in livelihood, food economy and mobility. For the interpretation of Neolithisation this study emphasises the persistent traditions of the communities involved. New elements are shown to be attuned to existing hunter-gatherer practices. By documenting indications of the mentalité of the wetland inhabitants, it is demonstrated that their mindset remains essentially ‘Mesolithic' for millennia.-Stichting Nederlands Museum voor Anthropologie en Praehistorie -Rijksmuseum van OudhedenEuropean Prehistor

Resurfacing - Doggerland - Bovenwater

Brochure over NWO Resurfacing Doggerland projec

Neutron-based analyses of three Bronze Age metal objects: a closer look at the Buggenum, Jutphaas and Escharen artefacts

Three important Bronze Age copper-alloy artefacts from the permanent exhibition of the National Museum of Antiquity in Leiden (NL) have been studied by neutron-based methods. These artefacts are known as the Buggenum sword, the Jutphaas dirk, and the Escharen double axe. All three objects have been studied with neutron resonance capture analysis (NRCA), a non-destructive method to determine the bulk elemental compositions. The Buggenum sword is also studied with time-of-flight neutron diffraction (TOF-ND) giving additional information about crystalline properties and internal material structures, and neutron tomography (NT), showing details of the construction of this sword and voids inside the material. The composition of the Jutphaas dirk is compared with the compositions of two other dirks belonging to the group of six Plougrescant-Ommerschans (PO) ceremonial dirks. The Escharen double axe, identified as being of the Zabitz type, variant Westeregeln, is a rare object in the Low Countries. It is compared to finds from Central Europe. The results for all three objects are discussed with regards to their archaeological contexts and their relation to other finds

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years. 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 period. 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 Europe, 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.Archaeological Heritage Managemen

Veerkrachtig verleden: een reflectie op de rol van archeologie, archeologen en musea in het Antropoceen

Oratie uitgesproken door Prof.dr. L.W.S.W. Amkreutz bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van bijzonder hoogleraar Public Archaeology vanwege Rijksmuseum van Oudheden aan de Universiteit Leiden op vrijdag 1 maart 2024Oratie uitgesproken door Prof.dr. L.W.S.W. Amkreutz bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van bijzonder hoogleraar Public Archaeology vanwege Rijksmuseum van Oudheden aan de Universiteit Leiden op vrijdag 1 maart 2024Archaeological Heritage Managemen