Search

Acknowledgements: The authors thank G. Marciani and O. Jöris for comments on archaeology; C. Jeong, M. Spyrou and K. Prüfer for comments on genetics; M. O’Reilly for graphical support for Fig. 5 and Extended Data Fig. 9; the entire IT and laboratory teams at the Department of Archaeogenetics of MPI-SHH for technical assistance; M. Meyer and S. Nagel for support with single-stranded library preparation; K. Post, P. van Es, J. Glimmerveen, M. Medendorp, M. Sier, S. Dikstra, M. Dikstra, R. van Eerden, D. Duineveld and A. Hoekman for providing access to human specimens from the North Sea (The Netherlands); M. D. Garralda and A. Estalrrich for providing access to human specimens from La Riera (Spain); J. Górski and M. Zając for providing access to human specimens from Maszycka cave; C. Di Patti for providing access to human specimens from San Teodoro 2 (Italy); P. Blaževičius for providing access to the Donkalnis human remains and the new radiocarbon dates; the Italian Ministry of Culture and Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the Provinces of Verona, Rovigo, and Vicenza for granting access to the human remains of Tagliente 2; F. Fontana, who carries out investigations of the Riparo Tagliente site (Italy); the Friuli Venezia Giulia Superintendency for providing access to the human tooth Pradis 1; and the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the Provinces of Barletta-Andria-Trani and Foggia for providing access to the Paglicci human remains. This project has received funding by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements no. 803147-RESOLUTION (to S.T.), no. 771234-PALEoRIDER (to W.H.), no. 864358 (to K.M.), no. 724703 and no. 101019659 (to K.H.). K.H. is also supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG FOR 2237). E.A. has received funding from the Van de Kamp fonds. PACEA co-authors of this research benefited from the scientific framework of the University of Bordeaux’s IdEx Investments for the Future programme/GPR Human Past. A.G.-O. is supported by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC-2017-22558). L. Sineo, M.L. and D.C. have received funding from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) PRIN 2017 grants 20177PJ9XF and 20174BTC4R_002. H. Rougier received support from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences of CSUN and the CSUN Competition for RSCA Awards. C.L.S. and T. Saupe received support from the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (project no. 2014-2020.4.01.16-0030) and C.L.S. received support from the Estonian Research Council grant PUT (PRG243). S. Shnaider received support from the Russian Science Foundation (no. 19-78-10053)., 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.

A Mongolian-German project is investigating abandoned early modern military and monastic sites in central Mongolia, including how the ruins of these urban nodes continue to shape cultural memory within nomadic society. Initial excavations have revealed a previously unknown site type, interpreted as garrisons from the period of Manchu rule (AD 1636–1911).

In the mid-7th — early 6th millennium BC at the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition, a number of innovations appeared in the lifeways of people in the West Siberian taiga, including the first appearance of pottery (the defining criterion for the onset of the Neolithic), the intensification of the subsistence economy with an increasing role of aquatic resources, and the transition to a less mobile lifestyle. These innovations were reflected in the construction of long-term open and few fortified settlements, including circular layouts and the construction of ritual mounds (kholmy). These improvements attest to significant changes in subsistence economy as well as worldviews of the hunter-fisher-gatherers of the taiga zone of West Siberia. The emergence of these innovations chronologically coincides with the most prominent global climatic cooling event of the Holocene, which took place around 6.2 thousand years cal BC (the so-called 8.2 ka BP event) and had a substantial impact on the ancient societies of Europe and Southwest Asia. To reconstruct the paleoclimate of northern West Siberia, the most informative source to date are peatbogs, which contain, as a rule, complete sedimentation sequences of all Holocene periods, allowing a greater degree of reliability in using scientific methods in paleogeographical reconstructions. This article reviews current evidence on features and age of the peat formation process and additional information on the Early Holocene paleoclimatic developments in northern West Siberia. The preliminary data indicate that favourable climatic conditions led to balanced and probably abundant environmental resources in the early Atlantic period. At the same time, the sparsely populated territory might have seen the arrival of new population groups into the region, which might have introduced or triggered a number of socio-economic innovations such as the construction of fortified settlements with complex layouts and the tradition of clay pottery manufacture.

The site of Groß Fredenwalde was discovered in 1962 and has been known as a Mesolithic multiple burial since 14C-dates verified an early Atlantic age in the early 1990s. New research since 2012 reconstructed the situation of the poorly documented rescue excavation in 1962 and identified six individuals from at least two separate burials. The new excavations uncovered more burials and Groß Fredenwalde stands out as the largest Mesolithic cemetery in North Central Europe and the oldest cemetery in Germany. In this paper the known burial evidence from this site is presented and the location of the cemetery, mortuary practices, and grave goods are discussed in a broader European context. Northern and Eastern connections appear especially tangible in Groß Fredenwalde and it is suggested that the community associated with the Groß Fredenwalde Mesolithic cemetery was integrated into wider cultural networks connected to the North and East. Keywords: Mesolithic burials, Mesolithic networks, East-West contacts, mortuary practices, grave goods.

The earliest ceramic vessels of the world have been produced in southern China by Late Glacial hunter-gatherers in the remote times around 18,000 calBC. Over the following millennia the new technology became known among forager communities in the Russian Amur region, in Japan, Korea, Transbaikalia and ultimately appeared also in the Urals and in eastern and northern central Europe. Contrary to common views of pottery as part of the “Neolithic package”, the Eurasian hunter-gatherer ceramic tradition is an innovation that developed completely independent of other Neolithic traits such as agriculture, animal husbandry and sedentary lifestyle. The paper explores the chronological sequence of the appearance of hunter-gatherer ceramic vessel production on the basis of radiocarbon dates in northern Eurasia from the Pacific coast to the Baltic and outlines promising methodological approaches that currently play a role in researching this much-discussed topic.

The article explores the role of migration as a trigger for transformations of life ways, subsistence strategies, material culture and ethnic identity in boreal hunter-fisher societies based on ethnoarchaeological evidence. Fieldwork among the Taz Selkup, a mobile hunter-fisher-reindeer herder community that migrated into the northern taiga of Western Siberia three centuries ago, provides insights into the consequences of migration into a new environmental zone. Based on a multi-disciplinary approach in dialogue with the Selkup including survey and excavation, ethnohistory, observation and interviews we are able to identify different factors at play in these processes, including environmental conditions, cultural traditions and mutual relations with other ethnic communities such as Evenks, Kets and Khanty in the surrounding regions. The results reveal a range of economic and related lifeway adaptations, including multi-species strategies and niche construction related to the uptake of reindeer husbandry in the north which are reflected e.g. by the use of smoke ovens against mosquitoes to bind the reindeer to the human settlements. Another such strategy is feeding the reindeer with fish in winter, a practice that might leave archaeologically detectable traces in the stable isotope ratios of the animal bones. Also related to reindeer herding are changes in seasonal rounds and dwelling structures, leading to the originally sunken winter houses developing into lighter, ground-level forms that are only used for one or two seasons, and to an adoption of conical tents and other tent types for temporary summer and winter dwellings. The interrelation of these processes includes adaption to new ecological conditions, cultural influences from other groups, and mechanisms of cultural resilience, leading to the continuing development of a specific Northern Selkup culture. Interculturality constitutes a major characteristic in the migration process, and Selkup ethnicity and ethnic self-perception are identified as fluid categories in a dynamic spatial and temporal net of social and cultural interrelations with other groups.

The role of fishing in Stone Age hunter-gatherer societies of the European forest zone has been gaining importance as a research question over the last years. In order to better understand temporal developments in the role of fishing, changing strategies and their connection to environmental conditions, the study of multi-period stratified site holds good potential for working out a sound empirical basis. Multidisciplinary investigations at the site of Veksa 3 in northwestern Russia have substantially increased our understanding on the development of subsistence strategies of Stone and Early Metal Age populations in this region and on the changing role fishing played in this. For the Early Neolithic period (ca. mid-6th to early 5th mill. cal BC) evidence was gained from seasonal settlement remains within floodplain sediments at the bank of the river Vologda. Fish remains within the settlement structures represent kitchen remains (burnt bones) and processing debris (fish scales) with the dominant species being pike and cyprinids. The only evidence for fishing techniques are bone fish hooks which typologically are linked to Late Mesolithic practices in Northwest Russia. Isotopic analyses of ceramic food crusts attest to an increasing importance of pottery vessels in fish processing from the Early to the Middle Neolithic. For the Late Neolithic and the Early Metal Age period, almost one thousand years of intense regular use of the shallow water area east of the modern Veksa mouth for fishing with stationary constructions is attested to by rich waterlogged in situ remains. The wooden constructions encompass thousands of archaeological timbers, many of them upstanding posts with pointed ends, and several lath screens representing fich fences and fish traps, six of which have been excavated. Radiocarbon datings place the constructions within a time frame between the second half of the 4th and the third quarter of the 3rd millennium cal BC. They are associated with the lacustrine, shallow water phase identified in the palaeoenvironmental studies before the regime at this place changed to a fluvial character.

Purpose. The Stone Age settlement of Amnya I in North-Western Siberia represents the northernmost hunter-gatherer-fisher fort in Eurasia. Dating back to the beginning of the 6th millennium BC, this unique site enables the study of key innovations of the Neolithization process in the taiga zone, such as defensive structures, early pottery, and an increase in polished tools including arrowheads. Results. The Amnya cultural type also includes the nearby Kirip-Vis-Yugan-2 settlement, which shows close similarities with Amnya I in material culture however lacks fortifications. To follow up open questions, work on Amnya type sites was resumed in 2019. Plans of the sites, their layout and stratigraphy were clarified, and first palaeoenvironmental data was received. Radiocarbon dating of stratified contexts at Amnya I confirmed its Early Neolithic age. The settlement of Amnya II located just 50 m east of the fortifications was also dated. Originally attributed to later, Eneolithic times, the two new AMS dates date back to the beginning of the 6th millennium BC, indicating that Amnya I and II existed broadly contemporaneously. Palaeoenvironmental studies based on drillings in the adjacent peat bog show that at the time of settlement at Amnya I and II open water existed on the south of the hill fort, and the Amnya River was flowing on the north side. Thus, this place was comfortable for living and provided good conditions for fishing. Botanical macro-remains from cultural layers at Amnya I show that during the existence of the settlement, along with pine, deciduous trees – birch and alder, have grown in the area of the site, indicating a warmer climate, compared to current conditions. Conclusion. The studied archaeological settlements show the case of Neolithic innovations which testify to formation of special social structures and, most likely, appearance of the new population in the taiga zone of Western Siberia at the turn of 7th – 6th millennium BC. © 2021 Novosibirsk State Technical University. All rights reserved. The work was carried out as part of the program of fundamental scientific research of the State Academies of Sciences for 2013–2020, the project “Ancient and Medieval cultures of the Urals: regional features in the context of global pro-cesses” (registration number: AAAA-A16-116040110036-1), the German Research Community (DFG) (Cluster of Excellence ROOTS at Kiel University), and the state mission of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation “Regional Identity of Russia: Comparative Historical and Philological Studies” (topic no. FEUz-2020-0056). The authors would like to thank Yasmin Dannath (Institute of Pre-and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Germany) for identifying the botanical macro-remains.

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.

Like any other living being, humans constantly influence their environment, be it intentionally or unintentionally. By extracting natural resources, they shape their environment and also that of plants and other animals. A great difference setting people apart from all other living beings is the ability to construct and develop their own niche intentionally, and the unique tool for this is cultural behaviour. Here, we discuss anthropogenic environmental changes of hunter-gatherers and present new palaeoecological and palynological data. The studies are framed with ethnoarchaeological data from Western Siberia to gain a better understanding of how different triggers lead to coping mechanisms. For archaeological implication, we use two Mesolithic case studies from Germany: One of them focuses on hazelnut economy around ancient Lake Duvensee, and the other broaches the issue of selective roe deer hunt and its consequences at the site of Friesack. We address the archaeological evidence from the perspective of active alteration and its consequences, starting our argumentation from a perspective of niche construction theory. This approach has rarely been applied to early Holocene hunter-gatherers in Northern Europe even though the available data render possible to discuss human–environment interaction from such a perspective. It is demonstrated that archaeological research has tools at hand that enables to detect anthropogenic niche construction. However, the ethnoarchaeological example shows limitations and archaeologically invisible triggers and consequent results of human adaptations. The critical revision of such perspectives based on empirical data provides a better understanding of social and environmental transformations in the early- and mid-Holocene.

The ancient fortified settlement of Amnya I is a unique Early Neolithic site in the northern taiga zone of Western Siberia (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the Amnya river). It is located on a promontory and has three lines of defense and ten dwelling depressions. The structures of the excavated dwellings are very similar, though the artifact assemblage appears rather heterogeneous. We carried out a technical and technological analysis of ceramics, which showed no correlation between the texture, on the one hand, and the morphology and ornamentation of pots on the other one. Planiographic analysis of ceramics showed that vessels with comb and incising patterns are found in different dwellings, although there are objects in which both groups lie together. Various categories of stone implements (bladelets and polished arrowheads) also appear on different parts of the settlement. Most likely, the observed differences in the artefact complexes of objects are associated with the stages of the functioning of the settlement. The absolute chronology does not yet clarify the sequence of erection and existence of objects. New AMS date is probably vulnerable to a significant reservoir effect. The abundance of unsolved issues of absolute and relative chronology makes the resumption of research on this unique site urgent.

There is a long lasting debate on the nature of the neolithisation process in the northern European lowlands and in southern Scandinavia. Early evidence of domesticates and crop cultivation indicate a transition to farming in this area during the late 5th millennium cal BC. However, there is limited information how this process took place and to what extent the new economy was adopted during the subsequent centuries. Here we present new results of more than 50 stable isotope samples of human remains (13C/15N) from northern Central Europe covering the period from the Mesolithic to the early Bronze Age. They show a high relevance of aquatic resources during the early Mesolithic. Food from marine and fresh water environments was also of considerable relevance during the late Mesolithic (6th/5th millennium cal BC). Aquatic resources were still important for parts of farming societies during the 4th millennium cal BC, especially around 3000 cal BC. Farming economy was introduced in all parts of the lowlands during the early 4th millennium cal BC, but it was not before the 3rd millennium cal BC that it became fully established on a general scale. Our results correspond well with archaeobotanic evidence. They also contribute important information to the discussion of palaeogenetic data, which provide evidence for autochthonous individuals with signals of hunter-gatherer ancestry in farming societies until c. 3000 cal BC.

The relative chronology determines only the sequence of events, so preferences absolute chronology, which are used the natural-science methods. Due to the general lack of reliable dates and contextual information in the layers of the Stone Age, absolute chronology is still subject to discussion. As a result of many years of research work in the basin of the upper Sukhona identified key sites that are named Veksa. The exceptional importance of the Veksas complex is linkes with clearly stratigrafi, up to 3 m stratifications, with inclusions of the early Neolithic Middle Ages cultural layers, which contributed to the creation of a relative chronology and allotment of typological complexes in their development. The joint Russian-German research that began in 2007 are aimed at multidisciplinary research of monuments. The methods used in the research on Veksa include the dating of AMC, isotope and archeochemical analyzes of different materials (bones, ceramics), of archeobotanyka, palynology, dendrochronology, reconstruction of landscape development, etc. The results obtained contribute to the creation of reliable chronological framework for the identification of cultural complexes and address a wide range of issues.

Copyright © 2016 Antiquity Publications Ltd. Where did pottery first appear in the Old World? Statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates suggests that ceramic vessel technology had independent origins in two different hunter-gatherer societies. Regression models were used to estimate average rates of spread and geographic dispersal of the new technology. The models confirm independent origins in East Asia (c. 16000 cal BP) and North Africa (c. 12000 cal BP). The North African tradition may have later influenced the emergence of Near Eastern pottery, which then flowed west into Mediterranean Europe as part of a Western Neolithic, closely associated with the uptake of farming.

Pottery produced by mobile hunter-gatherer-fisher groups in the northeast European forest zone is among the earliest in Europe. Absolute chronologies, however, are still subject to debate due to a general lack of reliable contextual information. Direct radiocarbon dating of carbonized surface residues (“foodcrusts”) on pots can help to address this problem, as it dates the use of the pottery. If a pot was used to cook fish or other aquatic species, however, carbon in the crust may have been depleted in 14C compared to carbon in terrestrial foods and thus appear older than it really is (i.e. showing a “freshwater reservoir effect,” or FRE). A connected problem, therefore, is the importance of aquatic resources in the subsistence economy, and whether pots were used to process aquatic food. To build better chronologies from foodcrust dates, we need to determine which 14C results are more or less likely to be subject to FRE, i.e. to distinguish crusts derived mainly from aquatic ingredients from those composed mainly of terrestrial foods. Integrating laboratory analyses with relative chronologies based on typology and stratigraphy can help to assess the extent of FRE in foodcrust dates. This article reports new 14C and stable isotope measurements on foodcrusts from six Stone Age sites in central and northern European Russia, and one in southeastern Estonia. Most of these 14C results are not obviously influenced by FRE, but the isotopic data suggest an increasing use of aquatic products over the course of the 6th and 5th millennia cal BC.

The emergence of pottery among Stone Age hunter-gatherer societies of Eurasia constitutes one of the major open questions in Old World prehistory. Located halfway between the earliest Late Glacial cores of pottery production in East Asia, and Eastern Europe with forager ceramic starting around 6000 cal BC, the Urals and West Siberia are a key region in various scenarios currently under discussion. A lack of reliable absolute dates has been hindering an in-depth understanding of the temporal and spatial scales of the initial spread of the ceramic innovation. A Russian-German dating programme has now created a more reliable chronology of the early pottery phase, based on 28 AMS dates from across the study region. Taking freshwater reservoir effects into account, we can show that the earliest reliable evidence for pottery stems from the West Siberian forest steppes and Urals foothills, dating to the end of the 7th millennium cal BC. Over the following centuries, the innovation spread rapidly north into the taiga. Here, the early pottery horizon coincides with a unique set of innovations and intensification in the settlement system and the socio-economic sphere, including the appropriation of vast previously barely settled regions, the emergence of complex and even fortified settlements, and of ritual mounds. Pilot isotopic analyses of pottery charred crusts indicate diverse functions of the early vessels that were apparently not restricted to the processing of fish. The emerging wider picture indicates a surprisingly late, largely concurrent appearance of pottery in hunter-gatherer groups over extensive areas along the southern fringes of the taiga to both sides of the Urals at the end of the 7th millennium cal BC which is apparently not connected to the earlier, Late Pleistocene ceramic traditions in Trans-Baikalia and further East. Possible links to the 8.2 ka climatic event, other underlying triggers as well as the detailed chronology of these developments are still poorly understood and require further archaeological, biomolecular and typological studies.

The area east of Lake Baikal in Siberia is one of a small number of regions in Eurasia where pottery was already used in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene from the 12th millennium cal BC onwards. Here, the adoption of pottery by hunter–gatherer communities marks the end of the Late Paleolithic and the beginning of the Initial Neolithic. The cultural environment in which pottery emerged can indicate whether the ceramic innovation arrived as part of a wider complex of new technologies and cultural characteristics, or whether it was incorporated into an already-existing cultural sphere. The paper investigates the development of lithic technology as one part of material culture at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, concentrating on the primary reduction techniques. The study is based on data and material from the Krasnaya Gorka site, as well as published data from other sites of the Late Paleolithic and the Initial Neolithic. The comparative technological and typological analysis of the assemblages of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition reveals a continuity of lithic techniques, which is in accordance with the general tendency in most of North-East Asia. During the later stages of the Initial Neolithic, an innovation took place which is characterized by a further rationalization of the Yubetsu reduction technique, eventually leading to the microprismatic technique.

Zusammenfassung: Zur Nutzungsanalyse großer ovaler, erstmalig entdeckter und dokumentierter von einem niedrigen Graben-Wall-System umgebener Anlagen wurden Bodenproben auf spezifische Lipide untersucht, die Hinweise auf die Anwesenheit – hinterlassene Verdauungsreste – bestimmter Nutztierarten und Menschen in den beprobten Bereichen geben könnten. Wahrscheinlich dienten die Anlagen dem Gartenbau, sicherlich nicht der Viehhaltung; in den angrenzenden Dachziegel und Keramikscherben aufweisenden viereckigen, deutlich kleineren umwallten Anlagen siedelten Menschen. Solche ovalen Anlagen sind in der Mongolei bisher nur aus dem Umfeld der uighurischen Hauptstadt Karabalgasun bekannt geworden, deren Stadtgebiet eine deutlich größere Fläche einnimmt als bisher angenommen wurde und vielteiliger sowie funktional gegliedert ist. Dieses erste stichpunktartige Ergebnis zeigt das Potential der Lipidanalysen, frühere Landnutzung zu rekonstruieren, beispielsweise Viehhaltung von acker- oder gartenbaulicher Nutzung zu unterscheiden. Gerade dieser viel zu wenig erforschte Aspekt ist für die Einschätzung der häufig postulierten ‚Abhängigkeit‘ der Nomaden von ackerbautreibenden Gesellschaften von zentraler Bedeutung. Résumé: Un échantillonnage du sol à peu de profondeur de la surface du terrain actuel a été effectué afin de déterminer à quoi servaient les grandes enceintes ovales, cernées d’un mur bas et d’un fossé, découvertes et relevées récemment en Mongolie. L’échantillonnage avait pour but l’analyse de lipides spécifiques à certaines espèces; en effet les données provenant de résidus de digestion fournissent de précieuses indications sur les concentrations d’animaux d’élevage spécifiques dans les zones étudiées. Les enceintes ont fort probablement été utilisées à des fins horticoles, et certainement pas pour le bétail. L’habitat humain, documenté par des trouvailles de tuiles et de céramique, se situait dans des enclos carrés et bien plus petits à proximité de ces enceintes. Les enceintes ovales n’ont été repérées en Mongolie que dans les environs de la capitale Ouïghoure de Karabalghasun. L’étendue de cette capitale est de toute évidence bien plus grande que l’on ne l’avait pensé jusqu’à présent, et la zone d’occupation avait été subdivisée en divers secteurs d’activité. Les premiers résultats de notre échantillonnage démontrent que l’analyse des lipides donne l’occasion d’aborder l’étude de la culture des céréales et des légumes sous un nouvel angle. Etant donné le peu de recherches conduites dans ce domaine, cet aspect est particulièrement important pour l’évaluation d’une ‘dépendance’ des nomades envers les sociétés agraires si souvent invoquée. Abstract: In order to investigate the use to which recently discovered and recorded large oval enclosures surrounded by a low wall and ditch were put, a series of topsoil samples were taken and subjected to an analysis of specific lipids; such soil chemical evidence from human and domesticated animal faeces can provide significant insights into the land use history of the areas sampled. The enclosures are likely to have been used for horticulture, and certainly not for keeping livestock. Human settlement, as attested by the presence of roof tiles and ceramic sherds, was in square, enclosed compounds nearby, and these were clearly smaller. Oval complexes have so far only been documented in Mongolia in the vicinity of the Uyghur capital of Karabalgasun. Karabalgasun was evidently much greater in extent than had hitherto been assumed and it was divided into a number of functional areas. Initial results from our targeted samples show that the analysis of lipids has much potential, offering new opportunities to elucidate land use, e.g. the cultivation of cereals and vegetables in contrast to livestock keeping. It is precisely this aspect, so far largely neglected by research, which will allow us to assess the oft-claimed ‘dependence’ of the nomads on agricultural communities.

Graves and their human remains not only shed light on burial customs and social structures of past populations, but also constitute an excellent archive of prehistoric environmental and living conditions. Especially 13C/15N isotope analysis has recently opened up promising perspectives for reconstructing changes in diet and their social, cultural and economic background. Such investigations have been started on material from the Stone and Early Metal Age hunter-gatherer cemetery of Sakhtysh IIa in the Upper Volga region of Central Russia, where 15 burials associated with the early Lyalovo culture (5th mill. calBC) and 57 graves of the Volosovo culture (4th – 3rd mill. calBC) have been excavated. In this paper, we present new AMS dates and isotopic data from four burials, two from the earlier and two from the later group. The results are discussed against the background of existing dates from Sakhtysh IIa burials and compared with information from other burial sites of Northern Europe.

In his comment, “The Patterns of Neolithization in the North Eurasian Forest Zone: A Comment on Hartz et al. (2012),” Y Kuzmin has raised a number of questions concerning the paper “Hunter-Gatherer Pottery and Charred Residue Dating: New Results on Early Ceramics in the North Eurasian Forest Zone” by Hartz et al. (2012). The following remarks aim to clarify some of these issues.

The Orkhon Valley in the Central Mongolia was included in the World Heritage list in 2004. It hosts multiple archaeological sites from Palaeolithic to recent times, which can contribute to the reconstruction of settlement history in this part of the Eurasian Steppe landscape. Almost 100 archaeological sites from prehistoric and historic times including ramparts and khirigsuurs were investigated in five field campaigns from 2008 to 2010 in the middle and upper Orkhon Valley. One site, MOR-2 (Dorvolzhin), proved especially difficult to date due to the lack of sufficient archaeological surface finds, and its role within a manifold of walled enclosures from different times in the study area remained unclear. Therefore, different techniques of archaeology, geophysics and geoarchaeology were combined at MOR-2 in order to determine a comprehensive picture about its timing, archaeological meaning, and environmental history. Information on topographical setting and morphometry of the rampart was gathered by an octocopter equipped with a high-resolution range finder camera. We achieved a high-resolution DEM that allowed us to map the rampart in detail and this served as a base map for all other investigations. SQUID magnetometry, ground-penetrating radar, and electric resistivity measurements (capacitive coupled geoelectrics) were subsequently used to detect archaeological remains and to characterize the sediment distribution of the inner part of the enclosure and the ramparts themselves. The data show that the construction of the walls is similar to well-known Uighur neighbouring sites. Man-made sub-surface structures or bigger finds could not be detected. Sediment cores were drilled in a nearby meander, covering 3000 years BP. The analysis of the strata in terms of elemental composition (P, N, Mn, Fe, etc) revealed an increase of organic content in Medieval times, whereas the allochthonous filling of the back water must have started around the beginning of the 6th century AD. Using geophysical, archaeological and geological observations, we assume a dating in the Turk/Uighur period (6th–9th century AD) and a re-use under Mongolian reign (12th–17th century AD). This would mean that this site is the furthermost walled structure in the peri-urban area of Khar Balgas. However, the specific usage of this walled enclosure remains unclear and needs further analysis.

The onset of the Neolithic period in the Russian North is defined by the emergence of pottery vessels in the archaeological record. The ceramics produced by mobile hunter-gatherer-fisher groups in the north-eastern European forest zone are among the earliest in Europe, starting around 6000 cal BC. After the initial mosaic of local styles in the Early Neolithic, including sparsely decorated wares and early Comb Ware, the Middle Neolithic period, starting in the 5th millennium cal BC, saw the development and spread of larger, more homogenous typological entities between the Urals and the Baltic, the Comb-Pit and Pit-Comb wares. Absolute chronologies, however, are still subject to debate, due to a general lack of reliable contextual information. Direct 14C dating of carbonised surface residues (‘food crusts’) on pots can help to address this problem, as it dates the use of the pottery; but if aquatic foods were processed in the vessels, the respective radiocarbon ages can appear to be too old due to the freshwater reservoir effect. In this pa­per, we discuss the radiocarbon chronologies of four important stratified archaeological complexes in the region between Lake Onega and the Sukhona basin, Berezovaya Slobodka, Veksa, Karavaikha, and Tudo­zero. A growing series of dates, including AMS dates, sheds new light on the onset and further periodisation of the Early and Middle Neolithic in this important area between Eastern Fennoscandia, Central Rus­sia and the Far North-East of Europe, although problems concerning the absolute chronology of the initial Neolithic remain.

The international project "Geo-Archaeology in the Steppe - Reconstruction of Cultural Landscapes in the Orkhon valley, Central Mongolia" was set up in July 2008. It is headed by the Department of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology of Bonn University. The project aims at the study of prehistoric and historic settlement patterns, human impact on the environment and the relation between towns and their hinterland in the Orkhon valley, Central Mongolia. The multidisciplinary project is mainly sponsored for three years by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and bridges archaeology, natural sciences and engineering (sponsorship code 01UA0801C). Archaeologists of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and of the Bonn University, geographers of Free University Berlin, geophysics of the Institute for Photonic Technology Jena and the RWTH Aachen University, and geographers and engineers of the German Aerospace Centre Berlin collaborate in the development of new technologies and their application in archaeology1. On the basis of Russian aerial photographs from the 1970s, an initial evaluation regarding potential archaeological sites was made. Due to the poor geometric and radiometric resolution of these photographs, identification of archaeological sites in many cases remained preliminary, and detailed information on layout and size could not be gained. The aim of the flight campaign in September 2008 was therefore the confirmation of these sites as well as their high resolution survey. A 10 megapixel range finder camera was used for the recording of high resolution aerial photography. This image data is suited for accurate determination and mapping of selected monuments. The airborne camera was adapted and mounted on an electrically operated eight propeller small drone. Apart from high resolution geo-referenced overview pictures, impressive panoramic images and very high resolution overlapping image data was recorded for photogrammetric stereoscopic processing. Due to the overlap of 85% along and across the track each point in the image data is recorded in at least four pictures. Although a smaller overlap might be sufficient for generating digital surface models (DSM), this redundancy increases the reliability of the DSM generation. Within this photogrammetric processing digital surface models and true ortho photo mosaics with a resolution up to 2,5 cm/pixel in X, Y, Z are derived.

Einleitung In der nordosteuropaischen Waldsteppen- und Waldzone begann sich seit dem Ende des 8. Jahrtausends cal BC bei den ansassigen Wildbeutergruppen die Kenntnis der Keramikherstellung auszubreiten (Timofeev et al. 2004, 32-33). (1) Zu den fruhesten Komplexen gehoren Funde aus der Elsan-Kultur und aus Rakusecnyj Jar im Sudosten, bald darauf wurden auch im Oberwolga-Gebiet und in der Serteja-Region Mittelrusslands erste, noch sparlich verzierte Tongefasse gefertigt. Von der zweiten Halfte des 6. Jahrtausends an breitete sich die neue Technologie weiter nach Westen und Norden aus, und bei den Jagern und Fischern im Gebiet ostlich und nordlich der Ostsee entstanden mit Narva, Ka I:1/Sperrings und Saraisniemi 1 erste Keramiktypen (Oshibkina 1996a; Gronenborn 2004). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Der zeitliche Ablauf und die Mechanismen, die bei der Ubernahme der neuen Technologie im Raum zwischen Barentssee im Norden und Neman-Fluss im Suden zum Tragen kamen, sind bisher nur luckenhaft bekannt. Wahrend es zum einen an detaillierten typologischen Untersuchungen geschlossener Keramikkomplexe aus dieser Region mangelt und sich die Beschreibungen daher meist auf allgemeine Charakterisierungen beschranken, die fur vergleichende Studien wenig geeignet sind, stellen zum anderen chronologische Informationen aus gesicherten Zusammenhangen ein wichtiges Desiderat dar. Aus diesem Grund wurden im Rahmen einer uberregionalen Studie zu den Wildbeutergruppen mit fruher Keramik in der nordosteuropaischen Waldzone (2) durch das Deutsche Archaologische Institut sechzehn AMS-Datierungen fur sieben fruhneolithische Fundstellen aus Litauen, Estland und Russland in Auftrag gegeben (Abb. 1), deren Ergebnisse hier vorgestellt werden. Es handelt sich mit zwei Ausnahmen, bei denen Tierknochen und eine Bodenprobe datiert wurden, um Proben von organischen Auflagerungen an Keramikscherben (Abb. 2). Dadurch ist ein direkter Bezug des jeweiligen Datierungsergebnisses zu einer bestimmten Keramikvariante moglich, was vor allem im Hinblick auf die Seltenheit geschlossener stratigraphischer Einheiten und Befunde aus dem fruhen Neolithikum im Untersuchungsgebiet von grosser Bedeutung ist. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden die neuen AMS-Daten im Kontext der Fundstellen, von denen sie stammen, diskutiert. Das ist besonders deshalb wichtig, weil ausfuhrlichere Veroffentlichungen zu radiokarbondatierten Platzen des fruhen Neolithikums in der Untersuchungsregion weitgehend fehlen (3)--eine Kenntnis der archaologischen Zusammenhange wie Stratigraphie, Befunde und Fundmaterial ist fur eine gewinnbringende Arbeit mit den Daten aber sehr wichtig. Besonderer Raum wird dabei der Beschreibung der fruhneolithischen Keramik von den einzelnen Siedlungen eingeraumt, so dass die neuen Datierungen jeweils mit einer spezifischen Auspragung der Keramik in Verbindung gebracht werden konnen, was fur weitere Forschungen von grosser Bedeutung ist. (4) Die neuen Daten im Kontext der Fundstellen Zemaitiske 3 (Litauen) Lage Der neolithische Siedlungsplatz Zemaitiske 3 gehort zu einer Konzentration von 36 stein- und bronzezeitlichen Fundstellen rings um den See Kretuonas im Osten Litauens nahe der belorussischen Grenze (Abb. 1). Der See liegt etwa 10 km nordlich der Kreisstadt Svencionys im gewasserreichen Aukstaitija-Nationalpark. Seine Wasserflache hat sich seit dem Ende der Eiszeit stetig verkleinert, die Fundstelle Zemaitiske 3 befindet sich auf der ostlichen Uferterrasse einer verlandeten Bucht etwa 1,5 km von der heutigen Uferlinie entfernt. Nur einige hundert Meter entfernt liegen mehrere weitere neolithische Fundplatze, darunter der bedeutende Siedlungs- und Bestattungsplatz Kretuonas 1 (Girininkas 1990, 9, Abb. 6). Fundplatzgeschichte Um die Erforschung der vorgeschichtlichen Fundstellen am Kretuonas-See hat sich in erster Linie der Archaologe A. Girininkas aus Vilnius verdient gemacht, der bereits 1976 im Auftrag des Institutes fur Geschichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften der Litauischen SSR mit Ausgrabungen der Bodendenkmaler begann und die Untersuchungen bis heute fortfuhrt (Girininkas 1990, 6). …

Proteomic analysis of absorbed residues is increasingly used to identify the foodstuffs processed in ancient ceramic vessels, but detailed methodological investigations in this field remain rare. Here, we present three interlinked methodological developments with important consequences in paleoproteomics: the comparative absorption and identification of various food proteins, the application of a deep eutectic solvent (DES) for extracting ceramic-bound proteins, and the role of database choice in taxonomic identification. Our experiments with modern and ethnoarcheological ceramics show that DES is generally more effective at extracting ceramic-bound proteins than guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl), and cereal proteins are absorbed and subsequently extracted and identifiedat least as readily as meat proteins. We also highlight some of the challenges in cross-species proteomics, whereby species that are less well-represented in databases can be attributed an incorrect species-level taxonomic assignment due to interspecies similarities in protein sequence. This is particularly problematic in potentially mixed samples such as cooking-generated organic residues deposited in pottery. Our work demonstrates possible proteomic separation of fishes and birds, the latter of which have so far eluded detection through lipidomic analyses of organic residue deposits in pottery, which has important implications for tracking the exploitation of avian species in various ancient communities around the globe.

Artificial illumination is a fundamental human need. Burning wood and other materials usually in hearths and fireplaces extended daylight hours, whilst the use of flammable substances in torches offered light on the move. It is increasingly understood that pottery played a role in light production. In this study, we focus on ceramic oval bowls, made and used primarily by hunter-gatherer-fishers of the circum-Baltic over a c. 2000 year period beginning in the mid-6th millennium cal bc. Oval bowls commonly occur alongside larger (cooking) vessels. Their function as ‘oil lamps’ for illumination has been proposed on many occasions but only limited direct evidence has been secured to test this functional association. This study presents the results of molecular and isotopic analysis of preserved organic residues obtained from 115 oval bowls from 25 archaeological sites representing a wide range of environmental settings. Our findings confirm that the oval bowls of the circum-Baltic were used primarily for burning fats and oils, predominantly for the purposes of illumination. The fats derive from the tissues of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial organisms. Bulk isotope data of charred surface deposits show a consistently different pattern of use when oval bowls are compared to other pottery vessels within the same assemblage. It is suggested that hunter-gatherer-fishers around the 55th parallel commonly deployed material culture for artificial light production but the evidence is restricted to times and places where more durable technologies were employed, including the circum-Baltic.

This article discusses 18 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from the peat bog sites Sakhtysh 2a, Ozerki 5, and Ozerki 17 in the Upper Volga region. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the emergence and dispersal of early ceramic traditions in northern Eurasia and their connection to the Baltic. With 1 exception, all dates were obtained from charred residue adhering to the sherd. A possible reservoir effect was tested on 1 piece of pottery from Sakhtysh 2a by taking 1 sample from charred residue, and another sample from plant fiber remains. Although a reservoir effect was able to be ruled out in this particular case, 4 other dates from Sakhtysh 2a and Ozerki 5 seem too old on typological grounds and might have been affected by freshwater reservoir effects. Considering all other reliable dates, the Early Neolithic Upper Volga culture, and with it the adoption of ceramics, in the forest zone of European Russia started around 6000 cal BC. DOI: 10.2458/azu_js_rc.v54i3–4.16162