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Long archaeological debate on the process of Neolithisation across Europe has been resolved at a broad level, thanks to aDNA and other scientific investigations, in favour of significant migrations virtually everywhere. This development has coincided with the establishment of more robust and generally more precise chronologies, and in the long run the historical process of change brought by Neolithic migrants was irreversible. However, the emergent big picture can and should still be examined in much further detail. Some significant implications for the understanding of mobility and migration have been explored, but there is plenty of scope for better integration of archaeological and scientific, especially archaeogenetic, investigations. This can reveal important dimensions of the process of colonisation and the initial establishment of Neolithic settlement, which appears often to have been small-scale at the outset; prone to adjustment, experiment, reversal and even failure; and open to contacts with indigenous people. We support these claims with a series of brief case studies principally from the northern Balkans, the Carpathian basin and northern central Europe to build a simple model of frontier conditions which could have implications for the study of initial Neolithisation across Europe as a whole.

Sheep and goats are often considered to be the oldest livestock animals in Denmark. In this contribution, we present the results of ZooMS measurements from seven ovicaprid bones from the Femern project, an excavation in the area of the former Syltholm Fjord (Lolland, Denmark). The bones were morphologically identified as sheep or goats and represented the oldest dated remains of both species in Denmark. However, the ZooMS analysis showed that more than half of the morphological identifications were incorrect. For the other samples, we refined the identifications. Hence, our study confirms that indications of sheep and goat husbandry based on bone morphology alone should be treated with caution. The probability of misidentification in our case was high, even in the case of well-preserved bones.

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The presence of domestic animals is a key feature of the Neolithic. Their earliest presence in archaeological contexts across the European continent is often interpreted as reflecting farming practices. However, domestic animals often escape, survive, and become feral. Using the comparative example of colonial North America, this article's aim is to illustrate what happens when livestock are introduced to a new, continental temperate environment. Taking a dual historical and archaeological perspective, the author reiterates and elaborates on the suggestion that feral animals were almost certainly a feature of the European Neolithization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the concepts of repeating cycles of rapid climate variability in the Holocene, including rapid cooling cycles, cold events, ice-rafting events, and rapid climate change recorded in palaeoclimate archives. It also discusses the concepts of adaptation strategies embedded in the catastrophic scenarios of collapse on the one hand, and panarchy, resilience, and adaptation cycle on the other, i.e. the processes of transforming social hierarchical structures into dynamic, adaptive entities. In the rapid climate change series we focus on the 9.2 ka and 8.2 ka climate events associated with the Neolithisation process and the transition to farming. The 5.9 IRD event and/or period of rapid climate change from 6000–5200 cal yr BP are associated with the cultural, economic, and demographic collapse of the Early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture in central and western Europe. We also discuss the triad of recent weakening of North Atlantic ocean circulation, decreased solar activity, and the hypothesised transition to a cold period, the well-known historical scenario associated with the transition to Little Ice Age between 1450 and 1850.

The “transition” period from the end of the Second Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic is a singular phase in the prehistory of Western Europe. The first signs of neolithisation will be observed in the Northern French Alps between 5500 and 5350 cal. BC, after having experienced an arrhythmic progression from the Mediterranean sphere. The presence of numerous imprecisions in the North Alpine chronocultural sequence makes it difficult to understand the rhythms and mechanisms of its implantation. The subject is all the more complex in that there seems to be a temporal and geographical proximity between the last indigenous hunter-gatherer-collector groups and the arrival of the first agropastoralists in the regions, which could have led to the acculturation of one or the other community. Some sites thus provide assemblages presenting industries described as “mixed sets,” where characteristic materials of the Second Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic are jointly revealed. Generally judged unreliable, they are considered to be the result of asynchronous mixtures of occupations. The study of lithic industries from recent excavations at La Grande Rivoire rockshelter offers a new perspective on this particular neolithisation context. This site of the Vercors massif is especially promising in this matter, displaying almost uninterrupted occupations from the First Mesolithic to the Protohistoric periods and having revealed a significant number of material productions. Oriented mainly on the observation of possible behavioural changes within the reduction sequences, the first results of this study already allow us to note the presence of a certain evolutionary sequence of lithic industries.

The use of weapons, and therefore of arrowheads, contributed to structuring the technical, economic, social and cultural domains. In the technical sphere, emblematic projectile armatures are often considered to be loaded with cultural values and to embody the expression of human group identity. The study of their variability, in time and space, can shed light on mechanisms of mutation and innovation stemming from adaptative strategies and cultural choices. During the seventh and sixth millennia, the renewal of arrowheads corresponds to major changes in lithic equipment. Between the Late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic, we observe a diversification of arrowhead shapes and the evolution of represented types. These observations enhance interpretative scenarios, especially questions concerning the transfer of know-how, techno-economic renewal and neolithisation. This article proposes to study these changes at the sequence of the Baume de Montclus site, a key site in Southern France. The selected sequence covers 1.5 millennia of occupation, roughly from 6500 to 5000 cal. BCE, with a corpus of geometric bitruncations of about 650 pieces. The combined study of microwear and technological and typological data leads to a comprehensive interpretation of manufacturing processes, hafting methods and function. These analyses provide valuable information on the diversity of arrowheads, the identification of specific technical traditions and the characterisation of techno-functional ruptures throughout this sequence. These results will subsequently be integrated into a wider, regional and extra-regional context, with a particular focus on the emergence of blade and trapeze complexes (BTC) and the neolithisation of the western Mediterranean basin.

This paper explores the relationship between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, Neolithic farmers and prehistoric herders using a regional-scale analysis of two agriculturally peripheral areas in Bohemia (Czech Republic). Both regions represent ecologically diverse islands used by hunter-gatherer communities for their rich natural resources and set within uniform loess basins colonised by the first LBK farmers. Based on settlement dynamics, radiocarbon dating, artefactual and rich palaeoecological evidence, this thematic review attempts to illustrate how the use of well-defined spatiotemporal scales can affect our perception of the Mesolithic/Neolithic interface. This approach shows that hunter-gathering traditions persisted in the two model areas long enough to allow interaction with incoming farmers and thus that in particular landscapes the transition might have been a slow and gradual process during which the subsistence categories of hunter-gatherers, herders, and farmers overlapped and interacted. Such interactions could have included shared distribution networks of some raw materials and the contemporaneous exploitation by herders and hunter-gatherers of diverse territories rich in natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction and spread of the Neolithic “way of life” in Europe was a process that took several millennia, followed by different rhythms and displayed singularities in each geographic area. It was therefore a very complex phenomenon that, despite highly significant advances in research in recent decades, is yet to be fully understood. To deepen our understanding of the very early stages of the introduction of herding and agriculture throughout the Old Continent, the 1st Conference on the Early Neolithic of Europe was organised in Barcelona on 6–8 November 2019. The conference was a great success with more than 200 participants, creating a stimulating arena to discuss and debate, exclusively, the transition to the Neolithic in Europe. This special issue brings together 52 of the contributions presented in Barcelona, offering an interesting overview of the current state of research across Europe, from the Anatolia to the Algarve, highlighting the geographical, chronological and socioeconomic diversity of the transformation processes involved in the Neolithisation of Europe and providing useful starting points for future research.

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The frequentation of the uplands and the origin of seasonal pastoralism in the Central Alps in prehistory are intensively discussed topics. This case study from the Karwendel Mountains, a mountain range situated between Tyrol (Austria) and Bavaria (Germany), illustrates on the basis of archaeological surveys and excavations as well as pollen analyses how groups of hunter-gatherers frequented and used a mountainous area since the Mesolithic. This traditional use continued well into the period that is in the more fertile lowlands characterized as Neolithic. The study also shows that the human impact on the natural vegetation in the heart of the mountain range was very modest until the Roman era, while other upland meadows of the Central Alps were used for livestock grazing since the Bronze Age. These pastoral practices deeply changed the landscape and the vegetation of the areas involved. The Karwendel, on the other hand, was at least sporadically visited but remained largely unaffected by human exploitation until modern times, as it is situated at the margin of the important communication routes and the main settlement areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines pottery production as a proxy for the introduction of major Neolithic achievements, especially in newly-settled territories. It considers potential signs of adaptation of the ceramic technology to new environments, without disregarding possible local contributions to the beginnings of the regional pottery production. The North Bulgarian areas are associated with distinctive climatic conditions, contrasting environmental settings and different raw materials when compared with the homeland of certain new-coming groups. Whereas no loessic sediments extend southwards of the Balkan mountainous range, these are namely the typical Danubian plain accumulations associated with available clays used for pottery production in the region. Taking into account various scenarios for the beginning of the Neolithic in North Bulgaria, as well as the local specifics of the lithic industry, the first pottery from the settlement at Koprivets is considered in a broader Neolithisation context. By recovering and interpreting technological parameters, the study examines the innovative adaptations to specific local conditions that the adoption of pottery production, as a new technology, must have evolved, at one of the earliest known Neolithic sites in Northern Bulgaria.

Organic-tempered pottery is considered characteristic for the early pottery assemblages in most parts of Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe. The aim of the present paper is to explore: (a) the chronological consistency of this practice, i.e. is it always related to the early assemblages and how intensively was it employed by the various communities? and (b) is its use related to vessel type, surface treatment etc. and how does this change in time and space? In order to address these questions we explore the distribution patterns of this practice in this large geographical area, based on published information, since the appearance of pottery in the Near East until the early sixth millennium in Southeast Europe. Moreover, in the case of the Early Neolithic in Greece, new data is presented on the appearance and distribution of organic-tempered pottery within the assemblages of six newly studied sites in northern Greece, spanning the second half of the seventh millennium BC and the beginning of the sixth millennium BC. The emerging picture indicates that the cultural practice of organic tempering was available in all of this area for almost a millennium, although the significations may have not remained unaltered, and variably embraced by the various Neolithic communities. As such, this study offers insights into the complex process of neolithisation, and at the same time contextualizes the appearance of organic-tempering in northern Greece, which includes some of the earliest Neolithic sites in Europe.

In the lower Rhône Valley, many sites are attributed to the Early Neolithic and dated between 5600 and 4800 cal. BC. According to their ceramic production, they are associated with two cultural facies: the Cardial and the Epicardial. The relation between these two entities is still under debate (chronological, cultural or functional distinctions?). However, little is known about the lithic production of the region since the chipped stone industries are rarely evoked in the socioeconomic and cultural understanding of these first agropastoral societies. The objective of this paper is to propose a regional synthesis regarding Early Neolithic lithic industries, based on typo-technological studies of several assemblages in the Rhône Valley: The Montclus rockshelter (layers 5 to 2), the Baume de Ronze rockshelter, Le Taï and the Aigle cave. These sites are considered to be the key sites for understanding the Cardial/Epicardial complex in this area, but their lithic assemblages have never been thoroughly studied. Special attention will be given to the factors of variability or, on the contrary, to the permanence in the “schema opératoire” and we will propose explanations related to geological, functional, chronological and cultural constraints. We will also focus on lithic blade production made from honey flint and the spacialisation of “chaine opératoire” which could highlight circulation of this raw material and specialised distribution network. Finally, this synthesis is based on a renewed corpus of radiocarbon dates in order to understand this evolutionary dynamic as finely as possible.

Up until now, the neolithisation of Western Europe during the sixth millennium BCE has mainly been approached through the characterisation of its diffusion vectors (cultural vs demic diffusion) and the emergence of technoeconomic innovations (rhythms, scenarios, and transmission). Traditionally, two primary routes of agricultural diffusion are distinguished: one extending along the Danube river corridor to the Atlantic coast (Linearbandkeramik) and the other along the Mediterranean coastal zone (Impressed Ware). To move beyond this dichotomy, this article proposes a first attempt at an integrated approach to the mechanisms of neolithisation in Western Europe, one of the few territories where it is possible, and therefore necessary, to investigate the processes that are common to both of these principal neolithisation complexes. The most widely held vision, inherited from the 1980s, of a European Neolithic that developed from east to west following a regular rhythm has progressively been replaced by a more complex model of diffusion characterised by arrhythmia and cultural reconfigurations. Despite having different origins and trajectories, the expansion of the first farmers was made possible by a number of common mechanisms. Impresso-Cardial and Linearbandkeramik societies faced similar constraints, especially with regard to ensuring the stability of their social and economic models, while minimising the risks inherent to the colonisation of new territories. Three main mechanisms would have structured the first neolithisation phases of both spheres: a strong mobility of populations regulated to varying degrees by social rules, a strong solidarity expressed at multiple levels of interactions within each sphere, and, finally, the existence of syncretism and cultural recompositions including close and long-distance relations.

This article presents an overview of the current evidence on the process of Neolithisation in the Dutch wetlands. Over the years, several models have been proposed with different perspectives on the timing and pace of the process: a long transition, an early short transition, and a late short transition. The applicability of any of these models is, of course, dependent of the evidence. In this article, we briefly discuss recently obtained data from the Netherlands on vegetation disturbance (woodland clearing), soil disturbance (tillage), cereal cultivation, animal husbandry, and the use of ceramics. The data discussed involve palynological, sedimentary, micromorphological, archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, as well as lipid analyses. Hence, it is concluded that from the mid fifth millennium cal. BC onwards, various aspects of a more “Neolithic lifestyle” become apparent in the archaeological record, including cereal cultivation on a structural, but small-scale basis in wetland environments. However, despite the “gradual” tendency that can be observed, the evidence is as yet inconclusive with regard to any of the models, due to persisting limitations of the datasets, potential regional variability, and aspects of scale. A new project, the Emergence of Domestic Animals in the Netherlands (EDAN), aims at a better understanding of animal husbandry through aDNA and isotope analyses, within a framework of statistical chronological modelling. We expect this project to enhance the debate greatly.

Copyright of Anthropology Magazine is the property of University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Lietuvos Archeologija is the property of Lithuanian Institute of History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The water-well recovered from a Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) level in Tell Seker al-Aheimar, Northeast Syria, represents the oldest well thus far known in Upper Mesopotamia. It demonstrates that the construction of water-wells was a wide-spread practice among the PPNB communities across Cyprus, the Mediterranean coast, and now a far inland region of Upper Mesopotamia. This article provides detailed data on the water-well's excavation and its stratigraphy, morphology, spatial positioning in the settlement, dating, and associated artefacts. An important implication of these data is that the construction and use of this well involved community activities that may have included rituals. Further, its location close to the Khabur River suggests that the well was not constructed to merely obtain fresh water; its major purpose could have been to guarantee the procurement of non-polluted water as this was an increasing concern among the developing Neolithic villages. On the whole, the water-well of Tell Seker al-Aheimar gives us important insights that develop our understanding of the Neolithisation processes of the region, notably the 'domestication of water'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The specific character of the Iron Gates Mesolithic material culture derives from the geomorphological and ecological features of the Iron Gates gorge in the Early Holocene. However, the Mesolithic of this geographic area can be entirely linked to the general flows of Mesolithic development in Europe as well as to the phenomena observed in the Adriatic-Ionian and Aegean zones. This demonstrates that the cultural, technological and economic changes which occurred during the Early Holocene were influenced by the same or similar factors as the entire area of the Balkan Peninsula. The absence of Mesolithic settlements outside the Iron Gates raises the question of whether the interior parts of the Central Balkans were inhabited during the Early Holocene. As hinted by the research in the Iron Gates and the Adriatic hinterland, Mesolithic settlements were probably located outside the denser forested areas (in the littoral and high-altitude zones) but this remains to be confirmed. Based on the assessment of the demographic potential of Mesolithic and Neolithic communities, four scenarios of Neolithisation of different parts of the Balkan Peninsula have been proposed.

Current models view southeast England as where Neolithic lifeways were first introduced to Britain from continental Europe c. 4000 cal BC, however, there has been little work detailing this process in coastal East Anglia. In 2019, work at the Freston causewayed enclosure provided the first view of a major gathering space associated with semi-mobile farming communities of the Early Neolithic in the county of Suffolk and located on a major estuary close to the North Sea. Excavation produced a rich assemblage of worked flint and Mildenhall Ware pottery (potentially for feasting), plus evidence for the consumption of cereals and hazelnuts.

The first ceramic complexes appeared in the forest-steppe and forest zones of Eastern Europe at the end of the 7th–5th millennium BC. They existed until the first half of the 5th millennium BC in the Don River basin. All these first ceramic traditions had common features and also local particularities. Regional cultures, distinguished nowadays on the basis of these local particularities, include the Karamyshevskaya and Middle Don cultures, as well pottery of a new type found at sites on the Middle Don River (Cherkasskaya 3 and Cherkasskaya 5 sites).

The appearance and disappearance of Late Neolithic mega-sites in Central Anatolia are poorly understood. These huge agricultural settlements are all the more puzzling that they seem to be unknown from Southeast Anatolia, the area where the mixed-farming economy (along with its social counterpart, the Domestic Mode of Production) appeared first. In order to tackle these enigmas, the mere reading of the archaeological data will fall short of any convincing explanation. It seems necessary to adopt a sociological point of view, necessarily backed by the appropriate ethnological analyses. From this perspective, it must be acknowledged, before anything else, that the adoption of farming modifies deeply, in the long term, the internal structure of hunter-gatherer societies: the lineage becomes the relevant social unit, while marital alliances are more likely to be contracted with the outside world than within the kinship group. Moreover, this internal adjustment is heavy and slow, and this seems to be the reason why, in a context of lengthy diffusion, mega-sites are not seen equally everywhere. The social reaction to the new mode of production led to the advent of exogamic segmental lineages all over South-West Asia. This process seems however to have taken a markedly different path whether farming slowly came out independently, like in the Euphrates basin, or whether it was rapidly adopted by hunter-gatherers, like in Central Anatolia. The traditional social structure of the latter communities seems to have stood still long after farming began: the reciprocal marital practices (endogamous) appear to have prevented people from leaving the village, leading in time to an accumulation of population. On the contrary, the Euphratean societies, which witnessed the advent of sedentary life and agriculture from the beginning, had a millennium or so to adjust themselves to the Domestic Mode of Production; it is the resulting matrimonial flexibility that arguably allowed small farming sites to spread slowly over Northern Mesopotamia all through the later Neolithic, preventing the concentration of population at any one particular site.

This article, on the Early Neolithic pottery from the Cabeço da Amoreira shellmidden in the Muge region of central Portugal, presents a detailed review of the evidence to date and a systematic analysis of the decorative and mineralogical characteristics of the stratified and radiocarbon-dated ceramic assemblage. A homogenous pottery manufacturing tradition seems to be present right from the beginning, including both local and non-local ceramics. The authors formulate a working hypothesis on the geographic origin of the exogenous pottery, which contributes to the discussion of the dynamics of mobility and social networks in the Neolithization of south-western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of a Neolithic mode of production in prehistory had a significant impact on subsequent economic and demographic developments. Early farming in Norway is usually inferred from the pollen record or distribution maps of imported axes, which indicate its introduction around the Oslo Fjord around 3900 cal BCE. A persistent anomaly for this model is the lack of direct evidence of cultivation and knowledge of where farming took place. This paper argues that a number of sites used for farming in the Early Neolithic were discovered by excavations in Southeastern Norway in the period from 2004 -2013. It is dedicated to the presentation and interpretation of these sites. As a main result of the investigations, the number of known Early Neolithic farming sites in Southeastern Norway increases from one to 15. It suggests a new economic model for the Oslo Fjord region that a) accounts for places of farming and b) argues that acculturation was an important factor for the adoption of farming in this region of Scandinavia. The poor condition of the 15 Early Neolithic farming sites in Southeastern Norway indicates that subsequent cultivation has erased most traces left behind from this pioneer phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Materiały Zachodniopomorskie: Annual Science Journal of National Museum in Szczecin is the property of Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Documenta Praehistorica is the property of Documenta Praehistorica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Documenta Praehistorica is the property of Documenta Praehistorica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Archaeological Materials & Research / Materiale şi Cercetǎri Arheologice is the property of Institute of Archaeology "Vasile Parvan" and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The lithic assemblages from the principal early Neolithic sites in Northern Dalmatia have been analysed with respect to the technological aspects and principles of schéma and chaîne opératoire, débitage economy and raw material economy. Northern Dalmatia, the most fertile region of the Eastern Adriatic, hosts the most important Neolithic open-air sites. Early Neolithic is associated with the Impressed Ware culture and dates back to c. 6000–5400 cal BC. The Early Neolithic lithic assemblages are characterized by the pressure blade production techniques on high-quality Gargano cherts reflecting important socio-economic and technical mutations that are specific to the Neolithic. Moreover, the almost exclusive reliance on these exogenous cherts emphasizes the social aspects of such networks and reinforces the idea of cultural uniformity of Dalmatian and Apulian Impressed Ware.

The region of Inner North-western Anatolia was a key node in the transmission of the Neolithic lifestyle from the Near East to Marmara, and from there to the Balkans and the rest of Europe. It formed the intersection between several important routes and trade networks, and the settlement of Keçiçayırı, the subject of this paper, had an essential role in the transfer of cultural elements during the Neolithic. The settlement is located on a natural communication route that connects the region of Emirdag-Bolvadin with Eskisehir across the mountainous area of Phrygia, between the distribution areas of the Hacılar and Fikirtepe cultural groups. Finds from the site include both Pre-Pottery Neolithic material and Early Neolithic ceramics, and it is therefore among the earliest permanent settlements of the Eskisehir region, and contains some of the earliest evidence for the Neolithisation process. In this paper, the pottery assemblage of the Early Neolithic settlement at Keçiçayırı is discussed, and its place in the spread of Neolithisation from the Near East to Northwestern Anatolia is evaluated when compared to other known sites.

The origins of the Neolithic in Polish territories are associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) after the mid-6th millennium BC. Communities of this culture only settled in enclaves distinguished by ecological conditions favourable to farming (‘LBK neolithisation’). This situation persisted into the 5th millennium BC, when these enclaves were inhabited by post-Linear groups. This state of affairs changed from c. 4000 BC onwards due to the formation and spectacular territorial expansion of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). In the territories under consideration this expansion covered the areas previously inhabited by both hunter-gatherers (‘TRB neolithisation’) and farmers. Some of the Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers did not accept TRB patterns. They successfully carried on their traditional lifestyle until the Early Bronze Age although some changes in their material culture are visible (including ‘ceramisation’).

Recent excavations at the site of Barcın Höyük provide a detailed view of a settlement founded and inhabited during the early stages of the Neolithic of the Marmara Region of northwestern Anatolia. The occupation history of the site complements and extends further back in time the regional sequence as it had been established for the eastern Marmara Region on the basis of excavations at nearby Mentese, Aktopraklık and Ilıpınar, and Fikirtepe and Pendik in the Istanbul environs. The site of Barcın Höyük is therefore of critical importance for our understanding of the initial neolithisation of northwestern Anatolia. This paper summarizes some of the main findings of the Barcın Höyük excavations with regard to the Neolithic occupation phases.

The appearance of the Neolithic in the Upper Volga region is to be associated with infiltrations of notch-ware pottery-makers into the indigenous Mesolithic populations. Most likely the first vessels were imported into the region as final goods. The undistinguished differences between the Final Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic stone industries prove that this invasion was not a largescale one. This episode should be regarded as transitional from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (i.e., as part of the process of Neolithisation). The non-ornamented/notch-ware ceramics tradition first established in the local cultural environment was soon after discontinued by the appearance of the populations with multi-compound comb-ware pottery about 6500-6400 uncal BP.

In the 1960–70s, fieldwork in the central Zagros Mountains produced evidence of early Holocene Neolithic settlements in this mountainous zone along the ‘Eastern wing’ of the Fertile Cre-scent. Following a long hiatus in fieldwork, new investigations have highlighted once more the po-tential of the transitional Neolithic (c. 9600–8000 BC) and early Neolithic (c. 8000–7000 BC) se-quence in this region. However, some of the pivotal sites that had originally been excavated in the 1960–70s were not published in adequate detail, leaving many questions unanswered. Recent field-work at Asiab and Ganj Dareh directed by the authors has sought to address the issues raised by these previously unpublished excavations. Here we summarise the results of our recent work at these two sites and discuss their implications for our understanding of neolithisation in the central Zagros.

The article is devoted to a critical discussion of the current concepts of the Neolithisation of Polish lands – from the migration models of colonisation to those that do not exclude the participation of the indigenous Mesolithic population in this process. None of the cited concepts explores the socio-cultural, internally conditioned, mechanisms of this epochal change. In the context of these mechanisms, one should look for the necessary and sufficient conditions for the change to occur, in the form of conscious (or more often unconscious) reinterpretation of symbols, norms and socio-cultural structures. This text outlines a fresh area to be explored in future studies of Neolithisation.

The scientific discussion about the spread of the Neolithic into Western Central Europe is usually dominated by analyses of ceramics, chert and archaeobotany. In this discourse, the settlement structure is studied at most as a supplementary source of information, although these data offer a much more direct approach to the question of the formation of the Neolithic as a new way of life. Therefore, the two criteria that were decisive for the selection of the location of the settlements in the Bandkeramik (the natural conditions and the local settlement traditions) are analysed here. This comparison of the settlement patterns of the Earliest Bandkeramik and the LBK provided a new perspective on the formation of Flomborn and thus of the LBK in the strict sense of the word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As field data accumulates, the study of Neolithic Portugal has been receiving increasing attention recently, from material culture and subsistence to ideology. However, little is known about population dynamics. In this paper, we use a judicious selection of radiocarbon determinations to evaluate demographic phenomena within the 9.500–5.000 cal BP range (thus, starting in the Late Mesolithic) making use of "summed probability distribution" analysis. In greater Portugal, results show a negative deviation (i.e. demographic decrease) at 6.400–6.300 cal BP and a positive deviation (i.e. demographic increase) at 5.350–4.950 cal BP. These can be explained, respectively, by the impact of farming about one millennium after its introduction (confirming the "Neolithic demographic transition" model) and by the full establishment of the "secondary products revolution" in the Late Neolithic. However, individual analyses of the northern and southern halves of the country—i.e. using the Mondego river valley as an ecological-geographical divide—show rather contrasting trajectories, with scarce Mesolithic populations and a demographic increase in the megalithism in the North, whereas in the South a demographic crisis occurred at the onset of megalithism (which remains to be fully explained) being followed in the Late Neolithic by a sharp demographic increase. Further summed probability distribution analyses of radiocarbon determinations, particularly if combined with other populational proxies, will be able in the future to detect other demographic events taking place in space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the territory of the Czech Republic Krumlovský les represents the most important source of raw materials for the chipped industry. The extraction of Jurassic cherts peaked as late as in the Early Bronze Age and lasted into the Hallstatt Age. Hence, the extraction was discontinued as late as around 500 BC, and, since the end of the Eneolithic at the furthest, thousands of tonnes of excavated and knapped cherts made their way into the filling of the shafts and on the piles instead of being transported elsewhere. Radiocarbon date GrA-34410 supports the beginning of mining and places the hearth at the mouth of shaft I-12 between the years 8810 and 8560 BC. Remains of extraction on a much larger scale, probably from a front face of the slope, are being uncovered in the Area II. However, the upper portion of the slope and its top was entirely disturbed by quarrying during the Eneolithic and especially the Bronze Age. For the present, the expanse of the Late Mesolithic spoil heap exceeds 50 metres on the contour line and 16 metres on the slope, and in one-meter thickness it continues farther to the east. This mass-scale activity with no evident practical purpose suggests that certain social changes were also occurring in south Moravia just before the onset of the Neolithic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multilayer settlement Rakushechny Yar situated in the lower Don River (Rostov region, Russia) is one of the oldest early Neolithic sites in this region, dated to the 7th and 6th millennia BC. Recent investigations have shown a particular importance of this site in the study of the spread of the Near Eastern "Neolithic package" and the neolithisation of Eastern Europe. Long-term study has provided unique evidence of lives of ancient communities. New 14C dates contribute to refining the chronology of the recently excavated to dating the development of cultural traditions more precisely. The excellent preservation state of organic materials led to uncovering a rich assemblage of faunal and fish remains, household constructions, hunting and fishing tools, as well as pottery. The subsistence strategies and the life cycle of these communities were reconstructed through multiple proxies, which describe a particular system of resource management determined by specific economic, environmental and cultural conditions. Rich fish remains, shell middens, site location, specific toolkit with restricted categories, and incomplete context of tool production testify all that it was a specialized site for aquatic resource procurement. Faunal remains indicated the use of resources from other ecological niches as well. Finds of bones of domesticated animals in the same Early Neolithic layers may suggest even a more complicated organization of this ancient community and may indicate the northern limit of the Neolithic package distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multidisciplinary research team of this new project aimed at the chronological, anthropological and funerary behavior characterization of the skeletal remains unearthed from various caves in western Liguria (northwestern Italy) between the mid-1800s and the 1990s. Most of the burials and scattered bone assemblages were excavated prior to the development of modern stratigraphic methods, or come from disturbed contexts, often resulting in a vague chrono-cultural attribution. We present here the results of a systematic dating project that produced 130 new AMS dates on human bone samples (documented burials or individuals from scattered remains) from sixteen Ligurian caves, including most of the skeletal series from renowned sites such as Arene Candide Cave and Grotta Pollera. Results highlighted the funerary use of these caves from the last quarter of the sixth millennium BCE to the Common Era, with the majority of results clustering in the first half of the fifth millennium BCE. These dates allow for an initial assessment of patterns in Neolithic mortuary use of Ligurian caves, and aided in particular the characterization of funerary practices during the Square Mouthed Pottery culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed knowledge about the history of vegetation, fire and land use is scarce in Northern Greece. We analysed lake sediments from Limni Zazari (Northern Greece) to reconstruct the past local vegetation and fire history with a special focus on land use and its impacts on erosion and lake eutrophication. Our data suggest a rather dense steppic vegetation after ca 20,000 cal bp (18050 cal bc). Forest expansion with Pinus sylvestris and admixed Quercus pubescens started around 14,500 cal bp (12550 cal bc). After the onset of the Holocene, mixed deciduous sub-mediterranean oak forests expanded, accompanied by rapidly decreasing soil erosion rates and increasing aquatic biological productivity. Pollen of cereals and Plantago lanceolata suggests continuous farming activities in the region after 8,200 cal bp (6250 cal bc), in agreement with archaeological evidence. Fairly closed mixed pine-oak forests dominated the landscape until ca 3,500 cal bp (1550 cal bc) that were only temporarily reduced during the Neolithic around 7,100 and 6,500 cal bp (5150 and 4550 cal bc). Land cover changes and aquatic biogeochemistry were closely linked during this period. Forest phases corresponded to lake eutrophication and hypolimnetic anoxia (meromixis), whereas during periods of deforestation (e.g. around 8,200 cal bp/6250 cal bc) soil erosion rates and lake mixing increased, while aquatic productivity decreased. After 3,500 cal bp (1550 cal bc) humans disrupted forests and open land vegetation expanded (e.g. Artemisia, Rumex-type, Cichorioideae, Chenopodiaceae). With the onset of the Iron Age (ca. 3,050 cal bp/1100 cal bc) grassland communities expanded massively and pine-oak forests gradually declined. Anthropogenic pressure on forests increased even more during the past 500 years. Finally, forest recovery during the recent decades led to decreased erosion and increased lake productivity. We conclude that over the millennia, intense pastoral and arable activities shaped both aquatic and terrestrial environments, ultimately creating a humanized vegetation mosaic in which the original natural mixed deciduous oak forests only form relict stands. Future climate warming and decreasing anthropogenic pressure may release a rapid spread of mixed deciduous oak forests around Limni Zazari. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The analysis of plant macroremains from Poças de São Bento, a shell-midden in the Sado Valley (Portugal), has provided interesting insights into the shell-midden formation processes and the presence of resources which are often "invisible" in this kind of sites. Preservation and representation issues are discussed in a bidirectional way. Potential complementary explanations for the presence of such plant remains in hunter-gatherer open-air sites are offered. The understanding of plant exploitation patterns by these last hunter-gatherers in Portugal is crucial for the comprehension of the multifaceted phenomena of Neolithisations, in this case, characterised by a long availability phase and ultimate adoption of domesticates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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