This volume collects papers on the pre-Corded Ware horizon in central Europe and adjacent areas (i.e. from c. 3500 – 2800 BC). This phase is very patchily researched, partly also because certain kinds of evidence, notably domestic architecture and burials, are rare or absent in many regions. This has occasionally been interpreted as signs of a major crisis and population bottleneck, which in turn facilitated the migration of new populations from the steppe, bringing with them amongst others new economic regimes, ideologies and settlement patterns.Research over the last few years has shown that this scenario needs to be nuanced. Although evidence remains scattered, a picture of regional diversity is emerging, with probably mobile but well-connected Late Neolithic societies undergoing social changes of their own, and instituting several key innovations long before the appearance of the Corded War

In the 5th millennium BCE, the first farming societies in the Western Alps developed unique burial practices characterized by Chamblandes-type graves. These box-shaped graves, constructed from stone slabs or wooden planks, have intrigued archaeologists since the 19th century, particularly around Lake Geneva and the Upper Rhône Valley. This study delves into the origins, spread, and distinctive characteristics of these graves, especially their transalpine significance with an extensive focus on previously under-researched areas like the Italian Aosta Valley or the German-speaking part of Switzerland. By significantly increasing the number of available radiocarbon dates, as well as comprehensively analyzing the grave goods and the treatment of human remains in the context of funerary practices, the study provides new insights into the chronology and regional variations of Chamblandes-type graves. This research reveals the contemporaneous emergence of the use of these graves in several Alpine valleys and the southern shore of Lake Geneva around 4800 BCE, as well as providing evidence for the process of their subsequent spread and sharp decline in use after 4000 BCE.The findings reveal shared practices among these early farming communities, yet also indicate distinct funerary customs between inner Alpine valleys and the Swiss Plateau. Highlighting that local prehistoric societies in the Western Alpine region reacted similarly to the death of an individual within the community, as expressed by grave architecture and the treatment of human remains. Demonstrating additionally, that the Alps should not be understood as barriers, but as a conduit for social exchange and interaction across valleys and mountain passes more than 6000 years ago. This nuanced understanding is essential for future research, setting the stage for studies on the social structure, mobility, and diet of these Neolithic populations through paleogenetic and isotopic analyses.

The aim of the thesis was to provide a framework for the identification and analysis of individual craftspeople in bifacial flint production. Flint production flakes from replications of South Scandinavian Late Neolithic daggers and Early Bronze Age sickles were the focus of the study, in contrast to research so far, mostly relying on finished and often exceptional pieces.To identify technical traditions within technological systems and/or personal approaches to production, it is necessary to analyse the complete production process. Studies concerned with the process have mostly relied on typical and easy to identify production flakes. This facilitates the identification of tool manufacture and prevents mixing with other production processes, but it also prevents the actual identification of individual approaches to bifacial flint production. Typical flint flakes are typical because physical laws restrict the mode of possible removal. They are, by definition, strategic moments in the production process, which cannot be changed without altering the outcome, so everyone has to work the flint in more or less the same way. Personal or traditional approaches will not be found there, but in the small, flexible steps in between. This is what the volume presents.By detailed analysis of the working procedures of modern knappers, combined with statistical analysis of technical attributes on the production flakes, the possibilities for identification of differing approaches are explored. The analysis shows that the differences on personal or traditional levels are not to be found in the process of removal, but are more clearly distinguished in the preparation for removal. Likewise, the preferences for certain working techniques can be reconstructed and used to distinguish between knappers’ approaches. The results and the approach of the thesis can help us gain a clearer picture of local technical traditions of flint production. They also provide opportunities to identify and analyse processes of knowledge transmission and by this to reconstruct possible paths of learning, contacts between groups and the development and change of technological systems.

This work deals with topics related to mobility, contacts and transmission of knowledge. The study of these topics regarding the past can promote an understanding of the social implications of migration, communication and learning today through long-term perspectives of change. This volume focuses on these topics in the Mesolithic by analysing a specialised lithic concept known previously from Scandinavia and Northern Germany. The implementation of the Handle Core Pressure Concept (HCPC) is based on a pressure technique to produce small regular blades from single-fronted cores, often utilised in slotted bone points. The use of pressure technique means that the HCPC requires social learning for maintenance and diffusion of the tradition.The research questions focus on three aspects of the HCPC: technology, chronology and the transmission of knowledge that are involved in the diffusion process. Materials from across Northern Europe have been studied and analysed. The results show that the morphology of the materials is similar across Europe, but that there are differences in the technological choices made by knappers in different parts of the area. These variations relate to the core preparation. The technological differences are also connected to two different chronologies that are centred east and west of the Baltic Sea, which would indicate two separate technological and social traditions.The cores east of the Baltic Sea still require more research in order to understand how they relate to other concepts in and around Northern Europe. The cores from Scandinavia, however, exhibit strong technological similarities to an older pressure-based blade concept that was already used in Scandinavia in the Early Mesolithic. The long-term use and the rapid diffusion of the HCPC indicate that knowledge and know-how must have diffused via both vertical and horizontal directionalities. These results exemplify the complex ways that mobility, social learning, material availability, tradition and many other aspects played a role in the transmission of knowledge in Mesolithic societies.

5,000 years ago, a migration shaped Europe’s future. Migrating communities spread across Europe within two centuries, leaving lasting changes in interconnectivity, language, and ancestry. Yet these migrating communities did not enter an empty continent. Across Europe, they encountered indigenous communities with millennia-old roots. What interactions between migrating and indigenous communities gave rise to those lasting changes?This study sheds new light on this question with an innovative approach to ceramics. Ceramics bear traces of the production techniques which potters learned and applied to create them. The approach developed here combines a chaîne opératoire analysis of these traces with network analysis and probability theory to provide a quantitative estimate of the amount of shared knowledge between the prehistoric potters who made these ceramics.This approach is applied to ceramics from migrating Corded Ware communities and indigenous Funnel Beaker West communities in the Netherlands. The aim is to detect whether potters in these communities interacted and shared knowledge. The outcomes offer a unique perspective on this period and prehistoric migrations in general. Migrating and indigenous communities are shown to co-exist for several centuries at the start of the third millennium BCE with evidence for migrant potters learning repeatedly from indigenous potters and incorporating this knowledge into the production of Corded Ware vessels.

In 1896 a remarkable hoard was discovered near Ommerschans in the eastern Netherlands that included a spectacular object: a giant bronze sword. It was obtained by the landowner and kept by a forester, until it was first documented by archaeologist J.H. Holwerda in 1927. For over 85 years it remained in private ownership and inaccessible to science. Over time this sword, or rather dirk, would prove not to be a singular exception. Instead it is now part of a select family of six discovered in England (Oxborough and Rudham), France (Plougrescant and Beaune) and the Netherlands (Jutphaas and Ommerschans). In 2017 the Ommerschans hoard was obtained by the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities, bringing all six into the public domain.The Plougrescant-Ommerschans type swords are some of the most spectacular finds of the European Bronze Age. They are extremely rare, beautiful, expertly crafted and too large and heavy to wield as weapons. Furthermore, their strong resemblance seems to have been crucial, as all six are extremely alike in design, decoration, metal composition and size (with the exception of Jutphaas). But why?This book aims to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding this exceptional group of larger-than-life Bronze Age blades. It offers a detailed overview of the discovery and find context of the Ommerschans hoard, as well as a physical description and analysis of all finds. Also included is a comparative overview of the other five swords, including the primary publication of the Rudham dirk. The findings are subsequently interpreted focusing on their contextualisation within Bronze Age deposition practices, the importance of the visual cohesion of this group, the power and role of aggrandised objects and their potential purpose within the social and metaphysical realm of Bronze Age communities.

This volume has been written in honour of Professor Annelou van Gijn in order to celebrate her distinguished career as an archaeologist and, above all, as an expert in the study of material culture. Annelou started her research with the use-wear analysis of prehistoric flint from the Netherlands, and she extended her interests in every possible direction: time, space, materials and technologies. This volume has been compiled to reflect the broad oeuvre of her work. It focuses on the biographies of a wide range of artefact types made from an equally wide range of materials from Mesolithic and Neolithic Europe, but also glimpses beyond into other periods and geographic regions. The papers focus on different aspects of artefact biographies including raw material acquisition, artefact production, use, and discard, and even the afterlife of objects in our modern society. The objects in question include quotidian tools such as querns and harvesting tools, adhesives that held objects together, and elaborate objects such as maceheads, jewellery, and flint superblades.Whatever the subject of Annelou’s individual publications, at the heart of all of her work is the love of objects and the stories that they have to tell us. The stories in this bundle are a testament of her contagious enthusiasm.

Bei einer Ausgrabung im havelländischen Lietzow in Brandenburg wurden jungsteinzeitliche Siedlungsbefunde entdeckt. Sie gehören zu zwei Hofstellen der jüngeren Linienbandkeramik, die um 5100-5000 v. u. Z. datiert. Die in der äußersten Peripherie des damaligen bäuerlichen Siedlungsgebiets gelegene Siedlung Lietzow 10 bestand über ungefähr zwei Generationen. Die von dichtem Eichen-Kiefernwald umgebene Siedlung lag wie eine kleine Insel auf einer Grundmoränenplatte, die mit relativ fruchtbarem Boden und guter Grundwasserversorgung einen günstigen Standort für eine bäuerliche Existenz bot. Die nahen Niederungsgebiete waren zur gleichen Zeit von mesolithischen Wildbeutergruppen bewohnt.Die Analysen der zahlreichen Tier- und Pflanzenreste von Lietzow 10 zeigen das Bild einer voll entwickelten neolithischen Landwirtschaft mit dem Rind als wichtigstem Nutztier und Emmer als Hauptgetreide. Fischfang und wohl auch Sammelwirtschaft trugen in größerem Umfang zur Nahrungssicherung bei. Die Jagd spielte nur eine untergeordnete Rolle.Trotz ihrer randlichen Lage war die Siedlung aber keinesfalls isoliert. Der Großteil der Formen und Verzierungen des umfangreichen Keramikinventars zeigt deutlich den Einfluss aus dem mitteldeutschen Raum. Darüber hinaus sind weitreichende Fernbeziehungen bis Süddeutschland nachweisbar. Auch die Steinartefakte belegen Fernkontakte. Der Großteil der Steingeräte verweist auf ein regionales Netzwerk, da Flint und Mahlsteinrohstoff als Vollkerne von in einiger Entfernung zur Siedlung gelegenen Abbaustellen stammen. Hingegen fehlt ein eindeutiger Beweis für einen Austausch zwischen den mesolithischen und neolithischen Gruppen im Havelland.English abstractThis publication presents research on the first peasants of the Linear Pottery group in Brandenburg, northern Germany. The region is of particular interest because it is situated in the absolute periphery of the Linear Pottery area. The volume combines the results on settlement features, pottery and stone tools with archaeobotanical and archaeozoological studies on the diet and economy of these Neolithic people with focus on the site of Lietzow 10. This holistic approach fulfils a research desideratum, because the state of knowledge about such enclaves of agricultural life in the midst of the settlement area of forager groups is still incomplete.The excavation of the site Lietzow 10 yielded features from which a settlement site with two farmsteads could be reconstructed, which was inhabited for 2-3 generations. Large quantities of pottery were found, according to typology dating into the period around 5100 to 5000 BCE at the latest, i.e. to the younger LBK. Several radiocarbon dates support this chronological classification and confirm the Linear Pottery chronologies from Central Germany for Brandenburg features.Despite its peripheral location, the settlement site was by no means isolated; the pottery finds even attest to long-distance contacts. The supply of raw material for the stone implements points to a regional network, for flint and grindstone raw material were not extracted in the vicinity of the site, but were apparently mined some distance away.The archaeozoological and archaeobotanical investigations – for the latter, samples from other Neolithic settlements in Havelland were also available – provide insights into the economic practices and diet of the settlers. The cereals found were almost exclusively emmer, other crops were flax and pea. Animal husbandry was of outstanding importance for the food supply. Among the domestic animals, cattle probably played the greatest economic role, but pigs and small ruminants were also significant. Both, the crop and the domestic animal evidence show a fully developed agriculture. In addition, there is evidence for extensive gathering. Hunting – unlike fishing – did not play a major role in the diet, although wide range of game species is represented.

The Celtic languages and groups called Keltoi (i.e. ‘Celts’) emerge into our written records at the pre-Roman Iron Ag

Traditional archaeological ideas about Neolithic societies were shaped by questionable premises. The modern concept of social and cultural coherence of residence groups as well as the ethnic interpretation of ‘archaeological cultures’ fostered ideas of static and homogeneous social entities with fixed borders. Farming – as the core of the Neolithic way of life – was associated with sedentariness rather than with spatial mobility and cross-regional social networks. Furthermore, the widely used (neo-)evolutionist thinking universally assumed a growing social complexity and hierarchisation during prehistory. After all, such ‘top-down'–perspectives deprived individuals and groups of genuine agency and creativity while underestimating the relational dynamic between the social and material worlds. In recent years, a wide array of empirical results on social practices related to material culture and settlement dynamics, (inter-)regional entanglements and spatial mobility were published. For the latter the adoption of the relatively new scientific methods in archaeology like Stable Isotope Analysis as well as aDNA played a crucial role. Yet the question of possible inferences regarding spatial and temporal differences in forms of social organisation has not been addressed sufficiently. The aim of this volume is therefore to rethink former top-down concepts of Neolithic societies by studying social practices and different forms of Neolithic social life by adopting bottom-up social archaeological perspectives. Furthermore, the validity and relevance of terms like ‘society’, ‘community’, ‘social group’ etc. will be discussed. The contributions reach from theoretical to empirical ones and thematize a variety of social theoretical approaches as well as methodological ways of combining different sorts of data. They show the potential of such bottom-up approaches to infer models of social practices and configurations which may live up to the potential social diversity and dynamism of Neolithic societies. The contribution shed light on spatial mobility, social complexity, the importance of (political) interests and factors of kinship etc. We hope that this volume, with its focus on the Neolithic of Europe, will contribute to the ongoing critical debates of theories and concepts as well as on our premises and perspectives on Neolithic societies in general – and the practices of social archaeology as such.

Im südlichen Mitteleuropa stellen die Alpen zugleich Barrieren als auch Kommunikationsräume dar. Über diese topografischen, naturräumlichen Begrenzungen hinweg belegen archäologische Fundsituationen immer wieder zahlreiche Nachweise transalpiner Mobilität, deren Entwicklung im Verlauf der prähistorischen Epochen in verschiedenen Formen von Interaktionen und Netz-werken erkennbar ist. Die damit einhergehenden sichtbaren Transformationsprozesse im archäologischen Fundmaterial kann unter der Fragestellung der soziokulturellen und sozial-ökonomischen Verbindungen zwischen Siedlungsgemeinschaften betrachtet werden. Der Schwerpunkt des Untersuchungsgebiets liegt auf dem Alpenrheintal und den benachbarten inneralpinen Tallandschaften sowie der am Ausgang der Traversale liegenden Regionen mit ihrer hohen Dichte an prähistorischen Siedlungsplätzen. Dafür wurden Fundensembles neolithischer und bronzezeitlicher Fundstellen erfasst und analysiert. Durch die Aufarbeitung bisher publizierter Fundstellen konnten chronologische Lücken mittels Radiokarbondatierungen durch stratifizierte Proben von Schlüsselfundstellen geschlossen werden. Diese Datierungen werfen ein neues Licht auf die absolute Chronologie des Raumes und bilden die Grundlagen dieser Studie. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist eine diachrone Synthese vom Neolithikum bis in die Bronzezeit, um anhand ausgewählter Fundstellen im zentralen Alpenraum, die gekennzeichnet sind durch die Diversität des keramischen Fundmaterials und seinen stilistischen Veränderungen, Modelle zu Mobilität und Netzwerken zu entwickeln. Die keramischen Funde zeigen weitreichende Kommunikationsprozesse zwischen den inneralpinen und voralpinen Regionen auf. Ab der Bronzezeit sind im zentralen Alpenraum eindeutige stilistische Einflüsse im Fundmaterial aus nördlicher und südlicher Richtung erkennbar, die für Handelsrouten über die Alpenpässe sprechen. Die damit in Verbindung stehende Besiedlung der Alpengebiete kann somit weder als isoliertes Phänomen betrachtet werden, noch kann dies ohne Berücksichtigung der soziokulturellen Gesellschaftsstrukturen verstanden werden. Im Zusammenhang damit stehen die Dynamiken und Beweggründe der urgeschichtlichen Alpen-besiedlung mit ihren exogenen und endogenen Faktoren, die die Besiedlung der Landschaften limitieren, transformieren und somit den Naturraum als auch die Ökonomie und soziokulturellen Aspekte prägen, was sich u. a. in der Erschliessung von Handelswegen zeigt. Dieses komplexe Zusammenspiel wird vor allem an den bronzezeitlichen Höhensiedlungen im Untersuchungsgebiet aufgedeckt. English abstract In southern Central Europe, the Alps represent both barriers and communication spaces. Across these topographical, natural boundaries, archaeological find situations repeatedly provide numerous evidences of transalpine mobility, whose development in the course of prehistoric epochs is recognisable in various forms of interactions and networks. The accompanying visible transformation processes in the archaeological find material can be considered under the question of socio-cultural and socio-economic connections between settlement communities. The focus of the study area is on the Alpine Rhine Valley and the neighbouring inner Alpine valley landscapes as well as the regions at the exit of the traverse with their high density of prehistoric settlement sites. The aim of this study is a diachronic synthesis from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in order to develop models of mobility and networks on the basis of selected sites in the central Alpine region, which are characterised by the diversity of the ceramic find material and its stylistic changes.

Before the introduction of Roman temples in the Low Countries, there used to be ‘open air cult places’ in the Iron Age. That is at least the assumption based on descriptions given by classical writers and several structures typified as sanctuaries that were excavated in France.Several of these French sanctuaries portray long usage, modifications, disarticulated human remains, and depositions of animal bones and Iron Age weaponry. However, the regularly encountered rectangular structures in Belgium and the Netherlands that are often interpreted as cult places do not have any of these indicators. Even though the shape is similar, the evidence these structures deliver testifies to short term utilisation, pottery depositions and a vaguely defined relation to cremation graves.Can these structures and accompanying depositions be perceived as the result of actions to invoke gods or deities as is claimed for the French sanctuaries? The finds and features seem more suitable when the rectangular structures are interpreted as part of ancestral worship. Although, what does that actually entail? How did Iron Age people actually conceptualise or practise interaction with ancestral spirits?In this thesis the use of rectangular structures during the Iron Age is explored and the meaning of related depositions interpreted. The structures fulfilled a special sociocultural position in Iron Age society, emphasised by the deliberately chosen liminal location in an increasingly structured landscape.

This book collects recent works on the subjects of sacrificial offerings, ritualised violence and the relative values thereof in the contexts of Scandinavian prehistory from the Neolithic to the Viking era. It provides a detailed re-appraisal of key aspects of prehistoric bog bodies using the latest forensic and material culture analytical techniques to examine questions of sacrifice, execution and ritual behaviour.The volume re-opens investigations into notions of value relating to diverse evidence and suggested evidence for human sacrifice and related ritualised violence. It covers a broad spectrum of issues relating to novel interpretations of the existing archaeological materials, but with a focus on the study of value and value dynamics in these diverse ritual contexts, engaging in questions of identity, cosmology, economics and social relations. Cases span from the Scandinavian Late Neolithic and Nordic Bronze Age, through to the well-known wetland deposits and bog bodies of the Iron Age, to Viking era executions, ‘deviant’ burials and contemporaneous double/multiple graves, exploring the implications for the transformation of sacrificial practices across Scandinavian prehistory.Each contributor untangles the myriad forms of value at play in different incarnations of human offerings, and provide insights into how those values were expressed, for example in the selection and treatment of victims in relation to their status, personhood, identity and life-history.The volume builds on a workshop hosted at the National Museum of Denmark in 2018 which inaugurated the beginning of the research project ‘Human Sacrifice and Value: The limits of sacred violence’ and was supported by the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo. It brings together research and perspectives that go beyond the who, what and where of most archaeological and anthropological investigations of sacrificial violence to address both the underlying and explicit forms of value associated with such events.

Around 3000 BCE, a turning point occurred in Europe: Long-existing regional societies entered into a process of transformation. The result is a world in which new global communication networks brought different regions closer together. From 3200/3100 BCE, the Globular Amphora phenomenon (GA) was the trailblazer in Eastern and Central Europe. Due to a focus on pastoral subsistence, in comparison to more agrarian economic systems, new ritual practices formed in light of a more flexible form of settlement. We initially observe the symbolic separation manifested through the “Globular Amphora” in an area between the Lower Vistula and Middle Elbe. Communication networks form rapidly in the West (the Elbe-Network) and in the East (the Vistula-Podolia Network). The monopolisation of the practice of double cattle burials connected regional patterns of mobility in the lowlands between the Elbe and the Dniester.With the aid of spatial analyses of the systems of symbols (Zeichensysteme) on locally/micro-regionally produced Globular Amphorae, a proxy is developed for the degree of similarity of the GA-habitus in different regions. Bayesian modelling and spatial visualisations of the radiometric dates indicate temporal sequences and synchronic changes within the newly-developed “global” GA-connectivity.Genetic analyses attest to the indigenous character of the GA individuals in Central Europe. Both isotopic and ceramic technology analyses provide evidence for a mobility radius of up to 50 km for the local groups.In the main phase of the GA, the Elbe and Vistula-Podolia networks appear separated. In the West the core areas are in Bohemia/Moravia, the Middle Elbe-Saale-Havel area, and the north-western Baltic areas; in the East, they are along the Vistula, in Podolia-Volhynia, and in the Siret area.GA networks are mostly symbiotically connected with the local and regional agricultural groups. The GA is, among other things, heavily involved in the formation of the multicultural Corded Ware phenomenon. Its end in 2600 BCE is linked to processes of change which also affected the change from Corded Ware to the Bell Beaker phenomenon. Only in the eastern areas, where a strong reciprocal influence with elements from the Steppe existed, can GA still be found until c. 2400 BCE.The emergence of the GA networks is described as social separation on the basis of social disharmonies within the Funnel Beaker societies, which is also visible via a reduction of the human impact in the palaeoecological archives. A new connectivity of diversified groups developed as a form of levelling mechanism, which in the long-term was part of the transformation of the entirety of European prehistory around 3000 BCE.

From 2013-2022 the largest Stone Age excavation ever undertaken in Denmark, uncovered an entire fjord landscape beneath marine sediments at Rødbyhavn on the island of Lolland. Based on the excavations, Museum Lolland-Falster, in collaboration with Aarhus University and the Danish National Museum, organised an international conference on the topic of "LOST 2022 – Changing Identity in a Changing World" on 16 and 17 June 2022 to discuss the time around 4000 BCE in Denmark and beyond from different angles. This book summarizes the conference and presents its main outcomes. It also gives an overview of the current state of research within the Femern project and sets them into context with the wider area. By including contributions from the Netherlands to Finland, the central position of Lolland as a corridor in the Stone Age is highlighted and discussed. The topics covered in this book deal with technological change, archaeological analyses of identity, aspects of landscape interaction and perception in the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. This book is aimed at specialists, students and the interested public alike, as it provides the first complete overview of the excavations of the Femern project and places them in context. At the same time, it serves as a basis for further studies on the material and highlights the challenges and possibilities of the archaeological record from the period around 4000 BCE.

Das europäische Neolithikum zeichnet sich durch eine Vielzahl von Umgangsweisen mit menschlichen Körpern von Toten aus. Der archäologische Diskurs zu Mensch, Körper und Tod stützte sich für das Neolithikum traditionell jedoch auf Körperbestattungen. Dies ist unter anderem auf die in der westlichen Welt vorherrschende Idealvorstellung von Totenruhe und der Deponierung eines Körpers an einem, oft separat dafür vorgesehenen Ort zurückzuführen. In der letzten Zeit gerieten jedoch Deponierungen fragmentierter und mitunter auch manipulierter menschlicher Überreste in den Fokus des Interesses, nicht zuletzt durch die Zunahme neuer archäologischer Funde, die sich mit traditionellen Begriffen und Konzepten nicht ohne weiteres erklären lassen. Eine wachsende Zahl solcher Funde fordert die Archäologie heraus, sich mit diesen Themen aus neuen Perspektiven zu beschäftigen.Der vorliegende Band integriert theoretische Reflexionen zur Bedeutung des menschlichen Körpers und zur Wahrnehmung des Übergangs vom Leben zum Tod, wie sie anhand von Bestattungen und Deponierungen menschlicher Überreste und archäologischer Funde untersucht werden können. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf dem neolithischen Mitteleuropa. Mit Hilfe verschiedener interdisziplinärer und theoretischer Ansätze wird anhand von Fallstudien deutlich, dass etablierte Praktiken und performative Akte des Umgangs mit dem menschlichen Körper hochkomplex sind und daher auch gemeinsam aus unterschiedlichen Blickwinkeln betrachtet werden sollten.Der aus einer Tagungssektion in Würzburg 2019 hervorgegangene Sammelband vereint dabei Beiträge zu verschiedenen Gebieten und neolithischen Subperioden, wie der Linearbandkeramik, der Trichterbecherkultur und dem subalpinen Spätneolithikum, darunter prominente Fundkomplexe. Eingerahmt werden diese von Aufsätzen, die sich kritisch mit der archäologischen Erforschung des Umgangs von Tod und mit Toten auseinandersetzen und einem zusammenfassenden Überblick zu den Beiträgen des Sammelbandes geben.English AbstractThe European Neolithic is characterized by a variety of practices for dealing with human remains. In Central European Neolithic studies, the archaeological discourse on humans, bodies and death has traditionally dealt with finds of inhumations. This is not least due to dominant Western conceptions of death involving the deposition of the intact body at one, often delimited, place. Recently, focus has been drawn to the depositions of fragmented and even manipulated human remains, not least through an increasing amount of new archaeological evidence, which challenges traditional archaeological terms, concepts and research practices. The present volume integrates theoretical perspectives on the meaning of the human body and the perception of the transformation from life to death in as much as they can be studied from archaeological finds such as burials and depositions of human remains, with a special focus on Neolithic Central Europe. The collection of papers, the result of a session at a conference in Würzburg 2019, brings together articles with theoretical approaches, as well as contributions which deal with different areas and Neolithic sub-periods, such as the Linear Pottery culture, the Funnel Beaker Culture and the sub-alpine Late Neolithic, and includes prominent find complexes. These are framed by essays that critically examine archaeological research on the handling of death and the dead, and a summary overview of the contributions to the volume