Clachtoll broch is one of the most spectacular Iron Age settlements on the northern mainland of Scotland. When it became clear that the structure was threatened by coastal erosion, community heritage group Historic Assynt launched a major programme of conservation and excavation works designed to secure the vulnerable structure and recover the archaeological evidence of its occupation and use. The resulting excavation provided evidence of a long and complex history of construction and rebuilding, with the final, middle Iron Age occupation phase ending in a catastrophic fire and collapse of the tower by the early years of the first century AD. The internal deposits span perhaps 50 years of the broch’s final occupation and were remarkably well preserved, with no evidence for secondary re-use or disturbance after the fire. As a result, the excavation provides a remarkable snapshot of life in Iron Age Scotland, with an artefact assemblage attesting to daily agricultural life as well as long-range contacts that sets the broch within a wider Atlantic community. Specialist analysis of the artefactual and palaeoenvironmental evidence coupled with detailed analysis of the structure in its local geographical context combine to provide a major new contribution to the archaeology of north-west Scotland, with wider implications for our understanding of late prehistoric society in northern Britain. This report comprises the results of the archaeological investigations at Clachtoll, compiled by a team of archaeologists and specialists from AOC Archaeology Group, and brings together evidence from a range of specialist analyses as well as environmental and landscape investigations.

This book discusses the lithic technology of the neighboring sites of Ruien and Kerkhove (Belgium). The Final-Palaeolithic occupation of Ruien took place during the harsh climatic conditions of the Younger Dryas. The Early and Middle Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from Kerkhove on the other hand lived in the temperate and forested environments of the subsequent Early Holocene period. The aim of this work is more precisely to gain a better understanding of how the practice of flintknapping evolved throughout this time period. Should we describe it as a period of long-term stability or as a period of technological rupture and innovation? Can we pinpoint precise moments of change and how are these changes expressed? In the raw material procurement strategies? In the knapping methods or knapping techniques? Or even in the spatial organization of technological behavior at the sites? To provide an answer to some of these questions, the lithic artefacts of Ruien and Kerkhove have been subjected to a detailed analysis, among others by means of lithic refitting. For Ruien, the refitting demonstrates an early adoption of some of the knapping procedures considered typical for lithic industries occurring at the end of the Younger Dryas and the beginning of the Holocene. For the Early Mesolithic of Kerkhove, based on the presence of more elaborate chaînes opératoires, the refitting results advocate a greater affinity with Final-Palaeolithic traditions than often acknowledged. Finally, the analysis also yielded important new results for the Middle Mesolithic, that remained poorly known at a technological level until now. During the latter, the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt (RMS) area sees the introduction of new knapping methods, knapping techniques and knapping objectives marking a clear rupture with the preceding periods.

In 2015 at Dalfsen (the Netherlands) archaeologists made an amazing discovery. They found a burial ground dating from the TRB-period (3000-2750 BC) comprising 141 burial pits. The TRB is dated in the last phase of the Middle Neolithic period and is well known for its megalithic monuments which are widespread through large parts of northern Europe. Until recently few non-megalithic burial grounds were known and the find of the Dalfsen burials created new opportunities to study the mortuary ritual in more detail. It sheds light on the social organisation of local TRB communities in this part of the world. The results not only provide evidence for the existence of large multi-person burial mounds during the TRB-period, but also provide intriguing evidence of continuity from this period to the period of the Corded Ware culture – a transition now often interpreted in terms of migration.This volume is the first scientific publication dealing with this unique site. It contains a detailed description and interpretation of the site. A catalogue in which all graves and finds are described in detail, is available separately.

In 2015 at Dalfsen (the Netherlands) archaeologists made an amazing discovery. They found a burial ground dating from the TRB-period (3000-2750 BC) comprising 141 burial pits. The TRB is dated in the last phase of the Middle Neolithic period and is well known for its megalithic monuments which are widespread through large parts of northern Europe. Until recently few non-megalithic burial grounds were known and the find of the Dalfsen burials created new opportunities to study the mortuary ritual in more detail. It sheds light on the social organisation of local TRB communities in this part of the world. The results not only provide evidence for the existence of large multi-person burial mounds during the TRB-period, but also provide intriguing evidence of continuity from this period to the period of the Corded Ware culture – a transition now often interpreted in terms of migration.This volume is a full catalogue of the site. It contains a detailed description of the graves and finds. A volume containing the interpretation of the burial ground is available separately.

This volume combines the most up-to-date discoveries and perspectives of Near Eastern Neolithic lithics by leading international archaeologists. It presents the proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Chipped and Ground Stone Industries of the Near East, hosted at the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2019 (PPN9-Tokyo). The book places emphasis on regional perspectives to evaluate the Near Eastern Neolithic. Current research indicates that the earliest farming societies of the Near East developed in interaction with neighbouring hunter-gatherer societies, that either coexisted with them for long periods or soon assimilated to the Near Eastern farmers. Understanding these contrasting processes sheds new light on identifying the Neolithisation practices of the 'core' regions in the Near East itself. The 39 papers in this volume include contributions on the Iranian Zagros, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, a region whose Neolithic archaeological records are far less well understood but which enrich our understanding of the first farming societies of the Near East.

This volume presents a complete study of the architecture and finds from the House of the Frescoes at Knossos, a Neopalatial building uncovered by Sir Arthur Evans and Duncan Mackenzie in 1923 and 1926. Located in a prominent position, a few meters south of the Royal Road and close to both the Theatral Area and the north-west corner of the Palace, the House of the Frescoes owes its name to the large deposit of painted plaster discovered within its ruins. Reinvestigation of the House took place in 2016–2019 and included: on-site cleaning of the remains in 2018; detailed analysis of the pottery and other finds; and study of archival material from the original excavations (excerpts presented in this volume). The results offer new insights into the architecture and finds’ contexts, as well as fresh perspectives on the building’s occupation, purpose and abandonment. They suggest that the House of the Frescoes was a non-residential building, and instead had a public role with strong ritual connotations. Its memory survived for a while after its abandonment, as demonstrated by the structured depositions – including the frescoes – found within. Finally, this analysis highlights the urban context of the House of the Frescoes and its connections with the Royal Road area, where much archaeological work has been carried out after Evans. The emerging picture helps to shed further light on the character of Knossos, pre-eminent centre of Minoan Crete at the height of the Bronze Age.

Tell Ahmar – also known as Masuwari, Til Barsib and Kar-Shalmaneser in the first millennium BCE – was first inhabited in the sixth millennium during the Ubaid period, and progressively developed to become a regional centre, and in the eighth and seventh centuries, a provincial capital of the Assyrian empire. Remains from the third millennium (a temple and a funerary complex), the second millennium (an administrative complex and well-preserved houses) and the first millennium (an Assyrian palace and elite residences) are particularly impressive. The book offers an archaeological and historical synthesis of the results obtained by the excavations of François Thureau-Dangin (1929–1931) and by the more recent excavations of the universities of Melbourne (1988–1999) and Liège (2000–2010). It presents a comprehensive and diachronic view of the evolution of the site, which, by its position on the Euphrates at an important crossroads of ancient communication routes, was at the heart of a game of cultural and political interference between Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean world and Asia Minor.

Flixton Park Quarry lies in Suffolk on the south side of the Waveney Valley, on land that has been subject to aggregate extraction for many decades. Historically there was virtually no archaeological recording but the areas opened up since 1995 have all been subject to formal archaeological excavation under the auspices of archaeological planning guidance. The river terrace gravels of lowland Britain have historically provided a rich source for mineral extraction and aerial photography is often the only surviving record of large tracts of archaeological landscape that were destroyed before it became the legal responsibility of quarry operators to provide for archaeological work. Clearly, these multi-period landscapes are a finite and dwindling resource and it is essential to glean as much information as possible in advance of their development-led destruction. The significance of the Flixton Quarry site is not necessarily that the archaeology is unique, indeed aerial photographs often suggest a similar range of both funerary and settlement remains elsewhere, but the opportunities to excavate such large areas do not often occur. The extensive prehistoric archaeology in this volume is dominated by monumental structures of the Early Neolithic (long barrow) and Early Bronze Age (ring-ditches). There were small clusters of unurned cremations of Middle Bronze Age date, a period which may also have seen the initiation of an extensive rectilinear field system. Settlement evidence from the Late Bronze Age included circular timber buildings and also four- or six-post square and rectangular structures that continued to be built into the Early Iron Age.Significant Iron Age/Roman remains included three post-built structures probably representing large granaries (horrea), two pottery kilns and a multiple burial, the latter dated artefactually and by radiocarbon dating to the 1st century AD. Metalwork finds hint at military contact at this time. The Early Anglo-Saxon period is represented at Flixton by two cemeteries (published as Volume I, Boulter and Walton Rogers 2012) and the settlement described here in Volume II. Structural evidence included post-built ‘halls’ and sunken-featured buildings. Artefactual dating suggests the occupation was broadly contemporary with the cemeteries and may have been directly associated.Medieval features were limited to a rectangular enclosure with an entrance to the south that contained a small square enclosure with a central pit. Post-medieval deposits were dominated by ditched field boundaries many of which could be related directly to map evidence and to the farmland and the park surrounding Flixton Hall. WWI training trenches and latrine pits were also recorded.

Cet ouvrage est la traduction d’Archaeology and Celtic Myth, livre paru à Dublin en 2014. La littérature médiévale irlandaise constitue de loin le plus vaste corpus de textes rédigés en langue vernaculaire dont dispose l’Europe occidentale. Bien que composée entre le VIIe et le XIIe siècle de notre ère, cette littérature véhicule des éléments provenant de la mythologie celtique préchrétienne. Elle permet ainsi d’entrevoir certaines traditions et croyances fort anciennes qui avaient cours dans l’Europe préhistorique. Les références mythologiques présentes dans ces textes, juxtaposées aux traces matérielles subsistant dans divers sites archéologiques majeurs, tels que Navan (comté d’Armagh), Tara (comté de Meath) et Newgrange dans la vallée de la Boyne, met en lumière certains thèmes et figures privilégiés. Parmi les plus significatifs sont le caractère sacré de la royauté, la notion de la souveraineté octroyée par une déesse, la thématique de la cosmologie solaire, et des tentatives pour rendre compte d’un Autre Monde. L’importance de ces concepts est soulignée par leur survie textuelle. Leur analyse offre la possibilité d’approcher de plus près l’organisation et la pensée d’un monde prélittéraire. On peut considérer, par exemple, que l’institution de la royauté sacrée devrait être prise en compte dans tout débat sur la nature des différentes structures socio-politiques de l’Europe d’alors, tandis que symbolisme solaire, rituels équins, rites de boisson, et divers autres indices nous révèlent la préoccupation de nos ancêtres concernant l’Autre Monde, avec leur désir de comprendre la mort et de concevoir une vie au-delà. English abstract Elements of pre-Christian Celtic myth preserved in medieval Irish literature shed light on older traditions and beliefs not just in Ireland but elsewhere in Europe as well. This work focuses on aspects of the mythology associated with well-known Irish archaeological landscapes such as Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, Navan in Co. Armagh, and Tara in Co. Meath. Their mythological associations allow the pursuit of the archaeological implications of several mythic themes, namely sacral kingship, a sovereignty goddess, solar cosmology, and the perception of an Otherworld.

Broomcorn/common/proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) is a cereal crop that originated in East Asia and was transferred westward to Europe, where it was introduced in the mid-2nd millennium BCE, at the height of the Bronze Age. Archaeobotanists from the Collaborative Research Centre 1266, supported by many colleagues, conducted a large-scale programme of radiocarbon dating of millet grains from prehistoric Europe. They discovered that the spread of this crop on the continent happened quickly, extending far and wide. What do we know about the (pre)history of this crop in Europe? The workshop organised by the CRC 1266 at Kiel University in 2019 encouraged the discussion on the circumstances and consequences of early broomcorn millet cultivation in Europe. This book brings together many of the workshop papers and reflects the diverse topics and research areas covered. The contributions inform us on the range of cultivated and collected plants from the time before and after the start of millet cultivation in Europe; present the cultural setting in which millet arrived; discuss possible reasons driving the acceptance of this innovation; and reconstruct possible uses of millet and the methods of its cultivation, processing and storage. Not just the plant economy, but also the animal economy is represented, since millet was and is grown for both humans and animals. Techniques used to trace millet archaeologically are continually being developed or improved, and this book describes the application of a few of them.This broad-based compilation of papers adds another layer to the dynamic picture of the Bronze Age and the interconnected continent. It also illustrates the complexity of the research on the diffusion of agricultural innovations.

This volume summarizes 30 years of fieldwork in Denmark, some of the evidence for the spread of agriculture and the Neolithic into Scandinavia and some opinions about the origins of agriculture. It is intended to be both academic and personal and to describe the actual process of research, because most projects involve elements of both. Each chapter will deal with one of the components of the project – survey, testing and excavations. Eight sites were excavated from the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic and these are discussed in this volume. The concluding chapter summarizes research in the area and proffers opinions on a variety of archaeological subjects, with visits to climate change, seasonality and sedentism, hunter-gatherer complexity, aDNA, inequality and the origins and spread of agriculture.

This book explores the interaction between animals, plants, and humans in ancient Egypt. It draws together different aspects of the bioarchaeology of Egypt: flora, fauna, and human remains. These come from sites throughout the country from Alexandria to Aswan, as well as material from museum basements. The material presented here includes the results of new and previously unpublished excavations in the Delta and Thebes, in-depth studies of different species of animal mummies, an analysis of animal cults, tentative identifications of wild dogs in Egyptian art, a variety of diseases from which the ancient Egyptians suffered, studies on human remains using traditional as well as state-of-the-art technologies, and the different foods that formed the diet of the ancient Egyptians. The studies blend traditional methodologies, often deployed in novel ways, such as examining the pelage of lions, as well as new 3D technologies used in the analyses of bioarchaeological material. The results of these studies deepen our knowledge of ancient Egypt, its inhabitants, and their interaction with their environment. The present volume is the proceedings of the Conference on the Bioarchaeology of Ancient Egypt & the Second International Symposium on Animals in Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 2019).

35 contributions by scholars, reflecting the widespread interest of researchers into a wide variety of different to-pics related to the Memphite necropolis. Individual contributions include some ofthe latest results of archaeological explorations, new interpretations of archaeological evidence within the framework of social and environmental development and climate change, new approaches to long-known texts and inscriptions, the application of modern computer-based analysis of the society of the day, as well as newly understood historical, social and landscape connotations of some sites and monuments.

The first contacts between Greece, the Aegean and India are thought to have occurred at the beginning of the sixth century BC. There is now evidence of much earlier indirect connections, starting in the middle of the third millennium BC, but greatly diminishing after 1800 BC. These were initially between India with its Indus Civilisation (Meluḫḫa) and the Near East and then finally with the societies of the Early and Middle Bronze Age Aegean, with their slowly emerging palace-based economies and complex social structures. These connections point to a form of indirect or what might be called ‘trickle-down’ contact between the Aegean and India through objects, iconography and commodities, such as tin and lapis lazuli, that formed this contact. This book views the Aegean as part of a greater trade network, that includes commodities as well as more recently discovered objects, which accumulated added value as they fi rst built up a distinguished pedigree of ownership in the Near East and Syro-Palestine. It was the natural extension of trade between the Near East and India. In the Early to Late Bronze Ages, India was an important resource for valuable and indispensable commodities destined for the elites and developing technologies of much of the Old World. Finally, the period after the end of the Bronze Age to the time of Alexander the Great is examined and particularly after the sixth century, when Greeks were beginning to know about India. Within 200 years, India would be known to scholar and non-scholar alike, including those who witnessed the Persian invasions of Greece or who later became Macedonian and Greek foot soldiers marching east.

Dieses Buch behandelt die Frage, ob und wie sich soziale Identitäten in der deutschen Mittelgebirgszone zum Ende des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. veränderten. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass die Veränderungen der Bestattungssitten im Übergang vom Spät- zum Endneolithikum von Migrationsprozessen aus der nordpontischen Steppenlandschaft beeinflusst wurden. Um die Frage der Auswirkungen dieser Migrationsprozesse auf den Wandel der sozialen Identitäten und Bestattungssitten zu beantworten, werden soziale Gruppenidentitäten rekonstruiert und auf Transformationsprozesse untersucht. Dadurch ermöglicht diese Regionalstudie eine soziale Perspektive auf die archäologischen Veränderungen und auch auf Ergebnisse der bisherigen aDNA-Studien über das Ende des 3.

Wie gestaltete sich das soziale Zusammenleben zwischen Menschen und nichtmenschlichen Arten als eine eng verwobene Gemeinschaft in prähistorischer Zeit? In verschiedensten Disziplinen der Geistes-, Sozial- und Lebenswissenschaften werden verstärkt gesellschaftliche Grundannahmen über nichtmenschliche Arten hinterfragt. Die aus dieser Wende entstandenen neuen Fragestellungen verbreiten sich auch in der Archäologie. Archäolog*innen haben begonnen, traditionelle Ansätze zu überdenken, um Beziehungen zwischen Menschen und (anderen) Tieren in all ihrer Diversität zu erforschen. Im Zuge dieses Perspektivwechsels in der Erforschung von Mensch-Tier-Verhältnissen intensiviert sich auch die Auseinandersetzung mit sozialen, politischen und ideologischen Dimensionen verschiedener Lebensweisen in frühen Gesellschaften. Wir erkennen zunehmend, welche zentrale Rolle Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen bei der Gestaltung und Konstruktion auch prähistorischer Gesellschaften eingenommen haben. In diesem Band wird das gängige archäologische Narrativ von Tieren als passiver, ausbeutbarer Nahrungsressource in Frage gestellt. Damit zeichnet das Buch ein komplexes Bild prähistorischer Mensch-Tier-Verhältnisse. Es legt eine multiperspektivische Studie zu soziokulturellen Praktiken und Vorstellungen damaliger Menschen anhand der spätneolithischen (ca. 6200-5600 v.u.Z) und frühäneolithischen (ca. 4800-4350 v.u.Z.) Siedlung Monjukli Depe im heutigen Turkmenistan vor, die sich von gegenwärtigen westlichen Kategorisierungsformen der Beziehungen zwischen Menschen und Tieren deutlich unterscheiden. Auf Basis einer umfangreichen Sammlung von rund 53.000 Tierknochen aus den Ausgrabungen in Monjukli Depe verfolge ich als analytischen Untersuchungsrahmen einen integrativen Ansatz, der 1.) die archäozoologische Untersuchung der faunalen Überreste, 2.) die Analyse der zoomorphen Repräsentationen als miniaturisierte Tonobjekte sowie 3.) Multi-Isotopenanalysen am ausgewählten Skelettmaterial kombiniert. Das Werk zeigt Wege auf, natur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Sichtweisen in einem analytischen Spektrum an Methoden so zu integrieren, dass Interspezies-Relationen in vergangenen Gemeinschaften holistischer und damit realistischer als bislang rekonstruiert werden können. Die Neubetrachtung der Gemeinschaft als Interspezies-Gebilde stellt den innovativen Ansatz schließlich in einen gesellschaftspolitischen Rahmen. Der Band bietet damit auch einen Referenzrahmen für multiperspektivisch ausgerichtete Untersuchungen von Interspezies-Relationen. English Abstract How did the social coexistence of humans and non-human species contribute to the formation of interwoven communities in prehistoric times? In various disciplines in the humanities, social and life sciences, assumptions regarding non-human species in societal contexts are coming increasingly under scrutiny. The new questions arising therefrom are spreading into archaeology, where scholars have started to rethink traditional approaches and explore practices, interactions, and relationships between humans and (other) animals. As part of this shift in perspective, more attention is being paid to social, political, and ideological dimensions of lifeways in early societies. With it comes a growing recognition that human-animal relationships occupied a central place in shaping and constructing societies throughout human history. This book presents a multi-perspectival study of socio-cultural practices and conceptions of the people who lived in the prehistoric settlement of Monjukli Depe (Turkmenistan). These differ significantly from contemporary Western categorizations of human-animal relations. Based on a collection of over 50,000 animal remains from the excavations at Monjukli Depe, I pursue an integrative approach that includes 1) zooarchaeological studies of faunal remains, 2) analyses of zoomorphic representations in the form of miniaturized clay objects, and 3) multi-isotopic analyses of selected skeletal material. I suggest ways to integrate scientific and socio-cultural perspectives into an analytical spectrum of methods, enabling interspecies relations in past communities to be reconstructed more holistically and thereby more realistically than has previously been the case. The volume provides a work for future investigations of interspecies relations in other geographic and temporal contexts.