Houses of the Dead

Houses of the Dead PDF Author: Alistair Barclay
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789254116
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Book Description
The chronological disjuncture, LBK longhouses have widely been considered to provide ancestral influence for both rectangular and trapezoidal long barrows and cairns, but with the discovery and excavation of more houses in recent times is it possible to observe evidence of more contemporary inspiration. What do the features found beneath long mounds tell us about this and to what extent do they represent domestic structures. Indeed, how can we distinguish between domestic houses or halls and those that may have been constructed for ritual purposes or ended up beneath mounds? Do so called 'mortuary enclosures' reflect ritual or domestic architecture and did side ditches always provide material for a mound or for building construction? This collection of papers seeks to explore the interface between structures often considered to be those of the living with those for the dead.

The First Farmers of Central Europe

The First Farmers of Central Europe PDF Author: Penny Bickle
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1842179128
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 561

Book Description
From about 5500 cal BC to soon after 5000 cal BC, the lifeways of the first farmers of central Europe, the LBK culture (Linearbandkeramik), are seen in distinctive practices of longhouse use, settlement forms, landscape choice, subsistence, material culture and mortuary rites. Within the five or more centuries of LBK existence a dynamic sequence of changes can be seen in, for instance, the expansion and increasing density of settlement, progressive regionalisation in pottery decoration, and at the end some signs of stress or even localised crisis. Although showing many features in common across its very broad distribution, however, the LBK phenomenon was not everywhere the same, and there is a complicated mixture of uniformity and diversity. This major study takes a strikingly large regional sample, from northern Hungary westwards along the Danube to Alsace in the upper Rhine valley, and addresses the question of the extent of diversity in the lifeways of developed and late LBK communities, through a wide-ranging study of diet, lifetime mobility, health and physical condition, the presentation of the bodies of the deceased in mortuary ritual. It uses an innovative combination of isotopic (principally carbon, nitrogen and strontium, with some oxygen), osteological and archaeological analysis to address difference and change across the LBK, and to reflect on cultural change in general.

Around the Petit-Chasseur Site in Sion (Valais, Switzerland) and New Approaches to the Bell Beaker Culture

Around the Petit-Chasseur Site in Sion (Valais, Switzerland) and New Approaches to the Bell Beaker Culture PDF Author: Marie Besse
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784910252
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the megalithic necropolis of Petit- Chasseur in Sion (Valais, Switzerland), an international conference was organised from the 27th to the 29th of October 2011 in Sion. This book constitutes the conference proceedings.

The Neolithic of Europe

The Neolithic of Europe PDF Author: Penny Bickle
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN: 1785706578
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 499

Book Description
The Neolithic of Europe comprises eighteen specially commissioned papers on prehistoric archaeology, written by leading international scholars. The coverage is broad, ranging geographically from southeast Europe to Britain and Ireland and chronologically from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, but with a decided focus on the former. Several papers discuss new scientific approaches to key questions in Neolithic research, while others offer interpretive accounts of aspects of the archaeological record. Thematically, the main foci are on Neolithisation; the archaeology of Neolithic daily life, settlements and subsistence; as well as monuments and aspects of world view. A number of contributions highlight the recent impact of techniques such as isotopic analysis and statistically modeled radiocarbon dates on our understanding of mobility, diet, lifestyles, events and historical processes. The volume is presented to celebrate the enormous impact that Alasdair Whittle has had on the study of prehistory, especially the European and British Neolithic, and his rich career in archaeology.

BAR International Series

BAR International Series PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Archaeology
Languages : en
Pages : 462

Book Description


Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe

Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe PDF Author: Daniela Hofmann
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461452899
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Book Description
The Neolithic period is noted primarily for the change from hunter-gatherer societies to agriculture, domestication and sedentism. This change has been studied in the past by archaeologists observing the movements of plants, animals and people. But has not been examined by looking at the domestic architecture of the time. Along with tracking the movement of sedentism, Neolithic houses are also able to show researchers the beginnings of cultural identity, group representation through the construction and decoration of these structures. Additionally as agriculture moved west and north in this era, the architecture and material culture shows this change and its significance. Chapters are arranged chronologically so that authors can address differences and similarities of their region to neighboring ones. To ensure continuity, authors have framed the chapters around the following considerations: construction materials and architectural characteristics; how houses facilitated or perpetua

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arabian Peninsula
Languages : en
Pages : 390

Book Description
Contains selected papers given at the 4th- Seminars, held 1970-

The Bell Beaker Transition in Europe

The Bell Beaker Transition in Europe PDF Author: Maria Pilar Prieto Martínez
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1782979301
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Book Description
Could the circulation of objects or ideas and the mobility of artisans explain the unprecedented uniformity of the material culture observed throughout the whole of Europe? The 17 papers presented here offer a range of new and different perspectives on the Beaker phenomenon across Europe. The focus is not on Bell Beaker pottery but on social groups (craft specialists, warriors, chiefs, extended or nuclear families), using technological studies and physical anthropology to understand mobility patterns during the 3rd millennium BC. Chronological evolution is used to reconstruct the rhythm of Bell Beaker diffusion and the environmental background that could explain this mobility and the socioeconomic changes observed during this period of transition toward Bronze Age societies. The chapters are mainly organized geographically, covering Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean shores and the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, includes some areas that are traditionally studied and well known, such as France, the British Isles or Central Europe, but also others that have so far been considered peripheral, such as Norway, Denmark or Galicia. This journey not only offers a complex and diverse image of Bell Beaker societies but also of a supra-regional structure that articulated a new type of society on an unprecedented scale.

Along the Road

Along the Road PDF Author: Lutz Klassen
Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag
ISBN: 877184595X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
This volume takes a new look at causewayed enclosures in South Scandinavia based on a research area restricted to the Djursland Peninsula in eastern Jutland. The Djursland Peninsula in eastern Jutland was selected as region of concentration because of the richness of the region in terms of megalithic graves and burial mounds and because it has the largest number by far of known Neolithic enclosures within the northern TRB Group distribution area. Given that the awareness of as many enclosures as possible is necessary in any attempt to evaluate their significance for Neolithic societies within a given area, a major part of this work is devoted to the development of predictive modelling for the detection of enclosures in the landscape. It is only in relation to this step that it is possible to engage with such questions as the reasons for which certain locations were chosen as enclosure sites and how these relate to the history of Neolithic settlement within the wider region. The latter is at the heart of practically all settlement archaeological studies of the period under consideration in South Scandinavia. However, it has never been critically reviewed nor tested by comparisons with the results from other regions. A separate section is devoted to examining the European dimension of the Scandinavian enclosures in closer detail.

Le Néolithique de la France

Le Néolithique de la France PDF Author: Jean-Paul Demoule
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Excavations (Archaeology)
Languages : fr
Pages : 468

Book Description