This paper provides a broad overview of the current state of archaeogenetic research in Arabia. We summarise recent studies of mitochondrial DNA and lactase persistence allele -13915*G in order to reconstruct the population histories of modern Arabs. These data, in turn, enable us to assess different scenarios for the peopling of the Pen- insula over the course of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. The evidence sup- ports the posited existence of Arabian refugia, although it is inconclusive which (e.g. Persian Gulf basin, Yemeni highlands and/or Red Sea basin) was/were responsible for housing ancestral populations during the Last Glacial Maximum. Synthesising genetic and archaeological data sets, we conclude that a substantial portion of the present South Arabian gene pool derives from a deeply rooted population that underwent sig- nificant internal growth within Arabia some 12,000 years ago. At the same time, we interpret the disappearance of Nejd Leptolithic archaeological sites in southern Arabia around 8000 years ago to represent the termination of a significant component of the Pleistocene gene pool.

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This huge study analyses the cultural conditions amongst late communities of hunter-gatherers in Central Europe. Considering the working technique of flint artefacts, a distribution-area of dorso-ventral base-retouched arrowheads emerged in the Late Pre-Boreal (since ca. 8,900 cal.BC) including France, Benelux and both Banks of the River Rhine up to Switzerland and clearly distict from neighbouring regions. This Major Zone remained stable in subsequent Millennia - during the Boreal and Atlantic periods. In the Late Mesolithic, local subtypes emerged, and three types of arrowheads showed dorso-ventral base-preparations ("Rhine-Meuse-Schelde-Culture-B", Danubian- and Bavans-Points). Taken together, these do not only confirm the stability of the distribution pattern over 4 millinnea, but their occurrence coincides with Mesolithic pottery of types Limbourg and La Hoguette. This pottery, until now concidered a derivate of the Western Meditteranean Cardial Culture, is now older than this and now connected with the Western French coast as regards its origin. Also during the Linear Pottery Culture the distribution (now called "Se-Sa-Rhe-tradition-area") remained stable, and notions of a cooperation between Mesolithic and Neolithic populations are discussed.

The monumental nature of Neolithic funerary rites is analysed by archaeologists in relation to its alleged links with the management of land by agro-pastoral communities. This article examines the social dynamics in the Neolithic of Western France, with a particular focus on how human populations mastered oceanic geographical and environmental characteristics. Numerous excavations during the
last fifteen years have significantly transformed the chronology. The evolution of the Mesolithic has been completely renewed and there is now a lack of reliable data between 5300 and 5000 BC (Mesolithic / Neolithic transition). Obviously dependent on a pioneer movement, the Late Bandkeramik of the Paris Basin and Villeneuve-Saint-Germain are well documented in villages that now cover the whole Breton peninsula up to the Loire river. Its early dates when compared to the Parisian Basin model could be due to bias within the calibration curve. South of the Loire, our knowledge of the Early Neolithic in the Centre-Atlantic
region, which is Mediterranean in origin, remains embryonic and centred on the chronological interval 4700-4500 BC. The analysis of social organization shows a clear difference between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic; it also applies to the technical traditions that are subject to an abrupt break. The issue of transmission of arrowhead technology between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic is no longer relevant, because of the revision of the chronology. Two technical domains are likely to have been inherited from the indigenous coastal communities: fisheries
and navigation. Their degree of respective control may have conditioned the socioeconomic foundations of the first agro-pastoral societies in Western France. The successive steps of the transmission of knowledge during the Atlantic Neolithic are discussed. It points to asset control and power in a few hands, which is best ‘embodied’ in the central tomb of the Tumulus Saint-Michel, dated around 4700-4600 BC. We do not know the economic foundations that ensure the ustainabilityof this social structure; their maritime dimension should not be overlooked.

It is a well‐known and geographically widespread problem in archaeozoology that the discrimination between remains of domesticated animals and their wild ancestors is not always possible. Due to an overlap in size as well as other features substantial parts of bone and teeth assemblages sometimes cannot be assigned either to the wild or the domestic form. In this paper we apply the logarithmic size index (LSI) method as a tool for discrimination between aurochs (Bos primigenius) and domestic cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus). By comparing LSI data from definite aurochs with data from Neolithic bovids within a limited geographical area we show that the overlap of both groups is larger than previously thought.

Our analysis also shows that the LSI width values are suited for both differentiating domesticated vs. wild animals as well as sexes within the single groups. For future studies but also for correcting known results we present division lines between LSI values of aurochs and cattle. The analysed data indicates that female and male aurochs had comparable heights while the latter had a generally more sturdy physique in southern Scandinavia. We consequently expect that the investigated Middle Neolithic assemblages contain a significantly higher number of aurochs bones than previously assumed.

The Neolithic site Bondarikha ІІ was explored 70 years ago by D. Ya. Telegin. The materials of the site were not processed utilizing modern methods. The authors of the paper re-examined and analyzed the site’s materials using current methodologies. The Bondarikha II site is set along a natural boundary on what is now the south-eastern outskirts of the modern city of Izium, Kharkiv region. The location of the site is a section of an over-flooded terrace that stretches along the left bank of the River Siversky Donets, and a section of an older river bed named the Willow Pit. In the north, sections of the terrace were crossed by an unnamed stream, and its southern boundary defined by floodplains. The lowlands nearest the terrace are primarily comprised of wetlands. It is quite clear that the Willow Pit was once an active river and seasonally may have transformed into a lake during times of flooding. The site is located approximately 7 m above the current floodplain. The general site po...

Las campañas de 2010 y 2011 en el yacimiento Neolítico del Mas d'Is han venido a complementar los numerosos datos conocidos hasta la actualidad. En las mismas se ha podido documentar ampliamente la morfología de las estructuras que veníamos interpretando como fosos, por un lado; y, por otro, se ha avanzado en el conocimiento de la secuencia cronocultural del yacimiento al encontrar episodios que hasta el momento estaban pocos representados.

"The paper reports the results of technological analyses on flint assemblages found in 1996–2002 in the Pärnu Bay area, Estonia. The assemblages and their find contexts are described and the basic flaking methods and their products are discussed. A special emphasis is given to the bipolar and platform methods, the two basic flaking methods evident in the assemblages. Possible reduction sequences are studied and their relation to a variety of factors is discussed on the basis of artefact size. The study indicates that small raw material size and shape affected core technology. A variety of core reduction methods were used concurrently to achieve the goals and to deal with small nodule size. The study also indicates that the selection of methods was related to the availability of raw material. Finally the large scale patterning observed in the assemblages and its relation to the Holocene hunter-gatherer systems in the research area is discussed. It is suggested that changes in raw material usage were related to organisational changes evident in mobility and settlement patterns.


Open access pdf available at http://www.sarks.fi/masf/masf_1/masf_1.html"

A rare archaeological find from the Don River (Central Russia), a large dugout found in 1954 is described. The history of discovery, fieldwork and conservation are outlined. The key role at all stages belonged to Maria Voss, who did her best to unearth and preserve this dugout - the first Prehistoric one to be found, restored and exhibited in the USSR. She passed away before being able to describe the boat in detail. Its age is still under question, certain facts relating to the archaeological context contradict the  old dating version (Neolithic-Early Bronze Age) and no C14 analysis has been conducted. A brief review of Stone Age European dugouts is provided.

In 2016 during the inventory and transportation of the archaeological finds from temporary archaeological storage at Pheophania to the present-day storagefacility of the Institute of Archaeology, the materials
of the excavations of the expeditions of 1980 and 1985 were selected and processed. The excavations and surveys were conducted by expeditions under the leadership of O. G. Shaposhnikova and D. Ya. Telehin on the territory of the Starobilsk district of the Luhansk region.
The surveys in 1980 were conducted at only two locations located close to each other — the settlements of Aidar-Bila and Pidhorivka.
Aydar-Bila. Because the location plan is missing (it is also missing from the 1986 report), it was not possible to locate the settlement on the map. However, it can be assumed that the multilayered settlement of
Aydar-Bila is located in the eastern part of the village Pidhorivka of the Starobilsk district of the Lugansk region, on the low floodplain terrace of the right bank of the river Bila (the right tributary of the Aydar river).
At the location of the settlement, the width of the valley of both rivers is 2.23 km. In 1986, additional research was conducted and the site was named Hyrlo Biloyi. In fact, this name is more common and widely used in the scientific literature. The settlement is multilayered, as indicated by the code on the finds. The largest number of finds is associated with layer 4. Given the vertical distribution of the finds, it can be assumed that there are at least three episodes of occupation in the history of the settlement, two of which, given the peculiarities of the finds, occurred in the Neolithic Period and one in the Late Bronze Age. Pidhorivka. The multilayered settlement of Pidhorivka is located on the off-shore terrace of the right bank of the Aydar River, at the point where the coast recedes to the west, thus forming a sufficiently wide floodplain, on which the depressions of the old-aged lakes are noticeable. In total, about 10 different settlements were found within the specified floodplain, 5
of which are known from the research of S. O. Loktushev in 1939. In 1963, the Pidhorivka settlement was investigated by V. M. Gladilin, however, no report or publication on the results of the research appeared, as correctly pointed out by Y. G. Gurin in 1998. It is only
known that the expedition V. M. Gladilin cleaned up the coastline of the Aydar River, where the Neolithic materials were discovered. Some findings revealed by the expedition led by V. M. Gladilin appear in the
monograph V. M. Danilenko as an example of the material culture of the Azov culture he identified. In 1980, the expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the direction of O. G. Shaposhnikova laid out
an excavation area on the Pidhorivka settlement. The results of these studies are unknown (missing report, field documentation, and findings). In the same year, an expedition led by D. Y. Telegin excavated a trench
with a total area of 5 m2. Later (in 1984), the site was explored by an expedition under the general guidance of K. I. Krasilnikov and Y. G. Gurin.
The total number of findings revealed as a result of the research by O. G. Shaposhnikova reached 295 units. The material analysis demonstrates the settlement is multi-layered. The upper horizons with the Middle
and Late Bronze Age materials being the latest. In the conditional horizon of 0.8/0.9 m, a rather informative fragment of the Late Copper Age vessel was found, and at the same time, it is accompanied by a flint complex, which has the appearance of the Early Copper Age or Neolithic. The artifacts found in the conditional horizons of 0.9/1.0—1.1/1.2 m appear to be relatively «pure» in that the cultural and chronological terms clearly define their affiliation with the Early Neolithic Period and allow them to be associated with the Lower Don culture/Nizhnedonska culture of the Mariupol Cultural and Historical Area. At the same time, the presence of earlier artifacts, such as a conical single-platform core and multiple-truncated burin, makes one more cautious to interpret the complexes. Both the core and the burin look more logical in the flint complexes of the lower horizons of the site. In this sense, it is important to pay attention to the description of the stratigraphic section of the excavation area 2 of the settlement Pidhorivka, presented by Y. G. Gurin in a monograph about the Early Copper age sites of the Siversky Donets Basin. It states that, at a depth of 1.7/2.0 m and below, the layer of floodplain alluvium contains «Mesolithic materials». Y. G. Gurin did
not publish the materials themselves that he claimed were from the Mesolithic era. In 2006, O. F. Gorelik issued a publication dedicated to the interpretation of the materials of the lower layer of Pidhorivka. In this
work, he linked the affiliation of the flint complex with the early stage of Donetsk culture, and considered the site one of the centers of the Mesolithic industries with the yanishlavitsa type of projectile points. This conclusion is based on the similarity of the materials of the lower layer of Pidhoryvka with the flint complex of the site Shevchenko hamlet, one of the features of which is the presence of a yanislavitsa type of projectile point. In 1999, the materials of the site Zelena Hornitsa 5 were
published, which is located on the second floodplain terrace of the lake on the left bank of the Siversky Donets River. In the material culture of this site, even if there are multiple elements, they in no way affect the overall situation. The complex of projectile points of the site consists of trapezes, a yanislavitsa type, points with truncated edges, and so on. The presence of the collapse of the stucco vessel along with these flint products gave rise to criticism of the idea of O. F. Gorelik about the
The mesolithic character of complexes with a yanislavitsa type of projectile points. Later V. O. Manko, in a moreь detailed form, questioned the theory of O. F. Gorelik. To the present day, we can state that there has been some stagnation in this issue. The surveys in 1985 were conducted at the valley of Aidar river from v. Lyman to v. Losovivka. In this area, sites lots have been found, which in chronological terms date back to the Paleolithic—Medieval times. For this reason, we believe that the introduction into scientific circulation of even a small amount of archaeological materials allows the creation of a more complete
picture of the processes that took place in the basin of the middle stream of the Siversky Donets River during the Neolithic—Copper Age.

This chapter outlines the mesolithic-neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia on the basis of the cultural development of the Mesolithic in the area. The development of the social organization of the society is based on an analysis of dwellings and settlements. There has been an attempt to produce a better working hypothesis than those hitherto employed, by incorporating all data and evidence into a model that is feasible in both ethnographic and economic terms.

Archaeobotanical analyses conducted on material from the Cueva Blanca rockshelter have provided much-needed data on past landscapes, vegetation change and woodland exploitation by late Mesolithic groups settled in the 'Campos de Hellín', a region of SE Spain. Radiocarbon ages indicate occupations in the period between 7610 ± 40 BP (8450-8370 cal. BP) and 6730 ± 40 BP (7660-7560 cal. BP). The seasonal short character of human occupation, major vegetation features and the site chronology relate it to the 8.2 ka cal. BP cooling event and the subsequent aridity responsible for open landscapes and the becoming of human settlement in SE Spain. A Mediterranean open coniferous woodland composed of Pinus and Juniperus has been inferred around the site where Pinus halepensis and Rhamnus lycioides were the main sources of firewood managed by late Mesolithic inhabitants.

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates are reported for silts and very fine sands believed to be loessic sediments from northwest England. At three sites loessic sediments were initially interpreted as primary aeolian deposits, and at two other sites as loess incorporated into the matrix of cemented scree. However, the results of OSL dating indicate a more complex pattern of accumulation than originally hypothesized and have prompted reconsideration of these materials. Whatever the process(es) and underlying cause(s), it is evident that significant amounts of soil erosion occurred on the limestone uplands earlier than previously thought. All but one of the ages fall entirely within the Holocene period and suggest that these deposits contain reworked, rather than primary loess. Four of the five sites are characterized by non-Gaussian dose distributions, and consequently equivalent doses have been estimated using a range of appropriate age models. The implications of differences in the ages derived from the fine silt and fine sand fractions of the samples are considered. Three processes, namely aeolian transport, overland flow and subsoil piping, are invoked to account for the reworking of loess, although their relative contributions cannot be quantified. At one site the inclusion of limestone clasts within the reworked loess strongly suggests that the sediment can be regarded as loess-derived colluvium. Human impacts on the landscape and climate shifts, either separately or in combination, are considered to have been the most likely mechanisms that triggered loess erosion.

Small stone age site, in Ogna, South Western Norway, found and documented through a limited investigation.  The site could not be dated closer than between 9300 - 1800 bc. The location is outside the usual places, where we find stone age sites. This context had probably a different function than life on the basis settlements.

Apart from the wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) the white-tailed eagle ranks second in presence-absence counts on Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in the Lower Rhine Area. Its presence has often sparked discussions on an aspect of hunter-gatherer or early farmerlife in the Lower Rhine Area of which we know little: the symbolic connotations of objects and animals.
The white-tailed eagle has almost always taken center-stage wherever it occurs.The consistent presence of bones and claws of white-tailed eagles at many Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in the Lower Rhine Area may offer a window not so much onto this
raptor’s importance to diet as onto less tangible aspects of
past life. We would like to take this opportunity to investigate
the existing archaeological evidence and try to elucidate
some of this bird’s symbolic meaning for past communities
with the help of ethnographic and archaeological sources.

6 Introduction 6 Aims and objectives 6 Project history 6 The location 7 The site investigation 9 Fieldwalking 1997 9 Geophysical survey 1997 10 Test-pitting 1997 10 Trench excavation 2000 10 Final test-pitting 11 Test pit A (TP A) 11 The late Mesolithic finds and features in Trench 4 extension 12 Raw materials 13 Debitage 13 Cores 14 Tools 16 Technological summary 17 Features, find distribution and activities 18 Dating 20 Integrity of the assemblage and the features 20 The area’s raw materials and typo-technological attributes 21 Radiocarbon dates 21 Radiocarbon date AA-51538 and the scalene triangles of TP A 21 Summary and discussion – site and assemblage formation 23 Acknowledgements 25 Appendix: The full Garvald Burn assemblage 26 The raw material composition of the full assemblage – raw material types, sources and 26 condition The typo-technological composion of the full assemblage 27 General overview 27 Debitage 28 Cores 30 Tools 32 Technological summary 36 Dating 38 General di...

Theories about the emergence and spread of farming in western Eurasia have a long research history. Occasionally, climate fluctuations have served as explanations for short-term culture change. However, the entire Holocene climate fluctuation sequence has so far not been regarded. First steps towards a theory which combines the successive stages in Neolithization and early to Mid-Holocene climate fluctuations are described. IZVLE∞EK -Za teorijami o pojavu in raz∏iritvi kmetovanja v zahodni Evraziji stoji dolga zgodovina raziskav. Klimatska nihanja so ob≠asno slu∫ila kot pojasnilo za kratkoro≠ne spremembe kulture. Vendar pa do sedaj ni bila pregledana celotna sekvenca holocenskih klimatskih nihanj. Opisani so prvi koraki k postavitvi teorije, ki zdru∫uje zaporedne stopnje neolitizacije in zgodnje do srednje holocenska klimatska nihanja.

The discovery of prehistoric cave paintings in the nineteenth century led to the shocking realisation that humans have been creating art for over 30,000 years. Episode two reveals how the very first pictures were created, and how images may have triggered the greatest change in human history.

To discover the first two dimensional paintings we need to look at the art created in caves such as Altamira, Chauvet and Lascaux; these were created roughly 35,000 years, the time Archeologists identify with a ‘creative explosion’.

The first of these cave paintings were discovered in Altemira by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, and his 8yr old daughter Maria, in 1879. The paintings they discovered on the walls of the caves were of animals such as aurochs, a long extinct relative of the bison. As these matched similar stone-age images he had seen, Sautuola concluded they were prehistoric. When the caves were opened to the public, however, they were considered a hoax, and unfortunately despite trying to clear his name, his discovery was not scientifically accepted until long after his death. Following this the caves of Lascaux and Chauvet came to light, and it is said that when Picasso saw images of the caves he declared “we have learned nothing”.

Today artists create images of every aspect of life, but back then the images were almost exclusively of animals,  in particular horses, bison and reindeer. The expert Henri Breuil believed the paintings to be linked to rituals that increased the chances of a successful hunt, however more recent archeology has shown that the animals depicted were not those eaten by the people of the time. In addition some of the paintings were in very hard to reach areas of the caves and featured dots and lines. However, it is easy to take a modern view such as this and miss the point completely, that being how did we learn to project our 3D world into 2D.

There are very similar paintings to be found in the Drakensburg Mountains of South Africa, however unlike their European cousins, these were not produced thousands of years ago, but much more recently. These images were produced by the San “bush men” and although they do not produce paintings like this today, Professor David Lewis Williams discovered papers from the late nineteenth century by a German settler that documented the life and rituals of the San people. It became clear to Williams that their religion was based around traveling in a trance state to a spirit world and that they documented in these pictures their experiences of the trance. Often these transitory states involved animals, and the animals depicted were normally large or powerful, such as the Eland, that were respected by the San people. Williams also noticed another similarity with their European counterparts, that of the dots and lines.

Research into altered states, such as the trances of the San people, show that on entering these states, visual disturbances similar to migraine aura that involved lines and dots occur. Furthermore, these images can also be produced through sensory deprivation, for example from being placed deep in a cave for a long time. Prehistoric people, it appears, had hallucinations , which took the form of things that were close to them, such as the horses, bison and aurochs. These hallucinations were remembered and prehistoric people then recreated them on the walls of their caves.

Returning to the European palaeolithic caves, it seems that 12,000 years ago people stopped painting. We don’t know why, but the discovery of Göbekli Tepe, in Southern Turkey may hold the answer.  When excavated the site revealed monolithic pillars built around 12,000 years ago, dated to just the time that the paintings in caves seem to stop. These stone pillars feature carvings of animals such as those in the caves. The effort in creating these stone pillars would have required considerable  labour and organisation, the workers for example, all needed feeding. Recent research has shown that modern wheat can be traced to wild wheat that grows within 20 miles of this site, which has lead scholars to speculate that this was the birthplace of agricultural farming and, in turn, complex society,'civilisation', itself.

 EN DEUX MOTS  La chasse à la baleine a d'abord été une activité côtière. Au Moyen Âge, elle était pratiquée sur la côte basque et à proximité des côtes du Japon. Pour la période préhistorique, jusqu'à présent, aucune représentation ne figurait explicitement cette chasse, et les os de cétacés retrouvés dans certains sites archéologiques (presqu'exclusivement ceux de marsouins et de dauphins), par exemple en Europe du Nord, pouvaient fort bien être ceux d'animaux échoués. Des gravures rupestres coréennes vieilles de 5 000 à 7 000 ans, récemment décrites, sont en revanche sans ambiguïté : dès le Néolithique, les habitants de cette région prenaient la mer pour capturer des cétacés, en particulier des baleines. ARCHÉOLOGIE Où et quand les hommes ont-ils chassé des balei-nes pour la première fois ? Jusqu'à présent, les plus anciennes traces dataient des X e et XI e siècles, en Europe et au Japon. Des gravures rupestres coréen-nes font faire un bond en arrière de plus de 4 000 ans à cette activité. « L 'origine de la chasse à la baleine se perd dans la nuit des temps », écrivait il y a une quinzaine d'années Richard Harrison, biologiste anglais spécialiste des mammifères marins et, à l'occa-sion, historien de la chasse à la baleine [1]. On n'avait alors aucune idée quant à la région du monde, ni à la période où nos ancêtres avaient commencé à chasser les grands cétacés à fanons. Une nouvelle étude de gravures rupestres de Corée du Sud vient d'apporter une réponse : la plus ancienne trace de chasse à la baleine se situe dans le Pacifique du Nord-Ouest, il y a plus de 5 000 ans [2]. À l'époque historique, la chasse commerciale à la baleine s'est développée dans deux régions du monde : au large des côtes du Pays basque et le long des côtes du Japon. Les premiers documents attestant de la chasse des Basques Sang-Mog Lee, préhistorien, travaille au musée de l'université nationale de Kyungpook, en Corée du Sud. Daniel Robineau, spécialiste des cétacés, est professeur au Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, à Paris. robineau@mnhn.fr 56 LA RECHERCHE | DÉCEMBRE 2004 | Nº 381 datent du XI e siècle. Pour le Japon, un poème antérieur au X e siècle évoque la capture de cétacés à partir d'un bateau. On peut donc vraisemblablement postuler que ces chasses ont commencé vers la fin du premier millénaire. Dans ces deux régions, il s'agissait d'une industrie fondée sur la capture, dans les eaux côtières, d'animaux venant s'y reproduire ou y passant lors de migrations. Les espèces ciblées étaient des baleines franches : baleine des Basques, Eubalaena glacialis, et baleine du Pacifique nord, Eubalaena japonica. Ces animaux, qui nagent lentement, offrent en effet peu de résistance aux chasseurs et ont l'intéressante particularité de flotter en surface après leur mort. Des techniques de capture similaires étaient utilisées : les baleines étaient harponnées à partir d'un petit bateau non ponté propulsé à la rame ou, à l'occasion, à la voile. Lorsque l'animal harponné était fatigué, on pouvait plus chasses à la baleine SUR LA FALAISE DE BANGU-DAE, EN CORÉE DU SUD, des gravures datées de 5000 à 3000 av. J.-C. montrent des cétacés. Ici, en bas, les traits qui subdivisent le corps de l'animal évoquent son découpage, peut-être en vue d'un partage.

Seit Sommer 2014 besteht am Niedersächsischen Institut für historische Küstenforschung ein Projekt zur Erforschung
steinzeitlicher Siedlungen im Bereich des Zwischenahner Meeres. Dort wurden in der Vergangenheit immer
wieder gut erhaltene Funde im See und im angrenzenden Feuchtbodenbereich gemacht, die mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit
in das 4.-6. Jahrtausend v. Chr. datieren. In diesen Zeitraum fällt der Beginn der produzierenden Wirtschaftsweise
und der Sesshaftigkeit. Der Ablauf dieser Entwicklung konnte für den nordwestdeutschen Raum bisher kaum nachvollzogen
werden. Hier bieten die Fundstellen am und im Zwischenahner Meer anhand der guten organischen Erhaltungsbedingungen
optimale Voraussetzungen für die Untersuchung des Neolithisierungsprozesses.

Since the summer of 2014, the Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research has been investigating
Stone Age sites in the area of the lake known as Zwischenahner Meer. In recent decades, well-preserved fi nds have
repeatedly been recovered from waterlogged and underwater sites. These fi nds can most probably be dated to between
the 6th and 4th millennium BC. Within this period lies the beginning of the development and spread of farming and a
sedentary life style. So far, this development in northwestern Germany is only partially understood. The Zwischenahner
Meer area with its good preservation conditions for organic material offers an excellent opportunity to obtain insights
into the Neolithization process.

The radiocarbon dating of pottery corrects traditional views on a periodization of the Bug-Dniester culture and its synchronization with some neighboring cultures. It eliminates a part of contradictions between series of the dates made earlier on bone and antler samples.
Published in: A. Mazurkevich, M. Polkovnikova,  E. Dolbunova (eds.), Archaeology of lake settlements IV–II mill. BC: Chronology of cultures, environment and palaeoclimatic rhythms. - Saint-Petersburg, 2014. - P. 50-54.

This paper reviews the evidence for Neolithic burial practices in SE Arabia, focusing in particular on sites in the Ja'alan region of eastern Oman. Attention is given to the nature of material buried with human remains, including jewellery and, most interestingly, the bones and shells of green turtles in the burials of Ra's al-Hamra 5 and 10. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possible evidence for "necrophobia" at the 5 th millennium BC Neolithic necropolis of Suwayh 1.

This volume presents the results of a five year research project which investigated the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age of Southern Kintyre. This area of western Scotland had seen little previous archaeological research prior to this project, but work centred on Blasthill has revealed the remains of a rich prehistoric landscape. Alongside a known Neolithic chambered tomb, this project also identified a range of prehistoric features including Bronze Age domestic and ritual structures as well as a series of well-preserved curvilinear field systems. Excavations were conducted at the chambered tomb on Blasthill and revealed a complex and long-lived sequence of construction at this site in association with material culture including a small pottery assemblage. Trial excavations and geophysical surveys were also conducted over other features on Blasthill and at other locations in the wider area, and as such we have been able to identify several other key areas of prehistoric activity, particularly in relation to monument construction. Lithic scatters were also recovered from ploughed fields in Southern Kintyre, revealing a series of hitherto unknown sites. This includes two substantial Mesolithic sites and a number of smaller Neolithic and Bronze Age spreads. The excavations conducted by the late Jack Scott at Ardnacross II chambered tomb are also reported on here in detail for the first time. Research has also been conducted on the pottery assemblages from Southern Kintyre in comparison with other mortuary assemblages from western Scotland and eastern Ireland. All of this is set against a broader research question which addresses the issue of how archaeology can inform our understanding of the nature of interactions between prehistoric communities in Southern Kintyre with people in other areas of Britain and Ireland. It seems that there were fluctuating relationships between Kintyre, other parts of western Scotland and eastern Ireland throughout the periods under consideration which we have been able to identify as a result of this project.

Lepenski Vir is one of the best known Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in Europe and the world. This book is the first volume of a comprehensive archaeological and anthropological study of the human skeletal remains from this site. Bringing various strands of mortuary evidence together for the first time the author provides a more complete picture of life and death at Lepenski Vir, including comparisons of the many contexts in which human remains have been found as well as details of biological characteristics of the people who created such distinctive material culture at the site. The site of Lepenski Vir is one of the best documented and analyzed contexts for the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition anywhere. A combination of a detailed study of archaeological data, archaeothanatological analysis, science-based approaches to the skeletal material, and a social bioarchaeology perspective regarding the integration of different strands of data when providing wider interpretations, make this book an unique contribution to the current literature on the many-sided consequences of the change from foraging to farming.
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/deathways-at-lepenski-vir.html

По мнению большинства исследователей, методы и понятия искусствоведения не подходят для изучения памятников первобытной изобразительной деятельности, поскольку не раскрывают ее семантическую сторону. Вся духовная жизнь древних людей проходила в единой духовно-мировоззренческой среде, не расчлененной на отдельные сферы культуры, поэтому говорить об искусстве первобытности можно только в иносказательном смысле (Шер, 2000. С. 83).