Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe
Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe

Author: Daniela Hofmann

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-09

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 1461452899

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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

Theory of the Border
Theory of the Border

Author: Thomas Nail

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0190618655

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Theory of the Border offers a new and unique theoretical framework for understanding one of the most central social phenomena of our time: borders. Applying his original movement-oriented theoretical framework, Thomas Nail pioneers a new methodology of "critical limology," that provides fresh tools for the analysis of contemporary border politics.

Houses of the Dead
Houses of the Dead

Author: Alistair Barclay

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2020-02-28

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1789254132

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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.

Something Out of the Ordinary? Interpreting Diversity in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik and Beyond
Something Out of the Ordinary? Interpreting Diversity in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik and Beyond

Author: Luc Amkreutz

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2016-04-26

Total Pages: 525

ISBN-13: 1443893005

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More than 7000 years ago, groups of early farmers (the Linearbandkeramik, or LBK) spread over vast areas of Europe. Their cultural characteristics comprised common choices and styles of execution, with a central meaning and functionality attached to ‘doing things a certain way’, over an enormous geographical area. However, recent evidence suggests that the reality was much more varied and diverse. The central question of this book is the extent to which notions of ‘uniformity’ and ‘diversity’ have caused a wider shift in archaeological perspective. Using the LBK case study as a starting point, the volume brings together contributions by international specialists tackling the notion of cultural diversity and its explanatory power in archaeological analysis more generally. Through discussions of the domestic architecture, stone tool inventory, pottery traditions, landscape use and burial traditions of the LBK, this book provides a crucial reappraisal of the culture’s potential for adaptability and change. Papers in the second part of the volume are devoted to archaeological case studies from around the globe in which the tension between diversity and uniformity has also proved controversial, including the Near Eastern Halaf culture, the North American Mississippian, the Pacific expansion of the Lapita culture, and the European Bell Beaker phenomenon. All provide exciting theoretical and methodological contributions on how the appreciation of cultural diversity as a whole can be moved forward. These papers expose diversity and uniformity as cultural strategies, and as such provide essential reading for scholars in archaeology and anthropology, and for anyone interested in the interplay between material culture and human social change.

Magic: A History
Magic: A History

Author: Chris Gosden

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2020-11-10

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 0374717907

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An Oxford professor of archaeology explores the unique history of magic—the oldest and most neglected strand of human behavior and its resurgence today Three great strands of belief run through human history: Religion is the relationship with one god or many gods, masters of our lives and destinies. Science distances us from the world, turning us into observers and collectors of knowledge. And magic is direct human participation in the universe: we have influence on the world around us, and the world has influence on us. Over the last few centuries, magic has developed a bad reputation—thanks to the unsavory tactics of shady practitioners, and to a successful propaganda campaign on the part of religion and science, which denigrated magic as backward, irrational, and "primitive." In Magic, however, the Oxford professor of archaeology Chris Gosden restores magic to its essential place in the history of the world—revealing it to be an enduring element of human behavior that plays an important role for individuals and cultures. From the curses and charms of ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish magic, to the shamanistic traditions of Eurasia, indigenous America, and Africa; from the alchemy of the Renaissance to the condemnation of magic in the colonial period and the mysteries of modern quantum physics—Gosden's startling, fun, and colorful history supplies a missing chapter of the story of our civilization. Drawing on decades of research around the world—touching on the first known horoscope, a statue ordered into exile, and the mystical power of tattoos—Gosden shows what magic can offer us today, and how we might use it to rethink our relationship with the world. Magic is an original, singular, and sweeping work of scholarship, and its revelations will leave a spell on the reader.

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe
The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

Author: Chris Fowler

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2015-03-26

Total Pages: 1303

ISBN-13: 0191666890

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The Neolithic --a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe--has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic --from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta --offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.

Climate Change and Ancient Societies in Europe and the Near East
Climate Change and Ancient Societies in Europe and the Near East

Author: Paul Erdkamp

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-11-05

Total Pages: 669

ISBN-13: 3030811034

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Climate change over the past thousands of years is undeniable, but debate has arisen about its impact on past human societies. This book explores the link between climate and society in ancient worlds, focusing on the ancient economies of western Eurasia and northern Africa from the fourth millennium BCE up to the end of the first millennium CE. This book contributes to the multi-disciplinary debate between scholars working on climate and society from various backgrounds. The chronological boundaries of the book are set by the emergence of complex societies in the Neolithic on the one end and the rise of early-modern states in global political and economic exchange on the other. In order to stimulate comparison across the boundaries of modern periodization, this book ends with demography and climate change in early-modern and modern Italy, a society whose empirical data allows the kind of statistical analysis that is impossible for ancient societies. The book highlights the role of human agency, and the complex interactions between the natural environment and the socio-cultural, political, demographic, and economic infrastructure of any given society. It is intended for a wide audience of scholars and students in ancient economic history, specifically Rome and Late Antiquity.

Trypillia Mega-Sites and European Prehistory
Trypillia Mega-Sites and European Prehistory

Author: Johannes Müller

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-01-22

Total Pages: 607

ISBN-13: 1317247914

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In European prehistory population agglomerations of more than 10,000 inhabitants per site are a seldom phenomenon. A big surprise to the archaeological community was the discovery of Trypillia mega-sites of more than 250 hectares and with remains of more than 2000 houses by a multidisciplinary approach of Soviet and Ukrainian archaeology, including aerial photography, geophysical prospection and excavations nearly 50 years ago. The extraordinary development took place at the border of the North Pontic Forest Steppe and Steppe zone ca. 4100–3400 BCE. Since then many questions arose which are of main relevance: Why, how and under which environmental conditions did Trypillia mega-sites develop? How long did they last? Were social and/or ecological reasons responsible for this social experiment? Are Trypillia and the similar sized settlement of Uruk two different concepts of social behaviour? Paradigm change in fieldwork and excavation strategies enabled research teams during the last decade to analyse the mega-sites in their spatial and social complexity. High precision geophysics, target excavations and a new design of systematic field strategies deliver empirical data representative for the large sites. Archaeological research contributed immensely to aspects of anthropogenic induced steppe development and subsistence concepts that did not reach the carrying capacities. Probabilistic models based on 14C-dates made the contemporaneity of the mega-site house structures most probable. In consequence, Trypillia mega-sites are an independent European phenomenon that contrasts both concepts of urbanism and social stratification that is seen with similar demographic figures in Mesopotamia. The new Trypillia research can be read as the methodological progress in European archaeology.

Settlement in the Irish Neolithic
Settlement in the Irish Neolithic

Author: Jessica Smyth

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2014-05-29

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1842174975

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The Irish Neolithic has been dominated by the study of megalithic tombs, but the defining element of Irish settlement evidence is the rectangular timber Early Neolithic house, the numbers of which have more than quadrupled in the last ten years. The substantial Early Neolithic timber house was a short-lived architectural phenomenon of as little as 90 years, perhaps like short-lived Early Neolithic long barrows and causewayed enclosures. This book explores the wealth of evidence for settlement and houses throughout the Irish Neolithic, in relation to Britain and continental Europe. More importantly it incorporates the wealth of new, and often unpublished, evidence from developer-led archaeological excavations and large grey-literature resources. The settlement evidence scattered across the landscape, and found as a result of developer-funded work, provides the social context for the more famous stone monuments that have traditionally shaped our views of the Neolithic in Ireland. It provides the first comprehensive review of the Neolithic settlement of Ireland, which enables a more holistic and meaningful understanding of the Irish Neolithic.

Dwelling on the edge of the Neolithic
Dwelling on the edge of the Neolithic

Author: Gary Robert Nobles

Publisher: Barkhuis

Published: 2017-02-14

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9492444283

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This volume presents a detailed spatial analysis of the sites of Keinsmerbrug, Mienakker, and Zeewijk. These Late Neolithic settlement sites define the westernmost edge of the Corded Ware Culture (c. 2900-2300 cal BC). The people took part in a broad spectrum of activities: hunting, gathering, fishing, agriculture, animal husbandry, and artisan crafts. They maintained their regional traditions while dwelling on the edge of this Neolithic cultural group. The study depicts Neolithic households as highly mobile with sedentary and seasonal settlements. The patterns that emerge from the in-depth spatial analysis of material distributions indicate the presence of spatially bound locations for specific activities. This structuring of space further supports the identification of various dwelling structures. Neolithic monumentality is, for the first time, identified within the Dutch coastal wetlands. The biographical perspective underlines the ephemeral nature of the divide between the place of the living and the place of the ancestors.