Human impact on mid- and late Holocene vegetation in south Cumbria, UK

The use of 9 pollen sampling sites and 56 14C dates has identified hitherto unsuspected or poorly-defined sequences of mid- to late Holocene (late Neolithic to post-Medieval) anthropogenic vegetation changes in south Cumbria, U.K. A series of small-scale, but significant woodland clearance episodes are recorded throughout the Bronze Age, followed by a marked recession in activity during the early Iron Age. The late Iron Age-Roman periods witnessed the first major clearance of woodland in the region which was succeeded by woodland regeneration in the post-Roman/early Medieval period. Woodland clearance intensified in the later Medieval period culminating in large areas of permanently open landscape. The results show that high-resolution, independently date pollen analysis is necessary to reveal regional evidence of small, temporary Bronze Age clearances. A well-documented prehistoric wooden trackway from Foulshaw Moss is shown to be significantly older than previously thought, dating to the mid-Bronze Age, ca. 1550–1250 cal B.C. Pre-Roman cereal cultivation in the area is also confirmed.The Department of Earth Sciences     

A palaeocarpological study of Neolithic and Bronze Age levels of the Buraco da Pala rock-shelter (Bragança,Portugal)

Palaeocarpological (archaeobotanical) analysis of Neolithic and Bronze Age levels of the Buraco da Pala site (Bragança, Portugal) provides evidence of considerable agricultural activity. Triticum, Hordeum and Vicia predominated, though Pisum, Lens, Vitis, Linum and Papaver were also found. Most wheat grains were spheroidal and were identified as Triticum aestivum subsp. sphaerococcum, in disagreement with recent suggestions that taxa with spheroidal grains have never been present in the Iberian Peninsula. Quercus and Pinus seed indicated that gathering activities supplemented agricultural production.     

青铜—铁器时代人类颞下颌关节的形态学研究

本文对采集自河北、山西和内蒙古等地的43例青铜时代和铁器时代颅骨的颞下颌关节进行了形态学研究。上述入骨材料所代表的古代居民,从经济类型上可划分为两大类,分别属于农业民族和游牧民族。研究结果表明,在若干项重要的颞下颌关节形态特征上,青铜-铁器时代居民与现代人差异显著,表明在这些结构上向现代人水平的明显转化可能发生于更晚的历史阶段。从新石器时代到青铜-铁器时代,人类颞下颌关节的若干形态变化与时代发展的同步性并不明显,而主要反映出其与由经济类型所决定的饮食结构之间的密切关系。     

黑龙江齐齐哈尔洪河遗址出土的骨器

骨器研究是近年来动物考古学研究的重要课题之一,自1930年梁思永发现昂昂溪遗址的骨质工具以来,骨器正在成为学界研究嫩江流域史前经济形态的重要依据。2013、2014、2015和2017年黑龙江省文物考古研究所对洪河遗址进行了全面发掘,主要遗存归属于新石器时代晚期和青铜时代,除陶器、石制品和青铜器等,还出土了大量骨器,器类丰富,更有多种以往未曾见过的器类。本文通过对该遗址四个年度出土的343件骨制品进行全面介绍和梳理,分析该遗址骨器制作的工艺水平和生产变化,为进一步探讨该遗址乃至嫩江流域史前的生业模式提供重要线索。     

Mortality changes in Central European populations from Bronze Age to Iron Age: Comparative analysis

The influence of cultural factors on the biological state, of prehistorical populations inhabiting Central Europe in the Bronze and Iron Ages have been analyzed. To achieve this goal the author studied changes in mortality structure of human groups said to belong to two various archeological cultures.     

Prehistoric land use as recorded in a lake-shore core at Lake Constance

The second part of a pollen profile from Hornstaad/Lake Constance (Germany), containing the Atlantic and Subboreal (6400 cal B.C. to 700 cal B.C.) is presented. The diagram has a sampling interval of 1 cm and an average time resolution of 10 years. The cereal curve provided the basis for cereal zones, which are used to classify the human impact. Twenty-six cereal zones can be distinguished, most of them divided into subzones, from 5500 cal B.C. to 700 cal B.C. They correspond to both known and, mostly, unknown settlements in the surrounding landscape from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Charcoal and chemical analyses as well as sediment accumulation, confirmed by accelerator dates, provide evidence for human impact on the environment.A contribution to the 8th IPC, Aix-en-Provence, Sept. 1992     

内蒙古中南部地区青铜—早期铁器时代居民的龋病研究

本文对内蒙古中南部地区青铜—早期铁器时代5个考古地点出土人骨的龋病患病情况做了研究, 在与其他国内材料对比的基础上, 探讨了文化类型与龋病患病率之间的关系。龋病在以农业经济为主的人群中患病率最高, 在农牧兼营的人群中龋病率其次, 在以畜牧业为生的游牧人群中患病率最低。龋病是反映内蒙古地区该时段古代居民经济模式的一个有效指标。     

Urbanization within a Dynamic Environment: Modeling Bronze Age Communities in Upper Mesopotamia

Here agent-based models are employed to explore the behavior of small communities and their associated economic systems within an area of climatically marginal environment in northern Syria and Iraq. The examples, drawn from late prehistoric and Bronze Age societies that developed at the onset of urbanization, show how small communities might respond to various resource stresses and environmental fluctuations. The computer simulations demonstrate that some households gain resources at the expense of others and the community becomes more economically differentiated through time with some households benefiting at the expense of others. The approaches discussed demonstrate that complex societies were capable of a wide range of responses to stresses that could be absorbed or amplified via a number of social, economic, or demographic processes.     

New approaches to prehistoric land-use reconstruction in south-western Germany

Botanical on-site and off-site data relating to Late Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement phases in south-western Germany are compared with a view to reconstructing economic and environmental change. The large differences between the Neolithic and Bronze Age as regards forest composition, crops and crop weeds, and charcoal input are explained in terms of different types of agronomic systems and hence cultural landscape. In the Late Neolithic, shifting cultivation, involving slash and burn, was practised with the result that the landscape was largely dominated by tall shrubs. In the Bronze Age there were more or less permanent arable fields with only short fallow phases. The agronomic system and the resulting cultural landscape was already similar to that of the medieval period and, especially, early medieval time.     

Environmental impact of neolithic and bronze age farming in the eastern Pyrenees forelands, based on multidisciplinary investigations at La Caune de Bélesta (Bélesta Cave), near Perpignan, France

Results of multidisciplinary studies, involving anthracology, archaeology and geoarchaeology, that have been carried out on Neolithic to Bronze Age deposits from Bélesta Cave, eastern Pyrenees, are reported. These show that the type of human activity, i.e. pastoralism alone or a more diversified farming economy, and continuity/discontinuity of occupation are the main factors that determine the structure and evolution of the Holocene vegetation in the region. Neolithic pastoral activities were not continuous and so did not have an enduring influence on the natural environment. The more continuous and diversified exploitation associated with Bronze Age cultures was responsible for the development and maintenance of the low garrigues.     

A new find of macrofossils of feather grass (Stipa) in an Early Bronze Age storage pit at Vliněves, Czech Republic: local implications and possible interpretation in a Central European context

The abundance of Stipa remains in material dated to the Middle Neolithic (ca. 4400–4000 b.c.) from Kujawy (central Poland) and their presence in a storage pit at Vliněves (Czech Republic) dated to the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2300–1600 b.c.) are most probably connected with gathering of the plant. Stipa grains are edible and the whole plant could have been used as insulation, for making mattresses and for a range of similar purposes. Nowadays spikelets of Stipa are used for decoration. They are dangerous to herbivores because of the sharpness of the basal part of the spikelet and the tendency of the awns to unroll in wet conditions. Already in the first half of the 20th century the plant was regarded as a weed of meadows. The gathering and use of Stipa, as suggested by the abundance of its archaeological macro-remains, was most probably prompted by changes in the local environment. These latter arose from intensive human activity, mostly deforestation and grazing by domestic animals, leading to the formation of steppe-like vegetation. This process is documented by a pollen diagram from a peat section located near the Vliněves site.     

Evidence from charcoal analysis for environmental change during the interval late Bronze Age to Roman,at the archaeological site of Castro de Penices,N.W. Portugal

Vegetation and environmental change from late Bronze Age to the Roman period in north-west Portugal is reconstructed on the basis of charcoal analyses. The site was occupied by people of the Castrejo culture, i.e. an Iron Age culture that developed in the north-west Iberian peninsula. The pattern of exploitation of natural wood resources by local populations during this period appears to be similar during the three phases of occupation. The frequencies of light-demanding plant species, mostly Leguminosae, testify to considerable destruction and degeneration of the climax woodlands. The preference of particular wood for specific uses, such as roofing, is discussed and the Holocene history of selected trees within the wider region is considered.     

Analysis of the fuel wood used in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age copper mining sites of the Schwaz and Brixlegg area (Tyrol,Austria)

Charcoal analysis was carried out as part of an interdisciplinary project focusing on the copper mining history of the former mining area of Schwaz and Brixlegg, a region pivotal as a copper source in prehistoric Europe. The goal was to use remains of carbonised wood to investigate environmental implications of prehistoric mining, as well as to gain new insight about the ancient mining technique of fire-setting. Charcoal samples from seven copper mining sites (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age) were analysed. The results reveal a strong preference for coniferous wood as fuel in fire-setting, but not in ore smelting/roasting processes. Species composition at the ore-processing sites indicates moderate forest degradation processes caused by human intervention.     

Settlement and landscape history at the Federsee,south-west Germany,as reflected in pollen diagrams

The Federsee mire in the Alpine Foreland of south-western Germany contains a record of a remarkable archaeological landscape. Since the first excavations in the 1920's, botanists and mire geologists have studied the relationship between landscape development and settlement at this site. In a new study, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, various disciplines embracing both archaeology and the natural sciences have come together to address outstanding questions and problems. Pollen analysis can only be carried out within the Federsee mire since no other suitable mires are found in the vicinity. Because of the size of the Federsee basin (30 km² at the end of the last glaciation), the regional pollen component, consisting predominantly of arboreal pollen, prevails over the herbaceous component which mainly reflects activity associated with settlements. Nevertheless, phases of settlement are clearly reflected in the radiocarbon-dated pollen diagrams and can be correlated with Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements that are dated either by dendrochronology or radiocarbon. In addition, some settlement phases were identified for which no archaeological evidence is yet available. As a consequence of human impact during the Atlantic and Subboreal periods, a gradual opening-up and change in structure of the forests is recorded. There is evidence for an exceptionally high level of human impact associated with two Bronze Age settlements that were present in the central part of the Federsee mire. Each of the five transgressions of the Federsee so far identified occurred at the end of a settlement phase. These may have resulted from anthropogenic activity rather than climatic change. A contribution to the 8th IPC, Aix-en-Provence, Sept. 1992