Neolithic human impact on the landscapes of North-East Hungary inferred from pollen and settlement records

In this article, we discuss the Neolithic and Early Copper Age (ECA) part of two pollen records from the Middle Tisza Floodplain in association with the local archaeological settlement record. We address the hypothesis of Willis and Bennett (2004) that there was little human impact by farmers on the environment of SE Europe until the Bronze Age. Contrary to this hypothesis, our results show that small-scale agriculture and woodland clearance is already attestable in the earliest Neolithic in Eastern Hungary, there are signs of expanding scale of mixed farming in the Middle Neolithic and strong evidence for extensive landscape alterations with enhanced pasturing and mixed farming in the Late Neolithic (LN) and ECA. The main vegetation exploitation techniques in the alluvial plain of Sarló-hát were selective tree felling (mainly Quercus), coppicing (mainly Corylus and Ulmus) and woodland clearance to establish grazing pastures and small-scale crop farming. Comparison with other well-dated pollen diagrams from Eastern Hungary suggested that, in the Early and Middle Neolithic (8000–7000?cal.?b.p.), Corylus and Ulmus coppicing were probably frequent, while pastoral activities and associated woodland clearance is distinguished in the LN (7000–6500?cal.?b.p.). Our data also suggested a shift to moister summer conditions in the alluvium during the ECA, which may have contributed to a trend towards settlement dispersion and increased reliance on animal husbandry in the NE Hungarian Plain.     

From deciduous forest to open landscape: application of new approaches to help understand cultural landscape development in western Norway

Development of the cultural landscape in a village situated by the inner fjords of western Norway is investigated by pollen analysis and quantitative reconstruction methods. Pollen samples from lake sediments and a soil profile were analysed and represent different spatial scales. The Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) is applied to a large and a small lake to convert pollen percentages from the small lake into estimated local vegetation cover in selected time periods starting from 2800 cal bc (Middle Neolithic A). This reconstruction shows that estimated forest cover has fluctuated through time, and changes in openness related to human impact are distinct from the Early Bronze Age (1800–1200 cal bc). Pollen analyses from the soil profile indicate forest clearances from the Late Neolithic (2300–1800 cal bc). Gradual intensification of farming is recognized in both pollen diagrams throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages with increasing openness and spatial differentiation in land-use practices. Presence of pollen of cereals and flax record the cultivation of these plants from the Iron Age, and intensification of land-use may have caused erosion and re-sedimentation in the lake in medieval times. To identify a possible landscape in the past, HUMPOL software has been used with the Late Neolithic as a case study. The LRA-based estimates of forest cover are supported by the HUMPOL simulations, but several solutions to the Late Neolithic landscape pattern exist. The results clearly demonstrate how implementation of LRA and HUMPOL improve the understanding of cultural landscape development.     

Population history of the middle Euphrates valley: Dental non-metric traits at Tell Ashara,Tell Masaikh and Jebel Mashtale,Syria

Fifty-nine dental non-metric traits were scored using Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System on a sample of teeth from 350 human skeletons excavated at three sites in the lower middle Euphrates valley. The dataset was divided into six chronological subsets: Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Early Iron Age with Neo-Assyrian period, Classical/Late Antiquity, Early Islamic (Umayyad and Abbasid) period and Modern period. The matrix of Mean Measure of Divergence values exhibited temporal homogeneity of the sample with only dental non-metric trait scores in the Modern subset differing significantly from most other subsets. Such a result suggests that no major gene flow occurred in the middle Euphrates valley between the 3rd millennium BCE and the early 2nd millennium CE. Only after the Mongolian invasion and large depopulation of northern Mesopotamia in the 13th century CE a major population change occurred when the area was taken over in the 17th century by Bedouin tribes from the Arabian Peninsula.     

Bronze Age olive domestication in the north Jordan valley: new morphological evidence for regional complexity in early arboricultural practice from Pella in Jordan

Recent research from the site of Pella in Jordan examines the process and timing of olive cultivation. The frequent presence of olive remains from the Pottery Neolithic, beginning in the Yarmoukian, suggests that exploitation of the olive dates from as early as c. 6200 cal bce, with evidence of oil pressing from at least c. 5200 cal bce. Morphometric data, spanning the Late Neolithic to the Middle Iron Age II, using the measurement of olive endocarp length and width, demonstrates a reduction in the size variation of olive endocarps through time, in addition to an increase in their length, likely the result of selection pressure on trees. At Pella, this change occurs sometime after the Chalcolithic and before the Late Bronze Age, probably post-dating the earliest phases of the Early Bronze Age. Domestication is thus later than Teleilat Ghassul (Jordan), which has the earliest morphological evidence for olive domestication, and suggests that olive domestication was a regionally and temporally diverse process.     

Population continuity, demic diffusion and Neolithic origins in central-southern Germany: The evidence from body proportions

The transition to agro-pastoralism in central Europe has been framed within a dichotomy of “regional continuity” versus exogenous “demic diffusion”. While substantial genetic support exists for a model of demographic diffusion from an ancestral source in the Near East, archaeological data furnish weak support for the “wave of advance” model. Nevertheless, archaeological evidence attests the widespread introduction of an exogenous “package” comprising ceramics, cereals, pulses and domesticated animals to central Europe at 5600 cal BCE.Body proportions are under strong climatic selection and evince remarkable stability within regional lineages. As such, they offer a viable and robust alternative to cranio-facial data in assessing hypothesised continuity and replacement with the transition to agro-pastoralism in central Europe. Humero-clavicular, brachial and crural indices in a large sample (n=75) of Linienbandkeramik (LBK), Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age specimens from the middle Elbe-Saale-Werra valley (MESV) were compared with Eurasian and African terminal Pleistocene, European Mesolithic and geographically disparate recent human specimens.Mesolithic Europeans display considerable variation in humero-clavicular and brachial indices yet none approach the extreme “hyper-polar” morphology of LBK humans from the MESV. In contrast, Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age peoples display elongated brachial and crural indices reminiscent of terminal Pleistocene and “tropically adapted” recent humans. These marked morphological changes likely reflect exogenous immigration during the terminal Fourth millennium cal BC. Population expansion and diffusion is a function of increased mobility and settlement dispersal concomitant with significant technological and subsistence changes in later Neolithic societies during the late fourth millennium cal BCE.     

Bioarchaeological analysis of cultural transition in the southern Levant using dental nonmetric traits

To many Near Eastern archaeologists, the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age transition in the southern Levant indicates the emergence of a new ethnicity. The question remains, however, whether changes in the material culture are the result of an invasion of foreigners, or instead arose from shifting cultural and technical practices by indigenous peoples. This study utilized dental morphological traits to assess phenetic relationships between the Late Bronze Age site of Dothan (1500-1100 BC) and the Iron Age II site of Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir, 701 BC). Information on 30 dental crown and root traits was collected for 4,412 teeth, representing 392 individuals from Lachish and a minimum of 121 individuals from Dothan, using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System. Seventeen traits from Dothan and Lachish were compared with dentitions from a Byzantine Jerusalem monastery, Iron Age Italy, a Natufian group (early agrarians from the Levant), and a Middle Kingdom Egyptian site using C.A.B. Smith's mean measure of divergence statistic. The findings suggest that there are more similarities between Dothan and Lachish than either of them and other sites. This analysis indicates that the material culture changes were not the result of a foreign invasion. Rather, the Iron Age people of the southern Levant were related to their Bronze Age predecessors.     

Early–Middle Holocene vegetation history, climate change and human activities at Lago Riane (Ligurian Apennines, NW Italy)

The radiocarbon-dated palaeoecological study of Lago Riane (Ligurian Apennines, NW Italy) presented here forms part of a wider investigation into the relationships between Holocene vegetation succession, climate change and human activities in the northern Apennines. The record of vegetation history from Lago Riane indicates that, since the end of the last glaciation, climate change and prehistoric human activities, combined with several local factors, have strongly influenced the pattern and timing of natural vegetation succession. The pollen record indicates an important change in vegetation cover at Lago Riane at ~8500–8200 cal. years b.p., coincident with a well-known period of rapid climate change. At ~6100 cal. years b.p., Fagus woodland colonised Lago Riane during a period of climate change and expansion of Late Neolithic human activities in the upland zone of Liguria. A marked decline in Abies woodland, and the expansion of Fagus woodland, at ~4700 cal. years b.p., coincided with further archaeological evidence for pastoralism in the mountains of Liguria during the Copper Age. At ~3900–3600 cal. years b.p. (Early to Middle Bronze Age transition), a temporary expansion of woodland at Lago Riane has been provisionally attributed to a decline in human pressure on the environment during a period of short-term climate change.     

Prehistoric funerary complexity in northern Iberia studied by using dental morphology

During the Neolithic Age and afterwards, several funerary practices coexisted in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. According to archaeological data, there was a coexistence of sepulchral caves and megalithic monuments at the end of the Neolithic, following the dominance of open-air pit burials during the Middle Neolithic. The aim of this work is to analyze the biological relationships between individuals representing those cultures, based on their dental morphology – the first such attempt. This study presents data of 156 individuals from this period, and will allow elucidate the population dynamics including the role of migrations and other factors.The results indicate that there were no significant differences between the groups living in Atlantic and Mediterranean areas. Moreover, pairwise comparisons for each trait only show two significant results. This lack of differences could be related to trade activities between the two basins, which would contribute to individual exchanges between groups. Furthermore, according to biological affinities, trade activities along the Mediterranean Sea had a more marked influence over the Catalan populations than those from the Atlantic basin. There are no biological differences between groups representing the open-air pit culture and the sepulchral caves in each area. Finally, the megalithic groups from the Atlantic basin differ the most from the surrounding populations. This could be indicative of a slightly different biological origin of the people related to this culture.     

Palaeoecological investigations towards the reconstruction of the history of forest clearances and coastal heathlands in south-western Norway

Palynological data collected over a period of 60 years have been compiled and re-interpreted in order to reveal the patterns of deforestation and health establishment in the south-western Norwegian coastal heathland. This heathland area has been divided into four sub-regions based on topography, bedrock and drift cover. The palynological investigations are from sites with pollen source areas of different sizes. The palynological signals are interpreted in terms of models that suggest an abrupt, gradual or stepwise deforestation which can be explained by terms of different pollen source areas. The deforestation seems to have been metachronous, leading to a regional mosaic pattern of different vegetation types. The deforestation process spanned more than 3600 calendar years (4000-400 B.C.), with three pronounced clearance periods at 4000-3600 B.C. (Mesolithic/Early Neolithic transition), 2500-2200 B.C. (Middle Neolithic II/Early Late Neolithic transition), and 1900-1400 B.C. (Late Neolithic to Bronze Age period II). The expansion of heathland has also been metachronous and took place over a period of ca. 4000 years between 4000-200 B.C., but was mainly completed by the end of the Bronze Age. Regional differences in the chronology of deforestation and heathland establishment are discussed. Deforestation with subsequent heathland expansion can best be explained in terms of the interaction between land-use history, topography and edaphic conditions under climatic conditions that favoured heathland development.     

Upper limb musculoskeletal stress markers among middle Holocene foragers of Siberia's Cis‐Baikal region

This evaluation of musculoskeletal stress markers (MSMs) in the Cis‐Baikal focuses on upper limb activity reconstruction among the region's middle Holocene foragers, particularly as it pertains to adaptation and cultural change. The five cemetery populations investigated represent two discrete groups separated by an 800–1,000 year hiatus: the Early Neolithic (8000–7000/6800 cal. BP) Kitoi culture and the Late Neolithic/Bronze Age (6000/5800–4000 cal. BP) Isakovo‐Serovo‐Glaskovo (ISG) cultural complex. Twenty‐four upper limb MSMs are investigated not only to gain a better understanding of activity throughout the middle Holocene, but also to independently assess the relative distinctiveness of Kitoi and ISG adaptive regimes. Results reveal higher heterogeneity in overall activity levels among Early Neolithic populations—with Kitoi males exhibiting more pronounced upper limb MSMs than both contemporary females and ISG males—but relative constancy during the Late Neolithic/Bronze Age, regardless of sex or possible status. On the other hand, activity patterns seem to have varied more during the latter period, with the supinator being ranked high among the ISG, but not the Kitoi, and forearm flexors and extensors being ranked generally low only among ISG females. Upper limb rank patterning does not distinguish Early Neolithic males, suggesting that their higher MSM scores reflect differences in the degree (intensity and/or duration), rather than the type, of activity employed. Finally, for both Kitoi and ISG peoples, activity patterns—especially the consistently high‐ranked costoclavicular ligament and deltoid and pectoralis major muscles—appear to be consistent with watercraft use. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Treponemal disease in the middle Archaic to early Woodland periods of the western Tennessee River Valley

The high frequency of late prehistoric New World treponemal disease is attributable to the demographic changes concomitant with the adoption of agriculture. However, these demographic changes in group mobility and site density episodically preceded intensive plant domestication, suggesting possible staggered temporal change in observed treponemal disease case frequency. Thirteen convincing and an additional two probable (N = 581) cases of treponemal disease were identified in an eight-site skeletal sample spanning the Middle (6,000-3,000 BCE) to Late (2,500-ca. 1,000 to 500 BCE) Archaic and Early Woodland (500 BCE-0 CE) periods from the western Tennessee River Valley. Treponemal disease cases are infrequent in both the Middle (3/115, 2.6%) and Late (2 to 4 cases, 相似文献   

Human impact as registered in the pollen record: some results from the western Lake Constance region,Southern Germany

Pollen analytical results from a littoral profile taken in Lake Constance compared with pollen profiles from small kettle holes nearby form the basis for conclusions concerning human population density, the economy and environment from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. Early Neolithic human impact is implicated in a lime decline and also the expansion of beech. The late Neolithic lakeshore settlements caused a decline of elm, beech and lime and, by shifting cultivation, considerably changed the forest cover. The settlements were abandoned after less than 100 years. There were long periods without distinct human impact in the middle and towards the end of the late Neolithic period. Since at least the Late Bronze Age there has been permanent habitation in the region. Human impact was greatest in the High Medieval period and later, and was also substantial in the late La Tène and Roman periods. Distinct declines in human impact can be observed between the La Tène and Roman periods and in the Migration and Merovingian periods. In these intervals, open land and grazed oak forest were replaced by birch and later on by beech forests. The decreases in human impact are not of the same intensity in all diagrams.     

Dental perspectives on the population history of Southeast Asia

This article uses metric and nonmetric dental data to test the "two-layer" or immigration hypothesis whereby Southeast Asia was initially occupied by an "Australo-Melanesian" population that later underwent substantial genetic admixture with East Asian immigrants associated with the spread of agriculture from the Neolithic period onwards. We examined teeth from 4,002 individuals comprising 42 prehistoric and historic samples from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Melanesia. For the odontometric analysis, dental size proportions were compared using factor analysis and Q-mode correlation coefficients, and overall tooth size was also compared between population samples. Nonmetric population affinities were estimated by Smith's distances, using the frequencies of 16 tooth traits. The results of both the metric and nonmetric analyses demonstrate close affinities between recent Australo-Melanesian samples and samples representing early Southeast Asia, such as the Early to Middle Holocene series from Vietnam, Malaysia, and Flores. In contrast, the dental characteristics of most modern Southeast Asians exhibit a mixture of traits associated with East Asians and Australo-Melanesians, suggesting that these populations were genetically influenced by immigrants from East Asia. East Asian metric and/or nonmetric traits are also found in some prehistoric samples from Southeast Asia such as Ban Kao (Thailand), implying that immigration probably began in the early Neolithic. Much clearer influence of East Asian immigration was found in Early Metal Age Vietnamese and Sulawesi samples. Although the results of this study are consistent with the immigration hypothesis, analysis of additional Neolithic samples is needed to determine the exact timing of population dispersals into Southeast Asia.     

Cultivation with deliberation: cereals and their growing conditions in prehistory

The subject of this study is the evaluation of the relationship between cereals grown in prehistory (ca. 5500 bc–ad 600) and environmental conditions during their cultivation on the land that is now the Czech Republic. Charred cereal macroremains were taken from 84 archaeological sites. The representation of species at individual sites was assessed with regard to site altitude, average temperature, precipitation, length of the growing season, soil types and soil productivity within a 1 km buffer zone around each archaeological site. The suitability of using present day environmental data to describe past environmental differences among archaeological sites was verified by expressing environmental conditions using Ellenberg indication values of macroremains of wild taxa. The results of the cereals-environmental conditions analysis show that the most important factor for the crop choice was the period of time of its cultivation. After eliminating the effect of time and length of the growing season, soil quality and altitude become conclusive variables, however with different importance in various periods. The main differences between the macroremain assemblages are represented by the varying proportions of cultivated wheats and barley. In the Neolithic (Proto–Eneolithic) there was no observable effect of environmental factors on the cereal composition. In the Middle Eneolithic–Middle Bronze Age soil type was the main factor in the selection of barley or emmer. In the Late Bronze–Early Iron Ages precipitation, altitude and Chernozems were the decisive factors influencing cereal cultivation while in the Late Iron Age–Migration Period heat load index, precipitation, and the proportion of Fluvisols were the primary determinants. It seems that prehistoric cereal varieties had ecological needs similar to present-day species and the selection of crops took place with respect to local conditions and an effort to achieve an optimum yield.     

Prehistoric settlement developments in the multi-period sites of south India,Brahmagiri Hill

This paper is focused on the multi-period sites in the core southern Neolithic region of south India to highlight their potential archaeological features and resources to assess land use and settlement patterns adopted by the mid-Holocene societies. Systematic archaeological reworks at the multi-period sites require particular attention to identify the resource locations and non-occupation sites for developing a comprehensive picture of the demographic and social models for explaining how people managed and shared resources within the site environs that continued to exist and operated for more than three thousand years spanning from Neolithic (3000-1200 BCE), Iron Age (1200-300 BCE) and Early History (300 BCE- 500 CE). Published archaeological data on major multi-period sites of south India is reviewed, compiled and attested with exploration findings from the Brahmagiri Hill. Here a fresh approach is made to assess the impact of Ashokan rock edicts on the social fabric and any landscape changes it brought to Isila (Isila is believed to be an early historic townsite at Brahmagiri ).     

Mid-Holocene vegetation change in the Troad (W Anatolia): man-made or natural?

New wood charcoal data from two archaeological sites in western Anatolia (Kumtepe and Troy/Çanakkale province) enabled a review of earlier reconstruction of the mid-Holocene vegetation and land use patterns in the region. Multi-proxy data from archaeology, zooarchaeology and climatology are combined to evaluate the relationship of climate-induced and man-made environmental change for a period spanning the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (ca. 5000–2450 cal b.c.). During the first settlement period (Kumtepe A: ca. 5000–4600 cal b.c.) lush vegetation with high proportions of deciduous oak and pine prevailed, enabling the intense use of natural resources by the late Neolithic population, which use might be reflected in the first few representatives of maquis vegetation. A settlement hiatus at the site between roughly 4600 and 3500 cal b.c. includes a cooling event in the Aegean and may have supported persistence and/or development of open vegetation units. However, the hiatus may have ended with a period of regeneration of the vegetation. From Kumtepe B2 (ca. 3300 cal b.c.) onward, human impact becomes clearly visible, although the main woodland taxa continue to prevail. In all, environmental and economic dynamics between 5000 and 2300 cal b.c. in the Troad can be characterised as at least two alternating developmental sequences of climate-induced vegetation change and reinforcement of woodland degradation by human activity.     

Chert and obsidian procurement of three Corsican sites during the 6th and 5th millenniums BC

Provenance studies of Corsican siliceous raw materials used during, the Neolithic focused mainly on obsidian. They showed an almost systematic use of Monte Arci sources (Sardinia). Chert studies have long been dodged, whereas the multiplicity of potential origins, in Sardinia and in continental areas, may provide complementary spatial information about diffusion patterns and interaction phenomenon in the Middle Tyrrhenian during the Neolithic. We studied obsidian and chert industries of three Corsican sites: Renaghju (Early Neolithic), Monte Revincu and Vasculacciu (both Middle Neolithic). In order to assign a provenance, 2241 chert archaeological samples were characterized by petrographic approaches and 100 obsidian artefacts were submitted to geochemical analyses. Each site provides a specific trend regarding relative abundances of raw materials, provenance and consumption patterns. Considered in the wider perspective of the Neolithic Corsican context, results reveal procurement variations from a chronological as well as a geographical point of view. Those variations may echo economic and social evolutions undergone in Neolithic societies of the Tyrrhenian area.     

Land-use patterns and cultural change in the Middle to Late Bronze Age in Ireland: inferences from pollen records

In Ireland, the Middle to Late Bronze Age (1500–600 cal b.c.) is characterised by alternating phases of prolific metalwork production (the Bishopsland and Dowris Phases) and apparent recessions (the Roscommon Phase and the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age transition). In this paper, these changes in material culture are placed in a socio-economic context by examining contemporary settlement and land-use patterns reconstructed from the pollen record. The vegetation histories of six tephrochronologically linked sites are presented, which provide high-resolution and chronologically well-resolved insights into changes in landscape use over the Middle to Late Bronze Age. The records are compared with published pollen records in an attempt to discern if there are trends in woodland clearance and abandonment from which changes in settlement patterns can be inferred. The results suggest that prolific metalworking industries correlate chronologically with expansion of farming activity, which indicates that they were supported by a productive subsistence economy. Conversely, declines in metalwork production occur during periods when farming activity was generally less extensive and perhaps more centralised, and it is proposed that disparate socio-economic or political factors, rather than a collapse of the subsistence economy, lie behind the demise of metalworking industries.     

Earliest evidence of a primitive cultivar of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vitis vinifera</Emphasis> L. during the Bronze Age in Sardinia (Italy)

The discovery of the Nuragic culture settlement of Sa Osa, Cabras-Oristano, Sardinia, has made it possible to investigate the domestication status of waterlogged uncharred grape pips that were recovered from three wells dating from the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1350–1150 bc). Applying the stepwise linear discriminant analysis method, a morphological comparison of archaeological seeds and modern wild and cultivated Sardinian grapes pips was performed to determine the similarities between them. The results showed that the archaeological seeds from the Middle Bronze Age have intermediate morphological traits between modern wild and cultivated grape pips from Sardinia. In contrast, the analyses performed on the archaeological seeds from the Late Bronze Age showed a high degree of similarity with the modern cultivars in Sardinia. These results provide the first evidence of primitive cultivated Vitis vinifera in Sardinia during the Late Bronze Age (1286–1115 cal bc, 2σ). This evidence may support the hypothesis that Sardinia could have been a secondary domestication centre of the grapevine, due to the presence of ancient cultivars that still exhibit the phenotypic characteristics of wild grapes.     

Patterns of stress,disease and mortality in two prehistoric populations from North American

Archaeological data from the Dickson Mounds site was employed to reconstruct the cultural-ecological context of two prehistoric American Indian populations. These populations were identified as the Mississippian Acculturated Late Woodland (A.D. 1050–1200) and the Spoon River Focus of the Middle Mississippian (A.D. 1200–1300). The cultural-ecological data was then employed to interpret some of the biological parameters of the two skeletal populations.The cultural-ecological variables included: (a) subsistence technology; (b) population density and degree of sedentarism; and (c) the extent and intensity of contacts with surrounding social groups. The biological parameters included: (a) infectious disease; (b) micro-structural dental defects; and (c) mortality.The results of the analysis suggested that as alterations occurred in the cultural-ecological adaptations of the populations in the form of an increased reliance upon maize agriculture, an increase in population density and sedentarism, and an increase in social contacts; there occurred an increase in the frequency of infectious disease, micro-structural dental defects and mortality.