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.     

Population affinities of Neolithic Siberians: a snapshot from prehistoric Lake Baikal

Archaeological evidence supports the inhabitation of the Lake Baikal region since the Paleolithic. Both metric and nonmetric osteological studies suggest that Neolithic Cis-Baikal populations are the ancestors of contemporary inhabitants of the region. To date, ancient DNA data have not been used to corroborate this biological continuity hypothesis. This study presents a temporal snapshot of the Cis-Baikal Neolithic by examining mtDNA diversity in two cemetery populations situated on the Angara River downstream of Lake Baikal. The 800 years separating the use of the two cemeteries is thought to represent a biocultural hiatus in the Cis-Baikal region, one that ended when a new group migrated into the area. To assess the likelihood that genetic continuity exists between these two Neolithic groups, we examined both mtDNA coding region and hypervariable region I (HVI) polymorphisms from skeletal remains excavated from both cemeteries (Lokomotiv and Ust'-Ida). The mtDNA haplogroup distributions of the two cemetery populations differ significantly, suggesting that they were biologically distinct groups. When the biological distance between these Neolithic groups is compared with modern Siberian and other East Eurasian groups, the posthiatus group (Serovo-Glazkovo) generally aligns with contemporary Siberians, while the prehiatus (Kitoi) individuals are significantly different from all but modern Kets and Shorians living in the Yenisey and Ob River basins to the west of Lake Baikal. These results suggest that the Lake Baikal region experienced a significant depopulation event during the sixth millennium BP, and was reoccupied by a new immigrant population some 800 years later.     

Skeletal growth in early and late Neolithic foragers from the Cis‐Baikal region of Eastern Siberia

Skeletal growth is explored between Early Neolithic (EN) (8000 to 6800 BP) and Late Neolithic (LN) (6000 to 5200 BP) foragers from the Cis‐Baikal region of Eastern Siberia. Previous studies suggest that increased systemic stress and smaller adult body size characterize the EN compared to LN. On this basis, greater evidence for stunting and wasting is expected in the EN compared to LN. Skeletal growth parameters assessed here include femoral and tibial lengths, estimated stature and body mass, femoral midshaft cortical thickness, total bone thickness, and medullary width. Forward selection was used to fit polynomial lines to each skeletal growth parameter relative to dental age in the pooled samples, and standardized residuals were compared between groups using t tests. Standardized residuals of body mass and femoral length were significantly lower in the EN compared to LN sample, particularly from late infancy through early adolescence. However, no significant differences in the standardized residuals for cortical thickness, medullary width, total bone thickness, tibial length, or stature were found between the groups. Age ranges for stunting in femoral length and wasting in body mass are consistent with environmental perturbations experienced at the cessation of breast feeding and general resource insecurity in the EN compared to LN sample. Differences in relative femoral but not tibial length may be associated with age‐specific variation in growth‐acceleration for the distal and proximal limb segments. Similarity in cortical bone growth between the two samples may reflect the combined influences of systemic and mechanical factors on this parameter. Am J Phys Anthropol 153:377–386, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Towards the vegetation and settlement history of the southern Dobrudza coastal region, north-eastern Bulgaria: A pollen diagram from Lake Durankulak

Palynological investigation and radiocarbon dating of a 6-m core from lake Durankulak, north-eastern Bulgaria, enables vegetation development and human occupation from ca. 5500–5300 cal. B.C. onwards to be traced. Steppe vegetation that included with groves of deciduous trees asQuercus, Ulmus, Carpinus belulus andCorylus changed to a forest-steppe after 4000 cal. B.C. The archaeopalynological record indicates three distinct phases of human activity as follows: (1) 5300–4200 cal. B.C. (late Neolithic and Eneolithic) during which farming, that included a substantial arable component, was pursued, (2) 3500–3000 cal. B.C. (transition to early Bronze Age) when stock rearing appears to have dominated, and (3) after 1300 cal. B.C. (late Bronze Age) when arable farming again assumed importance. The palynological data correlate well with the rich archaeological record for human settlement that is available for the region from late Neolithic times onwards.     

贵州穿洞遗址1979年发现的磨制骨器的初步研究

贵州省普定县穿洞出土的骨器是穿洞文化的重要标志。1979年首次试掘出土的骨器基本为磨制者, 类型主要有骨锥、骨铲、骨叉、骨棒及骨针等,多采用较厚的动物骨骼的碎片为原料加工而成。一次性出土数量如此多骨器的遗址在我国非常少见, 为研究中国旧石器时代晚期文化的多样性提供了一个重要地点和一批有意义的文化遗物, 并对研究我国旧石器时代骨器提供了丰富的材料, 增加了我们对骨器工具的制造工艺及用途的了解。     

Maritime adaptations and dietary variation in prehistoric Western Alaska: Stable isotope analysis of permafrost‐preserved human hair

The reconstruction of diet and subsistence strategies is integral in understanding early human colonizations and cultural adaptations, especially in the Arctic—one of the last areas of North America to be permanently inhabited. However, evidence for early subsistence practices in Western Alaska varies, particularly with regards to the emergence, importance, and intensity of sea mammal hunting. Here, we present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from permafrost‐preserved human hair from two new prehistoric sites in Western Alaska, providing a direct measure of diet. The isotope evidence indicates a heavy reliance on sea mammal protein among the earlier Norton‐period group (1,750 ± 40 cal BP), confirming that the complex hunting technologies required to intensively exploit these animals were most likely already in place in this region by at least the beginning of 1st millennium AD. In contrast, analysis of the more recent Thule‐period hair samples (650 ± 40 cal BP; 570 ± 30 cal BP) reveals a more mixed diet, including terrestrial animal protein. Sequential isotope analysis of two longer human hair locks indicates seasonal differences in diet in a single Norton‐period individual but demonstrates little dietary variation in a Thule‐period individual. These analyses provide direct evidence for dietary differences among Alaska's early Eskimo groups and confirm the antiquity of specialized sea mammal hunting and procurement technologies. The results of this study have implications for our understanding of human adaptation to maritime and high‐latitude environments, and the geographical and temporal complexity in early Arctic subsistence. Am J Phys Anthropol 151:448–461, 2013.© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Functional plasticity of the human humerus: Shape,rigidity, and muscular entheses

The relationship between the mechanical loading undergone by a bone and its form has been widely assumed as a premise in studies aiming to reconstruct behavioral patterns from skeletal remains. Nevertheless, this relationship is complex due to the existence of many factors affecting bone structure and form, and further research combining structural and shape characteristics is needed. Using two‐block PLS, which is a test to analyze the covariance between two sets of variables, we aim to investigate the relationship between upper‐limb entheseal changes, cross‐sectional properties, and contour shape of the humeral diaphysis. Our results show that individuals with strongly marked entheseal changes have increased diaphyseal rigidities. Bending rigidities are mainly related to entheseal changes of muscles that cross the shoulder. Moreover, the entheseal changes of muscles that participate in the rotation of the arm are related to mediolaterally flatter and ventrodorsally broader humeral shapes in the mid‐proximal diaphysis. In turn, this diaphyseal shape is related to diaphyseal rigidity, especially to bending loadings. The shape of the diaphysis of the rest of the humerus does not covary either with rigidity or with entheseal changes. The results indicate that large muscular scars, such as those found in the mid‐proximal diaphyses, seem to be related to diaphyseal shape, whereas this relationship is not seen for areas with less direct influences of powerful muscles. Am J Phys Anthropol 150:609–617, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Elucidating inequality in Nubia: An examination of entheseal changes at Kerma (Sudan)

Located 10 km south of the Third Cataract of the Nile River, the ancient city of Kerma was once capital to the second largest state in Africa. The Eastern Cemetery at Kerma (～4 km east of city center) encompasses 80+ hectares and was used over a period of 1,500 years (3,200–1,500 BC). Excavated in the early 20th century by George Reisner, the cemetery contained an estimated 20,000–40,000 individuals. Reisner classified these burials into multiple categories, including chiefs and human sacrifices, based on burial position and grave goods. This study investigates the skeletal embodiment of social inequality by examining variation in entheseal severity between the Kerma burial classifications. Seventeen entheses were examined using the Hawkey and Merbs (1995) scoring method (n = 205 individuals); age, sex, and body size variables were considered by employing Mann–Whitney U tests and partial Spearman's correlations. This analysis suggests that significant differences in entheseal changes existed between select burial types. Specifically, “corridor sacrifices” had significantly higher rates of entheseal changes while “chiefs” and “subsidiary burials” had similar entheseal changes; furthermore, within these burial categories, males had higher entheseal scores despite body size controls. The elevated entheseal changes in the sacrificial burials may be due to an intensive agro‐pastoral lifestyle or other demanding forms of manual labor. In conclusion, the disparity of entheseal markers between burial subgroups at Kerma might reflect a degree of social inequality within this state level society. This bioarchaeological research informs our understanding of socially‐defined categories of persons as well as everyday life in Ancient Kerma. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:192–202, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synchronous Environmental and Cultural Change in the Emergence of Agricultural Economies 10,000 Years Ago in the Levant

The commonly held belief that the emergence and establishment of farming communities in the Levant was a smooth socio-economic continuum during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (ca. 12,000-9,000 cal BP) with only rare minor disruptions is challenged by recently obtained evidence from this region. Using a database of archaeological radiocarbon dates and diagnostic material culture records from a series of key sites in the northern Levant we show that the hitherto apparent long-term continuity interpreted as the origins and consolidation of agricultural systems was not linear and uninterrupted. A major cultural discontinuity is observed in the archaeological record around 10,000 cal BP in synchrony with a Holocene Rapid Climate Change (RCC), a short period of climatic instability recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. This study demonstrates the interconnectedness of the first agricultural economies and the ecosystems they inhabited, and emphasizes the complex nature of human responses to environmental change during the Neolithic period in the Levant. Moreover, it provides a new environmental-cultural scenario that needs to be incorporated in the models reconstructing both the establishment of agricultural economy in southwestern Asia and the impact of environmental changes on human populations.     

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     

Vegetation history with implication of climate changes and human impacts over the last 9000 years in the Lake Nanyi area,Anhui Province,East China

Palynological analyses in combination with radiocarbon dating on a Holocene borehole from the Lake Nanyi, Anhui Province, East China demonstrate a well-documented local vegetation evolution since 9000 cal BP, which is the first record of Holocene climate change and human impact in this region. Since 9000 cal BP a mixed evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forest dominated by Cyclobalanopsis and Quercus developed in this area, indicating a warm climate condition with enhanced insolation. A mixed evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forest was fully developed between 6600–4500 cal BP, which corresponds to the Holocene Climate Optimum with the strong influence of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM). After 3000 cal BP the broad-leaved forest decreased rapidly, while land herbs and ferns increased. It seems that the climate condition in East China was similar to the present after Holocene Climate Optimum. Pollen results show a potential interface between environment changes and human activities. Pollen diagram demonstrates that human impacts on the natural vegetation remained weak at the early stage but significantly enhanced upwards. The distinctive fluctuations of the pollen contents among AP (trees and shrubs), and the possible agriculture indicators might infer the potential human behaviors for environment changes. Due to the enlargement of organized farming and increase in population, natural forest was eventually replaced by farmland since 3000 cal BP. This study would increase our knowledge of Holocene vegetation transition related to the monsoon dynamics on a long timescale in East China and provide an environmental background for more detailed studies on cultural developments in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River region.     

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.     

Deconstructing the concept of Subneolithic farming in the southeastern Baltic

The paper presents a critical review of the zooarchaeological, macrobotanical, palynological and archaeological data from Lithuania and their previous interpretations, which formerly served as the basis for the concept of development of pre-Neolithic or Subneolithic low intensity farming and/or livestock breeding in the eastern Baltic region. Moreover, it presents the first direct AMS dates from the crop remains and domestic animal bones discovered in Lithuanian Subneolithic and Neolithic settlements. An investigation proved that most of, or possibly all, the early farming “evidence” came from the wrong identification of the plant and animal species and incorrect dating of crop remains and domestic animal bones. The errors of dating were caused by the fresh water reservoir effect being ignored when dating the bulk lacustrine sediment samples, by the failure to evaluate the impact of the palimpsest and bioturbation phenomena on the formation of an archaeological layer, and by insufficient attention to stratigraphy and spatial documentation of the finds during very extensive archaeological excavations in the second half of the 20th century. To date, no credible evidence is available in Lithuania that domestic animals had been kept and crops grown before the Neolithic Globular Amphora and Corded Ware cultures in 3200/2700 cal bc. However, this does not mean such evidence may not appear in the future, provided direct AMS dating of animal and crop residues from Subneolithic contexts continues, and systematic macrobotanical studies finally start not only in the lake settlement and fishing sites, but also in higher altitude areas.     

Pollen-based quantitative reconstructions of Holocene climate variability in NW Romania

A modern analogue technique is applied to two high-resolution pollen sequences from NW Romania to provide the first quantitative evidence for winter, summer and annual temperatures and for precipitation across the Holocene in this region.

The pollen-based climate reconstructions allow the identification of four main intervals: i) an early, less stable period between 11,700 and 11,200 cal. yr BP; (ii) generally stable conditions between 11,200 and 8300 cal. yr BP with winter and annual temperatures and precipitation higher than at present, and summer temperatures about the same; (iii) lower winter and annual temperatures, and higher summer temperatures and precipitation between 8000 and 2400 cal. yr BP; (iv) warmer winter and annual temperatures and lower precipitation for the last 2400 years, whereas summer temperatures became cooler at Steregoiu and remained stable at Preluca Tiganului.

The pollen-based climate reconstructions at the two sites show similar patterns in annual and winter temperatures and precipitation changes during the Holocene, but the trends appear to be less consistent for summer temperatures.

Our pollen-based reconstructions revealed several short-term climatic oscillations during the Holocene, the strongest of which occur between 10,300–10,100, 8300–8000, 6800–6400, 5100–4900, 4000–3600 and 3200–3000 cal. yr BP.     

Form and Function of Early Neolithic Bifacial Stone Tools Reflects Changes in Land Use Practices during the Neolithization Process in the Levant

For many, climate change is no longer recognized as the primary cause of cultural changes in the Near East. Instead, human landscape degradation, population growth, socioeconomic adjustments, and conflict have been proposed as the mechanisms that shaped the Neolithic Revolution. However, as Bar-Yosef noted, even if there is chronological correlation between climate changes and cultural developments, what is important is to understand how Neolithic societies dealt with these improving or deteriorating environments. Changes in bifacial stone tools provide a framework for examining some of these interactions by focusing on changing land use practices during the Neolithization process. The results of microwear analysis of 40 bifacial artifacts from early Pre-Pottery Neolithic (EPPNB) levels at Motza in the Judean hills document changes during the PPNA-PPNB transition at the onset of the Levantine Moist Period (ca. 8000 cal B.C.) when conditions for agriculture improved. EPPNB villagers added heavy-duty axes to a toolkit they had used for carpentry and began to clear forests for fields and grazing lands. Sustainable forest management continued for the duration of the PPN until the cumulative effects of tree-felling and overgrazing seem to have led to landscape degradation at end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC), when a cold, dry climatic anomaly (6600-6000 cal B.C.) may have accelerated the reduction of woodlands. Early PPNB components at sites like Motza, with data from nearly five millennia of Neolithic occupations, show how complex hunter-gatherers and early food producers were able to establish sustainable resource management systems even as climate changed, population increased, and social relations were redefined.     

"Official" and "practical" kin: Inferring social and community structure from dental phenotype at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey

The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey (7400–5600 cal BC) is widely acknowledged for its role in the study of early farming communities. To better understand the social and community structure of this setting, an intracemetery biological distance analysis was conducted. Metric and nonmetric observations were recorded in both deciduous and permanent dentitions (n = 266) to explore phenotypic patterning of individuals interred within individual buildings. Specifically, this study tests the hypothesis that individuals within houses and house groupings represent family units and the social structure of Çatalhöyük was largely biological‐kin based. Multivariate and univariate statistical procedures were applied to phenotypic dental data. Results indicate that inclusion for interment within a house was only minimally related to biological affinity. Moreover, the site does not appear to be organized into larger, biologically related neighborhoods of houses. These findings suggest that Çatalhöyük may not have been a kin‐based society, largely because membership within a house cemetery was not solely defined on the basis of biological affinity, such as in a family group. Rather, it appears that social structure was centered on the house as the unifying social principle. The choice for interment location may have transcended biological lines thereby creating an alternate and more fluid definition of “kin.” These findings can be used to understand the transition to settled life and biological patterning in this Neolithic community. Am J Phys Anthropol 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

新疆于田流水墓地青铜时代人类牙齿非测量性状

我国新疆地区自古以来即是东西方文明相互交融的摇篮,以往的考古学、体质人类学研究表明,该区域内不同文化之间的互通有无早在我国青铜-早期铁器时代便已经发生。关于这种交流与融合产生的原因,目前学术界仍未有定论。新疆于田流水墓地(2950±50 BP)是由中国社会科学院考古研究所于2003-2005年主持发掘的青铜时代墓葬群,该墓地共发掘墓葬65座,被视为是昆仑山北麓发现的最早人类文化遗存。本文从采集自流水墓地108例人骨标本的19项牙齿非测量性状研究入手,将其与欧亚大陆范围内的古今人群进行比较研究,并进行史密斯生物学距离的计算以及主成分分析。结果表明:生活在新疆流水地区的古代人类与南西伯利亚地区、日本绳纹、阿富汗/巴基斯坦、中国姜家梁地区人群之间在牙齿非测量性状方面存在某种程度上的相似性,这或许可以说明至少在3000年前,我国新疆西南部地区可能已经存在了东西方的人群迁徙。     

Submillennium-scale migrations of the rainforest-savanna boundary in Colombia: C wiggle-matching and pollen analysis of core Las Margaritas

We present the 11?150-cal-yr-long pollen record Laguna Las Margaritas (3°23′N, 73°26′W; 290 m altitude), located at a site sensitive to climatic change near the transition from the Amazonian rainforest to the savanna of the Llanos Orientales in Colombia. In the 10-m-long core nine AMS ¹⁴C bulk samples show ages from 9760±60 to 854±36 BP and provide initial time control. Thirty-one additional AMS ¹⁴C samples of selected macrofossils provide time control from 6250 to 4050 cal BP; for this interval precise time control was obtained by ¹⁴C wiggle-match dating. From 11?150 to 9100 cal BP, grass savanna dominated the landscape while gallery forest along the drainage system was poorly developed. Water availability was lower than today and the length of the dry season longer. From 9100 to 7330 cal BP gallery forest expanded pointing to wetter conditions. From 7330 to 5430 cal BP savanna was increasingly replaced by forest, but with alternating abundance of both vegetation types. From 5430 to 2500 cal BP forest and wooded savanna dominated the western Llanos Orientales suggesting high precipitation rates. Expansion of Mauritia palm forest at 2500 cal BP reflects increasing water availability and stagnant water environments. Increasing savanna between 2500 and 1000 cal BP may represent a combined natural and anthropogenic signal. Development from open savanna to forest during the Middle Holocene is synchronous with a decreasing caloric seasonality, and a southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, suggesting that the large-scale climatic and vegetational change in the Colombian savannas is precession-forced. High-frequent migration of the savanna-rainforest boundary started around 6000 cal BP and continued at least to 3000 cal BP. Precipitation regimes in northwest and northeast South America seem opposite: dry conditions in the Colombian savanna area seem to reflect a La Niña setting of the climate system; wet conditions reflect an El Niño setting. Δ¹⁴C fluctuations reflect changes of solar activity and we tested the hypothesis that Δ¹⁴C fluctuations correspond to climatic and vegetational change. For the interval 6250 to 4050 cal BP, we applied ¹⁴C wiggle-match dating (WMD), i.e. matching a series of radiocarbon ages in ¹⁴C BP from the sediment, with the dendrochronology-based calibration curve, and we also wiggle-matched the pollen record vs. the Δ¹⁴C record. In this first attempt in a neotropical ecosystem, we could not find unambiguous support that changes in solar activity did trigger climatic and vegetational change in the savannas of the Llanos Orientales.     

Rewriting the Central European Early Bronze Age Chronology: Evidence from Large-Scale Radiocarbon Dating

The transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe has often been considered as a supra-regional uniform process, which led to the growing mastery of the new bronze technology. Since the 1920s, archaeologists have divided the Early Bronze Age into two chronological phases (Bronze A1 and A2), which were also seen as stages of technical progress. On the basis of the early radiocarbon dates from the cemetery of Singen, southern Germany, the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe was originally dated around 2300/2200 BC and the transition to more complex casting techniques (i.e., Bronze A2) around 2000 BC. On the basis of 140 newly radiocarbon dated human remains from Final Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age cemeteries south of Augsburg (Bavaria) and a re-dating of ten graves from the cemetery of Singen, we propose a significantly different dating range, which forces us to re-think the traditional relative and absolute chronologies as well as the narrative of technical development. We are now able to date the beginning of the Early Bronze Age to around 2150 BC and its end to around 1700 BC. Moreover, there is no transition between Bronze (Bz) A1 and Bronze (Bz) A2, but a complete overlap between the type objects of the two phases from 1900–1700 BC. We thus present a revised chronology of the assumed diagnostic type objects of the Early Bronze Age and recommend a radiocarbon-based view on the development of the material culture. Finally, we propose that the traditional phases Bz A1 and Bz A2 do not represent a chronological sequence, but regionally different social phenomena connected to the willingness of local actors to appropriate the new bronze technology.