Degenerative Joint Disease and enthesopathies in a Bronze Age population from Sindou cave (Senaillac-Lauzes,Lot, France)

The anthropological characteristics of the people who lived during the cultural period of the Late Bronze Age in South West France still remain practically unknown because very few sites have provided skeletal remains which permit of an exhaustive study. The cave of Sindou is, in that sense, one of the scarce exceptions. Although the sample of Sindou cannot be considered as representative of the whole regional population (N=50), we studied the presence and severity of DJD and enthesopathies of microtraumatic origin with the aim of finding some data which contribute to the knowledge of several biological aspects of this human group. From the results of the comparisons of the Sindou remains with two different medieval samples, a great similarity is deduced for these skeletal markers, but the higher frequency and severity of Achilles tendon enthesopathy in Sindou is a probable index of a higher level of physical stress at this specific localisation.     

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     

Wood resources in north-west Portugal: their availability and use from the late Bronze Age to the Roman period

The analysis of archaeological charcoal is used to reconstruct the wood resources in north-west Portugal from the late Bronze Age to the Roman period. In this paper, the results obtained from 12 sites are considered, and their implications for interpreting historical human behaviour towards the natural environment and vegetation are discussed. The results indicate a similar kind of exploitation of the vegetation by different populations which used a similar range of wood resources. Fifty-one taxa are identified and three main natural biotopes are distinguished, including mixed oak forest, wasteland vegetation and riparian forest. The large number of taxa identified seems to testify to the existence of a good sampling of the woody vegetation growing in the proximity of the settlements. Both dry and fresh wood were used, and the value and possible uses are suggested for some of the most frequent taxa identified.     

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.     

Archaeobotanical analysis of a Bronze Age well from Sardinia: A wealth of knowledge

In 2008, during a rescue excavation in the Sa Osa area, near the town of Cabras (Sardinia, Italy), a Nuragic settlement was discovered. The excavation revealed numerous pits, wells and structures dug by the local communities between the Early Copper Age and the Iron Age. These structures were interpreted as elements of a settlement mainly involved in primary production. The most remarkable structure is Well-N, radiocarbon and archaeologically dated to the Late Bronze Age, which has yielded large amounts of waterlogged plant remains, animal and fish bones and pottery. Despite the limited set of samples, the combination of macro-remain and pollen analyses in this unique context provides important information useful for exploring not only local subsistence systems but also human impact on the surrounding environment. Grapes and figs are the most abundant remains together with other fruits and edible vascular plants. Remains of melon and mulberry were identified being the earliest remains of these two species for Western Europe. Their presence may confirm early trade between Nuragic people and the eastern Mediterranean and/or African coasts. Intentional selection of wood suggests practices associated to the collection of raw material for specific technological demands. The presence of intestinal parasites in the pollen record points to the possible use of the well as a cesspit, at least in its later use, and this is one of the earliest evidence of this type of structures in prehistoric contexts.     

« Terre des cités fortifiées ». Sites de la civilisation des steppes de l’époque du Bronze moyen en Oural du Sud

The “Earth of fortified settlement” is one of the last big discoveries of the end of the xx^th century. Situated on the oriental slopes of the mounts of Ural, fortified settlement, date the Middle Bronze Age. These strengthened structures are particular in the archaeology of steppes. They were built according to geometrical plans, Cities in oval being the most ancient, the rectangular cities being the most recent. The most remarkable are together of strengthened structures appropriate for the culture of Sintachta-Arkaïm. This city distinguishes itself from the others by the unique integrity of the works of fortification and by the graves which are connected to these last ones. Situated on a prominence, Arkaim consists of two defensive walls, maybe of a third, the rampart and the ditch. The space between the defensive walls was occupied by the houses of trapezoidal shape and directed as beams to the center of the city. The center of the city, the rectangular shape, was not built and formed a place where foyers were found. Complex entrances were at the four corner of the city. The excavations of fortified settlement and graves allowed to have an idea on the level of development of the everyday life at the time of the Middle Bronze Age in transuralian plains.     

Ancient DNA reveals traces of Iberian Neolithic and Bronze Age lineages in modern Iberian horses

Multiple geographical regions have been proposed for the domestication of Equus caballus . It has been suggested, based on zooarchaeological and genetic analyses that wild horses from the Iberian Peninsula were involved in the process, and the overrepresentation of mitochondrial D1 cluster in modern Iberian horses supports this suggestion. To test this hypothesis, we analysed mitochondrial DNA from 22 ancient Iberian horse remains belonging to the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the Middle Ages, against previously published sequences. Only the medieval Iberian sequence appeared in the D1 group. Neolithic and Bronze Age sequences grouped in other clusters, one of which (Lusitano group C) is exclusively represented by modern horses of Iberian origin. Moreover, Bronze Age Iberian sequences displayed the lowest nucleotide diversity values when compared with modern horses, ancient wild horses and other ancient domesticates using nonparametric bootstrapping analyses. We conclude that the excessive clustering of Bronze Age horses in the Lusitano group C, the observed nucleotide diversity and the local continuity from wild Neolithic Iberian to modern Iberian horses, could be explained by the use of local wild mares during an early Iberian domestication or restocking event, whereas the D1 group probably was introduced into Iberia in later historical times.     

Archaeobotanical data and crop storage evidence from an early Bronze Age 2 burnt house at Arslantepe, Malatya, Turkey

Excavations on the southwest area at Arslantepe, Malatya, Turkey, by far the largest tell on the Malatya plain from the 5th millennium to the Neo-Hittite age, revealed an important change in the settlement patterns during the two main levels of the VI C Period of the site (Early Bronze Age 2, 2750–2500 cal b.c.). The latter level corresponds to a village founded on neatly shaped terraces in a layout which lasted for centuries, well into the following Early Bronze Age 3. This continuity was not broken even by violent fires that at times destroyed some houses, producing a huge quantity of charred plant remains, which comprised fruits, seeds and wood charcoal. The archaeobotanical data so far obtained from the EB2 house A607, the richest one in macro-remains, on which efforts have been concentrated first, provides much data about the use of the surrounding land. Charcoal of Quercus (deciduous oaks) (85%) followed by Populus (poplar) (9%) are dominant among wood remains, while Hordeum (barley) (70%) is the dominant crop found, followed by Cicer (chickpea) (17%). The crop storage methods were investigated by mapping the positions of charred fruits and seeds both according to the grid system and in comparison to the layout of facilities (grinding stone, hearths, oven) and the distribution of pottery (jars, bowls, pots) in order to detect where the crops were kept and the ways in which they were stored, processed, and used. The house facilities and furniture suggest that the house was a multifunctional place, which included storage space, but which was limited to household needs. The new archaeobotanical investigation so far carried out on the burnt house A607 suggests some implications on the degree of agriculture, on crop storage and on food processing practises and also gives information on the natural landscape surrounding the site.     

Human impact during the Bronze Age on the vegetation at Lago Lucone (northern Italy)

Lake-sediment records were used to reconstruct human impact on the landscape around Lago Lucone (45°33′N, 10°29′E, 249 m a.s.l.), a former lake in the western amphitheatre system of the Lago di Garda. Presence of prehistoric human populations is attested by pile-dwelling settlements from the Early-Middle Bronze Age, with one settlement at a distance of only 100 m from the coring site. Pollen, plant-macrofossil and microscopic charcoal analyses were applied to a 250 cm sediment core with four dates providing the time control. A mixed oak forest that was important during the Early-Middle Holocene was cleared and replaced by open vegetation during the Bronze Age (∼2000–1100 b.c.) when open lands were estimated to have covered more than 60% of the total relevant pollen-source area. During a phase of high human impact, independent climatic proxies suggest warm and dry climatic conditions. Later, ca. 1100 b.c., palaeobotanical evidence indicates a sharp decrease in human pressure in the Lago Lucone area. The comparison with other sedimentary palaeocultural records shows that the period 1300–1100 b.c. was characterised by general declines of agricultural activities both south and north of the Alps. These declines have been previously attributed to a change towards wetter and colder climatic conditions in and around the Alps. However, the decline in human impact around Lago Lucone cannot be exclusively attributed to climatic variation. Therefore other forcing factors independent of climatic changes, such as cultural crises or changes in spatial organisation of the habitats, cannot be ruled out under the present state of knowledge.