{"title":"Red Ladies of Clay","authors":"Paz Ramirez Valiente","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.15","url":null,"abstract":"Colour and decoration were prominent features of Neolithic figurines. However, many such details and colours have faded over time, and it is only on close inspection that traces of colour are visible. This paper presents the innovative application to figurines of a technique based on the treatment of images with DStretch, a valuable tool for recovering the visualization of fainted pigments in clay figurines examined from Knossos. The method has the potential to illuminate aspects such as gender, age, status, identity or group affiliation through the study of colour in Prehistoric figurines.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135816263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Troy III-V","authors":"D. Easton, B. Weninger","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.14","url":null,"abstract":"To investigate the dating of Troy III-V, and in particular to test whether in Blegen's Troy sequence a gap exists between Troy III and Troy IV, 26 bone samples covering Troy III to VIa from the University of Cincinnati excavations were submitted for 14C-AMS analysis. Excluding outliers, they yield dates that are consistent with a chronological scheme which includes a 110±20 year gap after Troy III, with Troy IV beginning 2060±10 cal BC. The hypothesis of a Proto-IV period which might bridge the gap, featuring deposits known only from the more recent excavations, can therefore be entertained.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47805947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Zoomorphic imagery and social process during the Early Bronze Age","authors":"Ebru Gizem Ayten, Çiğdem Atakuman","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.13","url":null,"abstract":"Through the agency of animals, we think about our identity, landscape and society, and therefore animal imagery holds a special place in approaches to human thought. Through a study of the zoomorphic figurine assemblage recorded at the Early Bronze Age site of Koçumbeli-Ankara, we argue that the zoomorphic figurines of this time period were produced through a meaningful linking of particular images and raw materials to particular use contexts. For example, the ambiguously sexed zoomorphic figurines of clay are usually found within the settlement contexts, whereas the rest of the zoomorphic imagery, in the form of elaborately decorated and often male-sexed metal statues and standards, are found in ‘elite’ burials located in cemeteries. This occurs on the background of an emergent form of ritual control, which was negotiated through the separation of cemetery and settlement. In these contexts, the authority of the past was invoked via ancestral imagery through the careful employment of new raw materials, such as metals, that equally became agential in the separation of age, gender and class-based differences within society, at the eve of the centralization process in Anatolia.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48196692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Purified by fire","authors":"Karolina Bugajska","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.10","url":null,"abstract":"The cemetery at Dudka was used in the Mesolithic and Para-Neolithic period. It yielded 25 graves with remains of at least 116 individuals, including 52 who were cremated. Cremation was introduced in the Para-Neolithic, c. 4200 cal BC, and was probably a locally developed custom. Most cremations are dated to the classic Zedmar period, when the number of loose human bones also increased significantly, indicating the growing role of multi-step burial rites. Cremation could have been an alternative to temporary burial, i.e. bones were cleaned of soft tissue using fire, instead of waiting for their natural decomposition. Burned remains were selected and divided like bones taken from temporary burial places, then stored for a time before final disposal in the cemetery.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41709414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prehistoric farming in the south-eastern Baltic (Kaliningrad Region, Russia)","authors":"O. Druzhinina","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.12","url":null,"abstract":"The article presents an overview of the currently available palaeoecological data on the prehistoric anthropogenic impact on the environment and emergence of farming in the south-eastern Baltic, an area poorly studied in palaeoenvironmental and archaeological terms. The recently obtained palynological data from the lake and bog sediments along with the existing archaeological finds allow us to consider several stages of prehistoric farming in the south-eastern Baltic. The first indications of forest management – the creation of open deforested areas, wood burning and probably cultivation (propagation) of hazel appear during the Mesolithic, 10 300–6500 cal BP. At about 6500–5200 cal BP, evidence of the first agricultural activity and local animal husbandry emerges. From 5200 cal BP onwards, farming probably occupies a permanent place in the subsistence strategy of the ancient population of the south-eastern Baltic.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48136715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
D. Żurkiewicz, M. Stróżyk, A. Garbacz-Klempka, M. Szmyt, Patrycja Silska
{"title":"The earliest traces of metallurgy in Greater Poland","authors":"D. Żurkiewicz, M. Stróżyk, A. Garbacz-Klempka, M. Szmyt, Patrycja Silska","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.9","url":null,"abstract":"During rescue excavations at Site 1 in Kotowo in 1958, a ceramic tube was discovered in a feature of the Funnel Beaker culture. Currently, XRF analysis suggests that it is a ceramic tuyère associated with copper processing. The feature, radiocarbon dated to 3911–3714 BC (68.3% probability), most likely housed a metalworking workshop. The artefact from Kotowo has several analogues in the Polish lands, mainly from sites of the Lengyel-Polgár culture. With a clear and well-documented cultural context, it testifies to the existence of the oldest metallurgical workshop so far known in the Funnel Beaker culture.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45714960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Early Neolithic imagery in flux","authors":"Oliver Dietrich, J. Wagner","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.11","url":null,"abstract":"Stone is often regarded as the ideal medium for the long-term preservation of knowledge, as it is resistant to change. Early to middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey has repeatedly been treated as a prime example for such external memorial storage in durable stone. The present paper challenges this view. A close examination of pillars and their reliefs in Building F reveals the fluid character of imagery with repeated and frequent phases of erasure and re-making. It is argued that it is not the durability of stone that made it suitable for the preservation of ‘cultural memory’, but the possibility to re-shape the image carriers continuously over a long period of time, which resulted in processes of transmission, learning and memorization.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45971862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Figurative representations of the Pali Aike volcanic field (Santa Cruz, Argentina - Magallanes, Chile) in comparative perspective with the southern extreme of Patagonia","authors":"Paula Daniela Funes","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.8","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to make a comparison of the figurative representations of the Pali Aike volcanic field (province of Santa Cruz, Argentina – province of Magallanes, Chile) with those registered in other sectors of southern Patagonia, such as the southern shore margin of Lake Argentino (Argentina), the Morros area and the Cerro Benítez-Lago Sofía locality (Chile) during the middle and late Holocene. This analysis was based on integrating background and new information related to different areas. The goal is to evaluate the existence of diverse patterns of representation, considering the morphologies, technical treatment, frequencies, relative abundance of types of motifs in each area, distribution within the space, and temporality of figurative motifs. From this, it is expected to advance the discussion of information exchange among hunter-gatherer groups through figurative representationson a macroregional scale.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45301425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alfonso Alday-Ruiz, Ander Rodríguez-Lejarza, Juan Carlos Mejías-García
{"title":"'Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose'? Continuities and discontinuities in the funerary record of the northern half of Iberia","authors":"Alfonso Alday-Ruiz, Ander Rodríguez-Lejarza, Juan Carlos Mejías-García","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.3","url":null,"abstract":"An evolutionary approach on the study of the funerary systems in Late Prehistory allows recognizing diverse contexts of social crises in the north of Iberia. The analysis of the radio-chronological data that we have compiled indicates five phases of use—with the newness of identifying two different cycles during the Late Neolithic—and of subsequent ‘abandonment’ in the megaliths; this is reduced to two phases in the case of the sepulchral caves. We interpret the radio-chronological results through an examination of the material culture present in the graves and dynamics of the megalithic architecture. In addition, we contrast our results with different approaches, carrying out a complementary multidisciplinary approach. In this regard, we found that megalithism served as a vehicle for responding to the different crisis and changes faced by increasingly complex and unequal human groups.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49235931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Mărgărit, Katia Moldoveanu, A. Bălășescu, Ion Torcică, Pavel Mirea
{"title":"Technological transformation of the bone at the Eneolithic tell settlement of Vitănești, southern Romania (Gumelnița B1 level)","authors":"M. Mărgărit, Katia Moldoveanu, A. Bălășescu, Ion Torcică, Pavel Mirea","doi":"10.4312/dp.50.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.50.4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses the technological exploitation of bone at the tell settlement of Vitanesti (southern Romania). A total of 307 artefacts from the Gumelnita B1 level were analysed for this study, which can be assigned to four product and sub-product categories (waste, blanks, preforms, finished pieces). At the level of determined bones, the most numerous are those belonging to large species, both domestic and wild mammals. We also note the use of bones belonging to species rarely found in the Eneolithic bone industry (Bos primigenius, Equus ferus, Canis familiaris) in the Lower Danube. At the typological level, bevelled tools predominate, along with pointed tools and projectile points. A varied range of other typological categories includes spatulas, abraded astragalus, spindle whorls, burins, needles, and figurines, among others. The large quantity of preforms proves that the production of the assemblage was carried out in situ. It is an interesting assemblage which proves that the bone pieces were involved in various activities within the Vitanesti community that lived at the end of the 5th millennium BC, from the processing of hides or vegetable fibres to hunting. This assemblage could serve as a reference for future studies, as there are not many comparable assemblages for the same period in Southern Romania.","PeriodicalId":38599,"journal":{"name":"Documenta Praehistorica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48953131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}