Papers by Johannes Müller
PLOS ONE, 2024
We present an interdisciplinary analysis of finds from the Trypillia settlement of Kosenivka, Ukr... more We present an interdisciplinary analysis of finds from the Trypillia settlement of Kosenivka, Ukraine (ca. 3700-3600 BCE, Trypillia C1-2), that links information on human, faunal, and botanical remains with archaeological data to provide exceptionally detailed insights into life and death at a giant Trypillia settlement. We obtained osteological, palaeopathological, morphological and histotaphonomic data from human bone fragments; performed carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic analysis of human and animal bone to calculate food webs; modelled newly generated radiocarbon dates to refine the site's chronology; and contextualised the finds within the phenomenon of a general lack of human remains in Early and Middle Trypillia times through a literature review. Regarding the sphere of life, the biological profile of seven identified individuals reconstructed from the highly fragmented and partially burnt bones represents a demographic cross-section of the population. We documented disease symptoms common in the Chalcolithic and two cases of perimortem cranial trauma. Furthermore, food web calculations demonstrate the large contribution of cereals to the protein component of the human diet, which is supported by dental observations. We suggest that livestock were a major manure producer for crop cultivation, while meat contributed less than 10% to the human diet. Regarding the sphere of death, multidisciplinary data suggest a deadly fire event as one probable scenario for the formation of the Kosenivka find assemblage. This could be a rare example that sheds light on household size in prehistoric times. Furthermore, it adds to the extremely small number of human bone finds in Early and Middle Trypillia sites (A-C1), preceding the shift to extramural burials in its late phase (C2) in some regions. Altogether, our results indicate the huge explanatory potential that has yet to be unlocked in the rare and often poorly preserved bioarchaeological archives of the Cucuteni-Trypillia phenomenon.
Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, 2023
In the years 2022 and 2023, the Trypillia hilltop settlement of Trinca-La Șanț in northern Moldov... more In the years 2022 and 2023, the Trypillia hilltop settlement of Trinca-La Șanț in northern Moldova was investigated and excavated by the CRC1266 in collaboration with the State University of Moldova. As a result, we unveiled the basic structures of the 25 ha fortified settlement, which, adapted to the topography, combines the principles of linear and concentric rows of houses. Based on the 14 C data available to date, it can be assumed that the settlement dates from 3950 to 3650 BCE. Of the 320 houses discovered, up to 100 existed simultaneously, which corresponds to a maximum number of inhabitants of 250-1000 people. δ 13 C/δ 15 N isotope values of domestic animals indicate an extensive economy that corresponds to that of other, similarly large or mega-sites. Research questions As part of the CRC1266 investigations into transformation processes, we selected the northern Moldovan site of Trinca-La Șanț to investigate specific changes within the late Trypillian society. Several reasons prompted this decision, all of which tie back to three aspects.
Müller, J. and Sjörgen, K.-G. (2022) 'Early monumentality in northern Europe', In: Laporte, L., L... more Müller, J. and Sjörgen, K.-G. (2022) 'Early monumentality in northern Europe', In: Laporte, L., Large, J.-M., Nespoulous, L., Scarre, C. and Steimer-Herbet (eds.) Megaliths of the World (Oxford 2022) 1213-1237.
In southern Scandinavia and the northern central European lowlands, megalithic graves were erected mainly between 3600 and 3100 BCE. These collective tombs shape the cultural landscape of the so-called older and middle Funnel Beaker (TRB) societies. At this time, a ‘megalithic boom’ occurred with the introduction of new agricultural techniques such as ard ploughing, animal traction, manuring, and land clearance. Recent research projects have considerably increased our knowledge of the builders of the megalithic sites. In Falbygden, Sweden, and in Holstein, northern Germany, projects have informed us about the environmental conditions, economic practices, and burial customs of the builders of the Nordic megalithic tombs. On the Cimbrian Peninsula, excavations have helped to clarify the relationship between causewayed enclosures and megaliths. It now seems that the megalithic boom was connected both to agricultural innovations and to a peak in ceremonial activities in general.
Jamir, T. and Müller, J. (2022) 'Northeast Indian megaliths: Monuments and social structures' In:... more Jamir, T. and Müller, J. (2022) 'Northeast Indian megaliths: Monuments and social structures' In: Laporte, L., Large, J.-M., Nespoulous, L., Scarre, C. and Steimer-Herbet (eds.) Megaliths of the World (Oxford 2022) 447-473.
Different megalithic landscapes of Northeast India offer rich sets of archaeological and ethnoarchaeological information on the social implications of megalith building activities in a comparative perspective. This paper attempts to situate the megalithic building traditions in Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram, and Sikkim with specific reference to
the nature of their social structures. Both memorisation practices (as displayed in standing stones) and ancestral practices (as displayed in different burial traditions), demonstrate that extensive communal and cooperative structures link different spheres of daily life. Feasting
activities and the construction of megalithic monuments in the region of Northeast India represent a long-standing practice of both stratified and acephalous societies. The historical, archaeological, and ethnographic backgrounds to the megalithic traditions of Northeast India are thus examined and are linked to results from recent fieldwork undertaken in southern parts of Nagaland.
Mohanty, R. K. and Müller, J. (2022) Introduction, In: Laporte, L., Large, J.-M., Nespoulous, L.,... more Mohanty, R. K. and Müller, J. (2022) Introduction, In: Laporte, L., Large, J.-M., Nespoulous, L., Scarre, C. and Steimer-Herbet (eds.) Megaliths of the World (Oxford 2022) 415-417.
The Indian subcontinent, and more generally South and Southeast Asia, is a rather remarkable case for megalithic studies. It has a huge number of megalithic remains, some of which were built several millennia before our own era, while others are part of ongoing traditions. In addition, historical texts sourced a few centuries ago inform us about some of the contemporary societies and the associated literature has been extremely abundant, some beginning as early as the first half of the 19th century, and has resulted in the publication of numerous scientific, archaeological, ethnographic and historical articles. After decolonization, these studies
were largely pursued by a fairly dynamic pool of national and some international researchers, as mentioned in the first chapter of this section.
There are few regions of the world where megalith building continues from the past into recent times. An attempt to compare, structurally, some European and the Northeast Indian megaliths was made recently.
Fuchs, K., Hofmann, R., Shatilo, L., Schlütz, F., Storch, S., Chabanyuk, V., Kirleis, W. and Müll... more Fuchs, K., Hofmann, R., Shatilo, L., Schlütz, F., Storch, S., Chabanyuk, V., Kirleis, W. and Müller, J. (2013) 'Life and death in Trypillia times: Interdisciplinary analyses of the exceptional human remains from the settlement of Kosenivka, Ukraine (3700-3600 BCE)' bio Rxiv preprint. ttps:https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.26.550735
We present an interdisciplinary analysis of finds from the Trypillia settlement of Kosenivka, Ukraine (ca. 3700-3600 BCE, Trypillia C1), that links information on human, faunal, and botanical remains with archaeological data to provide exceptionally detailed insights into life and death at a Trypillia mega-site. We obtained osteological, palaeopathological, and histotaphonomic data from human bone fragments; performed carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic analysis of human and animal bone to calculate food webs with the software FRUITS; and modelled newly generated radiocarbon dates to refine the site's chronology. The biological profile of seven identified individuals, some of whom suffered from disease symptoms common in the Chalcolithic, represents a demographic cross-section of the population. The analysis of perimortem cranial trauma suffered by two individuals suggest cases of interpersonal conflict. Food web calculations demonstrate the large contribution of cereals to the protein component of the human diet, which is supported by dental observations, and we suggest that livestock were a major manure producer for crop cultivation. The most probable scenario for the formation of the Kosenivka find assemblage is a deathly fire event. This makes the site a rare example where the archaeological and osteological results can be used to reconstruct a minimum number of house inhabitants. Following a literature review, we contextualise our analysis by discussing the general lack of human remains from Early and Middle Trypillia sites. The individuals from Kosenivka form part of the less than 0.05% of the total estimated Trypillia population that is represented skeletally; its members were deposited within settlements in the Middle Trypillia stage (until C1), preceding the shift to extramural burials in its late phase (C2). Our detailed results indicate the huge explanatory potential that has yet to be unlocked in the rare and often poorly preserved bioarchaeological archives of the Cucuteni–Trypillia phenomenon.
Müller, J. (2009) 'Monumente und Gesellschaft: Ein neues Schwerpunktprogramm zu neolithischen Gro... more Müller, J. (2009) 'Monumente und Gesellschaft: Ein neues Schwerpunktprogramm zu neolithischen Großsteinanlagen.' Archäologische Narchichten 2009. 30-33.
Megalithgräber sind die ältesten oberirdischen Monumente Norddeutschlands und Südskandinaviens. Ca. 30.000 dieser Anlagen wurden in einer Zeit zwischen 3600 und 3200 v. Chr. errichtet. Immer wieder als Landmarken auffällig, dienten sie nicht nur im Neolithikum als Orte ritueller
Aktivitäten. Der heutige Bestand ist erheblich reduziert, die „großen Steine“ wurden nicht nur bei mittelalterlichen Bauvorhaben, sondern auch bei neuzeitlichen Großprojekten (z. B. dem Nord-Ostsee-Kanal) als willkommenes Baumaterial genutzt.
Müller, J. and Weinelt, M. (2009) 'Human Development in Landscapes: Eine Graduiertenschule als Br... more Müller, J. and Weinelt, M. (2009) 'Human Development in Landscapes: Eine Graduiertenschule als Brücke zwischen Natur-und Kulturwissenschaften für ArchäologInnen'. Archäologische Nachrichten 2009. 27-29.
Im Rahmen der Exzellenzinitiativen an den deutschen Universitäten
waren im archäologischen Bereich zwei Projekte erfolgreich: das Berliner Exzellenzcluster TOPOI und die Kieler Graduiertenschule „Human Development in Landscapes (HDL)“. Unter Federführung des Instituts für Ur- und Frühgeschichte hat der interdisziplinäre Zusammenschluss verschiedener Fachwissenschaften an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel 2008 seine Arbeit aufgenommen.
Müller, J. (2023) 'Landscape Archaeology and Socio-Environmental Patterns' Reference Module in So... more Müller, J. (2023) 'Landscape Archaeology and Socio-Environmental Patterns' Reference Module in Social Sciences 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90799-6.00189-0
Landscape as a product of both nature and human society is the focus of socio-environmental research. While landscape archaeology developed from settlement archaeology and environmental archaeology on the one hand, cognitive archaeology, on the other hand, has contributed significantly to new conceptualizations and parameters in the interpretation of landscape space. Even as landscape archaeology reconstructs both natural and social constants and changes on different
spatial scales, the reconstruction of socio-environmental events, processes, and structures, as well as of perception and meaning all play an important role. There are possibilities to disentangle landscape into environmental, economic, social,and cognitive spaces, which, due to technical developments of archaeological tools, can now be traced, for example, with Geographic Information Systems.
Kirleis, W., Dal Corso, M., Pashkevyech, G., Schlütz, F., Hofmann, R., Terna, A., Dreibrodt, S., ... more Kirleis, W., Dal Corso, M., Pashkevyech, G., Schlütz, F., Hofmann, R., Terna, A., Dreibrodt, S., Rud, V., Videiko, M. Y. and Müller, J. (2023) 'A complex subsistence regime revealed for Cucuteni-Trypillia sites in Chalcolithic eastern Europe based on new and old macrobotanical data' Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-023-00936-y
We present a comprehensive data-based characterization of the subsistence economy of Chalcolithic Cucuteni-Trypillia societies (CTS) on the Moldovian and Suceava plateaus and the Podolian and the Dnieper uplands. This study is based on a quantitative evaluation of archaeobotanical samples from 34 settlement sites, with a focus on Trypillia mega-sites and on stable isotopic analysis of ancient crop residues. The isotopic analysis allows us to identify specific cultivation strategies, which show a close relationship with animal husbandry for manure. We describe the economy of the Trypillia mega-sites as having been based on an elaborate agricultural system, in which the inhabitants knew how to grow crops that could withstand the ecological constraints of growth, especially along the forest steppe ecotone. We also argue that the agglomeration of greater population densities at these mega-sites contributed to landscape change from woodland and forest to open grassland and steppe. Following on from this, we suggest that cultivation practices of the CTS were important in the establishment of the present-day cultural steppe in this region.
Haak, W., Furholt, M., Sikora, M., Rohrlach, A. B., Papac, L., Sjörgen, K.-G., Heyd, V., Fischer ... more Haak, W., Furholt, M., Sikora, M., Rohrlach, A. B., Papac, L., Sjörgen, K.-G., Heyd, V., Fischer Mortensen, M., Nielsen, A. B., Müller, J., Feeser, I., Kroonen, G. and Kristiansen, Kristian (2023) 'The Corded ware complex in Europe in light of current Archaeogenetic and enviromental evidence' In: Kristiansen, K., Kroonen, G. and Willerslev, E. (eds.), The Indo-European Puzzel Revisited. Integrating Archaeology, Genetics and Linguistics (Cambridge 2023) 63-80.
Corded Ware is one of the main archaeological phenomena of the third millennium before the common era (BCE), with a wide geographic spread across much of central and northeastern Europe, from Denmark, the Rhineland, and Switzerland in the west to the Baltic and Western Russia in the east, and broadly restricted to the temperate, continental zones north of the Alps, the Carpathians, and the steppe/forest steppe border to the east. The Corded Ware complex is named after the characteristic cord imprints on its pottery, which is found as part of a relatively universal set of grave goods, and now commonly includes sub-units that were traditionally named Single Grave, Protruding Foot Beaker, Battle Axe, Boat Axe, and Fatyanovo/ Balanovo culture. The archaeological unit is known chiefly from burials, mostly in single form (thus it is also termed "Single Grave culture" in Denmark and North Germany), while multiple burials also exist, and in predominantly sex-specific west-east or east-west orientation, with females on their left side and males on their right side in flexed position, both facing south. The burial architecture varies from simple pits to wooden or stone cist construction, with or without burial mounds. In most areas with Corded Ware burials, settlement sites are largely unknown, with the exceptions of coastal areas in the Baltic and the
Netherlands, some domestic sites in the Central European Mountain Range, lakeside dwellings in Switzerland, and, based on recent reports, the
Mittelelbe-Saale region in Central Germany.
Brozio, J.P., Stos-Gale, Z., Müller, J., Müller-Scheeßel, N., Schultrich, S., Fritsch, B., Jürgen... more Brozio, J.P., Stos-Gale, Z., Müller, J., Müller-Scheeßel, N., Schultrich, S., Fritsch, B., Jürgens, F. and Skorna, H. (2023) 'The origin of Neolithic copper on the central Northern European plain and in Southern Scandinavia: Connectivities on a European scale' PloS ONE 18(5) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283007
The production, distribution and use of copper objects and the development of metallurgical skills in Neolithic Northern Central Europe and Southern Scandinavia are linked to early centres of copper metallurgy of South East Central Europe and Southeast Europe. A total of 45 Neolithic copper objects, until now the largest sample of Early Neolithic objects from the Northern Central European Plain and Southern Scandinavia, were selected for new lead isotope analyses. They aided in the identification of the origin of the copper: These new analyses indicate that the copper ore deposits in Southeastern Europe, especially from the Serbian mining areas, were used for the Early Neolithic northern artefacts (ca. 4100-3300 BC). The most likely sources of copper for the few Middle Neolithic artefacts (ca. 3300-2800 BC) seem to be from the Slovak Ore Mountains, the Serbian mining areas and the Eastern Alps, whereas deposits of the Slovak Ore Mountains and the Alpine region were used for the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2300-1700 BC) artefacts. For the artefacts dated after 2000 BC, the Great Orme mine in Wales also appears to have been the source of copper for the analysed metals. The use of copper from different regions of Europe probably reflects changing social and cultural connectivities on a European scale and the changing chronology of copper exploitation.
Müller, J. (2023) 'Activism: The End of History – Adjourned' Forum Kritische Archäologie 12
The ... more Müller, J. (2023) 'Activism: The End of History – Adjourned' Forum Kritische Archäologie 12
The editors of Forum Kritische Archäologie have asked me to write something on the question of archaeological activism. My question in return – activism for what? – was answered to the effect that the potential of archaeology or archaeologists in the “struggle” for a better world should be discussed in more detail.
Stal, C., Covataru, C., Müller, J., Parnic, V., Ignat, T., Hofmann, R. and Lazar, C. (2022) 'Supp... more Stal, C., Covataru, C., Müller, J., Parnic, V., Ignat, T., Hofmann, R. and Lazar, C. (2022) 'Supporting Long-Term Archaeological Research in Southern Romania Chalcolithic Sites Using Multi-Platform UAV Mapping' Drones 6,277. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6100277
Spatial data play a crucial role in archaeological research, and rthophotos, digital elevation models, and 3D models are frequently used for the mapping, documentation, and monitoring of archaeological sites. Thanks to the availability of compact and low-cost uncrewed airborne vehicles,
the use of UAV-based photogrammetry matured in this field over the past two decades. More recently, compact airborne systems are also available that allow the recording of thermal data, multispectral data, and airborne laser scanning. In this article, various platforms and sensors are applied at the Chalcolithic archaeological sites in the Mosti s , tea Basin and Danube Valley (Southern Romania). By analysing the performance of the systems and the resulting data, insight is given into the selection of the appropriate system for the right application. This analysis requires thorough knowledge of data acquisition and data processing, as well. As both laser scanning and photogrammetry typically result in very large amounts of data, a special focus is also required on the storage and publication of the data. Hence, the objective of this article is to provide a full overview of various aspects of 3D data acquisition for UAV-based mapping. Based on the conclusions drawn in this article, it is stated that photogrammetry and laser scanning can result in data with similar geometrical properties when acquisition parameters are appropriately set. On the one hand, the used ALS-based system outperforms the photogrammetric platforms in terms of operational time and the area covered. On the other hand, conventional photogrammetry provides flexibility that might be required for very low-altitude flights, or emergency mapping. Furthermore, as the used ALS sensor only provides a geometrical representation of the topography, photogrammetric sensors are still required to obtain true colour or false colour composites of the surface. Lastly, the variety of data, such as pre- and post-rendered raster data, 3D models, and point clouds, requires the implementation of multiple methods for the online publication of data. Various client-side and server-side solutions are presented to make the data available for other researchers.
Pickartz, N., Rabbel, W. Rassmann, K., Hofmann, R., Ohlrau, R., Thorwart, M., Wilken, D. Wunderli... more Pickartz, N., Rabbel, W. Rassmann, K., Hofmann, R., Ohlrau, R., Thorwart, M., Wilken, D. Wunderlich, T., Videiko, M. and Müller, J. (2022) 'Inverse Filtering of Magnetic Prospection Data - A Gateway to the Social Structure of Cucuteni-Tripolye Settlements' Remote Sens. 14, 484. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030484
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Müller, J. (2022) 'Rituelle Landschaften entstehen. Trichterbecher-Gesellschaften und die Neolith... more Müller, J. (2022) 'Rituelle Landschaften entstehen. Trichterbecher-Gesellschaften und die Neolithisierung der nordeuropäischen Tiefebene', In: Klimscha, F. and Wiggering, L. (eds.), Die Erfindung der Götter. Steinzeit im Norden (Hannover 2022) 246-265.
Die Entstehung von Kulturlandschaften stellt einen bedeutenden Schritt in der Geschichte des Verhältnisses zwischen Mensch und Umwelt dar: die natürliche Umwelt wird nicht nur zum Wirtschaften oder Siedeln benutzt, sondern durch die Markierung bestimmter Plätze rituell aufgeladen. Kulturlandschaften in diesem Sinne, also mit einer flächenhaften strukturellen Umgestaltung der Landschaft, bestehen in Nordmitteleuropa erst mit den sogenannten Trichterbecher-Gesellschaften. Dieser Prozess ist verbunden mit einer ersten »Monumentalisierung« der Landschaft – durch das Errichten von Grabenwerken, großen Grabhügeln oder Megalithgräbern.
Müller, J. 2022, 'Chronologie, Bedeutung und Rolle Bernburgs im mitteldeutschen Neolithikum' Tagu... more Müller, J. 2022, 'Chronologie, Bedeutung und Rolle Bernburgs im mitteldeutschen Neolithikum' Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichet Halle 10, 1-56.
Seit ca. 20 Jahren sind verschiedene Siedlungs- und Grabbefunde mit Bernburger oder Kugelamphoren-Keramik veröffentlicht worden, die die Möglichkeit ergaben, eine 2001vorgenommene chronologische Untersuchung zum Bernburger Stil neu durchzuführen. Dabei wird eine kontinuierliche typochronologische Entwicklung erkennbar, die unter
Berücksichtigung typologischer und Typologie-unabhängiger naturwissenschaftlicher Datierungen das damalige Chronologiemodell ergänzt. Vor diesem Hintergrund, der das geografisch offene Mittelelbebaale-Gebiet als einen multi-kulturellen spätneolithischen Raum lokal agierender Weiler- und Dorfgemeinschaften erscheinen lässt, werden Analysen an stabilen Isotopen zu Tieren und Menschen zusammengetragen, um die Wirtschafts- und Ernährungsweise zu rekonstruieren. Tatsächlich kann dargestellt werden, dass wirtschaftlich ähnlich agierende Gemeinschaften mit einer vergleichbaren Haus- und Siedlungsorganisation den mitteldeutschen Raum für mehrere Jahrhunderte 3380–2840 v. Chr. die Kulturlandschaft prägten. Die Benutzung des einen oder anderen Keramikstils verweist auf soziale Praktiken, die mosaikartig angewandt werden. Obwohl die Datenlage nach wie vor nur als ›exemplarisch‹ zu bezeichnen ist, wird ein Versuch
unternommen, sowohl die Siedlungsweise als auch die vorliegenden aDNA-Resultate in das beschriebene chronologische Kontinuum einzubinden.
Müller, J., Käppel, L., Ricci, A. and Weinelt, M. (2023), 'Social, environmental, and cultural co... more Müller, J., Käppel, L., Ricci, A. and Weinelt, M. (2023), 'Social, environmental, and cultural connectivity: A concept for an understanding of society and the environment', In: Müller, J. (eds.) Connectivity Matters! Social, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies (Leiden 2022) 13-24.
In our daily experiences, we can observe how the existence and the degree of connectivities between society and the environment, as well as between and within societies, determine political, social, cultural, economic and even ecological life. 'Connected' societies appear to enable a more peaceful coexistence, whereas disentangled societies can be the basis for severe conflicts. Thus, connectivity often creates the possibility for resilient reactions, for example, to climate change or pandemics. Decisive in this respect can be the connection between the natural and the cultural environment (Guedes and Crabtree 2016; Müller 2018). Against the background of a more general perspective, various aspects will be discussed here, which represent connectivity as the most important concept for an analysis of the environment and society and their dynamic relationship. The use of knowledge about the past, for instance, the tracking of trends or reflections in distant times, enables a special view of the present.
Müller, J. (2022) 'A long lasting transformation: northern Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic multi-... more Müller, J. (2022) 'A long lasting transformation: northern Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic multi-dimensional developments (c. 4,750 -3,800 BCE)' in Klimscha, F., Heumüller, M., Raemaekers, D.C.M., Peeters, H. Terberger (eds.), Stone Age Borderland Experience: Neolithic and Late Mesolithic Parallel Societies in the North European Plain, Rahden/Westf., 359-376
During the last decades, a large amount of new data on the Late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic in northern Germany has been collected. Both detailed dating procedures and taphonomic processes at different sites have been discussed. With the help of vertical stratigraphy and absolute chronological dating, it is possible to newly describe the pottery sequence of the Middle and Younger Ertebølle and the Early Funnel Beaker (TRB) Ceramic societies from c. 4,750-3,800 BCE. It becomes clear that the development of the ceramics reflects societies for which the simple differentiation between Mesolithic and Neolithic terminology does not go far enough. The information from the south Cimbrian Peninsula suggests a mosaic-like habitus, which integrated 'foraging', 'pastoral' and 'horticultural' practices differently. A long-lasting transformation process becomes visible, which begins during the 43rd century BCE with the introduction of first flat-bottomed funnel beaker ceramics and first domestic animals. Accelerated by a period of climatic stress, the new way of life asserted itself in the 41st century BCE with horticultural subsistence practices and a new ceramic style, among other things. However, for at least three centuries, the Ertebølle ceramic style and the aquatic subsistence remained intact at sites near water, while in other places non-megalithic long mounds were already being built as an expression of the new ideology.
Immel, A., Pierini, F., Rinne, C., Meadows, J., Barquera, R., Szolek, A., Susat, J., Böhme, L., D... more Immel, A., Pierini, F., Rinne, C., Meadows, J., Barquera, R., Szolek, A., Susat, J., Böhme, L., Dose, J., Bonczarowska, J., Drummer, C., Fuchs, K., Ellinghaus, D., Kässens, J. C., Furholt, M., Kohlbacher, O., Schade-Lidig, S., Franke, A., Schreiber, S., Krause, J., Müller, J., Lenz, T. L., Nebel, A. and Krause-Kyora B. (2021) 'Genome-wide study of a Neolithic Wartberg grave community reveals distinct HLA variation and hunter-gatherer ancestry' Communications Biology 2021 4:113 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01627-4
The Wartberg culture (WBC, 3500-2800 BCE) dates to the Late Neolithic period, a time of important demographic and cultural transformations in western Europe. We performed genome-wide analyses of 42 individuals who were interred in a WBC collective burial in Niedertiefenbach, Germany (3300-3200 cal. BCE). The results showed that the farming population of Niedertiefenbach carried a surprisingly large hunter-gatherer ancestry component (34-58%). This component was most likely introduced during the cultural transformation that led to the WBC. In addition, the Niedertiefenbach individuals exhibited a distinct human leukocyte antigen gene pool, possibly reflecting an immune response that was geared towards detecting viral infections.
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Papers by Johannes Müller
In southern Scandinavia and the northern central European lowlands, megalithic graves were erected mainly between 3600 and 3100 BCE. These collective tombs shape the cultural landscape of the so-called older and middle Funnel Beaker (TRB) societies. At this time, a ‘megalithic boom’ occurred with the introduction of new agricultural techniques such as ard ploughing, animal traction, manuring, and land clearance. Recent research projects have considerably increased our knowledge of the builders of the megalithic sites. In Falbygden, Sweden, and in Holstein, northern Germany, projects have informed us about the environmental conditions, economic practices, and burial customs of the builders of the Nordic megalithic tombs. On the Cimbrian Peninsula, excavations have helped to clarify the relationship between causewayed enclosures and megaliths. It now seems that the megalithic boom was connected both to agricultural innovations and to a peak in ceremonial activities in general.
Different megalithic landscapes of Northeast India offer rich sets of archaeological and ethnoarchaeological information on the social implications of megalith building activities in a comparative perspective. This paper attempts to situate the megalithic building traditions in Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram, and Sikkim with specific reference to
the nature of their social structures. Both memorisation practices (as displayed in standing stones) and ancestral practices (as displayed in different burial traditions), demonstrate that extensive communal and cooperative structures link different spheres of daily life. Feasting
activities and the construction of megalithic monuments in the region of Northeast India represent a long-standing practice of both stratified and acephalous societies. The historical, archaeological, and ethnographic backgrounds to the megalithic traditions of Northeast India are thus examined and are linked to results from recent fieldwork undertaken in southern parts of Nagaland.
The Indian subcontinent, and more generally South and Southeast Asia, is a rather remarkable case for megalithic studies. It has a huge number of megalithic remains, some of which were built several millennia before our own era, while others are part of ongoing traditions. In addition, historical texts sourced a few centuries ago inform us about some of the contemporary societies and the associated literature has been extremely abundant, some beginning as early as the first half of the 19th century, and has resulted in the publication of numerous scientific, archaeological, ethnographic and historical articles. After decolonization, these studies
were largely pursued by a fairly dynamic pool of national and some international researchers, as mentioned in the first chapter of this section.
There are few regions of the world where megalith building continues from the past into recent times. An attempt to compare, structurally, some European and the Northeast Indian megaliths was made recently.
We present an interdisciplinary analysis of finds from the Trypillia settlement of Kosenivka, Ukraine (ca. 3700-3600 BCE, Trypillia C1), that links information on human, faunal, and botanical remains with archaeological data to provide exceptionally detailed insights into life and death at a Trypillia mega-site. We obtained osteological, palaeopathological, and histotaphonomic data from human bone fragments; performed carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic analysis of human and animal bone to calculate food webs with the software FRUITS; and modelled newly generated radiocarbon dates to refine the site's chronology. The biological profile of seven identified individuals, some of whom suffered from disease symptoms common in the Chalcolithic, represents a demographic cross-section of the population. The analysis of perimortem cranial trauma suffered by two individuals suggest cases of interpersonal conflict. Food web calculations demonstrate the large contribution of cereals to the protein component of the human diet, which is supported by dental observations, and we suggest that livestock were a major manure producer for crop cultivation. The most probable scenario for the formation of the Kosenivka find assemblage is a deathly fire event. This makes the site a rare example where the archaeological and osteological results can be used to reconstruct a minimum number of house inhabitants. Following a literature review, we contextualise our analysis by discussing the general lack of human remains from Early and Middle Trypillia sites. The individuals from Kosenivka form part of the less than 0.05% of the total estimated Trypillia population that is represented skeletally; its members were deposited within settlements in the Middle Trypillia stage (until C1), preceding the shift to extramural burials in its late phase (C2). Our detailed results indicate the huge explanatory potential that has yet to be unlocked in the rare and often poorly preserved bioarchaeological archives of the Cucuteni–Trypillia phenomenon.
Megalithgräber sind die ältesten oberirdischen Monumente Norddeutschlands und Südskandinaviens. Ca. 30.000 dieser Anlagen wurden in einer Zeit zwischen 3600 und 3200 v. Chr. errichtet. Immer wieder als Landmarken auffällig, dienten sie nicht nur im Neolithikum als Orte ritueller
Aktivitäten. Der heutige Bestand ist erheblich reduziert, die „großen Steine“ wurden nicht nur bei mittelalterlichen Bauvorhaben, sondern auch bei neuzeitlichen Großprojekten (z. B. dem Nord-Ostsee-Kanal) als willkommenes Baumaterial genutzt.
Im Rahmen der Exzellenzinitiativen an den deutschen Universitäten
waren im archäologischen Bereich zwei Projekte erfolgreich: das Berliner Exzellenzcluster TOPOI und die Kieler Graduiertenschule „Human Development in Landscapes (HDL)“. Unter Federführung des Instituts für Ur- und Frühgeschichte hat der interdisziplinäre Zusammenschluss verschiedener Fachwissenschaften an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel 2008 seine Arbeit aufgenommen.
Landscape as a product of both nature and human society is the focus of socio-environmental research. While landscape archaeology developed from settlement archaeology and environmental archaeology on the one hand, cognitive archaeology, on the other hand, has contributed significantly to new conceptualizations and parameters in the interpretation of landscape space. Even as landscape archaeology reconstructs both natural and social constants and changes on different
spatial scales, the reconstruction of socio-environmental events, processes, and structures, as well as of perception and meaning all play an important role. There are possibilities to disentangle landscape into environmental, economic, social,and cognitive spaces, which, due to technical developments of archaeological tools, can now be traced, for example, with Geographic Information Systems.
We present a comprehensive data-based characterization of the subsistence economy of Chalcolithic Cucuteni-Trypillia societies (CTS) on the Moldovian and Suceava plateaus and the Podolian and the Dnieper uplands. This study is based on a quantitative evaluation of archaeobotanical samples from 34 settlement sites, with a focus on Trypillia mega-sites and on stable isotopic analysis of ancient crop residues. The isotopic analysis allows us to identify specific cultivation strategies, which show a close relationship with animal husbandry for manure. We describe the economy of the Trypillia mega-sites as having been based on an elaborate agricultural system, in which the inhabitants knew how to grow crops that could withstand the ecological constraints of growth, especially along the forest steppe ecotone. We also argue that the agglomeration of greater population densities at these mega-sites contributed to landscape change from woodland and forest to open grassland and steppe. Following on from this, we suggest that cultivation practices of the CTS were important in the establishment of the present-day cultural steppe in this region.
Corded Ware is one of the main archaeological phenomena of the third millennium before the common era (BCE), with a wide geographic spread across much of central and northeastern Europe, from Denmark, the Rhineland, and Switzerland in the west to the Baltic and Western Russia in the east, and broadly restricted to the temperate, continental zones north of the Alps, the Carpathians, and the steppe/forest steppe border to the east. The Corded Ware complex is named after the characteristic cord imprints on its pottery, which is found as part of a relatively universal set of grave goods, and now commonly includes sub-units that were traditionally named Single Grave, Protruding Foot Beaker, Battle Axe, Boat Axe, and Fatyanovo/ Balanovo culture. The archaeological unit is known chiefly from burials, mostly in single form (thus it is also termed "Single Grave culture" in Denmark and North Germany), while multiple burials also exist, and in predominantly sex-specific west-east or east-west orientation, with females on their left side and males on their right side in flexed position, both facing south. The burial architecture varies from simple pits to wooden or stone cist construction, with or without burial mounds. In most areas with Corded Ware burials, settlement sites are largely unknown, with the exceptions of coastal areas in the Baltic and the
Netherlands, some domestic sites in the Central European Mountain Range, lakeside dwellings in Switzerland, and, based on recent reports, the
Mittelelbe-Saale region in Central Germany.
The production, distribution and use of copper objects and the development of metallurgical skills in Neolithic Northern Central Europe and Southern Scandinavia are linked to early centres of copper metallurgy of South East Central Europe and Southeast Europe. A total of 45 Neolithic copper objects, until now the largest sample of Early Neolithic objects from the Northern Central European Plain and Southern Scandinavia, were selected for new lead isotope analyses. They aided in the identification of the origin of the copper: These new analyses indicate that the copper ore deposits in Southeastern Europe, especially from the Serbian mining areas, were used for the Early Neolithic northern artefacts (ca. 4100-3300 BC). The most likely sources of copper for the few Middle Neolithic artefacts (ca. 3300-2800 BC) seem to be from the Slovak Ore Mountains, the Serbian mining areas and the Eastern Alps, whereas deposits of the Slovak Ore Mountains and the Alpine region were used for the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2300-1700 BC) artefacts. For the artefacts dated after 2000 BC, the Great Orme mine in Wales also appears to have been the source of copper for the analysed metals. The use of copper from different regions of Europe probably reflects changing social and cultural connectivities on a European scale and the changing chronology of copper exploitation.
The editors of Forum Kritische Archäologie have asked me to write something on the question of archaeological activism. My question in return – activism for what? – was answered to the effect that the potential of archaeology or archaeologists in the “struggle” for a better world should be discussed in more detail.
Spatial data play a crucial role in archaeological research, and rthophotos, digital elevation models, and 3D models are frequently used for the mapping, documentation, and monitoring of archaeological sites. Thanks to the availability of compact and low-cost uncrewed airborne vehicles,
the use of UAV-based photogrammetry matured in this field over the past two decades. More recently, compact airborne systems are also available that allow the recording of thermal data, multispectral data, and airborne laser scanning. In this article, various platforms and sensors are applied at the Chalcolithic archaeological sites in the Mosti s , tea Basin and Danube Valley (Southern Romania). By analysing the performance of the systems and the resulting data, insight is given into the selection of the appropriate system for the right application. This analysis requires thorough knowledge of data acquisition and data processing, as well. As both laser scanning and photogrammetry typically result in very large amounts of data, a special focus is also required on the storage and publication of the data. Hence, the objective of this article is to provide a full overview of various aspects of 3D data acquisition for UAV-based mapping. Based on the conclusions drawn in this article, it is stated that photogrammetry and laser scanning can result in data with similar geometrical properties when acquisition parameters are appropriately set. On the one hand, the used ALS-based system outperforms the photogrammetric platforms in terms of operational time and the area covered. On the other hand, conventional photogrammetry provides flexibility that might be required for very low-altitude flights, or emergency mapping. Furthermore, as the used ALS sensor only provides a geometrical representation of the topography, photogrammetric sensors are still required to obtain true colour or false colour composites of the surface. Lastly, the variety of data, such as pre- and post-rendered raster data, 3D models, and point clouds, requires the implementation of multiple methods for the online publication of data. Various client-side and server-side solutions are presented to make the data available for other researchers.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Die Entstehung von Kulturlandschaften stellt einen bedeutenden Schritt in der Geschichte des Verhältnisses zwischen Mensch und Umwelt dar: die natürliche Umwelt wird nicht nur zum Wirtschaften oder Siedeln benutzt, sondern durch die Markierung bestimmter Plätze rituell aufgeladen. Kulturlandschaften in diesem Sinne, also mit einer flächenhaften strukturellen Umgestaltung der Landschaft, bestehen in Nordmitteleuropa erst mit den sogenannten Trichterbecher-Gesellschaften. Dieser Prozess ist verbunden mit einer ersten »Monumentalisierung« der Landschaft – durch das Errichten von Grabenwerken, großen Grabhügeln oder Megalithgräbern.
Seit ca. 20 Jahren sind verschiedene Siedlungs- und Grabbefunde mit Bernburger oder Kugelamphoren-Keramik veröffentlicht worden, die die Möglichkeit ergaben, eine 2001vorgenommene chronologische Untersuchung zum Bernburger Stil neu durchzuführen. Dabei wird eine kontinuierliche typochronologische Entwicklung erkennbar, die unter
Berücksichtigung typologischer und Typologie-unabhängiger naturwissenschaftlicher Datierungen das damalige Chronologiemodell ergänzt. Vor diesem Hintergrund, der das geografisch offene Mittelelbebaale-Gebiet als einen multi-kulturellen spätneolithischen Raum lokal agierender Weiler- und Dorfgemeinschaften erscheinen lässt, werden Analysen an stabilen Isotopen zu Tieren und Menschen zusammengetragen, um die Wirtschafts- und Ernährungsweise zu rekonstruieren. Tatsächlich kann dargestellt werden, dass wirtschaftlich ähnlich agierende Gemeinschaften mit einer vergleichbaren Haus- und Siedlungsorganisation den mitteldeutschen Raum für mehrere Jahrhunderte 3380–2840 v. Chr. die Kulturlandschaft prägten. Die Benutzung des einen oder anderen Keramikstils verweist auf soziale Praktiken, die mosaikartig angewandt werden. Obwohl die Datenlage nach wie vor nur als ›exemplarisch‹ zu bezeichnen ist, wird ein Versuch
unternommen, sowohl die Siedlungsweise als auch die vorliegenden aDNA-Resultate in das beschriebene chronologische Kontinuum einzubinden.
In our daily experiences, we can observe how the existence and the degree of connectivities between society and the environment, as well as between and within societies, determine political, social, cultural, economic and even ecological life. 'Connected' societies appear to enable a more peaceful coexistence, whereas disentangled societies can be the basis for severe conflicts. Thus, connectivity often creates the possibility for resilient reactions, for example, to climate change or pandemics. Decisive in this respect can be the connection between the natural and the cultural environment (Guedes and Crabtree 2016; Müller 2018). Against the background of a more general perspective, various aspects will be discussed here, which represent connectivity as the most important concept for an analysis of the environment and society and their dynamic relationship. The use of knowledge about the past, for instance, the tracking of trends or reflections in distant times, enables a special view of the present.
During the last decades, a large amount of new data on the Late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic in northern Germany has been collected. Both detailed dating procedures and taphonomic processes at different sites have been discussed. With the help of vertical stratigraphy and absolute chronological dating, it is possible to newly describe the pottery sequence of the Middle and Younger Ertebølle and the Early Funnel Beaker (TRB) Ceramic societies from c. 4,750-3,800 BCE. It becomes clear that the development of the ceramics reflects societies for which the simple differentiation between Mesolithic and Neolithic terminology does not go far enough. The information from the south Cimbrian Peninsula suggests a mosaic-like habitus, which integrated 'foraging', 'pastoral' and 'horticultural' practices differently. A long-lasting transformation process becomes visible, which begins during the 43rd century BCE with the introduction of first flat-bottomed funnel beaker ceramics and first domestic animals. Accelerated by a period of climatic stress, the new way of life asserted itself in the 41st century BCE with horticultural subsistence practices and a new ceramic style, among other things. However, for at least three centuries, the Ertebølle ceramic style and the aquatic subsistence remained intact at sites near water, while in other places non-megalithic long mounds were already being built as an expression of the new ideology.
The Wartberg culture (WBC, 3500-2800 BCE) dates to the Late Neolithic period, a time of important demographic and cultural transformations in western Europe. We performed genome-wide analyses of 42 individuals who were interred in a WBC collective burial in Niedertiefenbach, Germany (3300-3200 cal. BCE). The results showed that the farming population of Niedertiefenbach carried a surprisingly large hunter-gatherer ancestry component (34-58%). This component was most likely introduced during the cultural transformation that led to the WBC. In addition, the Niedertiefenbach individuals exhibited a distinct human leukocyte antigen gene pool, possibly reflecting an immune response that was geared towards detecting viral infections.
In southern Scandinavia and the northern central European lowlands, megalithic graves were erected mainly between 3600 and 3100 BCE. These collective tombs shape the cultural landscape of the so-called older and middle Funnel Beaker (TRB) societies. At this time, a ‘megalithic boom’ occurred with the introduction of new agricultural techniques such as ard ploughing, animal traction, manuring, and land clearance. Recent research projects have considerably increased our knowledge of the builders of the megalithic sites. In Falbygden, Sweden, and in Holstein, northern Germany, projects have informed us about the environmental conditions, economic practices, and burial customs of the builders of the Nordic megalithic tombs. On the Cimbrian Peninsula, excavations have helped to clarify the relationship between causewayed enclosures and megaliths. It now seems that the megalithic boom was connected both to agricultural innovations and to a peak in ceremonial activities in general.
Different megalithic landscapes of Northeast India offer rich sets of archaeological and ethnoarchaeological information on the social implications of megalith building activities in a comparative perspective. This paper attempts to situate the megalithic building traditions in Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram, and Sikkim with specific reference to
the nature of their social structures. Both memorisation practices (as displayed in standing stones) and ancestral practices (as displayed in different burial traditions), demonstrate that extensive communal and cooperative structures link different spheres of daily life. Feasting
activities and the construction of megalithic monuments in the region of Northeast India represent a long-standing practice of both stratified and acephalous societies. The historical, archaeological, and ethnographic backgrounds to the megalithic traditions of Northeast India are thus examined and are linked to results from recent fieldwork undertaken in southern parts of Nagaland.
The Indian subcontinent, and more generally South and Southeast Asia, is a rather remarkable case for megalithic studies. It has a huge number of megalithic remains, some of which were built several millennia before our own era, while others are part of ongoing traditions. In addition, historical texts sourced a few centuries ago inform us about some of the contemporary societies and the associated literature has been extremely abundant, some beginning as early as the first half of the 19th century, and has resulted in the publication of numerous scientific, archaeological, ethnographic and historical articles. After decolonization, these studies
were largely pursued by a fairly dynamic pool of national and some international researchers, as mentioned in the first chapter of this section.
There are few regions of the world where megalith building continues from the past into recent times. An attempt to compare, structurally, some European and the Northeast Indian megaliths was made recently.
We present an interdisciplinary analysis of finds from the Trypillia settlement of Kosenivka, Ukraine (ca. 3700-3600 BCE, Trypillia C1), that links information on human, faunal, and botanical remains with archaeological data to provide exceptionally detailed insights into life and death at a Trypillia mega-site. We obtained osteological, palaeopathological, and histotaphonomic data from human bone fragments; performed carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic analysis of human and animal bone to calculate food webs with the software FRUITS; and modelled newly generated radiocarbon dates to refine the site's chronology. The biological profile of seven identified individuals, some of whom suffered from disease symptoms common in the Chalcolithic, represents a demographic cross-section of the population. The analysis of perimortem cranial trauma suffered by two individuals suggest cases of interpersonal conflict. Food web calculations demonstrate the large contribution of cereals to the protein component of the human diet, which is supported by dental observations, and we suggest that livestock were a major manure producer for crop cultivation. The most probable scenario for the formation of the Kosenivka find assemblage is a deathly fire event. This makes the site a rare example where the archaeological and osteological results can be used to reconstruct a minimum number of house inhabitants. Following a literature review, we contextualise our analysis by discussing the general lack of human remains from Early and Middle Trypillia sites. The individuals from Kosenivka form part of the less than 0.05% of the total estimated Trypillia population that is represented skeletally; its members were deposited within settlements in the Middle Trypillia stage (until C1), preceding the shift to extramural burials in its late phase (C2). Our detailed results indicate the huge explanatory potential that has yet to be unlocked in the rare and often poorly preserved bioarchaeological archives of the Cucuteni–Trypillia phenomenon.
Megalithgräber sind die ältesten oberirdischen Monumente Norddeutschlands und Südskandinaviens. Ca. 30.000 dieser Anlagen wurden in einer Zeit zwischen 3600 und 3200 v. Chr. errichtet. Immer wieder als Landmarken auffällig, dienten sie nicht nur im Neolithikum als Orte ritueller
Aktivitäten. Der heutige Bestand ist erheblich reduziert, die „großen Steine“ wurden nicht nur bei mittelalterlichen Bauvorhaben, sondern auch bei neuzeitlichen Großprojekten (z. B. dem Nord-Ostsee-Kanal) als willkommenes Baumaterial genutzt.
Im Rahmen der Exzellenzinitiativen an den deutschen Universitäten
waren im archäologischen Bereich zwei Projekte erfolgreich: das Berliner Exzellenzcluster TOPOI und die Kieler Graduiertenschule „Human Development in Landscapes (HDL)“. Unter Federführung des Instituts für Ur- und Frühgeschichte hat der interdisziplinäre Zusammenschluss verschiedener Fachwissenschaften an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel 2008 seine Arbeit aufgenommen.
Landscape as a product of both nature and human society is the focus of socio-environmental research. While landscape archaeology developed from settlement archaeology and environmental archaeology on the one hand, cognitive archaeology, on the other hand, has contributed significantly to new conceptualizations and parameters in the interpretation of landscape space. Even as landscape archaeology reconstructs both natural and social constants and changes on different
spatial scales, the reconstruction of socio-environmental events, processes, and structures, as well as of perception and meaning all play an important role. There are possibilities to disentangle landscape into environmental, economic, social,and cognitive spaces, which, due to technical developments of archaeological tools, can now be traced, for example, with Geographic Information Systems.
We present a comprehensive data-based characterization of the subsistence economy of Chalcolithic Cucuteni-Trypillia societies (CTS) on the Moldovian and Suceava plateaus and the Podolian and the Dnieper uplands. This study is based on a quantitative evaluation of archaeobotanical samples from 34 settlement sites, with a focus on Trypillia mega-sites and on stable isotopic analysis of ancient crop residues. The isotopic analysis allows us to identify specific cultivation strategies, which show a close relationship with animal husbandry for manure. We describe the economy of the Trypillia mega-sites as having been based on an elaborate agricultural system, in which the inhabitants knew how to grow crops that could withstand the ecological constraints of growth, especially along the forest steppe ecotone. We also argue that the agglomeration of greater population densities at these mega-sites contributed to landscape change from woodland and forest to open grassland and steppe. Following on from this, we suggest that cultivation practices of the CTS were important in the establishment of the present-day cultural steppe in this region.
Corded Ware is one of the main archaeological phenomena of the third millennium before the common era (BCE), with a wide geographic spread across much of central and northeastern Europe, from Denmark, the Rhineland, and Switzerland in the west to the Baltic and Western Russia in the east, and broadly restricted to the temperate, continental zones north of the Alps, the Carpathians, and the steppe/forest steppe border to the east. The Corded Ware complex is named after the characteristic cord imprints on its pottery, which is found as part of a relatively universal set of grave goods, and now commonly includes sub-units that were traditionally named Single Grave, Protruding Foot Beaker, Battle Axe, Boat Axe, and Fatyanovo/ Balanovo culture. The archaeological unit is known chiefly from burials, mostly in single form (thus it is also termed "Single Grave culture" in Denmark and North Germany), while multiple burials also exist, and in predominantly sex-specific west-east or east-west orientation, with females on their left side and males on their right side in flexed position, both facing south. The burial architecture varies from simple pits to wooden or stone cist construction, with or without burial mounds. In most areas with Corded Ware burials, settlement sites are largely unknown, with the exceptions of coastal areas in the Baltic and the
Netherlands, some domestic sites in the Central European Mountain Range, lakeside dwellings in Switzerland, and, based on recent reports, the
Mittelelbe-Saale region in Central Germany.
The production, distribution and use of copper objects and the development of metallurgical skills in Neolithic Northern Central Europe and Southern Scandinavia are linked to early centres of copper metallurgy of South East Central Europe and Southeast Europe. A total of 45 Neolithic copper objects, until now the largest sample of Early Neolithic objects from the Northern Central European Plain and Southern Scandinavia, were selected for new lead isotope analyses. They aided in the identification of the origin of the copper: These new analyses indicate that the copper ore deposits in Southeastern Europe, especially from the Serbian mining areas, were used for the Early Neolithic northern artefacts (ca. 4100-3300 BC). The most likely sources of copper for the few Middle Neolithic artefacts (ca. 3300-2800 BC) seem to be from the Slovak Ore Mountains, the Serbian mining areas and the Eastern Alps, whereas deposits of the Slovak Ore Mountains and the Alpine region were used for the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2300-1700 BC) artefacts. For the artefacts dated after 2000 BC, the Great Orme mine in Wales also appears to have been the source of copper for the analysed metals. The use of copper from different regions of Europe probably reflects changing social and cultural connectivities on a European scale and the changing chronology of copper exploitation.
The editors of Forum Kritische Archäologie have asked me to write something on the question of archaeological activism. My question in return – activism for what? – was answered to the effect that the potential of archaeology or archaeologists in the “struggle” for a better world should be discussed in more detail.
Spatial data play a crucial role in archaeological research, and rthophotos, digital elevation models, and 3D models are frequently used for the mapping, documentation, and monitoring of archaeological sites. Thanks to the availability of compact and low-cost uncrewed airborne vehicles,
the use of UAV-based photogrammetry matured in this field over the past two decades. More recently, compact airborne systems are also available that allow the recording of thermal data, multispectral data, and airborne laser scanning. In this article, various platforms and sensors are applied at the Chalcolithic archaeological sites in the Mosti s , tea Basin and Danube Valley (Southern Romania). By analysing the performance of the systems and the resulting data, insight is given into the selection of the appropriate system for the right application. This analysis requires thorough knowledge of data acquisition and data processing, as well. As both laser scanning and photogrammetry typically result in very large amounts of data, a special focus is also required on the storage and publication of the data. Hence, the objective of this article is to provide a full overview of various aspects of 3D data acquisition for UAV-based mapping. Based on the conclusions drawn in this article, it is stated that photogrammetry and laser scanning can result in data with similar geometrical properties when acquisition parameters are appropriately set. On the one hand, the used ALS-based system outperforms the photogrammetric platforms in terms of operational time and the area covered. On the other hand, conventional photogrammetry provides flexibility that might be required for very low-altitude flights, or emergency mapping. Furthermore, as the used ALS sensor only provides a geometrical representation of the topography, photogrammetric sensors are still required to obtain true colour or false colour composites of the surface. Lastly, the variety of data, such as pre- and post-rendered raster data, 3D models, and point clouds, requires the implementation of multiple methods for the online publication of data. Various client-side and server-side solutions are presented to make the data available for other researchers.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Die Entstehung von Kulturlandschaften stellt einen bedeutenden Schritt in der Geschichte des Verhältnisses zwischen Mensch und Umwelt dar: die natürliche Umwelt wird nicht nur zum Wirtschaften oder Siedeln benutzt, sondern durch die Markierung bestimmter Plätze rituell aufgeladen. Kulturlandschaften in diesem Sinne, also mit einer flächenhaften strukturellen Umgestaltung der Landschaft, bestehen in Nordmitteleuropa erst mit den sogenannten Trichterbecher-Gesellschaften. Dieser Prozess ist verbunden mit einer ersten »Monumentalisierung« der Landschaft – durch das Errichten von Grabenwerken, großen Grabhügeln oder Megalithgräbern.
Seit ca. 20 Jahren sind verschiedene Siedlungs- und Grabbefunde mit Bernburger oder Kugelamphoren-Keramik veröffentlicht worden, die die Möglichkeit ergaben, eine 2001vorgenommene chronologische Untersuchung zum Bernburger Stil neu durchzuführen. Dabei wird eine kontinuierliche typochronologische Entwicklung erkennbar, die unter
Berücksichtigung typologischer und Typologie-unabhängiger naturwissenschaftlicher Datierungen das damalige Chronologiemodell ergänzt. Vor diesem Hintergrund, der das geografisch offene Mittelelbebaale-Gebiet als einen multi-kulturellen spätneolithischen Raum lokal agierender Weiler- und Dorfgemeinschaften erscheinen lässt, werden Analysen an stabilen Isotopen zu Tieren und Menschen zusammengetragen, um die Wirtschafts- und Ernährungsweise zu rekonstruieren. Tatsächlich kann dargestellt werden, dass wirtschaftlich ähnlich agierende Gemeinschaften mit einer vergleichbaren Haus- und Siedlungsorganisation den mitteldeutschen Raum für mehrere Jahrhunderte 3380–2840 v. Chr. die Kulturlandschaft prägten. Die Benutzung des einen oder anderen Keramikstils verweist auf soziale Praktiken, die mosaikartig angewandt werden. Obwohl die Datenlage nach wie vor nur als ›exemplarisch‹ zu bezeichnen ist, wird ein Versuch
unternommen, sowohl die Siedlungsweise als auch die vorliegenden aDNA-Resultate in das beschriebene chronologische Kontinuum einzubinden.
In our daily experiences, we can observe how the existence and the degree of connectivities between society and the environment, as well as between and within societies, determine political, social, cultural, economic and even ecological life. 'Connected' societies appear to enable a more peaceful coexistence, whereas disentangled societies can be the basis for severe conflicts. Thus, connectivity often creates the possibility for resilient reactions, for example, to climate change or pandemics. Decisive in this respect can be the connection between the natural and the cultural environment (Guedes and Crabtree 2016; Müller 2018). Against the background of a more general perspective, various aspects will be discussed here, which represent connectivity as the most important concept for an analysis of the environment and society and their dynamic relationship. The use of knowledge about the past, for instance, the tracking of trends or reflections in distant times, enables a special view of the present.
During the last decades, a large amount of new data on the Late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic in northern Germany has been collected. Both detailed dating procedures and taphonomic processes at different sites have been discussed. With the help of vertical stratigraphy and absolute chronological dating, it is possible to newly describe the pottery sequence of the Middle and Younger Ertebølle and the Early Funnel Beaker (TRB) Ceramic societies from c. 4,750-3,800 BCE. It becomes clear that the development of the ceramics reflects societies for which the simple differentiation between Mesolithic and Neolithic terminology does not go far enough. The information from the south Cimbrian Peninsula suggests a mosaic-like habitus, which integrated 'foraging', 'pastoral' and 'horticultural' practices differently. A long-lasting transformation process becomes visible, which begins during the 43rd century BCE with the introduction of first flat-bottomed funnel beaker ceramics and first domestic animals. Accelerated by a period of climatic stress, the new way of life asserted itself in the 41st century BCE with horticultural subsistence practices and a new ceramic style, among other things. However, for at least three centuries, the Ertebølle ceramic style and the aquatic subsistence remained intact at sites near water, while in other places non-megalithic long mounds were already being built as an expression of the new ideology.
The Wartberg culture (WBC, 3500-2800 BCE) dates to the Late Neolithic period, a time of important demographic and cultural transformations in western Europe. We performed genome-wide analyses of 42 individuals who were interred in a WBC collective burial in Niedertiefenbach, Germany (3300-3200 cal. BCE). The results showed that the farming population of Niedertiefenbach carried a surprisingly large hunter-gatherer ancestry component (34-58%). This component was most likely introduced during the cultural transformation that led to the WBC. In addition, the Niedertiefenbach individuals exhibited a distinct human leukocyte antigen gene pool, possibly reflecting an immune response that was geared towards detecting viral infections.
enclosure system. This enclosure is associated with a large number of human remains, which reveal new patterns of burial and deposition practices. This volume presents the first part of the results of an international research project that was started in 2012 and aims to explore the social implications of settlement concentration in the context of early farming communities, on the background of subsistence patterns and landscape use.
This is the first volume of “Archaeology in the Žitava valley”, and it presents the finds, features and data uncovered and synthesised from our archaeological, pedological, geophysical, archaeobotanical, anthropological, zoo-archaeological and stable isotope studies on the site of Vráble “Veľké Lehemby” and “Fárske” in southwest Slovakia.
These data are used to reconstruct the social and economic patterns and social processes, highlighting a growing tension between incentives of cooperation and sharing vs. monopolisation of resources and individual interests, driving the 300-year history of this site until its total abandonment. While the history of Vráble is unique, it holds clues for a better understanding of the overall, central European phenomenon of large, enclosed settlements of the later LBK, their association with rituals and violence involving human bodies, and the end of the LBK social world.
Exploring landscapes and reconstructiong social space. In the last five years, scientists of numerous disciplines at Kiel University have dedicated themselves to reconstructing pre-modern socetial and environmental conditions through intensive field work. In the framework of the Graduate School "Human Development in Landscapes" and the "Johanna-Mestorf_Acadamy of Socio-Environmental Research and Landscape Archaeology",field work led predominantly early-career researchers to regions ranging from Peru to the Ukraine and from Iceland to Ethopia. A majo focus of the new findings addresses the reconstruction of prehistoric and ancient societies in Central Europe and Southern Scandinavia. In this volume, an overview of the diversity of activities is provided for the first time.
Bis zu 5800 Jahre alte Monumente prägen noch heute die Landschaften Norddeutschlands: Großsteingräber sind als Landmarken über Jahrtausende hinweg den Bewohnern gegenwärtig und erzählen aus einer Zeit, als der Mensch erstmals großräumig Kulturlandschaften
in Nordmitteleuropa und Südskandinavien geschaffen hat. So sichtbar und nah Großsteingräber uns heute erscheinen, so schwierig und langwierig ist ihre Erforschung: Wer hat sie errichtet und warum? Wie waren die damaligen Lebensbedingungen? Was bedeuteten
megalithische, aber auch nichtmegalithische Monumente für die Gesellschaften? Um dies zu verstehen, müssen wir die ökologischen, ökonomischen, sozialen und kulturellen Aspekte der damaligen Zeit rekonstruieren.
Dieser Aufgabe hat sich in den letzten Jahren eine Gruppe von Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern verschiedener universitärer und außeruniversitärer Forschungseinrichtungen gestellt, die im Rahmen des Schwerpunktprogramms 1400 der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft »Frühe Monumentalität und soziale Differenzierung« Großsteingräber, Grabenwerke, Siedlungen und Umweltbedingungen insbesondere der Trichterbechergesellschaften
(4100–2800 v. Chr.) untersucht haben (www.schwerpunkt-monumente.de). Mithilfe kultur-, natur- und lebenswissenschaftlicher Methoden ließ sich der Kenntnisstand um das Geschehen insbesondere im norddeutschen Raum erheblich erweitern. Dieses Sonderheft
der »Archäologie in Deutschland« fasst einige der Forschungsergebnisse zusammen und bietet einen Einstieg in die Thematik.
This workshop aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines to discuss the interaction between physical and social landscapes as the most profound process that catalyses human activities in space and time; and the interplay of environments, social relationships, material culture, population dynamics, and human perceptions of socio-environmental change. This year the Workshop is supported by the Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of transformation: Human-environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies”.
there is a more marked duality between the fragmented pattern of local styles and the new overarching transregional elements of material
culture, most notably expressed in archaeological terms by the Bell Beaker and Corded Ware phenomena. Such a duality, especially
marked by the concept of Bell Beakers and »Common Ware«, is surely not a total novelty. But the hitherto unknown width of distribution
of »global« Corded Ware, or Bell Beaker elements is evidence of a new character of this dialectic in the 3rd millennium BC.
In this workshop, we want to explore the background
of this new quality. To what extent is this re-arrangement of global and local frames of reference a consequence of a fundamental change in social organisation and economic practices? In how far does it reflect increased migration, new mobility patterns, or changing
networks of interaction? Or how can we disentangle the effect of different developments that might have lead to the culmination of the Neolithic sequence in European prehistory?
For more details about all the sessions and the registration process, you can visit the Workshop's official webpage through the following link https://www.workshop-gshdl.uni-kiel.de/
or contact us.
Aufbauend auf einer breiten Basis erhobener Daten können neue Erkenntnisse zu Chronologie, Demographie, Umwelt und Wirtschaftsweise vorgestellt werden. Dabei liegt der Fokus auf Siedlungen, Gräbern und Grabenwerken, aber auch auf Wegen, Kommunikationsräumen und Austauschnetzwerken. Band 2 der Schriftenreihe des Schwerpunktprogrammes veröffentlicht erste Ergebnisse aus den laufenden Forschungen zu den frühen ackerbaulichen Gemeinschaften Nordmitteleuropas.
The session aims to discuss methods/techniques used for the study of past human perception, attempting to integrate methodological innovations with more established ones in our discipline. Secondly, we wish to enquire on the limitations of assuming universal models of human perception and how we might be able to address them. We welcome papers that bring forth new perceptual methods for archaeological research and concrete applications in specific case studies, as well as submissions that critically engage with questions about presentism.