Europe (Geographic Keyword)
76-100 (1,158 Records)
La Ferrassie is one of the best-known Middle and Upper Paleolithic sequences in Europe, playing a key role in the question of Neandertal mortuary behavior. Until now, geoarchaeologically-oriented research has focused on the long sequence exposed during the original excavations of Capitan/Peyrony and Delporte (early 20th century and 1968-1973, respectively) in the easternmost part of the site. Our research has exposed intact layers several meters away in the extreme western area of the site, next...
Assemblage formation and Paleolithic variability in the Middle Prut Valley region (Romania) (2015)
The research I will report in my paper has two main goals. The first is to learn something of the behavior of the hominids responsible for the production and accumulation of the Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic assemblages at two multistratified sites in NE Romania, Middle Prut Valley region (Ripiceni-Izvor and Mitoc-Malu Galben). The second goal is methodologically related. Paleolithic assemblages recovered from the archaeological record are mostly interpreted as "typical" expressions of...
Assembly sites: arenas of interplay between the elite and wider community in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (2017)
This paper investigates the interrelationship between the elite and the wider community at Scandinavian assembly (thing) sites in the late Iron Age. Monuments suggest that these sites were designed by the elite for the performance of elite rituals, such as legitimising power and kingship. At the assembly, laws involving ethnic identity and group belonging were publicised and enforced and the sites themselves must therefore have had a role to play in the creation and upholding of collective...
Assessing the Potential for Raw Material Profiling Studies in Modelling Neanderthal Behavioural Complexity (2018)
Raw material studies are becoming increasingly popular as the development of technical and methodological advances adds to the macroscopic and geological study of stone tools. In turn this improves our capability to create a link between a stone tool’s archaeological context and geological area of origin. This connection is often discussed in terms of hominin behaviour, such as organisation of subsistence, adaptation to environment, and forward planning. However, the growing body of data...
Assessing the use and lethality of simple wooden spears in the Middle Pleistocene: methods and results of human performance trials and actualistic studies (2015)
Evidence for hunting amongst hominin groups in northwestern Europe has emerged as a key archaeological research question over the past century. There are three clear archaeological signatures that suggest the possible manufacture and use of simple wooden weapons in Middle Pleistocene Europe: the collection of wooden spears from Schöningen in Germany from MIS 9, a wooden implement from Clacton-on-Sea from MIS 11, and a horse scapula with a possible impact fracture from Boxgrove from MIS 13....
An Assessment of small game exploitation at Gruta Nova da Columbeira in the Middle Paleolithic (Portugal) (2017)
In Europe, differences in subsistence between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans are one of the ways in which archaeologists detect behavioral shifts in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. In this paper, I present faunal and stable isotopic analyses of Oryctolagus cuniculus (the European wild rabbit) from levels C.6, C.7, C.8 and C.9 of Gruta Nova da Columbeira, a Mousterian cave site located in central Portugal. I use these data to test two subsistence models: 1. Anatomically...
Asturian of Cantabria: Subsistence Base and the Evidence for Post-Pleistocene Climatic Shifts (1971)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
Asturias Across Time and Space: An Exploration of Medieval and Early Modern Spain using Stable Isotopes (2015)
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 104 individuals from eight sites was used to reconstruct the diets of Medieval and Early Modern (AD 600-1750) individuals from Asturias, Spain. Asturias is a coastal region located in northern Spain that remained one of the last Catholic kingdoms when the Moors ruled Iberia. Asturian society was structured hierarchically and divided into clergy, nobility, and peasant classes. Each socioeconomic group buried their own according to status and wealth....
Asymmetry of Cranial Surface in Relation to Social Stratification in Great Moravia (Early Medieval Period, Mikulčice, Czech Republic, 9th–10th Century) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. According to the archaeological and written sources Great Moravian Medieval society was highly socially stratified. Recorded differences in facial cranial morpholology were partly interpreted as a result of different masticatory load, and thus of different dietary habits in various socioeconomic classes. In this study we present a detailed analysis of cranial...
Çatalhöyük and Localized Universality: the challenge of sustaining heritage post-UNESCO (2015)
UNESCO has long set the example for heritage practice, with site practitioners worldwide motivated to achieve the nearly universally desired World Heritage Site (WHS) status to help preserve and sustain their sites. However, the idealized goals espoused by UNESCO, a global organization, are inherently universalizing, which can render them incompatible with the particularities of each local setting. One illustrative example is Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Since being granted UNESCO WHS status in 2012,...
An Attempt at Digitally Associating Skeletal Elements: A Study of Photogrammetry and Articular Surface Area (2017)
When excavating archaeological skeletal remains it is not uncommon to find them disarticulated and even commingled with other sets of remains. To study these remains it is paramount to first accurately and efficiently re-associate all skeletal elements. Re-association of skeletal remains is necessary before any other form of analysis (ancestry, sex, age, stature etc.) can be performed. While analog methods have been previously applied to standardize this task the advent of digital modelling...
The Aurignacian open-air campsite of Régismont-le-Haut (Hérault, France) (2015)
Régismont-le-Haut (Hérault, France) counts among the rare open-air Aurignacian campsites in southwestern France having both spatially conserved activity areas and explicit traces of a constructed living space. This minimally disturbed single habitation occupies two perpendicular paleochannels, whose geometry separates the site into two main zones. Throughout its excavation numerous combustion structures (27), all being surrounded by differentially diffuse archaeological material, have been...
Aurignacian Projectile Points Do Not Represent a Proxy for the Initial Dispersal of Homo sapiens into Europe: Insights from Geometric Morphometrics (2018)
It has been argued that Aurignacian projectile points made of antler, bone, or ivory represent a proxy for the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens into Europe. Our research reassesses this claim by using geometric morphometric analysis to study 547 Aurignacian osseous implements recovered from 49 European sites. This approach allowed the identification of eight volumetric templates reproduced by Aurignacian artisans during the manufacture of split-based points. Two templates were identified for...
Aurignacian(s) in the Mas d'Azil Cave (Ariège, Pyrénées, France) (2015)
Mas d’Azil cave is one of the most important karstic landmarks in southwestern France. This prehistoric research hotspot is mainly famous for evidence of Magdalenian and Epipaleolithic cultures, but recent researches were confirmed the existence of traces of the oldest occupations of the Upper Palaeolithic, poorly documented so far. In this case, the discovery of an in situ cultural sequence containing older and recent Aurignacian opens up largely new possibilities. First, because the cave...
Autonomy, Ranking and Resources in Iberian Prehistory. In: Ranking, Resources and Exchange: Aspects of the (1982)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
The Avocational Atelier: a portrait of lithic collection practice (2017)
Adapting contemporary archaeological techniques used in the recovery of Francis Bacon’s Reece Mews studio, this project documents the collecting practice of an avocational lithic fieldworker on the Isle of Arran, Scotland who assembled a substantial heritage archive including significant archaeological objects, prehistoric assemblages and geological specimens. Treating her abandoned artefact analysis table and intact workrooms as sites it used traditional and multi-media techniques to record her...
Awash in Meaning: Exploring the symbolic and ritual functions of the Iron Age bathing structures of the Iberian northwest. (2016)
Unique to the northwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, the ceremonial baths of the Iron Age Castro Culture present an entry point for our understanding of the social and symbolic mechanisms at work in Castro society. Not found anywhere else in Iberia, the precise use and meaning of the structures remains controversial. Were they an indigenous development, or a technology borrowed from the Roman world? Was their use related to personal grooming or ritual cleansing? Located within...
BACK AND FORTH ALONG THE EASTERN SLAVE ROUTE. Archaeological traces of long-distance trafficking. (2016)
With the expansion of the Eastern trade route during the 9th and 10th centuries a regular contact with the markets of the Muslim world was established. Long-distance trafficking of slaves became an important commodity. It was a high risk venture that required a new level of organisation, control and logistics. The full extent of the trafficking is not known but it included moving people and goods in both ways along a route that offered little infrastructure and difficult terrain. Trafficking of...
Bands of brothers: the socio-political and military organisation of Viking armies during the 9th century (2017)
During the mid- to late-9th century, historical sources attest to large Viking raiding-fleets and ‘armies’ operating in northwestern Europe. These itinerant groups were not only seeking plunder but also land to settle, and some managed to establish colonies and enclaves with varying long-term success. The size and impact of these groups came under scrutiny during the latter half of the 20th century, when some scholars sought to downplay the influence of warfare as a catalyst of social and...
The 'Bare Branches' of Scandinavian Society and the Origins of Viking Raiding (2015)
The surge of violent raiding that traditionally marks the beginning of the Viking Age at the end of the 8th century ushered in a period of turmoil and change across much of Europe. Though the factors that might have triggered this have been repeatedly debated, no hypothesis has thus far provided a convincing explanation for this important historical phenomenon. One of the oldest arguments, discussed in this paper, was that proposed during the 11th century by Dudo of St. Quentin in Gesta...
Barrow Roads and Bronze Age Wayfaring (2017)
The idea of the journey is central to many narratives of European Bronze Age social structure, economy, and cosmology, but the mechanics of journeying in the Bronze Age are rarely discussed. We know that objects and raw materials travelled great distances, we think that exotic things and ideas were sought after, and it appears that Bronze Age people maintained ties with kin and trading partners over very great distances. Much of this distance was inevitably traversed on water; and riverine...
Basket Case? Finding Funding for Archaeological Projects—A European Perspective (2017)
The competition for funding is increasing, as demand increases but the sources of funds diminish, especially if there is a research element in any proposed project. This paper will explore the possible routes for funding and the potential and pitfalls of using a "basket" approach to raising funds for archaeological projects in the public sector (i.e., charities and non-commercial), including universities. It will also look at different approaches for funding significant heritage-based projects...
A Bayesian Framework for Combining Architectural Constraints and Artifact Assemblages in Domestic Spaces (2016)
Twentieth century excavations contributed greatly to our knowledge of domestic contexts throughout the Aegean. These excavations occupy a broad spectrum in terms of sampling strategy, data collection quality and publication extent. Architectural studies of household behavior have received particular attention, and explorations of settlement social organization through household archaeology are ongoing. Yet few methodologies explicitly address this issue of diverse publication levels and...
Be Our Guest: Tablescapes in Early Modern Ulster (2015)
The ethnic relationships found in colonial settings are complicated and varied negotiations that are hard to decipher in the present, much less in the past. Performance of ethnic allegiance may be influenced by oppressive legal structures, systemic racism, reformation or resistance movements, and personal taste. As archaeologists have adopted more nuanced readings of material culture and its relationship to ethnic performance, such as the use of Homi Bhabha’s concept of the third space and...
Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland (1970)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.