Europe (Geographic Keyword)
776-800 (1,215 Records)
Since their discovery in the early twentieth century, there has been controversy over the chronology of the two ‘skull nests’ found within Ofnet cave in southwest Germany. Initially the focus was on whether they dated to the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic or Neolithic. The first radiocarbon dates at least resolved this issue in favour of the Mesolithic, but the considerable range obtained fueled a second debate: were the skulls deposited in a single event, which, together with the peri-mortem injuries...
New Romantic Archaeology: radiocarbon revolutions and revolutions in understanding (2017)
This presentation will reflect on the so called four ‘Radiocarbon Revolutions’ and their implications on archaeological narratives and theory generally, and Neolithic studies in Britain specifically. The timing of this reflection is critical given the implications of recent Bayesian analysis in order to produce precise, robust and probabilistic chronologies for parts of European prehistory. This paper will revisit the reactions to the initial radiocarbon revolutions by important theorists such...
New Technologies in Feature Recording for Archaeological Surveys: Potential and Challenges (2017)
Archaeological landscapes are complex three-dimensional environments, containing not only cadastral survey units and evidence of sites in the form of artifact scatters, but also anomalous topographical features and standing architectural remains of a variety of periods, types, and states of preservation. The time-consuming nature of careful architectural recording and the difficulty of acquiring the high-quality geodata required for a proper architectural survey in the remote countryside have...
Nomadism in the Magdalenian groups of Monruz and Champréveyres (Switzerland) (2015)
Located in a region where flint is of mediocre quality, the Magdalenian sites of Monruz and Champréveyres (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) show the introduction of a high proportion of good quality flint from sometimes very distant (up to 200 km) regions. For this reason we can argue that flint was not a constraining factor on the selection of camp location. It is certain that favorable hunting grounds, as well as the proximity to water sources and combustible materials, were more important. The...
Non-Destructive, In Situ Lithic Residue Analysis via FTIR Microspectroscopy: First Results (2016)
Lithic residue analysis is undergoing a methodological shift as analysts introduce new methods designed to improve the objectivity of residue identifications. Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy has been shown to have tremendous potential in this regard. This method is nondestructive, can provide precise identifications of molecular compounds and minerals, and can be carried out in situ – directly on the residues - without removing them from the stone tools. However, the optical...
Non-ferrous casting molds and technical logic: What can the technical differences between the Bronze Age and Iron Age molds tell us about the technological development of metalworking? (2015)
Studies of technological changes in non-ferrous casting during the shift between the Bronze and the Iron Age in Europe have particularly looked at changes of crucible manufacture or the use of different alloys, while technology of the casting mold has not been studied to the same extent. Mainly three types of molds were used during the prehistoric period – single piece, two-piece, and investment. The first two types were made in clay, stone and occasionally metal, while investment molds were...
The North Sea and the "Long" Viking Age: Connections and Communication (2017)
This talk presents the results of a northern European collaborative pilot study on the compilation and analysis of internationally-derived datasets of metal-detected material culture. Drawing on nascent heritage initiatives across northern Europe designed to protect and record our at-risk portable material culture, the project seeks to develop and trial a methodology for the synthesis and analysis of metal-detected datasets from England, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands, resulting in the...
North-South as well as East-West: Moroccan and Iberian Pleistocene-Holocene archaeofaunas in an Atlantic context (2016)
While Pleistocene-Holocene archaeofaunas from the Iberian peninsula are relatively well-documented, these data are often considered in isolation from the larger Atlantic context. In this paper, I consider archaeofaunas from Eastern Iberia - Portugal and the Galicia region of Spain - in comparison with what we know about animal exploitation in Atlantic Morocco and the East Coast of North America. I assess the nature and completeness of the archaeofaunal record in these regions and explore...
Northern Norway’s sea of islands: processes of maritime colonization and settlement (2017)
Epeli Hau’ofa’s (1993) perception of Oceania as a ‘sea of islands’ is a useful point of departure for exploring the long-term trajectories of the many thousands of islands scattered along the coast of northwestern Norway. Hau’ofa’s vision of joined islands is also instructive as a way of emphasizing seaborne connectivity rather than insularity within maritime archaeology. This paper highlights problems related to island colonization and settlement since the Early Mesolithic (11,500-10,000 BP) in...
The Northern way – Conceptualization of Nonhuman Animals in the Animal Art of 5-6th century Norway (2017)
The presentation takes up a northern way of expression opposed to a southern one – namely the stylistic depiction and focus on animals and mixed animal/human designs prevailing in the Nordic Barbaric area opposed to a focus on the naturalistic ideal of the human body throughout the classical world. The complexity and continuity of this Nordic art form indicates that it was structurally incorporated in an overarching principle that reflects social and cosmic order. The mixed animal-human designs...
Not Going There: Seeing, Depicting and Interpreting Archaeological Topography through Digital Media (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Vision in the Age of Big Data" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper explores a tension in field practice and interpretation in landscape archaeology. Digital 3D topographic data have proliferated, and the increasing availability of lidar DTMs are transforming the practice of archaeological topographic interpretation. As a toolkit for interpretation tailored to this digital medium is being...
The Not Very Patrilocal European Neolithic (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Two decades of strontium isotope and aDNA research on Central European Neolithic cemetery populations have consistently interpreted patrilocality, which is now a foregone conclusion. This paper questions those interpretations from a social anthropological perspective. Models are presented for interpreting strontium isotope ratios and aDNA that consider the...
The Numerical Proportions of the Sexes at Birth (1907)
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.
Obsidian Characterization at the McMaster Archaeological XRF Laboratory: Case-Studies from the Italian Island of Sardinia (2017)
The McMaster Archaeological X-ray Fluorescence Laboratory (MAX Lab) was established in 2010 with the goal of using compositional analyses of archaeological objects to engage with broad-level questions about past human behavior. In this context, obsidian has been the primary artifact type analyzed, taking form through the sourcing of artifacts to the geological sources from which they originated. As an example, this presentation focuses on prehistoric obsidian exploitation on the central...
Obsidian Source Selection in the Early Bronze Age Cyclades (2015)
While the obsidian used by southern Aegean prehistoric communities has long been known to derive primarily from Melos, there has been little investigation regarding the relative importance of the two Melian quarries – Sta Nychia and Dhemenegaki. This study employed portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to investigate this question and begin to map regional traditions of obsidian source selection during the 3rd millennium BC. The 715 artifacts analyzed derive from 11 Early Bronze I - late...
Odyssey Sensing Project (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Survey is an important tool in archaeological research. It allows us to identify the location of potential archaeological sites as well as understand the main natural features of the landscape. Lately, methodological developments in the field of remote detection have significantly contributed with new applications to archaeological research. The Odyssey...
Old Deities for New Men? The Social, Cultural and Political Role of Religion and Ritual Practices during the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Transitional Period on Crete (2017)
It is generally assumed that the Minoan Goddess remained venerated on Crete after the destruction of the Minoan and Mycenaean Palaces. In the Late Bronze Age, in the aftermath of the collapse of the palatial system, freestanding bench sanctuaries housing large terra-cotta female figures with uplifted arms and their ritual vessels appeared in a series of newly founded Cretan sites. Since their typical gesture recalls Minoan scenes allegedly representing the epiphany of a female divinity, these...
Old Fences and Archeology (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Fifty Years of Fretwell and Lucas: Archaeological Applications of Ideal Distribution Models" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fences form distinct patterns and are a prominent feature of most cultural landscapes. Such patterns contain information about people and their relationship with the land. Archeological mapping of extensive Viking Age fences in Iceland highlights the need for a theory of fence construction. How...
Old Stone Age (1968)
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.
On Grounding ‘Margins’ and ‘Marginals’: With Brief Visits to the Bennachie Colony (Scotland) and New Iceland (Canada) (2017)
Marginality is a perennial trope within the literature of settler societies. This paper is concerned with how people, past and present, become caught up with labels of ‘marginality’, among other forms of ‘identity history’. The theory is grounded in what are potentially conflicting ideas: one that places emphasis on fluidity and change, the other which takes a firm materialist stand. The apparent impasse is resolved by clearly identifying contexts—both material and historical—where temporary...
On some classical roots of the Anthropocene: where does Mediterranean archaeology belong? (2017)
In the long run-up to deciding the Anthropocene’s scientific status there have been few archaeological voices, as many have noted, revealing the proposed epoch’s narrow periodization of human-environment relationships. None seem to be more absent than classical archaeologists, an omission which reflects not only disciplinary cleavages but also tacit conceits about the classical world as paradoxically generative of and divorced from modern geopolitics and human-nature interfaces. From the early...
On the Periphery of Collapse: An Archaeobotanical View from the Mycenaean Hinterland at Tsoungiza (2015)
The site of Tsoungiza, situated in the Nemea Valley of southern Greece, offers a glimpse into processes of agricultural and land-use practices in the Mycenaean hinterland and their intersection with the waxing and waning of Mycenaean political, economic, and social control. After abandonment in the Early Helladic III period (ca. 2,000 B.C.), the site was re-occupied during the late Middle Helladic III (ca. 1,650 B.C.), at a time of regional population expansion associated with the rise of the...
On the ritual display and deposition of human skulls at Kanaljorden, Motala, Sweden, 8000 cal BP (2016)
This paper discuss the ritual display and deposition of human skulls among hunter-gatherers in Scandinavia during the Mesolithic. The discussion focus on the recently excavated site Kanaljorden, at Motala, Sweden, where select human bones – mostly skulls – from a dozen individuals have been deposited on a stone-packing on the bottom of a small lake. Two of the skulls were mounted on wooden stakes still embedded in the crania. Beside human bones, the finds also include artefacts of bone, antler,...
On the transmission of pottery recipes at the dawn of the Metal Age: a case study from Pločnik and Belovode (2015)
This paper focuses on the reconstruction of pottery recipes and their transmission in the Neolithic/Chalcolithic sites of Belovode and Pločnik (c. 5350-4650 BC; c. 5200-4650 BC). These two Vinča culture sites, located respectively in north-east and south Serbia, have recently yielded some of the earliest known copper artefacts in Eurasia. The rich material culture of these two sites, therefore, offers a unique opportunity for the study of the evolution of pottery craft technology during the...
On we sweep with thrashing oar: Interaction networks in Aegean Prehistory (2017)
Prior to the introduction of sailing technology during the 3rd millennium BCE, communication and movement throughout the Aegean Basin was greatly shaped by the region’s mixed landscape of open sea, island clusters, and mountainous interiors. Modeling the physical landscape and accounting for travel rates and physical restrictions to travel over both land and sea, I examine the nature of movement across the Aegean during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (6500-2000 BCE). Based on these...