Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Apr. 22, 2010). "Department of Anthropology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-232).

Thesis (doctoral) -- Universität Marburg, 1931. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 74-80.

Yes / Geophysical survey at the three major henge monuments in the Wharfe Valley has provided details of survival and internal features. Excavation at Yarnbury has confirmed its Bronze Age date and has recovered material matching that from previous unrecorded excavations. The excavation has provided environmental data for the construction of the henge. The sites are placed in their regional context. / British Academy

No / Stonehenge is one of the world’s most iconic archaeological sites and yet we know relatively little about the people that created this important prehistoric monument. This chapter contributes to this narrative by reconstructing the face of a high-status male who was recovered during nineteenth-century excavation of a Neolithic Long Barrow. Situated in the barrow cemetery at Winterbourne Stoke, this site is important to the contextual setting and contemporary development of Stonehenge as a ceremonial and ritual centre. The chapter reports on the combination of digital bioarchaeology and visual heritage methods, together with forensic reconstruction, that transformed the physical remains of the individual into digital data that was manipulated for 3D printing; and subsequent anatomical and visual art interpretation to yield physical life-like characteristics. His facial features have been rebuilt on the 3D printed skull, muscle by muscle, to create a highly realistic face from the era. The aim of this project was to provide a tangible connection to the archaeology of the Stonehenge landscape and to the people that developed its ceremonial and ritual significance—narrowing the temporal distance through the emotional experience it means to gaze into the eyes of a Neolithic individual.

abstract: This dissertation examines the various factors and processes that have been proposed as explanations for the spread of agriculture in the west Mediterranean. The expansion of the Neolithic in the west Mediterranean (the Impresso-Cardial Neolithic) is characterized by a rapid spread of agricultural subsistence and material culture from the southern portion of the Italian peninsula to the western coast of the Iberian peninsula. To address this unique case, four conceptual models of Neolithic spread have been proposed: the Wave of Advance, the Capillary Spread Model, the Maritime Pioneer Colonization Model and the Dual Model. An agent-based model, the Cardial Spread Model, was built to simulate each conceptual spread model in a spatially explicit environment for comparison with evidence from the archaeological record. Chronological information detailing the arrival of the Neolithic was used to create a map of the initial arrival of the Neolithic (a chronosurface) throughout the study area. The results of each conceptual spread model were then compared to the chronosurface in order to evaluate the relative performance of each conceptual model of spread. These experiments suggest that both the Dual and Maritime Pioneer Colonization models best fit the available chronological and spatial distribution of the Impresso-Cardial Neolithic. For the purpose of informing agent movement and improving the fit of the conceptual spread models, a variety of paleoenvironmental maps were tested within the Cardial Spread Model. The outcome of these experiments suggests that topographic slope was an important factor in settlement location and that rivers were important vectors of transportation for early Neolithic migration. This research demonstrates the application of techniques rare to archaeological analysis, agent-based modeling and the inclusion of paleoenvironmental information, and provides a valuable tool that future researchers can utilize to further evaluate and fabricate new models of Neolithic expansion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2016

The rock paintings of the hunter-gatherers in the province of Norrland, and their localisation. The aim of this thesis is to find a couple of distinguishing features for the localisation of the rock paintings of the hunter-gatherers in Norrland. This will be done through studies of Swedish and international literature, about ancient rock-art and the belief system of the hunter-gatherers. I will make comparisons  with other groups of hunter-gatherers and try to find analogies. My belief is that there must be a large number of undetected rock paintings in Norrland. They are hard to find because of overgrowth by lichen and damages due to wethering. Theretoo I feel that there hasn´t been enough of structured surveys. I hope that my resulting short list of practical clues of where to find them will help: seek for them in the boreal forest area from 200 meters above the sea level to the present alpine tree line zone in close vicinity to neolithic winter dwellings in close vicinity to pitfall traps on vertical rock walls of cliffs or boulders in close vicinity to standing water/ alternatively in a hillside in the forest the rock faces to the south on imposing natural formations try to find them in cloudy, humid weather

No description available.

No description available.

The influence of anthropogenic activity on the natural environment is constantly changing. A series of major developments in human culture have resulted in a shifting nature of impact. Separating change attributable to humans and the change resulting from natural forcing is complex. This study investigates the degree of human impact during the onset of agriculture when humans were shifting from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to herding livestock and the cultivation of plants. This cultural development is known as the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition within Europe. In particular, this project focuses on the nature of environmental change in Cumbria in the British Isles during the mid-Holocene. This region exhibits strong contrasts in landscape from coastal lowlands to mountainous uplands. Cumbria also has a rich record of archaeological sites and environmental reconstructions, but existing datasets have not allowed for detailed comparisons of the different landscapes. Two contrasting sites (one upland, one lowland) were investigated to produce a high-resolution environmental reconstruction including: vegetation change, burning patterns, catchment erosion and climatic changes. A radiocarbon chronology was produced for each site investigated. This was used to re-address the archaeological record and in particular, determine the details of the impact of humans on the landscape. Key differences are highlighted in the nature of human impact during the late-Mesolithic and early-Neolithic in contrasting landscapes with different types of land-use. There is an estimated temporal offset of around 200 years between similar events occurring in lowland and upland landscapes. Climatic variability indicates only small fluctuations and is unlikely to account for the extent of vegetation modification on its own. It is clear Neolithic activity is far more intensive than Mesolithic activity, but importantly the scale of impact in the upland landscape is far more extensive than the archaeological evidence would suggest. Furthermore, the upland landscape appears to recover relatively quickly after clearance events, whilst in the lowland environment, the open vegetation landscape remains far more dominant.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the environmental changes across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition (c.7000-5000 cal BP) at two sites in north-west Europe. Specific research questions focus on the role of fire, the interaction of climate and environmental change and human impacts, and the degree of continuity across the transition. Previous work has led to hypotheses of human impacts in the late Mesolithic, usually through the use of fire, increasing the abundance of food. Detection of these practices and the change to farming in the Neolithic has long been the study of pollen analysts, but in this project additional techniques of NPPs, size-class differentiated charcoal, and silicon and titanium were added at high resolution in order to determine the relationships between the different forcing factors on mid-Holocene environments. Sites were selected close to locations where known later Mesolithic artefacts have been found, with dated archaeological excavations. An upland UK bog site (Dan Clough Moss, near March Hill, West Yorkshire) and a lowland Swedish lake (Bökeberg, Skåne) provided contrasting environments, and enabled a range of proxies to be used from terrestrial peat and limnic sediments. 14C dates from selected macrofossils enabled an age-depth curve to be produced from each profile, with a Bayesian model applied to estimate the age of each sample. Results show a detailed record of woodland change from both areas. At Dan Clough Moss, disturbance phases with evidence of local fires occur frequently (typically every 20-30 years) in the late Mesolithic, and have low magnitude but consistent records of coprophilous fungi. Some phases of disturbance are different however, without the fungal spore evidence, and with heath plants increasing in representation. Drier phases appear to correlate with more local fire, and increased hazel. The transition is marked by a change to longer duration but distant fires, and longer periods of woodland disturbance, increased ruderal species and more heathland. The dates of occupation phases show a late survival of Mesolithic practices, overlapping with the Neolithic by around 300 years. At Bökeberg, a contrasting pattern is shown, with longer-duration phases of inferred human impact being replaced by shorter episodes of fire-associated disturbance after the date of the transition. Pollen and spore zones of disturbance concur with the dated occupation of late Mesolithic sites at the former lake edge. There is some evidence for markedly wetter, and then significantly drier, climate through the transition, and it could be inferred that this influenced the change in food production economies. However, the overall landscape changed only subtly, with more evidence of potential weeds of cultivation. At Bökeberg, there was no overlap- both radiocarbon and palynology suggest an abrupt transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic. The landscape impact of the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic at both sites was not a clear and consistent one. While Ulmus decline levels and thereafter had increases in weed species and other herbs the overall balance of trees and shrubs changed less than 20%. At both sites, climate may have been influential, although the evidence is inconclusive. Fires were important at both sites and in both periods, but at different scales and duration. Disturbance phases varied within the Mesolithic as well as between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic.