The goal with this work is to study the settlement during the Middle Neolithic B. Looking at the settlement pattern of the Battle Axe C culture (BAC) in Scania we might be able to get a picture of how the social structure of the BAC looked like and how it differed from' earlier and later culture groups.. What can a change in settlement tell archaeologists today about this and what problems do archeologist have to take into consideration.

Excavation of thirty skulls, twenty-eight cattle and two sheep from the foundation course of a Late Neolithic structure at Links of Noltland (LON), Structure 9, is the starting point for this thesis, which investigates the economic and socio-cultural relationships of cattle and other mammals on Orkney communities between 3000 and 2500 BC. The LON settlement was located on a machair plain in Westray, the most N-W island within the Orkney archipelago (HY 428 493). Male and female cattle skulls were inter-mixed within the LON foundation course so a “bull cult” is not represented. The sequence from living skulls to skulls “animating the building is (i) breed/acquire (ii) nurture (iii) cull/butcher (iv) consume (v) transform to object (vi) curate (vii) deposit. A skull deposit infilling an internal passageway from another LON, Structure 18, is compared and contrasted with the Structure 9 foundation deposit. Special treatment of cattle skulls from a wide range of European and Near-East sites is also reviewed to emphasise the widespread use of this symbol during the Neolithic period. Orkney was separated from mainland Scotland prior to the establishment of the LON settlement so consideration is given to modes of arrival for mammals and their impact on this depauperate archipelago. Cattle and sheep dominated the domestic mammal remains examined, pig and dog were rare and goat and horse absent. The most abundant non-domestic mammals were red deer and Orkney voles, but otters and sea mammals were also present in low numbers. Genetic studies indicate that one cattle skull carried genetic material from aurochs, wild cattle. To date there is sparse evidence of interbreeding between wild aurochs and Neolithic domesticated cattle in Europe and none in Britain. The alterative explanation that aurochs were already present on Orkney during the Neolithic is explored. Articulated red deer deposits from LON were also examined. Although previous publications explored the possibility that these deposits are “ritual” other possible explanations for these deposits are outlined. No parallels were noted between the cattle skull and articulated red deer deposits, but the importance of antler for practical and symbolic use in Neolithic Orkney may be under-estimated. Stature of cattle remained relatively stable during the Mid to Late Neolithic in Orkney but underwent diminution by the Iron Age. A similar, but less marked reduction was also noted for sheep, but red deer already had small stature compared with early Holocene mainland Scotland red deer. The thesis concludes that cattle, sheep and red deer were of fundamental importance to the Neolithic society of Orkney, providing surplus food, tools and possibly traction, to support an increasingly sophisticated Neolithic society undertaking construction of complex structures and monuments. In addition, cattle fulfilled an important role in their cultural and spiritual life.

Yes / In this paper we consider the making, daily use and deposition of ornaments in the Halaf period. We seek to move beyond rigid ‘craft production’ interpretive frameworks intersecting symbolism, complexity and social inequality. Instead, we seek different ways of knowing prehistoric ornaments, through their materiality, assemblage and visuality as evidence of ambiguous mutable person-object relationships and experiences. Making and decoration of/with ornaments offers insights into social concepts of embodiment, personhood, identity and belonging, and should be interpreted as having ambiguous, multiple uses and meanings. Using six case studies of ornament types from excavated assemblages, we critically examine existing methods of small finds’ presentation and suggest more dynamic ways of artefact analysis, interpretation and publication. We present this interpretative model as a methodology applicable broadly to small find studies in all archaeological contexts. In our analysis we re-orient towards considering assemblages of dynamic communities of makers, users and identities embedded in these objects’ life histories.

This study presents the results of an analysis of three Late Neolithic pottery assemblages from Wadi Ziqlab, northern Jordan. These sites were occupied during the 6th millennium BC (calibrated) and are therefore contemporary with sites in other parts of the southern Levant that are attributed to the Wadi Rabah culture. The assemblages are analyzed from a stylistic perspective, broadly defined, which includes an examination of technological style in addition to a more traditional examination of vessel form and surface treatment. Different stages in the pottery production sequence are investigated using a range of analytical techniques, including thin-section petrography and xeroradiography. While there are some similarities between the assemblages, there are also some noticeable differences. The results of the pottery analysis are used to explore the nature of community in the context of the Late Neolithic. A critique of more traditional archaeological approaches to prehistoric communities leads to a re-conceptualization of community that combines interactional and ideational perspectives. Similarities in pottery among the sites, especially technological similarities, suggest that pottery producers may have comprised a dispersed community of practice. At the same time, pottery may have also been a symbolic marker of community boundaries. Differences in pottery among the sites, including surface treatment, may reflect the flexibility of these boundaries as different parts of the dispersed community negotiated their place in it. The presence of variation among contemporary pottery assemblages in a localized area suggests that social organization during the 6th millennium may have been more complex than is normally assumed for the Late Neolithic in the southern Levant. A dispersed community, with its members spread throughout the wadi, would require a sufficiently complex and flexible system of relationships to maintain it. Failing to acknowledge this has contributed to the difficulties archaeologists have encountered when trying to understand the culture-history of the 6th millennium BC in and east of the Jordan Valley.

This masters essay studies the stone cist phenomenon during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age on the island of Gotland. The aim of the study is to understand the importance of the stone cist in society during this period, as well as attempting to categorize the stone cists located on the island. It can be argued that society during this period was a agricultural, highly hierarchical society with indications of a power center at the west northwestern parts of the island. Stone cists can be seen having different contexts involving number of individuals, location and features connected to the cist.An osteological study has also been performed on the skeletal material from the stone cist Alskog 48:1, with the aim of getting further knowledge regarding number of individuals and the age and sex distribution of those individuals. As well as questions regarding the stone cist construction and dating. The bone material presented 26 individuals, contrary to the 15 individuals which was initially identified during the excavation. These 26 individuals were of all ages, both male and female, with a slight majority of males. The stone cist which is a natural roofless cave, a natural cist, can according to the criteria defining a stone cist, be regarded as a stone cist and not another construction. / Denna magisteruppsats behandlar hällkistor under senneolitikum och äldre bronsålder på Gotland. Frågeställningar kring hällkistans betydelse i samhället under denna tid diskuteras, samt om det är möjligt att producera en kategorisering av hällkistor. Hällkistan har varit en viktig del i det senneolitiska - äldre bronsålders samhället, utifrån dessa går det identifiera ett agrikulturellt starkt hierarkiskt samhälle med indikationer på ett maktcenter i väst nordvästra kustregionen av ön. Kategorisering av hällkistor har visat olika särdrag hos hällkistor, vilka involverar individantal, lokalisering samt ytterligare anläggningar anslutna till hällkistan.En osteologisk analys har även utförts på skelettmaterialet hällkistan, Alskog 48:1 med frågor kring individantal, kön och ålderfördelning. Samt frågor kring datering på hällkistan och dess konstruktion. Benmaterialet presenterade 26 individer, i motsats till de 15 individer som initialt antagits funnits, av dessa fanns individer i alla åldrar. Både män och kvinnor identifierades, med en liten majoritet av män. Hällkistan i fråga som är en naturlig taklös grotta, naturlig kista, enligt de kriterier som använts kan denna konstruktion anses vara en hällkista och ingen annan typ av konstruktion.

This study presents the results of an analysis of three Late Neolithic pottery assemblages from Wadi Ziqlab, northern Jordan. These sites were occupied during the 6th millennium BC (calibrated) and are therefore contemporary with sites in other parts of the southern Levant that are attributed to the Wadi Rabah culture. The assemblages are analyzed from a stylistic perspective, broadly defined, which includes an examination of technological style in addition to a more traditional examination of vessel form and surface treatment. Different stages in the pottery production sequence are investigated using a range of analytical techniques, including thin-section petrography and xeroradiography. While there are some similarities between the assemblages, there are also some noticeable differences. The results of the pottery analysis are used to explore the nature of community in the context of the Late Neolithic. A critique of more traditional archaeological approaches to prehistoric communities leads to a re-conceptualization of community that combines interactional and ideational perspectives. Similarities in pottery among the sites, especially technological similarities, suggest that pottery producers may have comprised a dispersed community of practice. At the same time, pottery may have also been a symbolic marker of community boundaries. Differences in pottery among the sites, including surface treatment, may reflect the flexibility of these boundaries as different parts of the dispersed community negotiated their place in it. The presence of variation among contemporary pottery assemblages in a localized area suggests that social organization during the 6th millennium may have been more complex than is normally assumed for the Late Neolithic in the southern Levant. A dispersed community, with its members spread throughout the wadi, would require a sufficiently complex and flexible system of relationships to maintain it. Failing to acknowledge this has contributed to the difficulties archaeologists have encountered when trying to understand the culture-history of the 6th millennium BC in and east of the Jordan Valley.

This essay is focused on two coastal cairn areas located at the Gulf of Bothnia just south of Umeå in Västerbotten County. Located between 30 – 50 m above sea level today they are thus removed several km from the shoreline due to land uplift and isostatic processes stemming from the last Ice Age. The cairns have been dated to approximately 1700 – 1500 BC at the beginning of the older Scandinaviean Bronze Age, but several strong evidence that are presented in this study is indicating that many of them are older than that dating to the late Neolithic instead – such as a round morphological shape surrounded by a brim of stones and large cists in the middle. Furthermore, the cairns are situated in an environment that mostly are inhabited by a sub-boreal milieu consisting of deciduous forest with some elements of coniferous forest and surrounded by raised shingle beaches. In trying to grasp after ancient settlement indications this paper thesis also analyzes traits after their whereabouts in the past in relationship to the existing cairns along the VästerbottenCounty’s shoreline. In doing this a GIS-analysis is applied in a Deulauney-cluster comparison. Two of the cairns, one located highest above all other cairns in Norrmjöle is being scrutinized as a “mother cairn” and the other cairn is long, almost formed as a ship and discussed in its symbolic meaning. By doing so, the cairns are also seen in a possible way of being ancient territory land-areas, marking to outsiders to keep out, and may also have been an intricate signal-system, to i.e., be lit in times of harmful situations coming from the sea or by land. The cairns are thus mitigated and seen in relationship with otherplaces in Sweden, namely Tjust area in Bohuslän county, and the resemblances of cairns at Gotland and Öland Islands. Finally, the Finnish Kiukais-axe (Eastern Karelien crossedged chisel) found in close terrain, as well as other findings from Bronze-age to a cluster of cairns dated to 2000 BC, is being investigated as a possibility of an alien southeastern affect in the area in late Neolithic times from Southern Sweden and Österbotten County in Fennoscandia, hence making the territory evaluated in many directions. The paper therefore tries to set the ancient landscape in a context in between these factors and give aholistic overview to interpreted cairn and its ancient meaning patterns in the region, seen in these regional circumstances to unlock its potential settlements hiding. Hence, getting a political, cosmologic and a maritime understanding and whereabouts in relationship to Late-Neolithic times in the area.

Yes / In the context of unanswered questions about the nature and development of the Late Neolithic in Orkney, we present a summary of research up to 2015 on the major site at the Ness of Brodgar, Mainland Orkney, concentrating on the impressive buildings. Finding sufficient samples for radiocarbon dating was a considerable challenge. There are indications from both features and finds of activity predating the main set of buildings exposed so far by excavation. Forty-six dates on 39 samples are presented and are interpreted in a formal chronological framework. Two models are presented, reflecting different possible readings of the sequence. Both indicate that piered architecture was in use by the thirtieth century cal BC and that the massive Structure 10, not the first building in the sequence, was also in existence by the thirtieth century cal BC. Activity associated with piered architecture came to an end (in Model 2) around 2800 cal BC. Midden and rubble infill followed. After an appreciable interval, the hearth at the centre of Structure 10 was last used around 2500 cal BC, perhaps the only activity in an otherwise abandoned site. The remains of some 400 or more cattle were deposited over the ruins of Structure 10: in Model 2, in the mid-twenty-fifth century cal BC, but in Model 1 in the late twenty-fourth or twenty-third century cal BC. The chronologies invite comparison with the near-neighbour of Barnhouse, in use from the later thirty-second to the earlier twenty-ninth century cal BC, and the Stones of Stenness, probably erected by the thirtieth century cal BC. The Ness, including Structure 10, appears to have outlasted Barnhouse, but probably did not endure as long in its primary form as previously envisaged. The decay and decommissioning of the Ness may have coincided with the further development of the sacred landscape around it; but precise chronologies for other sites in the surrounding landscape are urgently required. The spectacular feasting remains of several hundred cattle deposited above Structure 10 may belong to a radically changing world, coinciding (in Model 2) with the appearance of Beakers nationally, but it was arguably the by now mythic status of that building which drew people back to it. / We are very grateful to many institutions and individuals, in particular: Ness of Brodgar Trust, Foundation for World Health, Orkney Islands Council, University of the Highlands and Islands, Orkney Archaeology Society, American Friends of the Ness of Brodgar, Northlink, Talisman- Sinopec, Hiscox Insurance, Historic Environment Scotland, and numerous other supporters and volunteers; Mark Edmonds, Ann MacSween, Colin Richards, and Alison Sheridan for encouragement, advice, and critical comments on an earlier draft of this article; three anonymous referees for their comments; and Kirsty Harding for help with the figures. Dating and modelling have been supported by a European Research Council Advanced Investigator Grant (295412), The Times of Their Lives (www.totl.eu), led by Alasdair Whittle and Alex Bayliss.

Yes / A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument, were identified during fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP). Initially interpreted as dewponds, these data have been re-evaluated, along with information on similar features revealed by archaeological contractors undertaking survey and excavation to the north of the Durrington Walls henge. Analysis of the available data identified a total of 20 comparable features, which align within a series of arcs adjacent to Durrington Walls. Further geophysical survey, supported by mechanical coring, was undertaken on several geophysical anomalies to assess their nature, and to provide dating and environmental evidence. The results of fieldwork demonstrate that some of these features, at least, were massive, circular pits with a surface diameter of 20m or more and a depth of at least 5m. Struck flint and bone were recovered from primary silts and radiocarbon dating indicates a Late Neolithic date for the lower silts of one pit. The degree of similarity across the 20 features identified suggests that they could have formed part of a circuit of large pits around Durrington Walls, and this may also have incorporated the recently discovered Larkhill causewayed enclosure. The diameter of the circuit of pits exceeds 2km and there is some evidence that an intermittent, inner post alignment may have existed within the circuit of pits. One pit may provide evidence for a recut; suggesting that some of these features could have been maintained through to the Middle Bronze Age. Together, these features represent a unique group of features related to the henge at Durrington Walls, executed at a scale not previously recorded. / The University of Bradford Research Development Fund and the University of St Andrews funded this open access publication. / Supplementary data can be found at https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue55/4/supp-text.html

Heaps of fire-cracked stone is an archaeological site category frequently found in Sweden. The heaps were constructed by piling a massive amount of deposited fire-cracked stones and occasionally they contain artefacts, for example, grindstones, ceramics or bones from both humans and animals. The heaps are sometimes also constructed with complex inner stone patterns in forms of e.g. circles and spirals. The heaps have been found all over Sweden, but the largest concentration is associated with the county of Uppland, north of Stockholm in eastern Sweden. In general, the structures have been linked chronologically to the Bronze Age (1800 B.C.–500 B.C.), although the heaps might be one of the least understood features of Scandinavian prehistory, as a result of their complex and varying content and spatial location. The remains are thoroughly debated, and the interpretation of them varies, ranging from graves to household indications, from sacral to profane, from piles of waste to markers of claimed land. The interpretations of the fire cracked stone heaps have mainly been made by comparing the contents of the heaps with finds from the surrounding archaeological landscape.                  In this study, the heaps will be analysed by using a landscape perspective by which they will be examined in relation to dynamic high-resolution shoreline reconstructions, vegetation and local topography. By examining the heaps by applying a high-resolution landscape model, suggests that their placement patterns are strongly connected to past shorelines. The analysis has in turn resulted in a non-prejudicial dating method for the heaps. The shoreline model was in the next step tested by a comparison to 118 published 14C-dates associated with fire-cracked stone heaps by using Kernel Density Estimations (KDE). The main result of the study is that the high-resolution shoreline model, in combination with KDE, provides an effective dating method for heaps of fire-cracked stone, which in the extension suggests an alternative motive for the construction of the heaps.