Hillforts have dominated interpretations of later prehistoric society, but these have been based on an uncritical acceptance of their military or symbolic role and a ‘big is best’ mentality. Using the exceptional archive from Broxmouth hillfort in East Lothian, the research presented in this thesis had the unique opportunity to examine the boundaries of that site in detail. Drawing on ideas that sites should not just be seen in their final form, episodes of enclosure creation, maintenance and abandonment are examined. Constructing a biography of Broxmouth has highlighted the relative infrequency of these creation events and how social relationships were intimately tied to the enclosure boundaries. These events are not isolated and investigating the contemporary landscape has shown that the coastal plain would have been densely settled, yet the bleak hills of the Lammermuirs appear to have been avoided. Mapping old routeways and pit alignments shows that this landscape may have been a draw for the practice of transhumance, primarily for sheep and cattle as demonstrated in the Broxmouth evidence. Combining GIS analyses with more experiential approaches, shows how some sites took advantage of the topographical surroundings and were instrumental in the practice of transhumance. Creation events at other sites also appear to be infrequent and examining further excavated sites in East Lothian has allowed the formation of a broad chronology of changing enclosure patterns. Contextualising Broxmouth has documented changes in how people interacted with their landscape, how social relationships were enacted and how these changed from the late Bronze Age, through to the Roman Iron Age.

Esta pesquisa visa a compreensão das indústrias líticas relacionadas ao sambaquis Bacanga, Panaquatira e Paço do Lumiar, existentes, respectivamente, nos municípios de São Luís, São José de Ribamar e Paço do Lumiar, localizados na Ilha de São Luís, Maranhão. Os sítios cujo material foi analisado estão em uma região costeria, inseridos em ambiente de estuário e apresentaram cronologias variando entre 3.840 e 1420 anos antes do presente. Os conceitos básicos utilizados para compreender as indústrias foram os de cadeia operatória e sistema tecnológico. / This research aims at understanding the lithic industries related to shellmounds Bacanga, Panaquatira and Paço do Lumiar existing, respectively, in the municipalities of São Luís, São José de Ribamar and Paço do Lumiar, located on the island of São Luís, Maranhão. The sites where in a coastal region inserted in estuary environment and showed varying timelines between 3840 and 1420 years before present. The key concepts used to understand the industries were the operative chain and technological system.

With the broader aim of reconstructing long-term resource use and ecological history for better policy making in times of environmental change, this study is an attempt to decode the mutual effects of human subsistence practices, climate and socio-cultural organization in Sardinia between 4000 and 1900 BC. Was economy changing due to climate change? Was the environment changing due to economic practices? And how were economic practices and socio-cultural factors interacting? The answer is complex, and some convergence of complex systems theory, historical ecology and agency supports this. Diet, at the interface of all of these as fulfilling biological needs constrained by available resources, while being inextricably affected by ethnicity, age, class, gender roles, varies according to unceasingly changing variables. Stable isotopic analyses of human bone tissues were used to build a quantitative dataset, and then integrate this with all the other proxies. The use of bone apatite besides collagen enhanced the dietary reconstruction and the contextual production of paleoclimatic data. The application of correction methods to ensure that dietary signature is distinguished from environmental noise enhanced inter-site comparability, making it possible to outline broad trends over time. The results confirm the negligible role of seafood already documented in western Mediterranean late prehistoric groups. The long-held opinion that local Copper Age and especially Early Bronze Age societies relied more on herding than the Neolithic ones is not supported by the data: contribution of plant foods actually increased. Certainly the data do not indicate any heavier reliance on meat or milk and dairy. Considering the limited data from zooarchaology, material culture and landscape archaeology, the possible economic intensification could more likely be related to changes in power relations, gender roles and their construction through symbolically charged material culture. The two dry climatic events detected through δ18O values in accordance with previous independent studies seem to have had a role in triggering change, and such change followed specific routes based on the particular historical milieu.

L'Africa vetus, entre la destruction de Carthage et les interventions césaro-augustéennes, est traditionnellement perçue par l'historiographie comme une région dépourvue d'histoire, caractérisée par un paysage chaotique et dévasté. Pourtant, la reprise attentive de la documentation, principalement archéologique, permet de dresser un tout autre constat. Ainsi il apparaît que les conséquences du dernier conflit punico-romain n'ont pas entrainé l'annihilation de toute activité en Afrique nord-orientale. Les évolutions amorcées antérieurement à la chute de Carthage se prolongent, plus ou moins affectées par les bouleversements géopolitiques du milieu du IIe s. av. n. è. Dès lors, nous nous retrouvons face à une région en construction ou en reconstruction, qui connaît des changements, des bouleversements, parfois des reculs, mais reste toujours dynamique. Cette vie s'observe dans les différents domaines, au travers de l'étude de la population, de son identité et de son appréhension, de l'occupation et de la gestion du territoire, de la répartition des activités économiques et commerciales ainsi que de l'évolution des paysages cultuel et funéraire. À cette vision globale s'ajoute une approche régionale de ce territoire qui révèle, à l'intérieur d'un même ensemble, des constructions divergentes pour les quatre principales régions : la Zeugitane, le Byzacium, la région tellienne et la Petite Syrte. L'histoire de chacune est déterminée par son passé préromain, son action et son attitude durant la première moitié du IIe s. av. n. è. et au cours de la troisième guerre punique.

This essay examines how four archaeology scholars reason about gender. I have used a qualitative method in making this study of their dissertations.  The aim is to obtain a deeper understanding of gender identity in prehistory, gaining a broader appreciation of how this might be expressed through archaeological material. This essay takes its theoretical departure from postprocessual thinking, where gender perspectives, including feminist and queer theories are in focus. The result of this study shows that the scholars have a postprocessual, structuralistic theoretical perspective in common, and that they use stereotypical identity-descriptions. The conclusion is that gender identities can be interpreted and categorized from archaeological material.

This is a study of Prehistoric musical instruments from Scandinavia and the different meanings they could have had in the Prehistoric society. I have described the different types of possible music instruments and the different categories that they belong to. I have also written about their different functions that could have been for example ritual artefacts, shamanic tools or useful instruments in hunting. Two case studies are also presented in the essay, the Falköpingsflute and the Balkåkradrum.

This dissertation explores the emergence and consequences of competitive and cooperative strategies in Fijian prehistory. The Sigatoka Valley, located in southwestern Viti Levu, is the subject of a series of geographical, environmental, and archaeological analyses. Using GIS-based analyses, the effects of environmental fluctuations on agricultural productivity (i.e., the EI Nino Southern Oscillation [ENSO], and also the transition between the Little Climatic Optimum [LCO] and Little Ice Age [LIA]) are reconstructed and used to predict zones of low-yields and episodic shortfalls. These results indicate that the Sigatoka Valley was both spatially and temporally variable in terms of agricultural productivity and predictability. In the context of an evolutionary ecology-based model of competition and cooperation, this environment encouraged the development of conflict and defensive habitation strategies between human groups. The results of environmental analyses are also compared to the archaeological record, and used to determine the presence of three modes of habitation/subsistence: territorial strongholds, remote refuges, and agricultural production sites. Archaeological testing of these classes in tandem with GIS-based environmental research indicate that the Sigatoka Valley was initially occupied between Cal BC 20 - Cal AD 80, in association with dense and predictable resources. Fortifications that utilized natural topography, and also remote refuges, were established ca. AD 700, and remained in use throughout the prehistoric period. Environmental refuges associated with the effects of the LCO/LIA transition were established ca. AD 1300-1500. Constructed fortifications that utilized an annular ditch, and which were located in the valley bottom, appeared ca. AD 1700 - 1850. The chronology of habitation/subsistence strategies is also compared to landtenure and archaeological data (e.g., land-holdings of yavusa, and also evidence for unique artifacts and valley-wide exchange). These data suggest particular historical trajectories in the Sigatoka delta and highlands, and also varying frequencies of competition and cooperation in prehistory. In sum, this dissertation identifies interaction between humans and their environment as the fundamental relationship that conditioned change in prehistoric Fiji.

El treball de tesi ha tingut per objectiu estudiar les pintures rupestres del Zemmur, al Sahara Occidental. El Zemmur és una regió muntanyosa molt rica en abrics, que s'obren a les cingleres dels seus turons de gres baixos, aplanats i allargassats. Aquestes pintures foren descobertes al 1995, quan el personal del ministeri de Cultura de la República Àrab Sahrauí i Democràtica les va mostrar a un equip d'arqueòlegs i antropòlegs de la Universitat de Girona. Les campanyes d'estudi continuades que s'han realitzat en aquests jaciments de pintura rupestre prehistòrica des d'aleshores han proporcionat les dades per aquesta investigació. En total es tracta d'un conjunt de 2734 figures repartides en 130 abrics de 5 jaciments diferents: Uad Ymal, Uadi Kenta, Rekeiz Ajahfun, Rekeiz Lemgasem i Asako.Les hipòtesis a contrastar eren dues. La primera que al Zemmur hi havia diversos estils de pintura rupestre. La segona que la majoria d'aquests estils dataven de la prehistòria. Ambdues han pogut ser verificades i s'han aportat arguments que demostren que eren certes.El treball de tesi ha consistit en fotografiar les pintures, digitalitzar-les, reproduir-les i estudiar-les. Concretament l'estudi ha consistit en descriure-les, classificar-les estilísticament i datar-les. La classificació s'ha realitzat a partir d'una sèrie de criteris morfològics i tècnics. Posteriorment les imatges han estat atribuïdes a diversos estils, que també havien estat definits amb criteris morfotècnics a partir de l'observació de les imatges. La seva existència, i per tant la verificació de la primera hipòtesi, es dedueix de la presència de recurrències morfotècniques en les representacions. Més tard aquests estils han estat ordenats de manera relativa tot estudiant les seves superposicions. La seqüència dels cinc estils identificats, de més antic a més recent és: Balladors, Modelats, Tracejats, Figures Fosques i Linial.Posteriorment s'ha intentat datar cadascun dels estils a partir de les representacions ja que les anàlisis efectuades indicaren que no era possible datar les imatges per tècniques radiomètriques a causa de la manca de matèria orgànica en les pintures. En qualsevol cas, gràcies a les representacions d'armes, d'animals i els textos escrits hem pogut verificar que la majoria d'elles són prehistòriques, tal com apuntàvem en la nostra segona hipòtesi. Finalment s'ha arribat a la conclusió que l'estil dels Balladors data, de manera molt aproximada, d'ara fa entre 3800 i 3200 anys tal com indiquen les representacions d'alabardes. L'estil Linial, el més recent, data d'entre ara fa 2400 i 2000 anys perquè és acompanyat de textos líbico-berbers però no de representacions de camells. Els estils Modelat, Tracejat i Figures Fosques es daten entremig.A part de les conclusions obtingudes, un dels resultats més importants d'aquest treball ha estat la realització del corpus de pintura prehistòrica del Zemmur que consta, com ja hem dit, de milers d'imatges. Per tant aquesta recerca, a més de tractar sobre un material inèdit i d'un gran interès històric, hauria d'ésser útil per a la gestió de tot aquest patrimoni. / The goal of the PhD is to study the rock-paintings of the Zemmur (Western Sahara). The Zemmur is a hilly area with many rock-shelters, which are pierced in the slopes of his sedimentary, low, flat and long hills. These paintigs were discovered in 1995 when the staff of the Ministry of Culture of the Sahrawi Democratic and Arabic Republic show them to a team of archaeologists and antrophologists from the Girona's University. The continued research campaigns have provided the data for this research, that is, 2734 images found in 130 rock-shelters of 5 different sites: Uad Ymal, Wadi Kenta, Rekeiz Ajahfun, Rekeiz Lemgasem and Asako.The hypothesis to contrast along this reserach were two. The first was that in the Zemmur several painting styles existed. The second was that most of these styles belong to prehistoric ages. Both have been verified as true and several arguments have been presented in order to support them.The research developed in making photos to the paintings, scanning, reproduce and study them. The study consisted in describing the paintigs, classify them in styles and dating the styles. The classification has been done in basis a morphological an technical criteria. After that, the images have been assigned to several styles, which had also been defined by morphotechnical criteria. The existence of these styles, and so the verification of the first hypothesis, is deduced from the presence of morphotechnical recorrences in the representations. Later those styles have been arranged in basis to the superpositions of images. The sequence of the five indentified styles, from the most ancient to the most recent, is: Dancers', Shaped, Stroked, Dark Figures, and Linial.At the end an attempt to date those styles has been done. Previous analisis had proven that radiometric datations were not possible due to the lack of organical remains in the paintigs. However the depictions of weapons, animal beings and texts have been useful in proving that most of these images belong to prehistoric ages, as our second hypothesis proposed. Finally we have reached the conclusion that the Dancers' style is dated, in a very aproximate way, between 3800 and 3200 years before us, as the depictions of hallebards prove. The Lineal style, the most recent, dates between 2400 and 2000 years before us because the presence of lybico-berber texts and the absence of camels. The Shaped, Stroked and Dark Figures styles should be between 3200 and 2400.Besides those conclusions, one of the most important results from this research has been the creation of the corpus of prehistorical rock-paintigs of the Zemmur, with thousands of reproduced images. So this research, besides having a great historical interest and bringing new data, should be useful to manage this archeological heritage.

<p>This is a study of Prehistoric musical instruments from Scandinavia and the different meanings they could have had in the Prehistoric society. I have described the different types of possible music instruments and the different categories that they belong to. I have also written about their different functions that could have been for example ritual artefacts, shamanic tools or useful instruments in hunting. Two case studies are also presented in the essay, the Falköpingsflute and the Balkåkradrum.</p>

abstract: This dissertation addresses the role of kinship and residential mobility during the transition from Final Neolithic to Early Bronze Age (ca. 3500 – 2500 BC) in Attica, Greece. It examines descent systems, ancestor formation, and the interplay between biological, social, and spatial structure in mortuary practices. It also evaluates the nature and degree of residential mobility and its potential role in the formation and maintenance of social networks. Archaeological hypotheses on the kin-based structure of formal cemeteries, the familial use of collective tombs, marriage practices and mate exchange, and relocation were tested focusing on the Early Helladic cemetery of Tsepi at Marathon. Tsepi constitutes the earliest formally organized cemetery on the Greek mainland and it has also contributed to enduring debates over the nature of the interaction between the eastern Attic coast and the central Aegean islands. This study integrates osteological, biogeochemical, and archaeological data. Inherited dental and cranial features were used to examine biological relatedness and postmarital residence (biodistance analysis). Biochemical analysis of archaeological and modern samples was conducted to examine the geographic origins of the individuals buried in the cemetery and reconstruct mobility patterns. Osteological and biogeochemical data were interpreted in conjunction with archaeological and ethnographic/ethnohistoric data. The results generally supported a relationship between spatial organization and biological relatedness based on phenotypic similarity at Tsepi. Postmarital residence analysis showed exogamous practices and tentatively supported higher male than female mobility. This practice, along with dietary inferences, could also be suggestive of maritime activities. Biogeochemical analysis showed a local character for the cemetery sample (96%). The common provenance of the three non-local individuals might reflect a link between Tsepi and a single locale. Burial location was not determined by provenance or solely by biological relatedness. Overall, the results point towards more nuanced reconstructions of mobility in prehistoric Aegean and suggest that burial location depended on a complex set of inter-individual relationships and collective identities. The contextualized bioarchaeological approach applied in this study added to the anthropological investigations of social practices such as kin relations (e.g., biological, marital, social kinship) and residential relocation as diachronic mechanisms of integration, adaptation, or differentiation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2015