This paper deals with the ceramics of Alvastra pile dwelling. The main question are what the ceramics represent, what it was used for, if it was manufactured in the pile dwelling and if there is any resemblance to other places of interest. The essay uses ceramic material from shaft F and the Western shaft. The result shows four different ceramic groups, a few probably made in the pile dwelling and the purpose was food storage and offering.

Polished-edge discoidal knives are part of the lithic material culture from the British Isles with an approximate Late Neolithic date. These artefacts are manufactured in three basic shapes: circular to D-shaped, triangular, and broad leaf to lozenge (Clark 1929). The aim of this project was to explore the function of polished-edge discoidal knives. To achieve this aim, the following objectives were completed: Objective 1: Develop a broad understanding of the literature surrounding polished-edge discoidal knives; Objective 2: Develop a database containing all the available information regarding the known knives for study in this project and as a tool to help further research and select archaeological samples for study based on type, condition, find location, and current location; Objective 3: Understand how these tools were used; and Objective 4: Review all data and produce a narrative about polished-edge discoidal knives’ function in Late British Neolithic Society. This project has revealed that these knives were possibility used for activities involving birch bark, clay, or other wood types. This research has also produced a database of knives, a modern distribution map, a revised typology, an archaeological date and possible contexts, and an object itinerary.

No / This book is dedicated to the memory of Dr Volodymyr Kruts, whose studies on the Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural complex made a major contribution to world archaeology. The volume includes chapters in English, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian, which chronologically span from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in Central and South-eastern Europe, focusing in particular on the Eneolithic/Chalcolithic period. The various papers discuss the general development of the Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural complex, including the giant-settlements (mega-sites), their different aspects of population identity, subsistence in relation to environment, and their archaeological data interpretation. There are also in-depth accounts on the relationship between the Cucuteni-Trypillians (and their settlements) and the neighbouring contemporaneous populations of Central and Southeastern Europe, with a special emphasis placed on the settlement structure, the house construction, the ritual destruction of dwellings, and the different mortuary practices. What makes the volume even more interesting is the combination of recent research, with old data from earlier excavations

A methodology for ageing foetal and neonatal cattle is developed, involving radiographic examination of infant mandibles for early developmental stages in molariform teeth; tooth-wear methodologies are imprecise at this stage before wear commences. Known-age modern bovine foetal and neonate material are collected as a control assemblage for method development (n=73); six Neolithic to Norse era assemblages from Orkney are examined using the modified technique together with standard tooth-wear analysis and other methodologies. Foetal and died-at-birth material is diagnosed at most sites using the new technique, together with a range of other peri-natal age-groups. Ageing at this early stage is highly relevant in the diagnosis of milking as a palaeoeconomy: the accepted view is that unwanted (male) calves were slaughtered to maximise milk for human consumption, hence a surfeit of neonate calf remains, as at the study sites. The diagnosis of foetal and died-at-birth material challenges this view, suggesting that attritional causes may have contributed to deaths at this stage. Although milking was probably carried out at most of the study sites, this may have been combined with slaughter of cattle for meat in a pragmatic exploitation strategy. Literary research shows possible attritional causes of abortion and early death in calves, in particular dietary insufficiency in pregnant cows, microbial infections, and also inadequate colostrum uptake. Additionally, research is used to consider the challenges to health that early milking might have posed, to the calf as mentioned, but also to the cow, where three main health issues are highlighted: infertility, mastitis and lameness.

<p>In this essay, Neolithic potsherds from Alby, Öland has been examined. The purpose was to investigate the connection between the lipid residues and the vessel shapes and ornament. To solve the attempt lipid and morphological analyses were executed. The lipid analysis revealed traces of different food residues and the morphological method showed various shapes and decors. The result indicates that the Alby ceramics has been used for cooking/storage of different fish and meat dishes, as well as vegetables and that the vegetables doesn’t derive of cereals.</p>

Fieldwork in the Zemplen Mountain area of north-eastern Hungary showed that there are at least eight geological sources of obsidian here, five of which have obsidian of a workable quality. There are a further three sources in the Slovak Zemplen, all of which provide workable obsidian. Sources in Central Slovakia are highly devitrified and not useable, and reported sources in Rumania had been discounted earlier (Nandris, 1975). Forty-six samples of obsidian from the Zemplen sources, and 293 pieces from 87 archaeological sites in Central and Eastern Europe, were analysed by neutron activation analysis for 15 trace and two major elements. The trace elements used included those which are geochemically likely to show the greatest variation between different obsidian sources, and which are not badly affected by devitrification and hydration of the obsidian, for example the rare earth elements. The analytical data was processed using Cluster Analysis. 242 of the archaeological samples came from Slovak sources, 22 from Hungarian sources, 9 from Lipari and 5 from Melos. In addition, 6 samples were tentatively assigned to Carpathian sources, and 9 could not be assigned to any source. Obsidian from the Zemplen Mountains was distributed up to a distance of approximately 480 km from the sources; it was used extensively in Slovakia and Hungary and reached southern Poland, Austria, Moravia, central Yugoslavia, north-east Italy and central Rumania. Obsidian use in central and eastern Europe began in the Mousterian period. The earliest pieces analysed were Aurignacian and came from Hungarian sources. Later, in the Gravettian, Slovakian sources began to be exploited and remained predominant until obsidian use declined sharply in the Later Neolithic, and Copper and Bronze Ages. The Carpathian obsidian distribution overlaps with the Liparian distribution at one site in north-east Italy. There is no evidence for an overlap with Aegean or Near Eastern sources. The rate of fall off of obsidian away from the sources suggests a down-the-line trading mechanism.

Ce mémoire reconstitue l’histoire des théories, modèles et hypothèses qui ont été formulés, principalement en archéologie, afin d’expliquer la naissance de l’agriculture qui correspond, du point de vue chronologique, à la transition (ou révolution) néolithique. Ces schèmes explicatifs sont décrits chronologiquement depuis la naissance de l’archéologie préhistorique, dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle, jusqu’à maintenant. Ils sont classifiés en fonction des principales écoles qui ont joué un rôle prédominant en archéologie préhistorique depuis son origine, soit : l’évolutionnisme multilinéaire, l’école culturelle-historique, le processualisme, le néodarwinisme et le postprocessualisme. Les théories spécifiques (dites de « niveau mitoyen » ou « régionales ») qui ont été avancées par ces écoles sont présentées dans leur ordre chronologique, soit (principalement) : les théories de la dessiccation ou de l’oasis, des flancs de colline, de la périphérie, du stress démographique, du festin compétitif, de la révolution des symboles, etc. Ce mémoire pose enfin les jalons d’une théorie multifactorielle qui intègre ou synthétise les principaux facteurs qui ont pu influer sur la naissance de l’agriculture et sur la transition néolithique. / This dissertation reconstructs the history of theories, models and hypotheses which have been proposed in order to explain the birth of agriculture, that is the neolithic transition or revolution. These explanatory schemes are described chronologically from the birth of prehistoric archaeology, in the first half of the 19th century, until today. They are classified according to the main schools which have played a leading role in prehistoric archaeology since its birth: multilinear evolutionism, the culture-historical school, processualism, neodarwinism and postprocessualism. The specific theories (also called “middle-range” or “regional”) which have been proposed by these schools are presented the chronological order: the theories of desiccation, oases, hilly flanks, periphery, population stress, competitive feasting, revolution of symbols, etc. Finally, this dissertation lays the ground for a multifactorial theory integrating or synthesizing the main factors which may have influenced the birth of agriculture and the neolithic transition.

This thesis deals with new found neolithic settlement in Kolín, which is dated from Neolithic - Stroked Pottery Culture. On the site were found also the Lengyel Culture imports. The thesis brings the results of the pottery and the chipped industry analyses. The relative chronology of the settlement and some pits was based upon the pottery analysis. There were some settlement pits, which were situated outside and inside the circle, and circular ditch chosen for it. Marginally is here solved the question of interpretation of the function of objects and intercultural relations. The work brings especially the findings about next neolithic site with circular ditch and Lengyel culture imports in Bohemia. Keywords: Neolithic - The Stroked Pottery Culture - Lengyel Culture - Settlement - Circular ditch - Pottery - Kolín - Central Bohemia

À partir de la fin du 7e millénaire, l’architecture connaît en Syro-Mésopotamie et dans le Caucase un essor considérable mais selon des rythmes différents. Ce développement différencié est probablement lié aux relations qu’ont entretenues les communautés de ces régions. La teneur de ces relations est probablement multiple. Les échanges techniques sont l’élément primordial pour l’architecture : ils permettent de déterminer si les communautés du Caucase se sont installées de manière autonome au début du 6e millénaire ou si elles ont profité de l’expérience technique de celles de Syro-Mésopotamie, de comprendre l’évolution de l’architecture « complexe » au Samarra et à l’Obeid dès la fin du 7e millénaire et de mesurer l’impact social de l’expansion obeidienne dès la seconde moitié du 6e millénaire. Après une présentation de la méthodologie, où nous définissons les termes employés et la méthode d’analyse, les données archéologiques sont présentées sous la forme synthétique d’une étude typologique selon trois axes : les matériaux de construction, les techniques de mise en œuvre et la morphologie architecturale. Enfin, une analyse croisée des données permet de considérer l’architecture dans une perspective culturelle, géographique et chronologique. Le milieu du 6e millénaire marque un tournant dans les échanges techniques et les relations culturelles entre ces deux régions : auparavant, ces échanges apparaissent diffus dans les régions situées au nord de la Mésopotamie centrale. Ensuite, l’expansion obeidienne entraîne une homogénéisation progressive des techniques dans l’ensemble du bassin syro-mésopotamien, à laquelle se sont greffés emprunts techniques et adaptations régionales. / From the end of the 7th millennium, architecture in Syro-Mesopotamia and Caucasus achieves a major rise but under different rhythms. The content of these relationships is with no doubt numerous. Technical exchanges are the fundamental element when it comes to study architecture: they can help us determine if Caucasus communities settled independently at the beginning of the 6th millennium or if they benefited from the technical experience of the Syro-Mesopomatian communities, understand complex architecture’s evolution during Samarran and Ubaid from the end of the 7th millennium and estimate the social impact of the spread of Ubaid from the second half of the 6th millenium. After a presentation of the methodology used, where we define the terms employed and the analysis method, archeological data are introduced under a typological study developed through three approaches : material, architectural techniques and morphology. Then, a cross analysis of the data can help up consider architecture in a cultural, geographic and chronological perspective. The middle of the 6th millennium represents a turning point into technical exchanges and cultural relationships between these two regions: before that, these exchanges come out as diffuse in the northern regions of the Central Mesopotamia. Then Ubaid expansion leads to a progressive technical homogenisation in all the Syro-Mesopotamian basin, in which borrowed technics and regional adaptations where added.

L’étude archéologique d’un site est réalisée sur la base d’une fouille, qui est une étude précise sur une ouverture restreinte. En amont de cette opération, la prospection géophysique offre la possibilité de localiser une zone susceptible d’apporter des informations majeures par une cartographie détaillée du site. Ces travaux de thèse se focalisent sur un protocole original de prospection magnétique pour détecter des structures pluri-métriques à pluri-décimétriques et une démarche méthodologique pour estimer la conservation d’un niveau d’occupation archéologique. Ces développements ont été réalisés pour apporter un maximum d’information sur l’occupation anthropique et cibler une zone de fouille suivant la problématique archéologique associée au site. Dans les zones littorales et suivant la période chronologique considérée, l’environnement associé à une occupation était différent. La modification relativement rapide des environnements côtiers résulte de la remontée du niveau marin depuis la fin du dernier maximum glaciaire. Dans le cadre d'une étude paléoenvironnementale associée à un site, l’objectif de la prospection géophysique est similaire à celle effectuée pour une fouille : localiser une zone d’implantation des carottages paléoenvironnementaux. La démarche méthodologique développée dans ces travaux est basée sur une approche paléogéographique de l’environnement à partir de prospections géophysiques multi-méthodes et multi-échelles. Des prospections électromagnétiques (Slingram), des sections électriques et des diagraphies électriques (direct-push) apportent une représentation cartographique et stratigraphique des contrastes géophysiques de la subsurface. Deux zones d’étude ont été sélectionnées pour tester et mettre en place ces démarches méthodologiques, le site néolithique du Pontet (Charente-Maritime) et les ports antiques de Narbonne. Ces deux sites sont dans des contextes archéologiques, géographiques et géologiques différents. / Archaeological study of a site is based on an excavation which is a comprehensive study on a restricted gap. Before excavation, geophysical survey supplies the possibility to locate an area likely to provide details by detailed mapping of the site. This PhD work focus on an original magnetic survey protocol to detect pluri-metric and pluri-decimetric structures and a methodological approach to estimate the conservation of an archaeological level occupation. These developments have provided maximum information on anthropogenic settlement and to target excavation zone according to the archaeological problem of the site. In coastal zones and according to the considered chronological period, the environment of the settlement was different. The relatively rapid change in coastal environments results from the rise of sea level since the end of the last glacial maximum. As part of a paleoenvironmental study of a site, the objective of geophysical survey is similar to that for excavation : locating an area to paleoenvironmental coring. The methodological approach developed in this work is based on a paleogeographic approach to the site environment using multi-method and multi-scale geophysical surveys. Electromagnetic survey (Slingram), electrical tomography and direct-push electrical resistivity logging provide a cartographic and stratigraphic representation of the geophysical contrasts of the subsurface. Two study areas were selected to test and implement these methodological approaches, the Neolithic site of Le Pontet (Charente-Maritime) and the ancient harbours of Narbonne. These two sites are in different archaeological, geographical and geological contexts.