Journal of Neolithic Archaeology https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna <p>The Journal of Neolithic Archaeology provides a scientific information platform on the archaeology of the Neolithic period. The articles are mainly in German and English, and for all articles English summaries and figure captions are available.</p> <p>The Journal was originally founded in 1999 as a pioneering web-based open access online journal. Since 2003, the Journal has been edited by an international team of archaeologists.</p> <p>This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. There is no publication fee charged.</p> en-US <p>Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:<br><br></p> <p>– Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a&nbsp;<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" target="_new">Creative Commons Attribution License</a> that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.</p> <p>– Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.</p> <p>– Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See&nbsp;<a href="http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html" target="_new">The Effect of Open Access</a>).</p> nils.mueller-scheessel@ufg.uni-kiel.de (Nils Müller-Scheeßel) jna@ufg.uni-kiel.de (JNA) Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:00:53 +0100 OJS 3.3.0.11 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 The Chronology of Danish Dolmens. Results from 14C Dates on Human Bones https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/237 <p>The thousands of dolmens and long barrows spread across the Danish landscape are the earliest long-lasting expressions of architectural monumentality in Scandinavia. A series of new AMS dates on human skeletal material from several of them leads to a clarification of the generations-long debate on the relative chronology and typological evolution of this group of monuments. Earthen long barrows were raised from ca. 3700 cal BC. That is at least two centuries later than the arrival of such elements of the Neolithic world as funnel beaker pottery and domestic cattle to the region. The practice of using large stones (megaliths) for burial chambers was present by 3600 BC. Classical <em>Urdolmen</em> were built alongside various types of more complex dolmen chambers during the period ca. 3600–3400 BC, after which passage grave were erected.</p> Karl-Göran Sjögren, Anders Fischer Copyright (c) 2023 Karl-Göran Sjögren, Anders Fischer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/237 Tue, 14 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100 Ginnerup Revisited. New Excavations at a Key Neolithic Site on Djursland, Denmark https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/586 <p>New excavations of an enclosure-related site at Ginnerup on Djursland, Denmark, in 2020 resulted in the identification of several features containing depositions of marine shells. One of these, A4, is a natural depression with a fill comprised of four consecutively deposited layers, forming an undisturbed stratigraphy, dated by several <sup>14</sup>C dates to between c. 3150 and 2950 BC. The oldest layer contained finds from phase MN A Ib of the Funnel Beaker culture, while the remaining three layers yielded finds from the latest Funnel Beaker culture on Djursland (MN A II/III, Ferslev style) with an upwardly increasing content of Pitted Ware culture elements, thereby allowing the emergence of this culture in Denmark to be followed for the first time. Preservation conditions for organic material were excellent due to a content of marine shells, mainly from oysters and mussels, in all layers. In this preliminary account, a survey of the material culture in the four layers is presented, together with <sup>14</sup>C dates, zoological investigations of mammal and fish bones, isotope analyses (d<sup>13</sup>C, d<sup>15</sup>N and d<sup>34</sup>S) and aDNA analyses of mammal bones and examinations of plant macro-remains. The abundant bones of wild horses also hold a huge potential for zoological and genetic studies, the results of which can qualify the ongoing debate about the rewilding of horses in present-day Europe.</p> Lutz Klassen, Uffe Rasmussen, Jacob Kveiborg, Michael Richards, Ludovic Orlando, Jens-Christian Svenning, Kenneth Ritchie, Marianne H. Andreasen, Bente Philippsen, Rune Iversen, Niels N. Johannsen Copyright (c) 2023 Lutz Klassen, Uffe Rasmussen, Jacob Kveiborg, Michael Richards, Ludovic Orlando, Jens-Christian Svenning, Kenneth Ritchie, Marianne H. Andreasen, Bente Philippsen, Rune Iversen, Niels N. Johannsen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/586 Wed, 15 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100 Materialities, Space, Mind: Archaeology of Visual Cognition https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/1172 <p>A perceptual study of different styles of prehistoric Galician ceramics (from 6000 to 2000 BP) conducted by eye-tracking, underpins the material engagement of mind by showing that the visual world fosters the entanglement between doing, seeing, and designing through history. This text examines how materializations of human practices relate to cognition and to socio-cultural contexts. By combining evidence on the relationship between material culture and perceptual reactions, our text aims to understand the entanglement between the mind, objects and the world. We apply measurable and numeric techniques, providing an archaeometric approach to cognitive topics by combining neurosciences with interpretive and reflective research. This research provides new insights into the material culture, contributes to the understanding of the relationship between mind and the material world, and accounts for the transitive engagement between the way of thinking, seeing and making things. Thus, the text contributes to an understanding of the material forces driving perception and thought.</p> Rafael Millán-Pascual, Luis M. Martínez, Diego Alonso-Pablos, Manuel J. Blanco, Jadranka Verdonkschot, Felipe Criado-Boado Copyright (c) 2023 Rafael Millán-Pascual, Luis M. Martínez, Diego Alonso-Pablos, Manuel J. Blanco, Felipe Criado-Boado; Jadranka Verdonkschot https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/1172 Thu, 01 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200 Seal Hunters, Fishermen and Sea-voyagers: Late Middle Neolithic (2600–2400 cal BC) Maritime Hunter-Gatherers in the Baltic Sea Archipelago at Tråsättra, Sweden https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/479 <p>Large scale excavations of Neolithic settlements and cemeteries along the Swedish east coast and on the islands of Gotland and Öland in the Baltic Sea during the last 30 years have produced a large amount of new information concerning the Funnel Beaker Culture, the Pitted Ware Culture and the Battle Axe Culture. Excavations of large areas in a number of sites have given us a much deeper understanding of how these societies were organized, how people made their living and how they buried their dead. Large scale studies of palaeoecological remains, lipids in ceramics and isotopes in animal and human bones have given us new information concerning differences in diet and economy, and studies of genetic material have produced new essential knowledge of ethnic and cultural affiliations. The excavation at Tråsättra covered the whole area of a permanent hunter-gatherer settlement that can be related to the late Pitted Ware Culture, ca. 2600– 2400calBC. This gave us the opportunity to study the organization of the settlement, economy and diet, craftsmanship and ritual activities in detail. Also, finds of a large number of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines, a cult building with ritual deposits and a small cemetery made a unique analysis of religious and ideological aspects of the hunter-gatherers in the archipelago of the eastern middle part of Sweden during the late Middle Neolithic B possible.</p> Magnus Artursson, Niclas Björck, Karl-Fredrik Lindberg Copyright (c) 2023 Magnus Artursson, Niclas Björck, Karl-Fredrik Lindberg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/479 Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200 Thin Section Petrography of Neolithic Pottery from Northeast India https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/297 <p>Twenty nine potsherds from nine Neolithic sites of Northeast India have been analysed using thin section petrography. The primary objectives of this article are to determine their provenance, to investigate the production techniques of Neolithic pottery and to understand the technical skills of the ancient potters of the studied region. Based on their mineralogical content and the composition of the matrices, the pottery samples have been classified into eleven fabric groups. The analysis of the fabrics showed dissimilarities in the processing and production of ceramics which were otherwise very similar at first sight. The dissimilarities provided indications of the clay sources and the occurrence of natural and artificial temper/inclusions, e.g., organic or inorganic substances used by the Neolithic potters of Northeast India during manufacturing processes. In all fabric groups, we found ironbearing materials which show that the ancient potters used local clay to make pottery because the soil in this region contains a high amount of ferruginous substances. The results also confirmed that the analysed pottery was probably fired below 800 °C under an oxidizing atmosphere and also revealed the use of non-plastic inclusions, such as sand, quartz and organic materials during pottery production.</p> Pankaj Singh, Sukanya Sharma, Jayanta Jivan Laskar Copyright (c) 2023 Pankaj Singh, Sukanya Sharma, Jayanta Jivan Laskar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/297 Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200 A Map of European Megaliths https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/1452 <p>As part of a request from the “European Megalithic Routes” organization to its Scientific Advisory Board for a comprehensive map of European megaliths, an attempt was made to produce the corresponding map using existing publications on megalithic tombs. As a result, 17409 published megalithic tombs were mapped. This endeavour forms the basis for a continuous and necessary improvement of a map of European megalithic sites, especially regarding the architectural classification of the individual megaliths.</p> Johannes Müller, Clemens Kruckenberg, Ralph Großmann, Julia Luckner Copyright (c) 2023 Johannes Müller, Clemens Kruckenberg, Ralph Großmann, Julia Luckner https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/1452 Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100