Abstract: The earliest Neolithic sites of Europe are located in Crete and mainland Greece. A debate persists concerning whether these farmers originated in neighboring Anatolia and the role of maritime colonization. To address these issues 171 samples were collected from areas near three known early Neolithic settlements in Greece together with 193 samples from Crete. An analysis of Y-chromosome haplogroups determined that the samples from the Greek Neolithic sites showed strong affinity to Balkan data, while Crete shows affinity with central/Mediterranean Anatolia. Haplogroup J2b-M12 was frequent in Thessaly and Greek Macedonia while haplogroup J2a-M410 was scarce. Alternatively, Crete, like Anatolia showed a high frequency of J2a-M410 and a low frequency of J2b-M12. This dichotomy parallels archaeobotanical evidence, specifically that while bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is known from Neolithic Anatolia, Crete and southern Italy; it is absent from earliest Neolithic Greece. The expansion time of YSTR variation for haplogroup E3b1a2-V13, in the Peloponnese was consistent with an indigenous Mesolithic presence. In turn, two distinctive haplogroups, J2a1h-M319 and J2a1b1-M92, have demographic properties consistent with Bronze Age expansions in Crete, arguably from NW/W Anatolia and Syro-Palestine, while a later mainland (Mycenaean) contribution to Crete is indicated by relative frequencies of V13.

Abstract: The site of Portalon is not only one of the entries to the Cueva Mayor, of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), but it is also an important Holocene archaeological site that was first excavated in the 1970s, although largely unpublished. New excavations by our team starting in 2000 have revealed a stratigraphical sequence starting in the Late Pleistocene and with evidence of human occupations through the Holocene. We present this stratigraphical sequence with a radiocarbon dates ranging from 30.000 BP to 1.000 BP. Two major sedimentary units are observed in the Portalon sequence, the lower unit belongs to the Late Pleistocene and has a significant paleontological record and sparse Upper Palaeolithic human artifacts. The upper unit belongs to the Holocene and is characterized by sedimentary homogeneity and numerous archaeological artifacts. This unit shows occupations in the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and Medieval periods. The Portalon excavations are of great importance because of the scarcity of information of the Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic cultural periods in the interior Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, in the Northern Plateau.

Abstract: Chipped stone tools made by both Mesolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers play a significant role in discussions about the beginning of the Neolithic in Central Europe (LBK culture). In this book Inna Mateiciucova compares the technology of blade production, the distribution of raw stone sources and the occurrence of so-called culturally specific tool types (trapezes, borers and retouched blades) of the chipped stone industries of Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in Central Europe and Balkans. She believes that the LBK originated autochthonously from the local Mesolithic substrate in Transdanubia and the immediately adjacent areas (Burgenland, south-west Slovakia), under the influence of contacts with, and with a biological contribution from, Balkan Early Neolithic populations, in particular from the Starcevo culture. She emphasizes the psychological implications of Neolithisation and assumes long before the physical acceptance of the Neolithic, some changes occurred at the psychological level. First, there was a Neolithisation of the hunter-gatherer soul (psyche), followed by Neolithisation at the material level. With this in mind, at the end of this book she indicates a possible explanation of the rapid dispersion of the Early LBK culture throughout Central Europe.

Abstract: Under the assumption that the health status of a population is closely connected to its living conditions (Steckel and Rose 2002; Cohen and Armelagos 1984) the aim of this study is to track changes in signs of pathology during the transition period from foraging to farming societies in Europe. The NDT is expected to be related to a major shift in health parameters from Mesolithic to Early Neolithic populations. This hypothesis is followed by studying European LBK skeletal populations and by comparing their health status to earlier Mesolithic as well as to Late Neolithic samples, roughly following the site list composed by Bocquet-Appel (2002). A selection of skeletal populations was examined depending on the availability of data relevant to health. A database was built up including around 600 skeletons. The major limitations were given by the facts that (1) skeletal indicators connected to health factors were only available for a smaller part of the relevant skeletal samples, that (2) frequencies of pathological signs could not be obtained due to incomplete individual data published and that (3) coding systems differed significantly from each other. Representativeness for Mesolithic or LBK populations cannot be assured as the database is characterised by a few larger samples who lived under locally specific conditions. As a consequence, the data could not be broken down to a comparison of males and females.

Abstract: Newly available information on the excavation of the Portuguese Mesolithic shell middens, Cabeco da Arruda and Moita do Sebastiao, has allowed reassessment of the paleodemography of the sites. Following the restudy of Arruda and an examination of Moita site structure, we now discuss the problem of arriving at a minimum number of individuals (MNI) for Moita and use the age distribution of the dead to estimate the total fertility rate (TFR). We confirm the difference between Moita and Arruda and note their divergence from the Neolithic site of Casa da Moura. Our method of estimating TFR, deriving from the use of West model tables, is explained and is tested by reference to historical data sets and by calculation of equivalent demographic values using the Brass relational table approach. Our focus is the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition and we establish the context of demographic change in the late Mesolithic and early Neolithic of central Portugal by reference to changing environmental, nutritional and disease conditions. The low level of population growth at Moita would have increased during the occupation of Arruda. However, subsequent changes in climate and sea levels led to unfavorable conditions and we hypothesize that the Tagus lowlands were abandoned in favor of healthier uplands where there was a rebound and an increase in population growth in response to changed lifeways

Abstract: Coincident with the processes that led to the development of agriculture and animal domestication, human and animal representations in clay, stone, and plaster were important constituents of the archaeological record across much of the eastern Mediterranean region. The bulk of the evidence comes from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period, but there are also important findings from PPNA and the Late Epipaleolithic sites that suggest an increasingly growing concern for the livelihood of expanding human populations in local environments that were becoming more and more influenced by human activities. Nevertheless, significant differences appear in the relative frequencies of animal and human figurines from various parts of the region. For animals there are clear reflections of local faunas, although the iconography is not correlated with the importance of species in their contributions to local diets. As for human depictions, pregnant females indicate the importance of providing future generations, but not all females are portrayed in this condition. Furthermore, where sex can be determined, the proportion of males and females ranges over a considerable span. This study provides a synthesis of research and attempts to explain the variability of these circumstances.

Abstract: The Neolithic period marks a major watershed in economy, social organization and technology. Although the Neolithic was initially recognized on the basis of a change in lithic technology, the production of ground stone axes, it soon came to be seen to relate to major changes in subsistence (food production), settlement pattern (sedentism), in cooking and food container technology (ceramics), and in the production of textiles. In India, as in other parts of the world, various traits of the Neolithic did not evolve simultaneously and thus research has begun to clarify the ordering and interrelationships of these changes. Through most of South Asia there is not a clear cultural or economic change associated with the beginnings of copper-working and an understanding of early food production invariably must consider sites from periods when copper is in use. Thus, scholars often talk of the Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures and distinguish these from the earlier Mesolithic and the later Iron Age. In general terms, seven distinct Neolithic traditions can be defined in South Asia, and the development of settled village farming societies can be understood as developing from these regional traditions or interactions between them. In general, the emergence of Neolithic societies is recognizable by groundstone axes, food production, and/or ceramic manufacture during the Middle Holocene, as early as the late seventh millennium BC in the northwest and as late as. c. 2000. BC in other parts of India. Despite the different dates at which the Neolithic began in various parts of India and Pakistan, many of these developments must be seen in terms of local processes of social evolution and environmental change. © 2008 Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abstract: 114.1 Nikos Efstratiou The archaeology of the last foragers and early farmers of Greece has been for years a fascinating but difficult subject because of the aging body of existing evidence and limited attempts to retrieve new data. This is even more apparent with regard to the demanding field research methodology (visibility, sea level changes, coastal dynamics) and the stimulating theoretical issues (colonization incentives, navigation capabilities) concerning the Aegean archipelago, where the application of world island archaeology models finds an ideal testing ground.

Abstract: Radiocarbon sequences from some northern Mediterranean cave sites show a temporal gap between Mesolithic and Neolithic occupations. Some authors regard this as a regional phenomenon and have sought to explain it in terms of a general population decline in the late Mesolithic, which facilitated the replacement of indigenous foragers by immigrant farmers. New evidence from the rockshelter site of Mala Triglavca, in Slovenia, leads us to question this view. We describe the deposits in the rockshelter and discuss the results of AMS radiocarbon dating of bone samples recovered in excavations in the 1980s. New archaeological investigations and associated soil/sediment analyses show that in the central part of the rockshelter a well-defined stratigraphic sequence can be established, despite post-depositional modification by soil forming processes. There is also evidence of substantial post-depositional disturbance of the cave sediments by human agency and geomorphological processes, which have created “temporal gaps” and “inversions” in the radiocarbon sequence. The relatively large series of radiocarbon dates obtained enables some of the post-depositional processes to be identified. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract: Mesolithic and other Stone Age burial grounds always attract the special attention of researchers. It is well known that the rituals and symbolism of burial and the objects of art placed in graves give us insight into such important problems as the spiritual life of ancient people and the social organization of early human communities. Despite the interest in the study of burial grounds and searches for them, new sites, especially Mesolithic ones, are extraordinarily rare. In part this is explained by the conditions of their location apart from settlements, on an island or “beyond the water,” on shores that are now remote from present-day water bodies. Possibly places of burial were concealed so that they would not be destroyed by people or by animals. Accordingly, they may not have had external markers, or such markers may have been erased over time. Therefore in the forest zone and tundras of Northern Eurasia, where numerous Mesolithic sites are known, burial grounds or isolated graves are quite rare phenomena. The location of currently known burial complexes of the Mesolithic era draws attention (Figure 1). In the second half of the twentieth century, however, systematic investigations

Abstract: This paper is a preliminary report of excavations carried out between 1990 and 2000 at Edera Cave in the Trieste Karst. The cave is 3km from the present coast. It was first occupied during the Boreal period by Mesolithic (Sauveterrian) hunter-gatherers. The remains of this occupation comprise pits and hearths, abundant faunal remains, and typical chipped stone and bone tools, many of which were recovered in situ on an almost intact palaeosurface (layer 3c). A hearth in layer 3a above belongs to the Late Mesolithic Castelnovian culture, and has yielded a few potsherds of non-local production, as well as bones of domesticated animals. Layer 2a consists of several superimposed charcoal lenses attributed to the local Early Neolithic Vla1ka group on the basis of characteristic vessel shapes and a series of four radiocarbon ages that date this horizon to c. 6500 BP (5450 cal BC). Although the cave continued to be used sporadically until the Migration Period, this paper is concerned mainly with the problem of the relationship between the last hunter-gatherers and the first food producers who used the cave during the mid-seventh millennium BP. So far, layer 3a of Edera Cave is the only evidence from this part of the Adriatic of interaction between the last Castelnovian bands and the first Neolithic farmers.

Abstract: This paper was compelled into existence when confronting the fact that the most commonly discussed transitional period connecting the Late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic in the Đerdap or the Iron Gates Gorges (present-day Serbia and Romania) is determined by the often emphasized lack of adequately published evidence, thus leaving this period largely unknown. We examine previous conclusions concerning the Lepenski Vir culture, or at the very least, try to put such discussions back in their archaeological context. We discuss the features that are essential for the organisation of the settlements, stratigraphy, and adaptability of architecture caused by geomorphology and climate, as well as the remarkable loss of settlement space due to different types of erosion.

Abstract: Until now the assignment of Mesolithic sites to specific assemblage types has been largely based on their microliths, although these tools form less than 3% of the total number of artifacts. A redefinition of Mesolithic assemblage types based on the typological and technological characteristics of the entire industry has been tested on a number of assemblages from Sandy Flanders (Belgium) that are representative of the four typological groups currently identified in the Early Mesolithic of northwestern Europe. The results of these analyses provide new insights into the lithic technology and allow a reassessment of these typological groups. The use of an extensive dating strategy in combination with technological analysis makes it possible to interpret the assemblages both chronologically and functionally and to identify cultural differences among them.

Abstract: 9 papers from the session on Mesolithic/Neolithic Interactions in the Balkans and in the Middle Danube Basin held at the 15th UISPP Congress in Lisbon in September 2006. Contents: 1) Mesolithic/Neolithic interactions in the Balkan Peninsula and the Carpathian Basin: an introduction (Marek Nowak); 2) The chipped stone assemblages of Mentese and the problem of the earliest occupation of Marmara region (Ivan Gatsov, Petranka Nedelcheva); 3) Late Mesolithic of Serbia and Montenegro (Duan Mihailoviae); 4) Mesolithic-Neolithic interactions in the Danube Gorges (Duan Boric); 5) Palaeogeographical background of the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic settlement in the Carpathian Basin (Pal Suemegi); 6) Mesolithic foragers and the spread of agriculture in Western Hungary by (Eszter Banffy, William J. Eichmann, Tibor Marton); 7) Early Neolithic raw material economies in the Carpathian Basin (Katalin T. Biro); 8) Neolithisation of the upper Tisza basin (Janusz K. Kozlowski, Marek Nowak); 9) Problems in reading MesolithicNeolithic relations in South-Eastern Europe (Janusz K. Kozlowski, Marek Nowak)."

Abstract: Following surveys carried out over many years, three Mesolithic sites have been identified at the ‘Pointe Saint-Gildas’ near the Loire estuary. They are situated in proximity to more than 20 indications of the presence of Mesolithic populations. Two of the three excavated stations provide the only evidence of the subsistence of these Late Mesolithic populations. These excavations were carried out in 1994 at station 1a, and in 2003 and 2004 at station 1b, and revealed a lithic industry based on blades and small concentrations of shells. The dominant arrowhead types are large scalene triangles, but with some asymmetrical trapeze-shaped points. They are associated with industries based on blades and bladelets with non-parallel edges. The analysis of shells indicates the exploitation of resources on a muddy shore, whereas these sites currently overlook a rocky zone. The Holocene transgression has masked the trace of a noticeable estuarine influence, according to studies of the bathymetry and underwater sedimentary cores. Dating of the shells yields ages between 6600 and 6400 BC at Saint-Gildas 1b. The marked deterioration of these sites by erosion and the inaccurate calibration of the dates lead to uncertainties in the interpretation. Nevertheless, these assemblages are the first example of the emergence of Late Mesolithic industries on the Armorican Massif.

Abstract: Rock-art reflects cultural narratives and is influential as a medium in the invention of narratives. Images found in South-Central Indian rock-art are particularly useful in considering archaeological transitions. Rock-art here shows a chronology spanning the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Megalithic, Historic, and Modern times. Imagery reflects changing human/animal relationships, from `agile' hunted animals to cattle and its domestication, with rock-art an active medium in the creation of new metanarratives focused obsessively upon bulls. While bulls in the singular appear early, later compositional elements imply a growing concern with ideas of herds as interconnecting communities. Through time, panels were focal points for the addition of subsequent anthropomorphic imagery, further reinventing the Neolithic. A Historic period efflorescence of densely applied rock-art perhaps reflects an appropriation of a locality redolent with the past as new mythologies were invented in the ancestral association with the no...

Abstract: The scope of this paper is to illustrate and discuss the Mesolithic sites discovered during recent surveys carried out by the ‘Joint Rohri Hills Project’ (Biagi & Shaikh 1994) in the Thari District of Upper Sindh. Until a few years ago nothing was known of the Mesolithic period in the region, even though several sites had already been discovered in the suburbs of Karachi and along the coast of Las Bela. In effect, Commander K.R.U. Todd described a flint assemblage with geometric, trapezoidal microliths collected along the banks of the Lyari River in the Karachi County Golf Club (Todd & Paterson 1947); and Professor A. Rauf Khan (1979) published many Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites, characterised by microlithic tools, just south of the Karachi University Campus and along the coast of Las Bela, in Baluchistan.

Abstract: Radiocarbon sequences from some northern Mediterranean cave sites show a temporal gap between Mesolithic and Neolithic occupations. Some authors regard this as a regional pheno- menon and have sought to explain it in terms of a general population decline in the late Mesolithic, which facilitated the replacement of indigenous foragers by immigrant farmers. New evidence from the rockshelter site of Mala Triglavca, in Slovenia, leads us to question this view. The results of AMS radiocarbon dating of samples recovered in excavations in the 1980s and associated soil/sediment analyses reveal evidence of substantial postdepositional disturbance of the cave sediments by human agency and geomorphological processes, which have created 'temporal gaps' and 'inversions' in the radiocarbon sequence and secondary deposits with residual finds. IZVLE∞EK — Zaporedja 14C datumov iz nekaterih jamskih najdi‚› severnega Sredozemlja ka"ejo ›a- sovno vrzel med mezolitsko in neolitsko poselitvijo. Nekateri avtorji to vrzel razumejo kot regional- ni pojav in ga razlagajo z zmanj‚anjem mezolitskih populacij, kar naj bi olaj‚alo zamenjavo domo- rodnih lovcev-nabiralcev s kmetovalskimi pri‚leki. Novi dokazi iz spodmola Mala Triglavca to hipo- tezo spodbijajo. Rezultati neposrednega AMS 14C datiranja vzorcev izkopavanj v 80. letih in sediment- ne analize so pokazali na mo"ne postdepozicijske spremembe depozitov, ki so ustvarile ›asovne vr- zeli in inverzije v sekvenci 14C datumov in sekundarne depozite z rezidualnimi najdbami.

Abstract: Summary. In the context of territorial analyses in archaeology, the visual attributes of sites play a key role in the definition of location strategies. This paper studies the Neolithic evidence from the south-western Morbihan area in Brittany (France) from a visual point of view, integrating the previous Mesolithic and the later Bronze Age occupation of the region in order to understand the diachronic evolution of the visual settlement patterns. The role played by the sea seems to be significant throughout the entire occupation of the area, but differences in both intervisibility of sites and the extension of visual areas allow us to make particular observations regarding different cultural uses of the landscape through time.