Abstract: Analysis of the proportion of immature skeletons recovered from European prehistoric cemeteries has shown that the transition to agriculture after 9000 BP triggered a long-term increase in human fertility. Here we compare the largest analysis of European cemeteries to date with an independent line of evidence, the summed calibrated date probability distribution of radiocarbon dates (SCDPD) from archaeological sites. Our cemetery reanalysis confirms increased growth rates after the introduction of agriculture; the radiocarbon analysis also shows this pattern, and a significant correlation between both lines of evidence confirms the demographic validity of SCDPDs. We analyze the areal extent of Neolithic enclosures and demographic data from ethnographically known farming and foraging societies and we estimate differences in population levels at individual sites. We find little effect on the overall shape and precision of the SCDPD and we observe a small increase in the correlation with the cemetery trends. The SCDPD analysis supports the hypothesis that the transition to agriculture dramatically increased demographic growth, but it was followed within centuries by a general pattern of collapse even after accounting for higher settlement densities during the Neolithic. The study supports the unique contribution of SCDPDs as a valid demographic proxy for the demographic patterns associated with early agriculture.

Abstract: Recent excavations (2006–2009) at the Mesolithic-Neolithic site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges region of the north-central Balkans have focused on a reevaluation of previous conclusions about site formation processes, stratigraphy, chronology, and the nature of occupation. Mostly Late Mesolithic remains had been encountered in the preserved portion of the site, but, for the first time, in a restricted zone of the excavated area, vertical stratification of burial and occupation features yielded evidence about the use of the site in the period that is contemporaneous with Phase I–II at Lepenski Vir, the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition phase in this region, ca. 6200–5900 cal b.c. Various strands of archaeological evidence show both continuities and discontinuities in Late Mesolithic forager life- and deathways at the start of the Neolithic in the central Balkans.

Abstract: Over the past few decades, the potential importance of plants within European Mesolithic economies has frequently been discussed, but there has been little systematic consideration of the archaeobotanical evidence for Mesolithic plant consumption in Scotland. This paper assesses the use of plants in the Scottish Mesolithic economy using the archaeobotanical evidence from 48 sites. It is argued that plants were systematically, and, in some cases, intensively, exploited in Mesolithic Scotland. Though plan remains were extremely sparse at most sites, it is suggested that uneven archaeological sampling and taphonomic factors, together with the relatively short duration of occupation of many sites, may be responsible for the restricted range and frequency of edible tax in most assemblages.

Abstract: The Western Mediterranean, spanning southern Italy to Portugal, can be considered a single archaeological unit where the diagnostic characteristics of Early Neolithic contexts share common elements, marked by the spread of Cardium-Impressed ceramics. Although some consensus exists regarding the origin of these wares in southern Italy, the debate surrounding its process of expansion to the west remains open. Iberia is a key region for the analysis of the neolithisation process due to its location at the end of the Neolithic Mediterranean expansion. This view includes the problems linked with the mechanism of this spread and the evolutionary dynamics of the early agricultural societies. Our goals are to evaluate the rich archaeological and palaeoenvironmental database produced by recent decades of research in this area in order to address issues related to the Neolithic Transition. We especially deal with the role played by climatic events in the observeddynamics ofthe last Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic (ca. 8500–6900 cal BP).

Abstract: 1. Introduction: integrated and multi-scalar approaches to early farmers in Europe 2. The future Neolithic: a new research agenda 3. Some possible conditions necessary for the colonisation of Europe by domesticates 4. Multi-agent modeling of the trajectory of the LBK Neolithic: a study in progress 5. Ancient DNA evidence for a homogeneous maternal gene pool in sixth millennium cal BC Hungary and the central European LBK 6. Settlement burials at the Karsdorf LBK site, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany: biological ties and residential mobility 7. Cattle and sheep herding at Cheia, Romania, at the turn of the fifth millennium cal BC: a view from stable isotope analysis 8. Herding practices in the ditched villages of the Neolithic Tavoliere (Apulia, SE Italy): a vicious circle? The isotopic evidence. 9. Linear Pottery culture household organisation: an economic model 10. Framing farming: a multi-stranded approach to early agricultural practice in Europe 11. Stewing on a theme of cuisine: biomolecular and interpretative approaches to culinary changes at the transition to agriculture 12. Life conditions and health in early farmers: a global perspective on costs and consequences of a fundamental transition 13. Biographical bodies: flesh and food at Catalhoyuk 14. Neolithic lifeways: microstratigraphic traces within houses, animal pens and settlements 15. Violence in the Neolithic: a population perspective 16. Mass graves of the LBK: patterns and peculiarities 17. Revealing our vibrant past: science, materiality and the Neolithic 18. Pottery, Archaeology and Chemistry: contents and context 19. Constructing a narrative for the Neolithisation of Britain and Ireland: the use of 'hard science' and archaeological reasoning 20. Doing science in the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Copper Age: an insider's perspective 21. Archaeological science and the Neolithic: the power and perils of proxy measures

Abstract: Summary This paper presents the results of the Bayesian statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates associated with diagnostic late Mesolithic rod microliths from England and Wales. These date estimates are compared with results for the earliest evidence for Neolithic material culture and practices in Britain (Whittle et al. 2011; Griffiths 2011; 2014; forthcoming). The chronology of some rod microlith sites indicates a potential overlap between the earliest Neolithic and latest Mesolithic material culture and practices, in the first three centuries of the fourth millennium cal BC across England and Wales. The locations of late Mesolithic sites suggest regional processes of ‘neolithization’ may have occurred. In the region where we have the best chronological evidence for late Mesolithic sites – in Yorkshire – the location of the very latest Mesolithic sites suggests these lifeways may have persisted in landscapes which had been foci of hunter-gatherer activity for hundreds of years, and which might have been understood as ‘ancestral’ or ‘persistent’ places.

Abstract: This paper discusses the significance of the southern North Sea for research on the human occupation of northwest Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Recent insight into the survival of post-LGM land surfaces and palaeolandscape structures points to the potential preservation of Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites in this area. Finds of well-preserved materials (including artefacts of bone, antler and wood, as well as human remains) from various zones along the Dutch and British coasts corroborate this idea, whilst underwater excavations of eroding sites at Bouldnor Cliff (UK) and Maasvlakte-Rotterdam (NL) underpin the possibilities of gaining further insight into human behaviour in the context of submerging landscapes. Although the significance of the southern North Sea with regard to the Mesolithic is gradually exposed, there is still a lot to learn. The terrestrial archaeological records from both sides of the present-day North Sea yield indisputable evidence for hunter-gatherer presence from at least 13,000 BP. Successions of Magdalenian/Creswellian/Hamburgian, Federmesser Gruppen and Ahrensburgian people (re)colonised the northwest European plain, interrupted by short-lived cold spells. Although it is expected that the southern North Sea must have been inhabited, and maybe even more intensively than the present-day dry land, archaeological evidence is still missing. Despite the presence of vast amounts of mammalian remains and the availability of many radiocarbon-dated bones, there is a striking lack of material post-dating the LGM and pre-dating the Holocene, whilst remains dated to the early Upper Palaeolithic show no evidence of human interference. At this stage, it is probable that taphonomic factors and research biases are responsible for this picture. This marks a sharp contrast with the early Holocene record, where numerous Mesolithic artefacts, as well as human remains, provide evidence for human occupation of the area. Materials are exposed on the sea floor, evidencing gradual erosion of early Holocene land surfaces. Although the number of sites is increasing, little is known yet about how the submerged record can be connected to the terrestrial record. Indeed, the central question here is how the submerged Mesolithic record compares to, or differs from, the terrestrial record. In order to answer this question, targeted archaeological research is needed, along with an understanding of taphonomic processes and increased insight into landscape dynamics. From a northwest European perspective, the present state of knowledge about the submerged post-LGM prehistoric archaeology of the southern North Sea demonstrates its huge research potential.

Abstract: Recent excavations at the site of Vela Spila, Korcula, on the Adriatic coast of Croatia have yielded a substantial assemblage of fish bone dating to the Mesolithic and Neolithic period Few similar assemblages have been recovered to date, and zooarchaeological analysis of the material from Vela Spila provides an insight into the choices and practices associated with fishing across the crucial Mesolithic–Neolithic transition, and across a period of coastal change due to rising sea levels, in this area Specialised capture and processing of mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in the Mesolithic period was indicated, with estimates indicating nearly half a tonne of mackerel processed at the site A decrease in quantity of fish bone recovered from the Mesolithic to Neolithic phases is matched by a change in fishing strategy to opportunistic coastal fishing in the Neolithic periods Fishing is discussed in relation to the broader lived context of the Mesolithic and Neolithic in the Adriatic, particularly its p

Abstract: This paper discusses why large areas of the central and northern Balkans lack evidence of Mesolithic settlement and what implications this holds for future research into the Neolithization of the region. A marked shift in site distribution patterns between Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic is interpreted as a response to changing environmental conditions and resource availability. It is suggested that some important questions of the pattern, processes and timing of the transition to farming across the Balkan Peninsula may only be answered through new archaeological surveys of the Lower Danube valley and exploration of submerged landscapes along the Black Sea, Aegean and Adriatic coasts.

Abstract: We challenge the claim by Krause-Kyora et al. (2013) that there were domestic pigs at Mesolithic sites in northern Germany. A small number of animals from Rosenhof and Poel have ancient DNA and geometric morphometric signatures elsewhere associated with domestic animals. At this time Neolithic farming settlements were present 150km to the south, but the Mesolithic specimens are, however, metrically wild boar, much larger than domestic pigs, and cannot be domestic individuals acquired from the farmers. A more likely explanation for these ‘domestic’ traits is that animals that escaped from farmers’ pig herds interbred with local wild boar. Their descendants were morphologically and behaviourally wild, and were shot by Mesolithic foragers in the course of normal hunts. Their presence at Mesolithic sites is not a precursor to agriculture.

Abstract: This dissertation focuses on Late Mesolithic (ca. 8450–6850 cal BP) lithic technological changes in the northernmost parts of Finland, Norway, and Sweden and on the relationship between these changes and the 8.2 ka climate event that was caused by a disruption in the North Atlantic Thermohaline circulation. The study uses a framework derived from Darwinian evolutionary theory and acknowledges the effects of both environmental constraints and socially transmitted information, i.e. , culture, in the way lithic technology was organised in the studied region. The study discusses whether climatic cooling and its effects on the biotic environment could explain the way lithic technology and settlement patterns were reorganised during the Late Mesolithic. The dissertation takes an organisational approach to the study of past cultural change and seeks to understand changes in prehistoric material culture by studying lithic technology and settlement configuration using lithic technological, statistical, and spatial analyses. The results suggest that Late Mesolithic coastal communities were affected by a marked decrease in marine productivity that resulted from the cooling caused by the 8.2 ka event and a subsequent cold episode at ca. 7700 cal BP. It is concluded that the technological changes that occurred during the marine cooling were a result of developments that led to increased use of terrestrial resources and an accompanying long-distance coast/inland residential mobility pattern. The study contributes to a wider field of research into past climate change as a factor in prehistoric ecological, cultural, and behavioural change and provides reference material for studies on the impacts of future climate change on human communities. The results suggest that in northernmost Fennoscandia, the marine ecosystem is particularly sensitive to disturbances in the North Atlantic oceanographic system. In addition, the study provides new knowledge concerning the relationships between raw material availability, lithic technology, and culture. This new knowledge is widely applicable in research on the way lithic technology was organised in relation to other behavioural and organisational dimensions in past human adaptations.

Abstract: Beregovaya 2 is one of the rare bog sites in the Urals region providing a sequence of Stone Age layers with excellent preservation conditions. Ongoing excavations revealed numerous faunal remains and a remarkable number of tools made of stone, bone, antler as well as wooden and other plant materials. All in all three Mesolithic layers (Early, Middle and Late Mesolithic), one early Neolithic (pottery Mesolithic) layer and an uppermost Eneolithic layer were recorded. Pollen and C14-dates indicate occupation of the site from the Preboreal to the Subboreal period. The article provides general information on the finds and presents a unique bundle of bone arrowheads found together with a net sinker and a coprolite in the Middle Mesolithic layer. Results of aDNA-analysis assign the coprolite to dog. AMS-dates prove the high integrity of the sequence of cultural layers and the results obtained in this study underline the importance of Beregovaya 2 for the supraregional understanding of the environmental and cultural development of the early Holocene in Eurasia. Zusammenfassung Der Fundplatz Beregovaya 2 gehört zu einem der wenigen Fundplätzen im Gebiet des Urals, die eine Abfolge von steinzeitlichen Fundschichten mit ausgezeichneten Erhaltungsbedingungen aufweisen. Die fortlaufenden Ausgrabungen lieferten zahlreiche Faunenreste und eine große Vielfalt an Werkzeugen aus Stein, Knochen und Geweih sowie bearbeitete Hölzer. Insgesamt besteht die Abfolge aus drei mesolithischen Fundschichten aus dem frühen, mittleren und späten Mesolithikum sowie einer frühneolithischen („keramisches Mesolithikum“) und einer zuoberst liegenden äneolithischen Kulturschicht. Mit Hilfe von pollenanalytischen Untersuchungen und Radiokarbondaten lässt sich die Abfolge vom Präboreal bis ins Subboreal datieren. Die Abhandlung gibt zunächst einen Überblick über die wichtigsten mesolithischen Funde und präsentiert dann ein außergewöhnliches Bündel von Knochenpfeilspitzen, das zusammen mit einem Netzsenker und einem Koprolith in der mittelmesolithischen Schicht entdeckt wurde. Die aDNA-Analysen weisen den Koprolith tierartlich dem Hund zu. Die hohe Integrität der mesolithischen Schichtensequenz wird durch AMS-Datierungen untermauert. Damit bestätigt sich die große Bedeutung des Fundplatzes Beregovaya 2 für die Kulturund Umweltentwicklung des frühen Holozäns in Eurasien.

Abstract: Despite� the� fact� that� hitherto� the� earliest� direct� evidence� for� activity� in� the Cyclades� was� the� fifth� millennium� BC� (Late� Neolithic),� an� earlier� prehistoric date� was� tentatively� suggested� when� the� site� at� Stelida� was� discovered� in 1981� (Seferiades� 1983).� The� site� remained� a� chronological� enigma� until recent� rescue� excavations� led� to� claims� of� Middle–Upper� Palaeolithic� and Mesolithic� activity� (Legaki� 2012).� In� 2013� we� initiated� the� Stelida� Naxos Archaeological� Project� (SNAP),� a� two�year� survey� dedicated� to characterising� geoarchaeologically� the� chert� source� and� associated knapping� areas.� In� the� first� season� a� contiguous� area� of� c.� 24ha� was systematically� surveyed� with� transects� and� grids,� centring� on� the� chert outcrops� at� the� top� of� the� 118m�high� hill� (Figure� 2).� The� chert� occurs� in thick� tabular� beds,� has� a� semi�vitreous� or� waxy� lustre,� and� is� light� grey� to white� in� colour� (Figure� 3).� The� best�quality� chert� is� found� at� Stelida’s southern� peak� and� it� is� here� that� we� find� the� greatest� concentrations� of� knapped� artefacts� (Figure� 1).� Petrographic,� chemical� and techno�typological� analyses� are� underway� to� characterise� the� Stelida� products,� in� order� to� document� their� presence� elsewhere� in� the Aegean� and� thus� reconstruct� the� socio�economic� networks� that� intersected� here. HOMECURRENT ISSUEANTIQUITY+ARCHIVECONTRIBUTESUBSCRIBECONTACT

Abstract: The analysis of a large number of charcoal fragments from fire places from a wetland camp site of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition period (Swifterbant culture) now permits a detailed reconstruction of a middle Holocene riverine forest along the Lower Scheldt River (northern Belgium) and its exploitation between ca. 4,500 and 4,000 BC. The identified taxa point towards an alluvial hardwood forest (Querco-Ulmetum minoris Issler 1924) on the sand dune on which the camp site was situated, surrounded by alder carr. The results are compared with palynological and macrobotanical analyses from the same site and from contemporary sites within the area; the complementarity of these different types of data is discussed. The combination of all these datasets results in a detailed reconstruction of the environment and of its exploitation by the Swifterbant culture. The results also show that the Swifterbant people not only depended on these sand ridges for dry settlement locations, but also for firewood collection, gathering of edible plants and most probably for the collection of leaf fodder to feed livestock during winter time.

Abstract: This article explores the economic significance of marine resources in the south-western Baltic Sea during the transition to agriculture. Faunal remains are used in order to explain subsistence pat ...

Abstract: Integrated studies on several peat-gyttja sections, including Mesolithic and Neolithic cultural layers, were conducted for the Shigir and Gorbunovo peatlands of the Middle Urals. The results of plant macrofossil and pollen analyses were used to reconstruct the history of peat formation, vegetation, and climate changes during the Holocene. The radiocarbon dating of archaeological artifacts and enclosing sedimentary layers were used to reconstruct the stratigraphy and dynamics of peat formation and establish the chronology of inhabitation of this region in the changing paleoenvironmental conditions.