The first farmers of central Europe : diversity in LBK lifeways / edited by Penny Bickle and Alasdair Whittle

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bickle, Penny, editor.

Whittle, A. W. R., editor.

Series:

Cardiff Studies in Archaeology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bandkeramik culture--Europe, Central.

Bandkeramik culture.

Agriculture, Prehistoric--Europe, Central.

Agriculture, Prehistoric.

Land settlement patterns, Prehistoric--Europe, Central.

Land settlement patterns, Prehistoric.

Social archaeology--Europe, Central.

Social archaeology.

Human remains (Archaeology)--Europe, Central.

Human remains (Archaeology).

Europe, Central--Antiquities.

Europe, Central.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (561 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oakville, Connecticut : Oxbow Books and the David Brown Book Company, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From about 5500 cal BC to soon after 5000 cal BC, the lifeways of the first farmers of central Europe, the LBK culture (Linearbandkeramik), are seen in distinctive practices of longhouse use, settlement forms, landscape choice, subsistence, material culture and mortuary rites. Within the five or more centuries of LBK existence a dynamic sequence of changes can be seen in, for instance, the expansion and increasing density of settlement, progressive regionalisation in pottery decoration, and at the end some signs of stress or even localised crisis. Although showing many features in common across its very broad distribution, however, the LBK phenomenon was not everywhere the same, and there is a complicated mixture of uniformity and diversity. This major study takes a strikingly large regional sample, from northern Hungary westwards along the Danube to Alsace in the upper Rhine valley, and addresses the question of the extent of diversity in the lifeways of developed and late LBK communities, through a wide-ranging study of diet, lifetime mobility, health and physical condition, the presentation of the bodies of the deceased in mortuary ritual. It uses an innovative combination of isotopic (principally carbon, nitrogen and strontium, with some oxygen), osteological and archaeological analysis to address difference and change across the LBK, and to reflect on cultural change in general.

Contents:

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication Page; Contents; Authors' note; Acknowledgements; The Lifeways Database; Summary; Résumé; Zusammenfassung; Abbreviated List of Figures; Abbreviated List of Tables; Contributors; Chapter 1: LBK Lifeways ; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Anthropologists' Culture: Unbroken Landscapes of Variation?; 1.3 Trends in Recent LBK Research; 1.3.1 Beginnings; 1.3.2 Settlement; 1.3.3 Subsistence; 1.3.4 Animal husbandry; 1.3.5 Mortuary practice; 1.3.6 Material culture patterning and regional networks; 1.3.7 Social relations; 1.4 Project Aims: Investigating Diversity

Chapter 2: Seeking Diversity2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Using Stable Isotope Compositions to Learn about Prehistoric Diets; 2.2.1 The Principles of Stable Isotope Analysis; 2.2.2 Measurement; 2.2.3 Interpretation; 2.3 Oxygen Isotope Analysis; 2.3.1 Methodology; 2.3.2 Interpretation; 2.4 Calcium Isotope Analysis; 2.4.1 Introduction and background; 2.4.2 Methodology; 2.4.3 Results and conclusions; 2.5 Strontium Isotope Analysis and the Local geography and Geology; 2.5.1 Principles Behind Strontium Isotope Analysis in Archaeology; 2.5.2 Measurement; 2.6 Human Osteology

2.6.1 LBK Osteoarchaeology: An Overview2.6.2 Strength in Numbers?; 2.6.3 Lifeways Osteology; 2.7 Burial Practices in the LBK; 2.7.1 Previous Approaches to LBK Burials; 2.7.2 Determining Variability in LBK Burial Rites; 2.8 The Integration of Isotopes, Osteology and Archaeology; Chapter 3: Hungary; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 History of Research; 3.2.1 The Great Hungarian Plain; 3.2.2 Transdanubia; 3.3 Mesolithic-Neolithic Transitions and the Earliest Neolithics; 3.4 The Developed ALP and TLP; 3.5 Burial Practice and Regional Networks; 3.6 Sites Sampled; 3.7 Mezőkövesd-Mocsolyás; 3.7.1 Introduction

3.7.2 Carbon and Nitrogen Analyis3.7.3 Strontium Analysis; 3.7.4 Site Summary and Discussion; 3.8 Füzesabony-Gubakút; 3.8.1 Introduction (László Domboróczki); 3.8.2 Osteology; 3.8.3 Carbon and Nitrogen Analysis; 3.8.4 Strontium Analysis; 3.8.5 Site Summary and Discussion; 3.9 Polgár-Ferenci-hát; 3.9.1 Introduction (Pál Raczky and AlexandraAnders); 3.9.2 Osteology; 3.9.3 Carbon and Nitrogen Analysis; 3.9.4 Strontium Analysis; 3.9.5 Site Summary and Discussion; 3.10 Balatonszárszó-Kis-Erdei-Dűlő; 3.10.1 Introduction (Krisztián Oross and TiborMarton); 3.10.2 Osteology

3.10.3 Carbon and Nitrogen Analysis 3.10.4 Strontium Analysis; 3.10.5 Site Summary and Discussion; 3.11 Regional discussion; A Polgár-Ferenci-Hát Lifeway: Burial 839/1198; A Balatonszárszó Lifeway: Burial 531; Chapter 4:Moravia and western Slovakia; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 History of Research; 4.3 The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition and The earliest LBK; 4.4 The Developed and Late LBK; 4.5 Burial Rites and Regional Networks; 4.6 Sites Sampled; 4.7 Vedrovice; 4.7.1 Introduction; 4.7.2 Osteology; 4.7.3 Carbon and Nitrogen Analysis; 4.7.4 Strontium Analysis; 4.7.5 Site Summary and Discussion

4.8 Těšetice-Kyjovice

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 472-516) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781842179123

1842179128

9781842179147

1842179144