Bell Beakers (Archaeology)

The Late Neolithic Bell Beaker and Corded Ware complexes are commonly viewed as clearly bounded phenomena of burial rituals and material culture. Conversely, common traits and overlapping characteristics have also been pointed out, and have been interpreted as interrelations between two distinct groups of people. In this paper, this phenomenon is studied in two German regions – the Rhine Basin and the Thuringia Basin. Here, it can be shown that burial customs and vessel decorations display considerable overlaps, especially in spatially and temporally close contexts. Furthermore, such phenomena are most visible close to river confluences (e.g. the Rhein-Neckar and the Saale-Unstrut) – tpotential nodal points of interaction networks. This indicates that social identities were much more open to negotiation than generally believed, including phenomena of hybrid or multiple identities.

Das Schnurkeramische Phänomen und das Glockenbecherphänomen sind weit verbreitete Erscheinungen des dritten Jahrtausends v. Chr.. Zum großen Teil schließen sie sich räumlich aus. Für Mitteleuropa lassen sich jedoch einzelne Regionen nachweisen, in denen die Träger beider Phänomene in unmittelbarer Nähe zueinander ansässig waren. Dazu gehören beispielsweise die Ober-/ Mittelrheinregion sowie die Region Thüringen/ Burgenlandkreis. Diese Regionen sind im Rahmen der vorliegenden Dissertation analysiert worden mit dem Ziel, die Dialektik und den gegenseitigen Bezug zwischen dem Schnurkeramischen Phänomen und dem Glockenbecherphänomen zu erfassen. Bezüge und Wechselwirkungen lassen sich unter anderem hinsichtlich der Grabbeigaben und im Bereich der Zeichensysteme, zu denen insbesondere die Verzierungsmotive gehören, feststellen. Hierbei wird deutlich, dass gemeinsame Elemente insbesondere dann auftreten, wenn eine räumliche und zeitliche Nähe dieser Phänomene gegeben ist. Einzelne Bestattungen, die sich dann nicht der einen oder der anderen materiellen Kultur zuordnen lassen, überwinden diese Dichotomie von Schnurkeramik und Glockenbecher und sind als hybride Identitäten zu werten. Daneben werden in dem vorliegenden Band Schnurkeramik- und Glockenbecherinventare mit naturwissenschaftlichen Methoden hinsichtlich ihrer chorologischen und chronologischen Entwicklung untersucht. Als Ergebnis stehen neue und weiterentwickelte Typochronologien und – darauf basierend – sich verändernde Fundplatzlagen und Stilgruppen innerhalb der Ober-/ Mittelrheinregion und der Region Thüringen/ Burgenlandkreis.

NEW WEBSITE
Welcome on the website of the IUPPS commission Neolithic Civilizations of the Mediterranean and Europe. The commission "Neolithic Civilizations of the Mediterranean and Europe" aims to federate researchers working on the first agricultural societies of the Mediterranean and European space. The topics studied are very diverse: historiography, emergence, development, dissemination, evolution of Neolithic societies and economies, technological approaches, palaeoenvironmental restitutions and anthropic activities, social organizations, housing structures, funerary modes, productions, ritual and symbolic practices, etc. The commission organizes at least one symposium at each major congress. In the interval between two congresses, it arouses and sponsors symposia with a general or specialized theme concerning the Neolithic cultures of the Mediterranean and Europe. This site aims to quickly disseminate information (discoveries, publications, seminars and symposia, etc.) concerning Neolithic archeology in the Mediterranean and Europe.

"Dentro del estudio de las relaciones culturales en sentido amplio, cobran especial interés aquellos elementos que, por su singularidad formal, decorativa, cronológica, etc., se erigen en auténticos documentos claros y fiables de aquéllas. De estos elementos, bien llamados «fósiles directores», se destacan los que, por su dispersión geográfico-cultural, afectan a contactos de larga distancia, lo cual es una valiosa aportación para interpretar procesos paralelos, más complejos y ambiguos de la misma índole. Del estudio que estamos realizando sobre la cerámica decorada de La Pijotilla (Badajoz), hemos seleccionado dos motivos relevantes que, por sus características, se definen como fósiles directores: las pastillas repujadas y el vaso campaniforme cordado."

Brodek u Prostějova (Prostějov Dist.), „Pazderny“. This shorter article briefly describes a recent archaeological find consisting in a very unusual layout structure discovered during the construction of a motorway overpass near the township of Brodek u Prostějova. The layout is much different from the previously known layouts of prehistoric settlements or burial grounds. In this case, it was a well-planned structure clearly reflecting the then-known information about geometry and possibly even astronomy. It is assumed that this building was a multi-purpose building, fulfilling social and cultic needs and possibly serving as a place for observing the movement of celestial bodies - thanks to which the people were able to grasp the modern-day physical quantity of time. It was built by the peoples of the Bell Beaker culture almost 4,500 years ago. In terms of its age and appearance, it begs comparison with the megalithic architecture of Western Europe and the British Isles, including the worldwide famous and legendary Stonehenge. The system of “wooden poles of Brodek” can quite easily be used for the recording, and possibly anticipation, of lunar eclipses, which leads us to the assumption that this structure could have been used as a “shrine dedicated to the dying and reborn Moon”.

This thesis considers the nature of pottery and its wider roles in the Highlands and Northern Isles of
Scotland from 2500-1800 BC. The period under study represents a key moment in British prehistory
with the introduction of metallurgy and wide-ranging changes in society. Since the inception of early
Bronze Age studies pottery has played an important role in examinations of identity and chronology.
As identified by several scholars there has been a recurrent emphasis on a select number of interpretive
themes and regions such as Wessex and Aberdeenshire. This has marginalised certain areas creating an
imbalance in our understanding of the tempo and dynamics of change during the period. Recent reviews
have begun to address this issue, highlighting the importance of regional studies to our overall
understanding of change in the later 3rd millennium.
At present, there is no synthesis of ceramic material from the Highlands and Northern Isles that
considers the diverse array of pot types and the contexts in which they are found. In response, this thesis
aims to characterise the range of ceramic types, their contexts and associations. Through the course of
this thesis a series of detailed regional datasets and interpretations are constructed. This is coupled with
a review of the longer-term ceramic sequence across the study area, situating the advent of novel pot
types within the existing ceramic repertoire.
Secondly, this thesis examines the dynamics of ceramic similarity and difference, and what this reveals
about regional preferences and identities alongside broader intra and supra regional networks. Drawing
on recent relational approaches this thesis explores how ceramic categories came into being, persisted
and dissipated at a range of scales. These approaches highlight the fluid nature of change and the need
to consider pots as elements of wider assemblages. Through this examination it is possible to detect
distinct trends in regional ceramics, allowing for the construction of narratives that extend beyond
defining visual similarities, contributing towards understanding the wider significance of similarity and
difference.

The Knockloon and Roughan hill projects aim to increase our understanding of social organisation and change in the west of Ireland during the Beaker period in Ireland (Chalcolithic: c.2500 – 2200 BCE). This paper presents results from four seasons of fieldwork on two neighbouring hills: Knockloon and Roughan and builds earlier work on Roughan which began in the 90s. It includes details from the excavation of four megalithic tombs (a court tomb and three wedge tombs) on Roughan (2000 & 2015 – 2017) and a barrow on Knockloon (2018). It also includes data gathered through remote sensing (magnetometry and electrical resistivity) and UAV survey. While remains of several periods were encountered, this paper focuses only on the Beaker period burials. We consider why people were contemporaneously buried in such different monuments, barrows and wedge tombs, within the same region and ask whether these reflect different belief systems of cultural backgrounds. This is approached through analysis of the cultural material associated with the burials, and osteological, aDNA and isotope analyses; post-excavation work which is only partially complete. We will also return to excavate more of the barrow in 2019. However, we feel our initial findings substantially add to our understanding of social organisation in the west of Ireland during the Chalcolithic and present these in this paper. The project has a relevance to the wider understanding of the Beaker phenomenon in north western Europe, the period of the first metal use in that region, and to the question of whether it was the movement of people or ideas that were the prime drivers of social change during the period.
The project was helped through grants from The Irish Quaternary Society, The Royal Irish Academy and the fees of students attending the fieldschool. The aDNA work is being carried out Dan Bradley and Lara Cassidy at The Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin and the isotopes work by Rick Schulting at Oxford University.

Resumo. A descoberta de um hipogeu campaniforme em 2012, durante o acompanhamento das obras de recuperação do edifício do Convento do Carmo (Torres Novas), desencadeou trabalhos de escavação sistemática que viriam a ter lugar entre agosto de 2014 e janeiro de 2015. Apesar de muito afetado pela construção de sucessivos edifícios de época histórica no local, este hipogeu (formado por uma única galeria com pilar central) continha elementos muito relevantes para o estudo das populações campaniformes. A análise osteológica dos restos humanos indicou um número mínimo de quinze indivíduos (onze maturos e quatro imaturos), entre os quais há pelo menos cinco masculinos e cinco femininos. As práticas funerárias terão envolvido deposições primárias seguidas da criação de ossários. As oferendas incluem cerâmica campaniforme (internacional, cordada e lisa) e cerâmica comum, objetos em metal (armas e adornos em cobre e ouro), botões em osso e marfim, e contas de colar (em minerais e conchas de Trivia sp.). Neste momento está em curso um conjunto alargado de estudos e análises laboratoriais tendo em vista a inauguração de uma exposição temática e a publicação de uma monografia de sítio, iniciativas que são apoiadas pela Câmara Municipal de Torres Novas.

Abstract. The discovery of a Bell Beaker hypogeum in 2012 during archaeological surveying of restauration works at the Convento do Carmo (Torres Novas) triggered systematic excavations which would take place between August 2014 and January 2015. Although severely affected by successive buildings, this hypogeum (formed by a single gallery with a central pillar) revealed very relevant elements for the study of the Bell Beaker populations. The osteological analysis of human remains indicated a minimum number of 15 individuals (eleven matures and four immatures) including at least five males and five females. Funerary practices involved primary depositions of the dead followed by the creation of ossuaries. Graves goods include Bell Beaker pots (international, corded and plain) and common pottery, metal objects (weapons and adornments in copper and gold), bone and ivory buttons, and beads (in minerals and shells of Trivia sp.). Presently there is a large set of studies and laboratorial analyses being carried out aiming at an exhibition of the finds and the publishing of a site monograph, all supported by the local municipality.

In a tribute to O. da Veiga Ferreira that took place at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (December 11th, 2017), the recently-obtained data from the Bell Beaker hypogeum of Convento do Carmo (Torres Novas) was presented as it allows this author’s thesis to be resumed and re-discussed in new grounds. Indeed, two main topics of his thesis seem to obtain unexpected support from the Convento do Carmo evidence: the hypothesis according to which Bell Beaker societies were structured according to principles of matriarchate, and the genetic differentiation between Iberian populations and their coeval counterparts of central Europe. The aim of this contribution is to present a brief outline of the main results from current research at the mentioned hypogeum that give support to the above hypotheses. The geographic scales of interaction connecting Portuguese Estremadura with the rest of the peninsula and the Western Mediterranean in Bell Beaker times are also pointed out.

This special volume of the Journal of Neolithic Archaeology is dedicated to a collection of papers presented at the conference held between the 17th and 21st of May 2017 in Kiel, Germany. The topic of this conference was “Think Global, Act Local! The Transformation of Spatial Interaction and Material Culture in Beaker Contexts of the 3rd Millennium BC in Europe”. In total, ca. 70 people, specialists from all over Europe, brought together in the loose research network of Archéologie et Gobelets, attended this conference. 27 papers were presented focusing either on this specific topic at hand from various angles, or on presenting new Corded Ware or Bell Beaker finds from all across Europe. Of these 27 presentations, nine were found able to contribute to this volume. In this editorial I will highlight the different articles and their relevance to the overarching topic. Next to this overview, a possible way is paved for future studies into the 3rd millennium BC.