Northern European Neolithic.

Northern European Neolithic. JEAN-PIERRE MOHEN & CHRIS SCARRE Chris Scarre is a leading writer in the fields of archeology and ancient history. He took his MA and PhD degrees at Cambridge University. From 1984 to 1988 he was editor of the acclaimed Past Worlds: The Times Atlas and Archeology . Les tumulus tumulus(t`myələs), plural tumuli (–lī), in archaeology, a heap of earth or stones placed over a grave. de Bougon:complexe megalithique du Ve au IIIe millenaire. 256 pages, 368 figures,29 tables. 2002. Paris: Errance; 2-87772-240-6 paperback 40 [euro]. ALISTAIR BARCLAY, GEORGE LAMBRICK, JOHN MOORE John Moore may be: ClergyJohn Moore (Roman Catholic Bishop) (born 1942), Bishop of Bauchi, Nigeria John Moore (Bishop of Ely) (1646–1714), British Scholar John Moore (Baptist) (1662–1726), English Baptist minister from Northampton & MARK ROBINSON Mark Robinson may refer to: Mark Robinson (Royal Navy) (1722–1799), officer of the Royal Navy Mark Robinson (Northern Ireland politician) (born 1959), Democratic Unionist Party member of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1998–2007 .Lines in the landscape--cursus monuments in the Upper Thames Valley This article is about the Thames Valley in southern England. For New Zealand's Thames Valley region, see Thames Valley, New Zealand, or for the ITV region in the United Kingdom, see ITV Thames Valley. :excavations at the Drayton and Lechlade cursuses, xx+268 pages, 93figures, 20 plates, 62 tables. 2003. n.p.: Oxford Archaeology;0-947816-798 hardback 24.95 [pounds sterling]. JAN HARDING. Henge hengeNouna circular monument, often containing a circle of stones, dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages [from Stonehenge] monuments of the British Isles. 128 pages, 83b&w figures, 15 colour photographs, 2 tables. 2003. Stroud &Mount Pleasant (SC): Tempus; 0-7524-2508-0 paperback 17.99 [poundssterling] & $29.99. MATS P. MALMER. The Neolithic of south Sweden: TRB TRB Transportation Research BoardTRB Technical Review BoardTRB Teacher Registration BoardTRB Test Review BoardTRB Total Relationship BalanceTRB Tap-Rack-Bang (shooting procedure)TRB Theodore Roosevelt Building , GRK GRK G Protein-Coupled Receptor KinaseGRK Gray Army Airfield (Airport Code; Ft Hood, Texas)GRK Killeen-Ft Hood Regional Airport (Texas), and STR STRabbr.synchronous transmitter receiver .284 pages, 105 figures, 14 tables. 2002. Stockholm: Royal SwedishAcademy of Letters, History & Antiquities; 91-7402-327-6 hardback. Here is a miscellany of recent literature on the Neolithic ofwestern France, Britain and southern Scandinavia. Two volumes areexcavation reports (Mohen & Scarre, Barday et al.) and two works ofsynthesis (Harding, Malmer). They address aspects of a distinctivenorthern European Neolithic; one that owes its content to bothindigenous Mesolithic communities and Central European farmers, onecharacterised by monumental constructions, mobile existences (to varyingdegrees) and novel material practices. Bougon Mohen and Scarre report on the investigation of an importantcomplex of megalithic meg��a��lith?n.A very large stone used in various prehistoric architectures or monumental styles, notably in western Europe during the second millennium b.c. tombs in the Poitou-Charentes region of westernFrance. A long history of investigation is described, beginning in the1840s, though the bulk of the volume is dedicated to the final report onthe excavation and restoration of the complex undertaken between 1968and 1986. The later stages of that work (from 1980 onwards) wereundertaken by an Anglo-French team, and that international co-operationis reflected in the institutional affiliation of the post-excavationspecialists. The complex at Bougon comprises a compact cemetery of fivemegalithic tombs situated in a gently undulating landscape south of theLoire. A low stone wall sub-divides the cemetery into eastern (theearliest) and western (latest) halves. According to the excavators'interpretation, construction began during the Middle Neolithic, around4700 BC, with the creation of two passage-graves, one of which (F) wasprogressively enlarged over a period of half a millennium or more tocreate a long mound with a second chamber at its northern end; very mucha monument in motion. Other megalithic structures were then added duringthe late fifth and fourth millennia BC (associated with Chasseenceramics), while the deposition of human remains and artefacts continuedwell into the final Neolithic. Unfortunately, the sequence is not assolid as might be wished for, with only 20 radiocarbon dates obtainedfor the complex, and nearly all of these on human bone from the chamberdeposits rather than secure constructional contexts. Mohen and Scarre draw attention to the striking diversity ofarchitectural forms and traditions encapsulated in these monuments. Theyconclude there is no simple linear typological sequence but, instead,evidence of innovation and originality, with certain sites being subjectto repeated modification over generations. In addition to acting asrepositories for the deposition of human remains and artefacts, thesestructures also provided backdrops for other activities and ceremonies:they worked as part of a larger choreographed landscape of monuments,being ringed by other megalithic structures. Occupation occurred nearby,the tombs acting 'as sentinels which supervised dailyactivity' (p. 221). It is speculated, not unreasonably, that thesite could have been of preexisting significance. A large assemblage of human bone (23 000 pieces) was recovered fromthe more recent excavations, and is reported on in detail by Duhig andothers. Nineteenth century accounts suggest the presence of 200 or soindividuals in the massive chamber of mound A, though this is thought tobe an exaggeration. Of particular interest is evidence of multipletrepanations. Several chambers were the focus for repeated depositionsof human bone and complex patterns of treatment; processes and practicesfound at various times and places across much of Neolithic northwestEurope. During the fourth and earlier third millennia BC, individualburials were placed against two of the tombs. The penultimate chapter offers a thoughtful and wide-rangingdiscussion of the complex, giving it context at a local, regional andwider geographical level. The regional character of the western FrenchNeolithic is stressed; comparison is drawn with the passage-gravecemeteries of Ireland; issues of labour mobilisation and participation,pilgrimage and cosmology are touched upon. Finally, there is a review ofthe conservation of the site and its impact on popular culture andimagination. Some aspects of the report could be better. The presentation ofstructural detail from the excavations is thin (compare, at the otherend of the spectrum, the report on the Hazleton North long cairn cairn,pile of stones, usually conical in shape, raised as a landmark or a memorial. In prehistoric times it was usually erected over a burial. A barrow is sometimes called a cairn. (Saville 1990)), and hinders re-analysis from the publication itself. Anumber of figures are considerably over-reduced, particularly key plansand sections (e.g. Figures 40 and 80), and additional illustration ofthe structure of the monuments would be helpful. Nonetheless, this is anattractive, interesting and scholarly volume, which is given enhancedvalue by serving as a biographical account of the site as much as aconventional excavation report. Note should be made of the list ofdistinguished visitors to the excavations (including Daniel, De Laet,Joussaume, Piggott); and for those, like Glyn Daniel, who believe goodmegaliths and good food go together, the final figure is a reproductionof a goat's cheese wrapper depicting 'Le Dolmen dolmen(dŏl`mĕn, dōl–)[Breton,=stone table], burial chamber consisting of two or more upright stone slabs supporting a capstone or table, typical of the Neolithic period in Europe. See megalithic monuments. deBougon'. Cursus From stone to earth, and from the dosed intimacy of megalithicchambers to the open spaces of cursus monuments: the latter areenigmatic and impressive constructions, apparently unique to Britain andIreland, but drawing upon a tradition of linear monumental constructionof ultimately European origin. They remain poorly understood, not leastbecause of the limited scale of much excavation and the general dearthof artefactual adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.2. made by human actions.Adj. 1. artefactual - of or relating to artifactsartifactual material recovered from them. In this attractivelyproduced volume, Barclay et al. report on the excavation of two cursusmonuments at Drayton, Oxfordshire, and Lechlade, Gloucestershire. Thisis a landscape with a wealth of Neolithic archaeology (including theimportant fourth--early second millennium BC complexes at Radley andDorchester-on-Thames) focused on the gravel terraces of the Thames andits tributaries. While ostensibly os��ten��si��ble?adj.Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity. presenting an excavation report, theauthors take the opportunity to review other cursus sites in the regionand situate sit��u��ate?tr.v. sit��u��at��ed, sit��u��at��ing, sit��u��ates1. To place in a certain spot or position; locate.2. To place under particular circumstances or in a given condition.adj. the results in a wide-ranging discussion. Worthy of mentionare the evocative photographs that preface each chapter, of skulls,earthworks, pots and other materials in eerily empty landscapes: thereader should take time to absorb these images that speak of past andpresent encounters and connections. Reporting and discussion of the Drayton cursus occupies much of thevolume (183 pages), but this is a massive monument. Extending over 1.5kmand straddling a tributary of the Thames, the Drayton cursus has a longhistory of investigation, going back to the pioneering work of E.T.Leeds in 1921-37. More recently sections of the monument were excavatedby the Oxford Archaeological Unit and others, in advance of gravelextraction. As with the Mohen and Scarre volume, this report is anexercise in pulling together the fragments from varied episodes ofinvestigation. Evidence is presented of activity prior to construction,including clearance and possible occupation. Upper Palaeolithic,Mesolithic and earlier Neolithic flintwork from a pre-alluvial groundsurface hint at an extended history of activity and conceivably analready significant place by the time the monument was created. Thesegmented ditch and bank of the cursus were created around 3600-3300 BC,perhaps in a series of stages (four are suggested). Although littlematerial was deliberately deposited in the cursus ditch, the reportdescribes how the monument became the focus for later Neolithic burialsand pit depositions, and an Early Bronze Age barrow cemetery. Also included are summary reports on the investigation of latersites in and around Drayton, including a Middle Bronze Age enclosure andmini-henge at Corporation Farm to the north, and Iron Age, Roman andSaxon agricultural and settlement features in and around the cursus.Roman fields used the axis of the the diameter of the sphere which is perpendicular to the plane of the circle.See also: Axis earlier monument, and some wellpreserved cultivation traces were discovered under the floodplain floodplain,level land along the course of a river formed by the deposition of sediment during periodic floods. Floodplains contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes. alluvium al��lu��vi��um?n. pl. al��lu��vi��ums or al��lu��vi��aSediment deposited by flowing water, as in a riverbed, flood plain, or delta. Also called alluvion. . One might question whether this volume was the appropriateplace to publish the results of this work but its inclusion doesacknowledge the influence of the physical presence of the cursus on thelater structuring and inhabitation of the landscape. Work on the Lechlade cursus took place during 1965 and 1985. Thiswas a much smaller and more formal enclosure than that at Drayton, witha continuous rather than segmented ditch, and constructed in what mayhave been a relatively 'empty' later fourth millennium BClandscape. Nonetheless, the report highlights similarities with the'afterlives' of other Thames Valley cursus sites, includingartefact See artifact. deposition, the placing of Beaker burials and later creation ofa round barrow cemetery. Both Drayton and Lechlade share aconstructional idiosyncrasy idiosyncrasy/id��io��syn��cra��sy/ (-sing��krah-se)1. a habit peculiar to an individual.2. an abnormal susceptibility to an agent (e.g., a drug) peculiar to an individual. : more substantial ditches on their easternsides. While the authors suggest this results from the creation of amarking-out or 'master ditch', dug before the other, it couldequally represent an instance of the kind of deliberate constructionalasymmetry seen in earlier long mounds in Britain and northern France. The final chapters pull together the available evidence of cursussites in the Upper Thames Valley--a useful addition, with detailedcropmark transcriptions and an assessment of the status of eachsite--and provide a broader review of these monuments in the region andelsewhere. Here, considered discussion is provided about the developmentof Drayton and analogous sites, and their relationships to topographicfeatures, contemporary monuments and settlement, as well as lateractivities. It is suggested that cursus monuments could have done manythings: marking existing significant axes marked by paths, mortuaryenclosures and other features; acting as ceremonial pathways; creatingsymbolic and physical barriers; incorporating and linking existingplaces and topographic features of importance; defining socialterritories; and so forth. Physical links to long barrows and theso-called mortuary endosures and, by extension to rites surrounding thedead, broader themes of transformation, are reiterated. Significant inthe case of Drayton, Lechlade and other sites in the region is theirrelationship to the River Thames: it is observed that many run parallelto the course of the River, while several terminate close to tributarystreams. We are left with a sense of the 'polysemous' natureof these constructions, and perhaps the inappropriateness in attemptingto pin down a dosed set of meanings or roles, beyond shared linearityand the connection of places. Barclay et al. are to be congratulated, both for their work inpulling together and making coherent a series of disparatedevelopment-led excavations, and in contextualising that work through avaluable extended discussion that enhances our understanding of laterfourth millennium BC monumentality and the region's prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to . Henges Henge monuments presents a useful and attractively produced reviewof recent interpretive approaches to a group of later Neolithicceremonial earthwork earth��work?n.1. An earthen embankment, especially one used as a fortification. See Synonyms at bulwark.2. Engineering Excavation and embankment of earth.3. enclosures that has excited much archaeologicalinterest since first formally recognised in the 1930s. In a series ofconcise chapters, Harding covers the late fourth and early thirdmillennium BC 'origins' of henges within the British Isles;possible meanings and symbolism (including cosmology andhomology--henges as a symbolic representation of the physical world);the experience of encounter, movement, pilgrimage and artefactdeposition; the role of henges in creating and reinstating socialrelations and core cultural values; and an explanation of the mechanismsbehind their eventual abandonment in the Early Bronze Age. Of note is anextended discussion of the important henge complex at Thornborough inYorkshire, which has been the focus of Harding's research over thelast decade. Throughout, the book is well illustrated with many cleanlyreproduced maps, plans and photographs. The text is written in anintelligent and accessible style, and as such is open to a wideaudience, both professional and public. While, at one level, a useful review of the 'state ofplay' in henge studies, elements of the book are provocative.Harding sees the later Neolithic in Britain as a period of marked socialchange, heralding 'new religious beliefs and practices'; aprocess envisaged as so dramatic that it might be described as a'revolution'. Here he posits a decline in traditionalreligious authority based around communal ancestry at the end of thefourth millennium BC, and its replacement by an ideology in whichspecific individuals or descent groups became important. Henges areemblematic of this 'break with the past', 'a tear inhistory'. In Marxist mode, such transformations are viewed asresulting from internal social tensions. Controversially, at one point,Harding hints obliquely at a major perhaps Icelandic volcanic eruptionaround 3195 BC creating sufficient disruption to bring about such socialinstability and the emergence of new beliefs. With greater architecturalformality, seen with geometric layout and the frequent employment ofinternal timber and stone settings, henges are different in kind tofourth millennium BC traditions of enclosure. But there are sharedfeatures, including the purposeful deposition of materials and communalendeavour expressed in their creation, which could suggest points incommon across the fourth and third millennia BC rather than radicalideological transformation. As a point of detail, to assume thatancestral beliefs were no longer central in the third millennium BCworld because of the relative dearth of human bone from these sitesignores how the pivotal role of ancestral spirits might be expressedthrough other means, including the very materiality of these monuments(cf. Parker Pearson & Ramilisonina 1998). The other end of the story is of quiet change rather thanrevolution. The 'demise' of henge monuments and the widespreadappearance of single burials under round barrows during the Early BronzeAge is here argued to result from a gradual renegotiation ofsociopolitical so��ci��o��po��li��ti��cal?adj.Involving both social and political factors.sociopoliticalAdjectiveof or involving political and social factors realities, leading to the development of a set offamily-based beliefs. With both beginning and end, it is encouraging tosee a focus on historical trajectories and change. However, there isalso an uneasy tension, which Harding, to his credit, acknowledges,between the desire to situate these constructions within a grandnarrative of widespread social and ideological transformation, and theplaying out of developments at a local scale: the contingency ofpractice is surely emphasised by the considerable architecturaldiversity of these monuments. There are one or two areas where the author might be taken to task.Operating as they do within the legacy of a post-war, fringe obsessionwith identifying a pan-European cult of Goddess worship, should credencebe given to the theories of sexual symbolism espoused by Dames andMeaden? Is Harding's distinction between early formative henges andlater (post-2800 BC) classic henges viable, given how poorly dated manyof these monuments are? As a coda, British prehistorians should takenote of the need for better chronologies: Harding lists just 32radiocarbon dates from primary henge contexts. Sweden In its scope, Neolithic of south Sweden is the most ambitious ofthe four works. Malmer, a senior figure in Swedish prehistoric studies,sets out to provide a comprehensive overview of the period in a workthat combines much empirical data with an explicitly culture-historicalperspective. With a well defined and socially 'complex' lateMesolithic, a rapid process of Neolithicisation around 4000-3900 BC, anda wealth of fourth and third millennium BC sites and material, southernScandinavia remains a key region for understanding northern EuropeanNeolithic worlds. Within south Sweden itself are some exceptional siteson a European scale, such as the Carlshogen passage grave and Alvastra'pile dwelling'. The book is structured around a review of the archaeologicalevidence relating to the three main cultural groups within the SwedishNeolithic: the Early Neolithic TRB (Funnel Beaker culture); MiddleNeolithic GRK (Pitted Ware culture); and later Neolithic STR (Battle Axeculture). A final section provides an interpretive overview andjustification for the theoretical stance taken. Each culture-specificchapter reviews the evidence by region, and thematically: materialculture, monuments, settlement, votive vo��tive?adj.1. Given or dedicated in fulfillment of a vow or pledge: a votive offering.2. offerings, funerary fu��ner��ar��y?adj.Of or suitable for a funeral or burial.[Latin fner deposits, andso forth. Throughout, there is extended discussion of the typology typology/ty��pol��o��gy/ (ti-pol��ah-je) the study of types; the science of classifying, as bacteria according to type. typologythe study of types; the science of classifying, as bacteria according to type. anddistribution of lithic lith��ic?1?adj.Consisting of or relating to stone or rock.Adj. 1. lithic - of or containing lithium2. lithic - relating to or composed of stone; "lithic sandstone" and ceramic material, and the artefactual andfaunal assemblages from individual sites. AS a consequence, one of thedifficulties of the book is the sheer density of detailed informationpresented, which makes any reading hard going and hinders overview. In line with recent accounts, Maimer places due emphasis on localor indigenous process and innovation in accounting for social andeconomic transformation. The adoption of the 'package' ofpractices that defines the Neolithic is put down to economic andideological innovation among Mesolithic groups, with improved climate asthe triggering factor in the move to food production. Benefits of theshift are seen in stricter social organisation, the potential to producesurplus, and cult activity. In this perspective, the TRB is above all'a mental phenomenon'. While providing a structure around which to order data, theavowedly culture-historical approach is problematic, as well as givingthe book a very out-dated feel. Archaeological cultures are constructsof our own making that impose an artificial order, boundedness andidealisation n. 1. Same as idealization.Noun 1. idealisation - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one badidealization on the complexity and messiness of past human experience.Running across the constructed cultural divisions of the TRB, GRK andSTR are many practices in common: traditions of votive offering in waterand wetlands; ephemeral settlement architecture (and, by inference,mobility); collective and ancestral values expressed through monumentalarchitecture (here including Alvastra); and varied economies, whichcould include a significant reliance on hunting and fishing. A moreinteresting story could be told by looking at the genealogy of certainpractices and modes of symbolic expression, as indeed has been providedby Tilley (1996). The final chapter offers a justification for the approach, and aninsight into the author's philosophy on archaeological enquiry. Heexpresses the latter under the twin themes of objectivity and actualism(a uniformity over time in processes and what it is to be human). Onesenses that the author is unsettled by the relativism of post-modernpositions, and that here is his 'counterblast'. Yet such aphilosophy is not applied in the preceding chapters: one can certainlynot claim the use of culture-historical models as 'objective'and methodologically neutral. This is a strange offering that sitsuneasily with the rest of the volume. The Neolithic of south Sweden stands as a mixed production: rich indetail and displaying an encyclopaedic Adj. 1. encyclopaedic - broad in scope or content; "encyclopedic knowledge"encyclopediccomprehensive - including all or everything; "comprehensive coverage"; "a comprehensive history of the revolution"; "a comprehensive survey"; "a comprehensive education" knowledge of the material butlooking theoretically out-dated and divorced from much of thecontemporary debate within archaeology in general and Neolithic studiesin particular. References PARKER PEARSON, M. & RAMILISONINA. 1998. Stonehenge for theancestors: the stones pass on the message. Antiquity 72: 308-26. SAVILLE, A. 1990. Hazleton North: the excavation of a Neolithiclong cairn of the Cotswold-Severn group. London: English Heritage. TILLEY, C. 1996. An ethnography of the Neolithic: early prehistoricsocieties in southern Scandinavia. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). . Joshua Pollard, Department of Archaeology & Anthropology,University of Bristol, Bristol, UK