Inventing the Neolithic? Putting evidence-based interpretation back into the study of faunal remains from causewayed enclosures.

ArticleThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in World Archaeology on 2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00438243.2015.1072476The paper argues that our current understanding of the animal bones from causewayed enclosure sites in Britain is flawed. During the 1980-90s, a number of key interpretations, still frequently espoused, were based more upon anecdote and theory-driven assertion than on empirical evidence. An example is that evidence of bone processing (butchery and bone fracture) does not feature heavily in the faunal record from causewayed enclosures. Using data from the sites of Etton and Staines, this view must now be questioned. Both butchery and peri-mortem bone fracture are present in these assemblages in substantial quantities. These sites are compared with Ludwinowo 7, a Linearbandkeramik settlement site in Poland and there are considerable similarities between the three different sites. This suggests possibility that the broader economic utility of animal bone assemblages at causewayed enclosures has been underestimated, having been, up to now, regarded as ‘not indicative of domestic settlement’

The end of the world, or just ‘Goodbye to all that’? Contextualising the red deer heap from the Links of Noltland, Westray, within late third millennium cal BC Orkney

As part of a major international research project, The Times of Their Lives, a programme of radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling was undertaken to refine the chronology of activities in one small but important part of the extensive Late Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement on Links of Noltland on the island of Westray, Orkney. The selected area (Trench D) is well known for having produced, next to a wall, the remains of a heap of at least 15 red deer carcasses, on top of which had been placed a large cod, a gannet’s wing along with part of a greater black-backed gull, and a pair of large antlers. This remarkable deposit had been preceded by, and was followed by, periods of cultivation and the deposition of domestic refuse. Refined date estimates have been produced, based on 18 radiocarbon determinations obtained from 16 samples from Trench D (including nine newly obtained dates, three from individual deer in the heap). These clarify when, during this long sequence of activities, the deer were heaped up: probably in the 22nd century cal bc, around the same time as Beaker pottery was deposited elsewhere on the Links. This allows comparison between the dated activities in this part of the site with activity elsewhere on the Links and also with other episodes of deer deposition in 3rd-millennium cal bc Orkney. It encourages exploration of the possible reasons for what appears to be a remarkable act of structured deposition. The significance of an earlier, much larger scale deposit featuring cattle remains at Ness of Brodgar is discussed in exploring the nature of Orcadian society and practices during the second half of the 3rd millennium cal bc

Auditory ossicles: a potential biomarker for maternal and infant health in utero

YesBackground: Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios of collagen from teeth and bone are used to study human nutrition and health. As bones are constantly remodelling throughout life, isotopic values of bone collagen represent an average of several years. In contrast, human teeth do not remodel and their primary dentine contains only the isotopic data from the time of formation. In contrast to all other bones, human auditory ossicles also appear not to remodel. As they develop in utero and finish formation in the first 2 years of life, their collagen should also represent isotopic values of these two relatively short periods. Aim: By comparing δ13C and δ15N data from ossicles and incremental dentine, this study aims to investigate how two developmental periods of the ossicles, in utero and the first 2 years of life, reflect in collagen obtained from the ossicles. Subject and methods: Ossicle and tooth samples of 12 individuals aged 0.5 ± 0.4 years to 13 ± 1 years from the nineteenth century St. Peter’s burial ground in Blackburn were collected and processed to obtain bulk bone and incremental dentine collagen which was measured for δ13C and δ15N. Results: Averaged δ13C and δ15N of ossicles are lower when compared to every age group except after 3 years of age. Average offset between ossicles and dentine of different groups ranges from 0.4–0.9‰ for δ13C and from 0.3–0.9‰ for δ15N, with highest counterbalance at birth and after the first 5 months after birth. Conclusions: There appears to be a systematic offset between the dentine and ossicle data. It seems that the second phase of development does not influence the isotopic values of collagen significantly and the data we are obtaining from ossicles represents the in utero period.Research grant from The Society for the Study of Human Biology

An evaluation of the Late MN 9 (Late Miocene, Vallesian Age) Hipparion assemblage from Rudabánya (Hungary): systematic background, functional anatomy and paleoecology

KRETZOI 1983 reconoció una nueva especie de hipparion de Rudabánya, «Hipparion» intrans. El estudio de la asociación completa de Rudabánya II confirma que la especie de hipparion predominante en esta localidad es realmente el taxon válido Hippotherium intrans. Una segunda especie de hipparion menor y más rara aún sin nombre se reconoce por sólo sus dientes yugales procedentes de los niveles de lignito superiores. Nuestro trabajo sobre la anatomía postcraneal de la muestra de Hippotherium intrans sugiere que esta especie era un miembro avanzado con patas alargadas del linaje de Hippotherium primigenium VON MEYER 1829. El análisis del mesodesgaste... (Ver más) dental sugiere que Hippotherium intrans era un herbívoro mixto: tanto ramoneador como pastador. Sobre la evidencia presentada, creemos que en Rudabánya Hippotherium intrans habitó ambientes más abiertos que los de las facies pantanosas en las que se encuentra: estas facies ricas en primates aparecen haber sido sólo un abrevadero local de hipparion.KRETZOI 1983 recognized a new species of hipparion from Rudabánya, «Hipparion» intrans. Study of the entire Rudabánya II assemblage confirms that the predominante hipparion species at this locality is indeed the valid taxon Hippotherium intrans. A second, smaller and rarer species of hipparion, hitherto unnamed, is recognized only by cheek teeth originating from the overlying upper lignite levels. Our work on the postcranial anatomy of the Hippotherium intrans sample suggests that this species was an elongate-limbed advanced member of the Hippotherium primigenium VON MEYER 1829 lineage. Analysis of dental mesowear suggests that Hippotherium intrans... (Ver más) was a mixed feeder: it ate both graze and browse. Based on evidence presented here, we believe that at Rudabánya Hippotherium intrans inhabited more open country environments than the swamp facies in which it was found: this primate-rich facies would appear to have been nothing other than a local hipparion watering-hole

The end of the world, or just ‘Goodbye to all that’? Contextualising the red deer heap from the Links of Noltland, Westray, within late third millennium cal BC Orkney

As part of a major international research project, The Times of Their Lives, a programme of radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling was undertaken to refine the chronology of activities in one small but important part of the extensive Late Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement on Links of Noltland on the island of Westray, Orkney. The selected area (Trench D) is well known for having produced, next to a wall, the remains of a heap of at least 15 red deer carcasses, on top of which had been placed a large cod, a gannet’s wing along with part of a greater black-backed gull, and a pair of large antlers. This remarkable deposit had been preceded by, and was followed by, periods of cultivation and the deposition of domestic refuse. Refined date estimates have been produced, based on 18 radiocarbon determinations obtained from 16 samples from Trench D (including nine newly obtained dates, three from individual deer in the heap). These clarify when, during this long sequence of activities, the deer were heaped up: probably in the 22nd century cal bc, around the same time as Beaker pottery was deposited elsewhere on the Links. This allows comparison between the dated activities in this part of the site with activity elsewhere on the Links and also with other episodes of deer deposition in 3rd-millennium cal bc Orkney. It encourages exploration of the possible reasons for what appears to be a remarkable act of structured deposition. The significance of an earlier, much larger scale deposit featuring cattle remains at Ness of Brodgar is discussed in exploring the nature of Orcadian society and practices during the second half of the 3rd millennium cal bc