Agathe Reingruber

Eine Konstante in der prähistorischen Archäologie ist die Unterteilung von Gemeinschaften in solche vor der Sesshaftwerdung und solche, die sesshaft lebten. Der Übergang von (weitestgehend) ortsunabhängigen jagenden, fischenden und sammelnden Gruppen zu ortsgebundenen, bäuerlich lebenden Gemeinschaften ist in verschiedenen Regionen zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten vollzogen worden: im Vorderen Orient im 10. Jahrtausend v. Chr., in der Ägäis im 7. Jahrtausend und in Mittel-Europa im 6. Jahrtausend v. Chr.
Im Becken von Sykourio, Thessalien, zeichnet sich in bestimmten, womöglich klimatisch bedingten Perioden, ein Lebens- und Wirtschaftsmodell mit einer mobilen Sesshaftigkeit ab. Entweder in Ergänzung oder als Ersatz für eine ortskonstante Siedlungsweise, die zur Bildung von Tells (Magulen) führte, kam es zu wiederholten Ortswechseln, die nur dünne Ablagerungen hinterließen.

In the Near East, the primary Neolithization zone, the “Neolithic Bauplan” (Zeder 2009), was pieced together over several millennia. In the Aegean, the secondary Neolithization zone, we similarly cannot speak of a singular moment when the Neolithic way of life was established, but compared to the more than 10,000 years of its finalization in the Fertile Crescent (Zeder 2009:18), its implementation in southeast Europe lasted “only” some 500 years. During this half millennium of transformations, we can observe a transfer of innovations from one region to its neighbors – thus a far-reaching net of exchange and communication was established. Its basis was already formed during the Mesolithic as can be demonstrated by the exchange networks and the occurrence of obsidian from Melos in most of the Aegean.

In order to study more intensively the area south of Mt Olympos and west of Mt Ossa, a joint Greek-German project has been initiated, under the auspices of the Ephorate of Antiquities in Larissa, in collaboration with the Free University of Berlin and the support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation – Project number RE 1699/2-1). The two main targets of the project are: (1) the study of artifacts collected during surface surveys of prehistoric sites in the said area, now kept in the storerooms of the Ephorate of Antiquities in Larissa, and (2) the continuation of the systematic survey of this area, carried out by the Ephorate of Antiquities. Among the main goals of the survey project is the analysis of the landscape, based on historical and modern descriptions and maps, on Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and on personal observations. Judging by the evidence supplied by the survey project, we suggest that the northeasternmost part of Thessaly is not an integral part of the Thessalian Plain, but forms a separate small sedimentary basin.

This chapter presents data on impressed decorated vessels from the Neolithic of the circum-Aegean, focusing on the north-western Aegean, where they are most common. Included are mainly those sites that have been reliably radiocarbon dated, where the contexts of impressed sherds were well-documented and their frequency indicated. Our intention is to show where and when the highest concentrations of impressed sherds with the greatest variety of styles occurred. By revealing the origin of this specific category of finds, we conclude that the transfer of e.g., ceramic styles in the Aegean region was not uni- but multidirectional, which ultimately challenges the ex oriente lux model.

Spondylus gaederopus is a bivalve marine mollusc that has been used in the Aegean since the Neolithic as a raw material for ornaments, such as beads and bracelets. Less well known is that the upper, smaller, crimson valve was also used as a utilitarian object. In the case of completely preserved valves it is often assumed that these were brought to the settlements as raw material for the production of ornaments. In the context of this short contribution, a different interpretation will be proposed: During the intensive surface excavations in north-eastern Thessaly, several Spondylus valves were discovered, which are interpreted here as spoon bowls due to their shape, the well-thumbed lock and the worn edges. Their use as spoons could also explain the lack of bone spoons at most Aegean sites. Because of the constant availability of the raw material shell near the coast, it was not only used in the Early Neolithic, but also in later periods, even in the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age.

Chronological frameworks as we conceive of them today are the result of the investment of many generations of prehistoric archaeologists. Each of these generations has optimised the system by introducing new, partly revolutionary investigation methods such as radiocarbon dating. Even 70 years after its introduction in 1949, our generation still benefits from its potential. Before, comparative stratigraphy and relative chronological evaluation were used to search for simultaneous changes in human behaviour over large areas, leading to the definition of so-called horizons. Later, the first absolute dates both appalled and appealed to archaeologists, changing their perception of the depth of time and synchronicity. Today, sequences of absolute dates suitable for statistically tested models are essential for verifying the existence and duration of such horizons and for making gaps and interruptions more visible. This chapter highlights three timelines that are crucial in such a supra-regional context: the first at the beginning of the Neolithic in the Anatolian-
Aegean sphere, the second at the beginning of the Neolithic in the Aegean-Balkan sphere and the third at the beginning of the Neolithic in the Central European-Danubian sphere.

Thessaly is internationally famous as one of the first regions in Europe to have been inhabited by sedentary farming populations since 6500 BC. Over many centuries, even millennia, some of the first sites founded near the river Pinios (Fig. 1–2) became high mounds, as generation after generation built their clay-houses on the same spot where the previous houses had been demolished (e.g. Argissa and Soufli Magoula). The inhabitants of these locations profited greatly from the resources offered by this year-round flowing river, because water was and is one of the most important natural resources in the history of mankind. But it was not only flowing waters that were of immanent importance for the choice of a settlement site. Standing waters also played an important role in prehistory. Today, such water bodies have largely disappeared from the surface, either since they dried up over the last few decades (Fig. 1) or because modern agriculture craved for even more arable lands, which is why swamps and even lakes have been desiccated. In the discussion related to Neolithic environments and habitats they have played only a marginal role so far.
The attractiveness of a location also depends on other factors, one of which is the availability of raw materials from which effective tools could be produced. High-quality stones are therefore essential, especially during the Stone Age, and at the latest in the Mesolithic various types of chert and obsidian were exchanged over long distances. Starting with the Neolithic, such networks between cooperating and sharing communities can be better understood also on behalf of locally occurring rocks.
Such an area, in which both of the above-mentioned resources (waters and special rocks) are abundant, is the north-easternmost part of Thessaly. In an area of about 15 x 5 km west of Mt Ossa a complex landscape with two intertwined basins extends: The northern Basin of Elateia is drained by the river Pinios, while the southern Basin of Sykourio was until recently dominated by a lake we called «Bara Toibasi» (Fig. 3–4). Thanks to modern GPS-equipment, high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their analysis tools, we can conclude that some of the sites Nessonis 1 to Nessonis 7 (N1-N7 on the map Fig. 1) were located near the shore of the lake. Its exact extent and its importance for prehistoric communities still need to be clarified, but it is obvious that its volume must have been larger in times of higher rainfall than its remains indicate on historical maps. In the Basin of Elateia, most of the prehistoric sites seem to have been concentrated near running waters, especially at the confluence of two streams, as in the case of Makrychori (M1), Elateia 1 (E1) or Bounarbasi.
In this research area we study the first appearance of prehistoric populations and the way they used the landscape and its resources during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (6600/6500–3300 BC). The two main basins differ not only in the type of water resources they contain(ed), but also in the way the raw materials were used by prehistoric populations. We could prove that rocks from the surrounding hills were already used by the first sedentary inhabitants, as was the case in the flat sites of Nessonis 1-South (EN II) and Elateia 1 («Bigmeni Petra», EN III/MN). A comparison of the rock quantities in the two basins shows some pronounced differences: in Nessonis 1 we found many mortars and pestles for crushing wild plants (Fig. 5), which were carved out of the light marble of the nearby Chassambali Hill. In contrast, in Elateia rather a different type of marble, a greyish variant, was used for tools. And here rounded tools, e.g. pounders (Fig. 7), were made from a high-quality quartz, not often found in the other basin. This quartz was also used for chipped stone tools, but in smaller quantities than the imported obsidian. Serpentinite, a rock that only occurs in the Chassambali Hills, was used to shape a special cutting tool (Fig. 6): We found it in equal quantities throughout the area.
We can conclude that the Neolithic communities of the two basins were economically adapted to the richness of their environment, primarily by using directly available resources, but exchanging high quality rocks such as serpentinite inter-regionally. They were also involved in a major supra-regional exchange, as the high obsidian content in Elateia-Bigmeni Petra proves.

Graphite, one of the softest minerals, is an allotrope of carbon in its most stable form, chemically resistant and difficult to be ignited; it requires high temperatures to react even with oxygen. Since it was used until the end of the 19th century in pencils, it received its name from the ancient Greek word for drawing and/or writing: γράφω. Carbon, on the other hand, is present as a powder and is the main constituent of substances such as charcoal. It occurs with three natural isotopes, one of them being unstable and radioactive. This last, 14C, is a naturally occurring radioisotope mostly confined to the atmosphere and superficial deposits; it is virtually absent in ancient rocks. Graphite has been used since the 5th millennium BC for ornamental purposes on vessels and/or specific parts of vessels. Such decorations are typical for certain regions at certain times, enabling archaeologists to create relative chronologies. The radioactive isotope 14C, on the other hand, can be used for absolute dating after calibration and hence be connected to calendar years. It is about time to join the information regarding both graphite painting and radiocarbon results to create a more comprehensive chronological scheme valid not only for a specific site but also for a larger region. Two vast cultural complexes: Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI (KGK VI) and Sălcuţa-Krivodol-Bubanj Hum (SKBh) were primarily defined according to pottery styles. In both complexes graphite paint occurred together with the use of metals during the 5th millennium BC. At first sight the differences between the complexes seem small. In detail, though, some notable distinctions are obvious, especially regarding the ornaments on vessels.

The Neolithisation process in the steppe and forest steppe has been analysed in the last century mainly with respect to pottery styles and material culture. A different perspective is proposed here: the analysis of the — unfortunately — only few radiocarbon dates can contribute to new insights and may help to overcome linear and unidirectional models for explaining the transformations that happened during the 6th millennium BC. In an attempt to match the absolute and relative chronologies, a model is proposed here that reverses the perspective and suggests that networks and exchanges were operating in different directions, and not exclusively from the southwest (the Balkans) to the northeast (the Pontic) but also the other way around. Certainly, the climatic and vegetational interrelated space of the steppe and forest steppe, connected further by the important rivers of the Danube and the Prut, favoured such networks. The results presented here are far from being final; nevertheless, future 14C dates will certainly contribute to a more adequate picture of this complex and long-lasting process.

One of the most far-reaching changes in human history relates to the overcoming of the dependency from exclusively local resources by domesticating first plants and then animals at the beginning of the Holocene in the Near East. Each generation of archaeologists has reflected on these transformations in the light of the augmented knowledge obtained by new excavations and new analytical methods. The spread of the producing economy from the core area in neighboring regions was interpreted primarily as cultural change, which would have been accomplished by emigrants or colonists. Accordingly, the proposed Neolithisation models include linear movements from east to west that explain the seemingly abrupt cultural change.
Generally, little attention has been paid to the conceptualisation of terms like colonisation or migration as proposed by sociologists. Taking them into account, the focus of this study will be less on the swift cultural change but rather on the slow, intergenerational social change, on the active social mobility (motility). The perspective is not primarily that of newcomers from Neolithic Anatolia but rather that of the Mesolithic Aegean communities. It may not have been the decision of mobile farmers to “colonise” neighbouring areas, but rather that of hunters and gatherers to adopt (selectively) innovations from the areas of origin and to adapt them to their own needs. As active decision-makers, they set in motion a process that led not only to economic but also to social, cultural and genetic changes over several generations.

The relative chronological scheme of the Early Neolithic period in Greece relies on sequences elaborated in the 1950s based on evidence from limited trenches. Between 1950 and 1970 concepts deriving from the Near East were applied also in Aegean archaeology. The terms “Preceramic” and “Aceramic” were adopted shortly after the recognition of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in the “Fertile Crescent.” Culture change was explained predominantly by colonization processes, based on the assumption that all items belonging to the “Neolithic Package” appeared simultaneously in Southeastern Europe at the very beginning of the Neolithic. Fundamental in this model are the economic products (domesticated species) or single objects and their manufacturing techniques (pots and tools). But change seems to explain only partially the processes of the mid-seventh millennium B.C.: attention needs to be focused on the evidence for continuity as well. Therefore, the superordinate systems of social and cultural behaviour (burial customs and exchange networks) are essential in the model presented here. Accordingly, the foundation for the transformations in the Aegean was the mobile way of life for both intra- and extralocal groups of late seafaring foragers-fishers and early seafaring fishers-farmers, with their face-to-face contact resulting in the transfer of innovations. The Neolithization process in the Aegean is in this view the result of connectivities in time (with the Mesolithic) and in space (circum-Aegean).

Der Übergang von der aneignenden zur produzierenden Wirtschaftsweise hat sich im Kerngebiet des Neolithikums, im „Fruchtbaren Halbmond“, sehr allmählich, über Jahrtausende hinweg vollzogen – weniger im Sinne einer „Revolution“ als vielmehr im Sinne eines komplexen Transformationsprozesses. Mit dem Beginn des keramischen Neolithikums um 7.000/6.800 v.Chr. kann diese zukunftsweisende Umgestaltung als abgeschlossen gelten. Nur wenige Jahrhunderte
später, ab ca. 6.700/6.600 v. Chr. gelangten wichtige Neuerungen in die Ägäis, darunter domestizierte Pflanzen- und Tierarten, selektiv auch Keramik und Kleinfunde aus Ton oder Knochen. Die Bestattungssitten, die Rohstoffversorgung und auch das Steingeräteinventar blieben jedoch weitgehend unverändert. Deswegen müssen Narrativen wie die einer massiven Migration oder einer Kolonisation hinterfragt werden. Alternativ sollte vielmehr auch eine kleinräumige Mobilität (Motilität) von Individuen oder Kleingruppen bedacht werden. Basierend auf Netzwerken, die bereits im Mesolithikum der Verbreitung von Rohstoffen (z. B. Obsidian) dienten, konnten sich in dieser Sichtweise Innovationen in der Ägäis durch direkten Austausch ausbreiten. Als wichtige Kontaktregion zwischen der Ägäis und dem Mittelmeerraum kann die südwestanatolische Küste ausgemacht werden.

Traditionally, the prehistory of mankind is separated into the time before and the time after farming emerged. This classical dichotomy between foragers and farmers has led to the predominance of influential narratives related to the spread of farming into Europe, and central among them were those of colonisation and mass migration. Yet, when going into detail, the separation becomes less distinct. As a first step, a clarification is needed concerning the subsistance strategies of forager during the Palaeolithic as opposed to that of the Mesolithic. This is more than appropriate because in the Mesolithic hunting techniques specializations targeting a broad spectrum of animal species - living not only on the ground, but also in the air and in the waters - can be traced. At the same time, a preference for certain types of mammals is observable. It is suggested that such specializations have prepared the grounds for a fast dissemination of the Neolithic economy relying on domesticates.

The neolithisation process of Southeast Europe presents different dynamics: whereas in the Aegean and in the southern Marmara region first permanent settlements appeared around 6700/6600 calBC, near the northern shores of the Sea of Marmara the oldest such sites can be dated to around 6000 calBC, sites near the Black Sea coasts being even younger. Since Thrace is surrounded by the three seas mentioned, marine and terrestrial data from cores and from excavations near the coasts will be compared and evaluated in order to gain better insights into human behaviour (e.g. choice of best settlement locations) at the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic.

The transition from a (predominantly) mobile way of life relying on hunting, fishing and gathering to a (predominantly) sedentary life-style based on farming and animal husbandry is considered in the western Pontic archaeological tradition almost exclusively from a southern, Aegean-Anatolian perspective. Contacts between the steppe and forest steppe of the north-eastern Balkans
and the north-western Pontic were seen as linear and unidirectional; ‘cultures’ were defined almost exclusively on the basis of pottery styles. Not only such traditional viewpoints, but also the political conditions of the 20th century further biased prehistoric research. However, the outer Carpathian region should not be treated as a periphery of the inner Carpathian Cris culture, but as a region of multidirectional exchange networks. Moreover, certain traditions are obviously rooted in the Mesolithic
of that area.

A 14 C database for Southeast Europe and Anatolia (10,000–3000 calBC)
Dear colleagues, in our first update of the 14SEA website about 350 new dates were added to the database. We also took the opportunity to slightly redesign the website, making its structure more logical. For a quick geographical orientation all sites that are included in the excel database are now listed on a new " Sites " page, that we expect will help in tracking down obscure sites more easily. Our aim is to make this 14C dates repository as precise and up-to-date as possible, thus providing a reliable tool to the community. To that end, your feedback is highly appreciated. In addition, we thank those users who made us aware of sets of dates that have escaped our attention, or who provided us with (still) unpublished dates. We are looking very much forward to your comments,
Agathe Reingruber and Laurens Thissen

Some 100 years ago tell sites located along the Lower Danube River began to be investigated and pottery sequences were elaborated. The various relative chronologies that emerged thereby were provided with calendar dates only later through the method of comparative stratigraphy and assigned to the 3rd millennium BC. Fifty years ago the first radiocarbon dates deriving from this region were published: they changed the picture dramatically, pushing the cultural sequence back to the 4th millennium. Finally, with the establishment of high-precision calibration curves after 1983, the 5th millennium could be determined as the time for the duration of the Chalcolithic period in the Balkans. Single radiocarbon datings roughly indicated the centuries to which the different Eneolithic cultures belonged. Today, 50 years after the values – at that time not yet calibrated – were published from Vărăşti in 1963, whole sequences of dates obtained from short-lived materials have become available, the first such sequence from Pietrele, Măgura Gorgana.
The structure of the article is envisaged to reflect methodological progress both in archaeology with improved excavation methods and in archaeometry with the availability of AMS-equipment. More short-lived samples can be obtained through systematic soil flotation for botanical remains, and more precise information is supplied concerning their context. Thus, the length of an archaeological culture or a period can be more precisely contoured and additionally, with statistical modelling, even the duration of single house phases can be estimated.

The absolute chronological position of settlement phases belonging to copper-age tell-sites near the Lower Danube region is still under debate. Based on ceramic sequences several competitive chronologies have been forwarded. Still, the number and the exact duration of the single phases is far from being generally accepted. The ceramic inventories from Pietrele/Romania validate that before using specific shapes and ornaments of ceramic containers as chronological markers one first has to present the assemblage for each house in part since different households were used for different purposes requiring different types of vessel-shapes and ornaments.

Ein wesentlicher Aspekt des sozialen Lebens auf dem Tell „Măgura Gorgana“ bei Pietrele – die wirtschaftliche Organisation – wird in diesem Beitrag aus der Perspektive der Keramikbearbeitung beleuchtet. Ziel der Untersuchung ist nicht eine typologische oder stilistische Besprechung des in fünf Kampagnen auf 250.000 Scherben und 660 Gefäße angestiegenen Fundmaterials. Vielmehr soll die Keramik als Werkzeug zum Erkennen und Definieren von wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Praktiken genutzt werden.

Im überaus reichen Keramikrepertoire des kupferzeitlichen Siedlungshügels „Măgura Gorgana“ beim Dorf Pietrele, Kreis Giurgiu, ist eine bestimmte Gefäßkategorie, nämlich die der Deckel, mit all ihren Varianten gut zu fassen. Dazu gehören große, gewölbte Deckel mit einem Durchmesser über 22 cm, die meist zwei seitliche Griffe aufweisen. Kleine gewölbte Deckel, die mit einem Innenring ausgestattet sind, der exakt in die entsprechende Gefäßmündung passte, besitzen ebenfalls keinen Griff. Eine besondere Kategorie hingegen bilden die konvexen Deckel mit Griffen, die an architektonische Elemente wie z.B. Giebeldächer, erinnern. Ob es sich dabei um Miniaturen von Häusern oder eventuell auch von Ofenkonstruktionen handelt, wird in folgendem Beitrag diskutiert.

Die Tellsiedlungen an der Unteren Donau entstanden in der zweiten Hälfte des 5. Jts. v. Chr. und wurden noch vor 4250 v. Chr. verlassen. Bislang wurden sie als der eigentliche Siedlungsplatz erachtet, aber – wie geomagnetische Prospektionen im Umfeld des Tells „Măgura Gorgana“ bei Pietrele, Kreis Giurgiu, zeigen – am Fuße des Tells befand sich eine ihn umgebende Flachsiedlung. Somit muss die Funktion des Tells neu erörtert werden. Ob seine Bewohner die Elite des Siedlungsgefüges darstellen oder ob von der gesamten Gemeinschaft in den Gebäuden vom Tell bestimmte Tätigkeiten durchgeführt wurden, kann erst der noch zu erbringende direkte Vergleich mit den Funden und Befunden aus der Außensiedlung veranschaulichen.

The Pre-Pottery-Neolithic refers to a period in the Eastern Mediterranean when ceramic containers were not yet in use (although small objects made of clay were already being created). This concept, which reflects a specific and quite unique stage in the development of human history, was
introduced to Aegean prehistory under the term of Preceramic during the 1950’s (e.g., in Argissa-Magoula and Sesklo). Shortly thereafter, a different term, the Aceramic, was applied in the Aegean (e.g., in Knossos) for levels devoid of pottery, although ceramic products were supposedly used in the wider region. In some cases, the thin levels interpreted as Preceramic or as ceramic contained sherds that were regarded as being ntrusive from above (e.g., Argissa-Magoula, Franchthi Cave). The new sequences of radiocarbon dates allow a more precise description of this early period and thereby contribute, not least, also to the clarification of terminological issues.

The tells in the west Pontic region have been under investigation for almost a century now, yet our knowledge
concerning the social organisation of Copper Age communities is still insufficient. Prior to the discovery of the
cemetery near Varna, studies on the social complexity of communities living on tells were rare. However, since the
discovery of the Varna necropolis in 1972 the enormous wealth displayed in merely a few graves led to the implicit
interpretation of tell-sites as proto-cities and urban centres characterised by ‘palaces’, ‘sanctuaries’ and ‘military fortifications’. Caution is advisable here since apart from two recent excavations in Pietrele and Provadia the surroundings
of the numerous tell-sites have not been systematically investigated, and the settlement plans are virtually incomplete. Not a single tell-site has provided enough support to interpret houses as special buildings of a central authority. It is, therefore, impossible to match the outstanding graves in Varna with any corresponding buildings on the mounds. Unlike the wealth in graves in Varna and Durankulak, the wealth of tells is far more evenly dispersed throughout the houses. Still, the complex layout of settlements with houses in rows, separated only by narrow lanes, and with a flat area surrounding
the monumental tells, point to a complex social organisation that was present centuries before urban centres
appeared in the Near East and Anatolia. Craft specialisation, the application of innovative technologies and intensified
communication between regions were the basis for the social transformations of the 5th millennium BC.

The transition from the gathering to the food producing economy in Thessaly is a heavily
debated topic (Thissen 2000; Perlès 2001; Kotsakis 2001; 2003). The state of research did not
improve substantially since the excavations of Vl. Milojcˇic and D. Theocharis in the 50s and
60s of the 20th century. Since their theories are the results of preconceptions and based
rather on tentative than quantitative analysis it is indispensable to thoroughly scrutinize and
re-examine the old documentation. The aim of this paper is not only to find an answer to the
seemingly simple question of whether or not pottery occurred in the lowest levels; more
important are the implications for the beginning of the Neolithic lifestyle in Thessaly when
answering in a positive way.

The Neolithisation process is one of the major issues under debate in Aegean archaeology, since the description of the basal layers of Thessalian tell-settlements some fifty years ago. The pottery, figurines or stamps seemed to be of Anatolian origin, and were presumably brought to the region by colonists. The direct linking of the so-called ‘Neolithic Package’ with groups of people leaving Central Anatolia after the collapse of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B resulted in the colonisation model of the Aegean. This view is not supported by results obtained from natural sciences such as
archaeobotany, radiocarbon analyses, and neutron activation on obsidian. When theories of social networks are brought into the discussion, the picture that emerges becomes much more differentiated and complex.

With the introduction of the radiocarbon method in 1949 and the calibration curve constantly improving since 1965, but especially due to the development of the more accurate accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating some 30 yr
ago, the application of the 14C method in prehistory revolutionized traditional chronological frameworks. Theories and models are adjusted to new 14C sequences, and such sequences even lead to the creation of new theories and models. In our contribution, we refer to 2 major issues that are still heavily debated, although their first absolute dating occurred some decades
ago: 1) the transition from the Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic in the eastern and western Aegean. Very high 14C data for the beginning of the Neolithic in Greece around 7000 BC fueled debates around the Preceramic period in Thessaly (Argissa-Magoula, Sesklo) and the Early Neolithic in Macedonia (Nea Nikomedeia). A reinterpretation of these data shows that the Neolithic in Greece did not start prior to 6400/6300 BC; 2) the beginning and the end of the Chalcolithic period in SE Europe.
Shifting from relative chronologies dating the Chalcolithic to the 3rd millennium BC to an absolute chronology assigning the
Kodžadermen-Gumelni˛a-Karanovo VI cultural complex to the 5th millennium BC, the exact beginning and the end of the
period are still under research. New data from Varna (Bulgaria) and Pietrele (Romania) suggest that start and end of the SE
European Chalcolithic have to be dated deeper into the 5th millennium BC.

In archäologischen Großprojekten mit jahrzehntelanger Laufzeit wird eine Fülle von belastbaren, statistisch relevanten, oft auch diachronen Daten erhoben, die unser Wissen immens bereichern und nicht nur lokal, sondern auch regional bedeutsam sind. Ihre Auswertung und Publikation bedürfen nicht nur eines zeitlichen Vorlaufs, sondern auch einer stringenten Planung, deren Umsetzung aus unterschiedlichsten Gründen mitunter verändert werden muss. Man kann dem Verfasser dieses Bandes gratulieren, dass er trotz solcher Anpassungen sein Ziel nie aus den Augen verloren hat und nun seine reiche Datensammlung samt Auswertung vorgelegt hat.
Die Fülle an Informationen für Experten der Archäozoologie in den Tabellen, für den Kenner der thrakischen Prähistorie in den vergleichenden Auswertungen, für den interessierten Laien in den zahlreichen Überlegungen zur wirtschaftlichen Nutzung der Haustiere sowie zu den Lebensgewohnheiten und dem Verhalten der Wildtiere – diese drei Aspekte werden dem Buch viel Aufmerksamkeit und dem Autor viel Anerkennung bringen: zu recht.

Between 18 April and 26 June 2024, eight lectures on the North Pontic and South Balkan region will be held as part of the AAA Lecture Series on behalf of ARWA. The attached programme was prepared in collaboration with Elke Kaiser. The abstracts were kindly provided by the speakers.

Session R15 is part of the World Neolithic Congress that will take place in Şanlıurfa in November 2024. The deadline for the submission of abstracts has been extended to 20 May 2024. For further information, please also visit the website at
https://www.worldneolithiccongress.org/Default.aspx