Settlement & Landscape Archaeology

Die Erforschung der Bronzezeit in Oberösterreich war im 20. Jh. ebenso wie in zahlreichen anderen Regionen geprägt von den Quellengattungen der Gräber und Horte. Siedlungen spielten in der Diskussion aufgrund der Quellenlage keine große Rolle. Ungeachtet einiger Fortschritte der letzten Jahrzehnte – zu nennen ist beispielsweise die Untersuchung der frühbronzezeitlichen Höhensiedlung auf der Burgwiese bei Ansfelden – bleiben weiterführende Arbeiten zu bronzezeitlichen Siedlungen außerordentlich selten. Im vorliegenden Beitrag soll daher zunächst der Forschungsstand zu den Siedlungen der Bronzezeit in Oberösterreich umrissen und darauf aufbauend die Ergebnisse der 2005 und 2009 in Gilgenberg-Bierberg durchgeführten Ausgrabungen vorgestellt werden. Durch diese bauvorgreifenden Untersuchungen wird erstmals ein besserer Einblick in die spätbronze- bzw.  urnenfelderzeitliche Siedlungstätigkeit in Oberösterreich möglich.

The Cyclades islands in the South Aegean initially attracted the attention of prehistorians approaching islands as ‘laboratories’ for the study of cultural development, examining the notions of ‘isolation’ and ‘connectivity’, or, more recently, by introducing new terminologies, such as ‘seascape’ and ‘islandscape’. The wealth of material remains of the post-medieval era in the Cyclades islands (e.g., ecclesiastical architecture, ceramics) and the textual record available (e.g., Ottoman tax registers, travellers’ accounts) provide fascinating evidence regarding the construction of sacred landscapes, self-expression, community, and maritime identities throughout the period of Ottoman domination. The main aim of this article is to examine the historical contingencies and the distribution of a vast number of rural churches, primarily as evidence for religious expression, in order to capture island dynamics and the formation of religious and community identities, as imprinted onto the sa...

Geophysical survey coupled with trial excavation and cartographic analysis have revealed large but discrete regions in south Somerset and Dorset in which rectilinear field systems have been fossilised in the modern landscape. Excavation has shown these field systems to originate in the late prehistoric period and continue in use, albeit in a modified state, and with fluctuating intensity, into the modern era. This observation is of great significance for the early medieval period, because it suggests that there was relative stability in the rural economy from the Late Roman to the Late Saxon period. Land division and land holding may also have continued, until the establishment of manors and nucleated villages during the Late Saxon period.
Further analysis of communications and dispersed settlement patterns associated with these field systems has given rise to a new model for the distribution of dispersed settlement and the subdivision of land units within areas of rectilinear field systems.

Inferences about the nature of site occupation address issues of group size, the range and types of activities
conducted, and relative duration of occupation. Assemblage diversity, task sets assessed by a variety of
criteria including microwear, and evaluation of spatial organization are often among the primary analytic
dimensions employed. Here, we apply analysis of several of these different dimensions, as well as information
from transient and logistic locales at Malham Tarn, Otley, and elsewhere, to the Mesolithic Malham Tarn Site
A in northern England, a spatially extensive and at times intensive occupation. In regional context Tarn Site
A is a ‘persistent place’ on the landscape; a known, provisioned, and regularly visited location in a larger
regional framework. We attribute this to prominent landscape features acting as wayfinding ‘anchor points’
in the hunter-gatherer landscape. Smaller investigated sites appear to have assemblage ‘packages’, often
centred around hearth features, that can inform us about the nature of larger sites. We propose that Tarn
A is taphonomically consistent with palimpsests of episodic small group use, coupled with larger group
residential activity.

Author: Manolis I. Stefanakis. xii+192 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white. Papers in English and Greek.. 52 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784917685. Epublication ISBN 9781784917692.

Abstract
The area of Kymissala on the southwest coast of Rhodes is of great archaeological interest, as it conceals a large number of important archaeological sites belonging to the lesser known ancient deme of the Rhodian countryside, the deme of Kymissaleis. The region is also of exceptional environmental and ecological importance, as it has a particular biodiversity and is protected by the European ‘Natura 2000’ network of nature protection areas.
Kymissala has systematically been researched during the past 10 years by the Kymissala Archaeological Research Project (KARP) inaugurated by the Department of Mediterranean Studies and the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese in 2006.
The research, escaping from its narrow academic and archaeological context and exploiting the comparative advantage of the region, may –and should– inter alia, intervene in a mild and sustainable manner in the promotion of the archaeological site of Kymissala. Its ultimate goal is to promote the antiquities of the area, its educational value and its historical and cultural continuity within a protected natural environment, in the context of an ecological-archaeological park.
Under the title Kymissala: Archaeology – Education – Sustainability, fourteen original studies have been published, constituting the first complete presentation of the area of Kymissala and the work in progress, after ten years of systematic research, in terms of Archaeology, Education and Sustainable Development.

From Skarkos to Poliochni: observations on the socio-economic development of the EBA settlements in the Cyclades and the islands of the Northeast Aegean

On the basis of the most recent excavation data from the Cyclades and the islands of the Northeast Aegean, a comparative study between the settlements of the two regions during the EBA is attempted. The aim of the study is to understand better the similarities and differences at the level of material culture and, by extension, at the level of socio-economic organization, between the two areas. Skarkos on Ios and Poliochni on Limnos are used as representative examples for the Cyclades and the islands of the Northeast Aegean respectively, and, where necessary evidence from other settlements are included as well. At Skarkos only one phase of habitation, corresponding chronologically to the end of the Keros-Syros group period, has been confirmed by excavation to date. At Poliochni, the phases of occupation start from the Neolithic era, span the whole of the EBA and continue to the later periods.

The size of Skarkos is estimated at approx. 1.1 hectares, whereas the extent of Poliochni Green and Red (periods III-IV) is estimated at approx. 1.385 hectares and that of Poliochni Yellow (period V) at approx. 1.5 hectares. Consequently, Poliochni was approx. some 0.3 to 0.4 hectares larger than Skarkos. However, this does not necessarily imply that the population of Poliochni was proportionately larger than that of Skarkos, because Poliochni consisted of one-storey buildings.

The level of town planning appears to be equal at Skarkos and Poliochni. The adaptation of the town plan to the geomorphology, specifically the low hill on which each settlement was built, is excellent. There is also a correspondence in the separation of areas of private and common use in both sites. Recent research at the settlement of Markiani on Amorgos has shown that there were walled settlements in the Cyclades already from the Keros-Syros group period and possibly from the earlier Grotta-Pelos group period. The latter corresponds partly to Poliochni period II (Poliochni Blue period) during which the walls of the town were erected. At Poliochni there were communal wells for drawing water, whereas in the Cycladic settlements the source of drinking water was outside the site, as the evidence from Ayia Irini on Keos demonstrates. Both Poliochni and some Cycladic settlements, such as Ayia Irini on Keos and Markiani on Amorgos, featured drainage systems for rainwater.

Skarkos and Poliochni both developed in an agglomerative manner, yet the different geomorphology of the heights on which they were built and the different architectural tradition resulted in: two-storey buildings with independent external walls at Skarkos and one-storey buildings with common external walls with the neighbouring buildings at Poliochni. At both sites, some of the buildings are larger and more complex than others, a feature indicating social stratification. The houses in both settlements are otherwise similar in architectural arrangement and basic functions. The courtyards were used, apart from their other functions, as cooking areas at Skarkos on Ios, Kastri on Syros and Emborio on Chios.

Certain similarities between the artefacts of Skarkos and Poliochni are present as well. Large barrel-shaped pithoi for the storage of goods and ellipsoidal stone querns for the grinding of cereals were common in both settlements. Clay spoons, disk-shaped objects made of potsherds, simple or pierced, bone tubes and pointed tools are included in the household equipment at both sites. Finally, in both settlements a statement of ownership or personal identity was necessary, as the seals found at Poliochni and the seal-impressed rectangular clay objects excavated at Skarkos reveal.

This paper examines Mesolithic hunter-gatherer occupation of mountain landscapes in Northern England. It combines data from new lithic analyses and site characterisations with anthropological lines of evidence in order to reappraise current models for understanding Mesolithic use of  the landscape.  It proposes a radically new narrative that intimately links hunter-gatherer mobility strategies with stone tool use and flexible ways of inhabiting and exploiting the changing landscape.  It concludes that the Mesolithic sites in this case study were situated on traditionally used transit routes across the mountains and were adjacent to culturally important 'handrail' landmarks. Furthermore, an analysis of site investment features demonstrates that a number of sites were intended to be revisited on a future occasion.  Therefore it is argued that sites were likely to have been culturally and functionally significant persistent places.
Keywords: Mesolithic, landmarks, lithics, hearths, cache, structures, mobility, site distribution, taskscape, 'nomadology', Deleuze.

This paper focuses on unravelling the 1st millennium AD in the present-day Netherlands and the applicability of modelling when studying the past. By presenting the results of several studies analysing changes (or persistence) in connectivity and habitation patterns, the significance of these findings for (spatial) modelling is derived. The transition between the Roman and early-medieval periods is particularly interesting in this respect as it is characterised by severe pan-European political, socio-economic and demographic changes. Additionally, recent studies in geosciences increasingly point to marked climatic and landscape changes, such as river avulsions and floods, occurring at the same time. The extent to which these environmental and cultural dynamics were entwined and mutually influential is generally unknown, especially on larger-scale levels. Lowlands, such as the Netherlands, are especially suited to study these complex interactions since boundary conditions, i.e. the se...

The authors compare results of archaeological survey and interviews with local residents focusing on their knowledge of past. Archaeological and ethnological research were conducted at the beginning of 2013 in a small village (Jawgul) at the Third Cataract region (North Sudan). Two fortified sites, mosque and three Quranic schools have been documented. The authors recognised a settlement pattern which was visible when the spatial distribution of modern and post-medieval buildings was examined.