In: H. Schwarzberg/V. Becker (eds.), Bodies of Clay. On Prehistoric Humanized Pottery. Proceedings of the Session at the 19th EAA Annual Meeting at Pilsen, 5th September 2013 (Oxford 2017) 63–82., 2017
In many ways, Italy is unique as far as the characteristics of the early Neolithic settlers’ mate... more In many ways, Italy is unique as far as the characteristics of the early Neolithic settlers’ material remains are concerned. Vessel shapes and motives, decoration techniques, but also settlement structures and mortuary rites are very specific and difficult to parallelize with neighbouring Neolithic cultural phenomena.
The paper outlines elements that can be used to connect rather than to separate. Face vessels, especially those with a sign underneath the mouth or nose, find close parallels to examples from the eastern Linear Pottery Culture, and although we have yet to find an explanation for this phenomenon, the similarities are striking. They become all the more intriguing when we remember that these objects are an integral part of the Italian Impresso culture but do not occur in the eastern Adriatic Impresso which is both geographically and culturally closer.
Either, these parallels can be attributed to far-reaching networks, maybe fuelled by an exchange of certain raw materials such as spondylus, flint or other, perishable goods. In such a case, they may point to common sets of religious belief. Or they are the result of a shared origin and developed similar, yet independently. It may be worthwhile to further analyse material remains of these distant regions comprehensively in order to pinpoint other parallels.
Uploads
Books by Valeska Becker
Review: https://journals.openedition.org/acost/2486
Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde Band 83.
Dr. Rudolf Habelt Verlag GmbH, Bonn 2011.
ISBN978-3-7749-3724-6
2 volumes, 882 pages with 43 figures and 183 plates.
Anthropomorphic figurines of the Linear Pottery Culture (LPC) never gained the same attention as other categories of find material of this culture. The aim of this book, therefore, was to analyze anthropomorphic figurines of the LPC with respect to their meaning in the central European middle Neolithic. The procedure included the draft of a catalogue of figural finds, an analysis of features concerning shape and decoration as well as sex, the state of preservation, find situation and the method employed when making them. Subsequently, further figural finds – anthropomorphic vessels, applicated and incised anthropomorphic representations and lugs and knobs – were analyzed and compared with the figurines.
The analyses concerning the shape of anthropomorphic figurines yielded two different groups: group 1, containing figurines whose body is hardly structured, shaped columnar and without legs or feet; and group 2, featuring figurines whose body is structured with more details and who can be subdivided, according to the shaping of their legs, into seated and standing figurines, including some bearing vessels. These two types occur in the whole distribution area of the LPC. Decoration styles reveal regional groups oriented along Europe's main river systems (Danube, Elbe, Rhine).
In order to find out the origin of the figurines and the other figural finds, the investigations were then directed to the south-east European early Neolithic. Briefly figural finds of the Alföld Linear Pottery and, marginally, the early Vinča culture, were examined to define differences and similarities to the LPC. Finally, a glance was thrown on figural finds of the late Neolithic, with the Lengyel, Tisza and Stroked Pottery cultures and the Hinkelstein-Großgartach-Rössen cultural complex. The results gained in the single analyses culminated in a new interpretation of figural finds of the LPC.
Since anthropomorphic figurines are often connected with presumed fertility rites, the analysis of sexual characteristics was necessary. The result was that only one third of all figurines displays a sexual characteristic (mostly female). Combinations of sexual characteristics on different body parts (breasts on the upper body, a pubic triangle on the lower body) are very rare; this means that a fragment without any characteristic can be of no help to determine the sex of the figurine it originally belonged to. The rendering of sexual characteristics is restricted neither to a certain region within the LPC nor to a certain chronological phase.
Both types can likewise be found in the Starčevo-Körös-Criş preceding the LPC and also occur in other cultural groups of the south-east European early Neolithic. Further features like the rare appearance of sexual characteristiscs, the fact that figurines were found exclusively in settlements and that they were regularly and most likely deliberately destroyed can be found in both cultural regions as well. However, the eastern LPC resp. Alföld Linear Pottery culture which is contemporary to the LPC does not feature the two clearly distinguishable types of figurines that are common in the early and middle Neolithic. In contrast, anthropomorphic vessels, especially those from the Szakálhát group, can very well be compared to those from the LPC.
During the late Neolithic, in the western part of the distributional area of the LPC figurines and other figural finds are no longer used while in the east their making flourishes. Reasons for the abandonment of this custom might be pressure from the inside, like changes within the economic or social system, or changes from the outside, like, e.g. the climate, or maybe a mixture of the both, which led to a new orientation in the set of beliefs in the west. The west maybe adopted customs from the Cardial and Epicardial cultures which do not know any figural finds.
Finally the results gained in the analysis were merged and interpreted. Circumstances like a standard production of two different times over a ling time and far geographic distances lead to the conclusion that anthropomorphic figurines of the LPC cannot be seen as toys. Their abstraction which manifests itself in form and decoration seems to point to the fact that no actually existing persons were meant. Sexual characteristics are not overly common and not strongly accentuated, so it is questionable whether figurines were part of some sort of fertility cult. They are not found in a special "cultic architecture" like rondels or caves but rather in ordinary settlements. If their fragmentation can be seen as an act of destruction or a killing and if the repetition of this act is taken into consideration, this might point to the conclusion that it was not worship of a numinous power that played a major role but rather the remembering of a certain incidence – a sacrifice? – which was supposed to be kept in cultural memory in this way.
Papers by Valeska Becker
younger than, the Linear Pottery culture of Austria and Transdanubia and characterized by a special set of pottery shapes and decorations, among
them the so-called tazza carenata, a carinated cup with a handle. Settlements are small and contain house remains mostly in the shape of various pits, but also settlement ditches and palisades. Burials are virtually unknown. The origin of the Fiorano culture is still debated. It appears in northern Italy fully developed, without predecessors. The paper argues for a possible origin in the late Starčevo culture of Transdanubia and close relations with the neighbouring Sopot, Malo Korenovo, Danilo and Linear Pottery cultures.
They are especially common in the Stoicani-Aldeni group, in Bulgaria, in contrast, they are quite rare; Drama, having yielded over 70 examples of this find category, represents a large exception. Moreover, depictions of the plaques on anthropomorphic figurines give information of a possible former use and the way of wearing them. Also representatives of the third category of small finds, T-shaped bone objects resp. violin idols, are spread supraregionally and occur up to the northwest Pontic. In that way, small finds enable us to trace far-reaching communication systems in these regions during the Copper Age.
The reasons for the stylization in general and the rare direct representation of sex may be manifold and cannot be precisely determined. Based on the assumption that some figurines could have represented ancestors, possible explanations may be that sex was represented by other means such as elements of decoration we do not recognize as such; or that the depiction of a certain sex was normally unimportant because the figurines portrayed not real human beings but an abstract idea of ancestors without a clearly fixed sex. A onesided predetermination of the figurines as deities and indicators for a fertility cult certainly does not suffice in any case.
The idea to produce figurines with male features in the area of the southeastern European Neolithic has its roots obviously in the centres of early Neolithisation of Anatolia and southwest Asia. Although their number is comparably small, their existence and their stylistic affinity to the overall more numerous female figurines bear witness to the growing relevance of men in the family structure of sedentary communities. Biological fatherhood as a basis of the representation of individualised ancestors may have gained in importance institutionally in the settlement communities of the Neolithic. Viewed in this light, the Neolithic figurines with male features may prove to be an important indicator for the living together of the sexes.
In contrast, caves were frequented extensively in the same time in the regions south of the Alps. Different use spheres become apparent: For one, caves were used, just like the Jungfernhöhle, as cemeteries. The number of inhumations fluctuates between one and over 30 individuals. But it would be wrong to classify all Italian caves in the Neolithic as places for ritual actions and burials. Places for inhumations are accompanied by caves frequented by hunter-gatherers seasonally and in a profane context. For example, layers of dung and an “impoverished” pottery point to the use of caves by shepherds that could house their livestock sheltered in the night. Other caves stand out in terms of their special placement close to natural ressources and were thus visited by hunters or specialised craftsmen. The designation of a cave as a place for ritual or profane actions reveals itself only after an analysis of features and finds.
paint a more complete picture of human-animal relations in prehistory.
Linear Pottery Culture. They can be categorized as applications and incised human representations. Although
their posture is similar, their significance was likely different. The applications were fixed to vessels’ walls in such
a way that they look inside the container, whereas the incised representations look outward, facing anyone that
would approach them. We may conclude that applications like the ones from the Ukrainian sites are part of
a common set of beliefs comprising collective consumption from the same vessel, but we can only speculate
about the original content, which may have been something extraordinary like alcohol or something ordinary
like meat, milk or soup. On the other hand, the incised representations with their faces directed away from the
vessel wall may be seen as guardians of the vessels’ content.
On the one hand, it is possible that they served profane purposes, for example as toys. On the other hand, some researchers believe them to be an expression of Neolithic religious beliefs: igurines may have represented goddesses and gods or ancestors, figural vessels may have been used for collectively celebrated rituals and probably contained special substances. The paper deals with the figural finds from the Linear Pottery Culture east of the river Rhine and sets them in a larger context to pinpoint possible interpretations.
de fragmentos de cerámica que constituyen el total del material recuperado.
Las vasijas antropomorfas cumplían funciones básicas como recipientes, contenedores, conservadores y dispensadores, pero no han llegado hasta nosotros muchas de las que se vinculaban a su uso: la naturaleza de su contenido, los rituales en los que participaban o el trato que recibían en el ocaso de su utilización. Su decoración muestra elementos que podemos comprender y con los que nos podemos relacionar, como vestimenta, desnudez o accesorios, aunque también hay símbolos y motivos que nos resultan indescifrables y que refuerzan el abismo existente entre los tiempos prehistóricos y los modernos. Sin embargo, cuando miramos sus serenos y a veces sonrientes rostros, ese abismo parece reducirse.
Review: https://journals.openedition.org/acost/2486
Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde Band 83.
Dr. Rudolf Habelt Verlag GmbH, Bonn 2011.
ISBN978-3-7749-3724-6
2 volumes, 882 pages with 43 figures and 183 plates.
Anthropomorphic figurines of the Linear Pottery Culture (LPC) never gained the same attention as other categories of find material of this culture. The aim of this book, therefore, was to analyze anthropomorphic figurines of the LPC with respect to their meaning in the central European middle Neolithic. The procedure included the draft of a catalogue of figural finds, an analysis of features concerning shape and decoration as well as sex, the state of preservation, find situation and the method employed when making them. Subsequently, further figural finds – anthropomorphic vessels, applicated and incised anthropomorphic representations and lugs and knobs – were analyzed and compared with the figurines.
The analyses concerning the shape of anthropomorphic figurines yielded two different groups: group 1, containing figurines whose body is hardly structured, shaped columnar and without legs or feet; and group 2, featuring figurines whose body is structured with more details and who can be subdivided, according to the shaping of their legs, into seated and standing figurines, including some bearing vessels. These two types occur in the whole distribution area of the LPC. Decoration styles reveal regional groups oriented along Europe's main river systems (Danube, Elbe, Rhine).
In order to find out the origin of the figurines and the other figural finds, the investigations were then directed to the south-east European early Neolithic. Briefly figural finds of the Alföld Linear Pottery and, marginally, the early Vinča culture, were examined to define differences and similarities to the LPC. Finally, a glance was thrown on figural finds of the late Neolithic, with the Lengyel, Tisza and Stroked Pottery cultures and the Hinkelstein-Großgartach-Rössen cultural complex. The results gained in the single analyses culminated in a new interpretation of figural finds of the LPC.
Since anthropomorphic figurines are often connected with presumed fertility rites, the analysis of sexual characteristics was necessary. The result was that only one third of all figurines displays a sexual characteristic (mostly female). Combinations of sexual characteristics on different body parts (breasts on the upper body, a pubic triangle on the lower body) are very rare; this means that a fragment without any characteristic can be of no help to determine the sex of the figurine it originally belonged to. The rendering of sexual characteristics is restricted neither to a certain region within the LPC nor to a certain chronological phase.
Both types can likewise be found in the Starčevo-Körös-Criş preceding the LPC and also occur in other cultural groups of the south-east European early Neolithic. Further features like the rare appearance of sexual characteristiscs, the fact that figurines were found exclusively in settlements and that they were regularly and most likely deliberately destroyed can be found in both cultural regions as well. However, the eastern LPC resp. Alföld Linear Pottery culture which is contemporary to the LPC does not feature the two clearly distinguishable types of figurines that are common in the early and middle Neolithic. In contrast, anthropomorphic vessels, especially those from the Szakálhát group, can very well be compared to those from the LPC.
During the late Neolithic, in the western part of the distributional area of the LPC figurines and other figural finds are no longer used while in the east their making flourishes. Reasons for the abandonment of this custom might be pressure from the inside, like changes within the economic or social system, or changes from the outside, like, e.g. the climate, or maybe a mixture of the both, which led to a new orientation in the set of beliefs in the west. The west maybe adopted customs from the Cardial and Epicardial cultures which do not know any figural finds.
Finally the results gained in the analysis were merged and interpreted. Circumstances like a standard production of two different times over a ling time and far geographic distances lead to the conclusion that anthropomorphic figurines of the LPC cannot be seen as toys. Their abstraction which manifests itself in form and decoration seems to point to the fact that no actually existing persons were meant. Sexual characteristics are not overly common and not strongly accentuated, so it is questionable whether figurines were part of some sort of fertility cult. They are not found in a special "cultic architecture" like rondels or caves but rather in ordinary settlements. If their fragmentation can be seen as an act of destruction or a killing and if the repetition of this act is taken into consideration, this might point to the conclusion that it was not worship of a numinous power that played a major role but rather the remembering of a certain incidence – a sacrifice? – which was supposed to be kept in cultural memory in this way.
younger than, the Linear Pottery culture of Austria and Transdanubia and characterized by a special set of pottery shapes and decorations, among
them the so-called tazza carenata, a carinated cup with a handle. Settlements are small and contain house remains mostly in the shape of various pits, but also settlement ditches and palisades. Burials are virtually unknown. The origin of the Fiorano culture is still debated. It appears in northern Italy fully developed, without predecessors. The paper argues for a possible origin in the late Starčevo culture of Transdanubia and close relations with the neighbouring Sopot, Malo Korenovo, Danilo and Linear Pottery cultures.
They are especially common in the Stoicani-Aldeni group, in Bulgaria, in contrast, they are quite rare; Drama, having yielded over 70 examples of this find category, represents a large exception. Moreover, depictions of the plaques on anthropomorphic figurines give information of a possible former use and the way of wearing them. Also representatives of the third category of small finds, T-shaped bone objects resp. violin idols, are spread supraregionally and occur up to the northwest Pontic. In that way, small finds enable us to trace far-reaching communication systems in these regions during the Copper Age.
The reasons for the stylization in general and the rare direct representation of sex may be manifold and cannot be precisely determined. Based on the assumption that some figurines could have represented ancestors, possible explanations may be that sex was represented by other means such as elements of decoration we do not recognize as such; or that the depiction of a certain sex was normally unimportant because the figurines portrayed not real human beings but an abstract idea of ancestors without a clearly fixed sex. A onesided predetermination of the figurines as deities and indicators for a fertility cult certainly does not suffice in any case.
The idea to produce figurines with male features in the area of the southeastern European Neolithic has its roots obviously in the centres of early Neolithisation of Anatolia and southwest Asia. Although their number is comparably small, their existence and their stylistic affinity to the overall more numerous female figurines bear witness to the growing relevance of men in the family structure of sedentary communities. Biological fatherhood as a basis of the representation of individualised ancestors may have gained in importance institutionally in the settlement communities of the Neolithic. Viewed in this light, the Neolithic figurines with male features may prove to be an important indicator for the living together of the sexes.
In contrast, caves were frequented extensively in the same time in the regions south of the Alps. Different use spheres become apparent: For one, caves were used, just like the Jungfernhöhle, as cemeteries. The number of inhumations fluctuates between one and over 30 individuals. But it would be wrong to classify all Italian caves in the Neolithic as places for ritual actions and burials. Places for inhumations are accompanied by caves frequented by hunter-gatherers seasonally and in a profane context. For example, layers of dung and an “impoverished” pottery point to the use of caves by shepherds that could house their livestock sheltered in the night. Other caves stand out in terms of their special placement close to natural ressources and were thus visited by hunters or specialised craftsmen. The designation of a cave as a place for ritual or profane actions reveals itself only after an analysis of features and finds.
paint a more complete picture of human-animal relations in prehistory.
Linear Pottery Culture. They can be categorized as applications and incised human representations. Although
their posture is similar, their significance was likely different. The applications were fixed to vessels’ walls in such
a way that they look inside the container, whereas the incised representations look outward, facing anyone that
would approach them. We may conclude that applications like the ones from the Ukrainian sites are part of
a common set of beliefs comprising collective consumption from the same vessel, but we can only speculate
about the original content, which may have been something extraordinary like alcohol or something ordinary
like meat, milk or soup. On the other hand, the incised representations with their faces directed away from the
vessel wall may be seen as guardians of the vessels’ content.
On the one hand, it is possible that they served profane purposes, for example as toys. On the other hand, some researchers believe them to be an expression of Neolithic religious beliefs: igurines may have represented goddesses and gods or ancestors, figural vessels may have been used for collectively celebrated rituals and probably contained special substances. The paper deals with the figural finds from the Linear Pottery Culture east of the river Rhine and sets them in a larger context to pinpoint possible interpretations.
de fragmentos de cerámica que constituyen el total del material recuperado.
Las vasijas antropomorfas cumplían funciones básicas como recipientes, contenedores, conservadores y dispensadores, pero no han llegado hasta nosotros muchas de las que se vinculaban a su uso: la naturaleza de su contenido, los rituales en los que participaban o el trato que recibían en el ocaso de su utilización. Su decoración muestra elementos que podemos comprender y con los que nos podemos relacionar, como vestimenta, desnudez o accesorios, aunque también hay símbolos y motivos que nos resultan indescifrables y que refuerzan el abismo existente entre los tiempos prehistóricos y los modernos. Sin embargo, cuando miramos sus serenos y a veces sonrientes rostros, ese abismo parece reducirse.
The paper outlines elements that can be used to connect rather than to separate. Face vessels, especially those with a sign underneath the mouth or nose, find close parallels to examples from the eastern Linear Pottery Culture, and although we have yet to find an explanation for this phenomenon, the similarities are striking. They become all the more intriguing when we remember that these objects are an integral part of the Italian Impresso culture but do not occur in the eastern Adriatic Impresso which is both geographically and culturally closer.
Either, these parallels can be attributed to far-reaching networks, maybe fuelled by an exchange of certain raw materials such as spondylus, flint or other, perishable goods. In such a case, they may point to common sets of religious belief. Or they are the result of a shared origin and developed similar, yet independently. It may be worthwhile to further analyse material remains of these distant regions comprehensively in order to pinpoint other parallels.
Die Vorgeschichtsforschung lehrt, wie eng Menschen und Tiere zusammenlebten, und macht die Abhängigkeiten von menschlichen Individuen, aber auch ganzen Gesellschaften von Tieren deutlich; Abhängigkeiten, die bis heute existieren, aber aus unserem unmittelbaren Blickfeld verdrängt sind.
Damit sind nicht allein Ressourcen wie Fleisch, Fett, Milch, Eier oder Wolle gemeint. Auch in symbolisch-religiöser und emotionaler Hinsicht bestehen enge Verflechtungen zwischen Menschen und Tieren, die die ur- und frühgeschichtliche Archäologie aufdecken und erklären kann. Dabei muss feststehen, dass Vergangenheit nicht idealisiert werden darf: Tierrechte und Tierschutz, wie sie heute im Gesetz verankert sind – und mögen sie auch manchem zu kurz gegriffen erscheinen – existierten in der Vorgeschichte nicht. Andere Formen der Achtung vor dem Tier – der respektvolle Umgang mit dem Jagdwild, das Tabu auf besonderen Wildtieren oder geliebten Heim- und Haustieren oder auch der hohe materielle Wert, der Tieren zugewiesen wurde – können als rudimentäre Äquivalente angesehen werden, in denen der Keim für unsere heutigen Verordnungen und Gesetze angelegt ist.
The scope of the work presented here is based on a collection and re-evaluation of sites from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in northern Apulia. We outline the results of first GIS analysis (visibility analysis and least-cost path analysis) which were conducted in order to understand the networks of ties and relationships between sites. Furthermore, we describe the results of surveys undertaken to verify the position of sites, their chronological setting and their placement in the landscape. The high percentage of finds, mostly pottery sherds and a modest quantity of flint, confirms the placement of settlements recorded during the 70 s and allows examine the relationship between the sites in depth in the course of time and how the communities related with their landscape.
Das Ziel der gemeinsamen Sitzung der AG Neolithikum und der AG Bronzezeit war es, explizit die Verbindungen zwischen Zentral- und Westeuropa zu betrachten. Dies sollte sowohl in Bezug auf die theoretischen Grundlagen der Kulturkontaktphänomene als auch auf deren materielle, soziokulturelle und ikonographische Ausdrucksformen geschehen. Diesen Themen widmeten sich ca. 40 Referenten in 23 Vorträgen und sieben Posterpräsentationen.
Im Mittelpunkt der Beiträge stand die kulturelle Diversität der Kontakte zwischen Zentral- und Westeuropa, die sich einer generalisierten Interpretation als überwiegend Ost-West-verlaufende Prozesse entzogen und stattdessen als komplexe Phänomene eines gegenseitigen Austauschs darstellten. Der programmatische "Go West!" - Aufruf des Tagungsthemas wurde somit kritisch hinterfragt und auf seine Kohärenz mit den aktuellen landschaftsarchäologischen, typochronologischen und genanalytischen Forschungsergebnissen überprüft. Es zeigte sich u. a., dass die Vermittlung von Objekten und Ideen von den spezifischen naturräumlichen Bedingungen abhängig war, an denen sich die kontinentüberspannende Mobilität vom Frühneolithikum bis zur Spätbronzezeit orientierte.
The prehistory of Central Europe was shaped by the contacts with Western Europe at all times, being integrated into a network with Great Britain, Ireland, the Benelux countries, France and the Iberian Peninsula. The focus will be on joint cultural groups or circles (Bell Beaker period, “Atlantic Bronze Age” etc.) as well as on intercultural contacts (La Hoguette/Limburg/Linear Pottery Culture, Michelsberg Culture, western European megalithic Culture, Early Bronze Age metallurgy etc.). Closely linked to the emergence and consolidation of these networks was the exchange of raw material, finished products and techniques.
Please submit your papers (not exceeding 400 characters) and the contact details of the authors (postal and email address) to the AG Speakers by 20 January 2017. Please note that the presentations (PowerPoint format) will be strictly limited to 20 minutes.
Poster contributions are also welcome. Please send your registration for a poster including the project title and the contact details of the author to the AG Speakers by 20 January 2017. In the planned poster session the authors will be able to present their projects to the conference participants.
Deadline for paper submissions is January 20, 2017.